Arizona republican., 1892-06-02
Correspondence of THs REPUBLICAN.


 greatly enlarged. This young man, J. J. Carty by name, determined to devote himself to the development of electricity as a commercial affair, and so success, fully has he carried out hls purpose that he is now regarded by many of the ablest electrical scientists as almost ranking with Edison and Bell, while some assert that before he has reached the prime of life he is quite likely to have distanced some of their exploits.
 Carty is better known to scientific men than he is to the public. His writ ings have been confined almost entirely to the scientific journals, and his dis coveries and inventions have been ab- sorbed by the great commercial enter prises with which he is associated So it happens that he is not talked of as Edison has been, and as Bell wlll always be, because his achievements have not been such as to attract popular atten- ton. Mir Carty is the executive head of that company which is putting up those wires which enable New York to talk with Chicago, Buffalo or Washing ton as easily as two persons can converse in the same room. He is not the execu- tive, financial or administrative head, but he has absolute control of the me chanical and contructive department of this great enterprise, which involves millions.
 Mir. Carty's researches enable him to talk with singular fascination about electrical development, and few days ago when the writer asked him whether the popular idea that electricity is a force is a correct one, he replied, speak ing with utmost charm and interest, and those things which he said cannot fail to attract attention.
 He tilted back in an easy chair, ight- ed a cigar, and began and continue T in manner which showed thorough famil- iarity with the subject and great study.
 That question:" he said, ''is very often asked. l know that almost every body who sees an electric motor running and driving an engine, for instance, is of opinion that electricity is force impel- ling that engine, but in order to under stand accurately how this machine works we have first got to know what electricity is. What is it? Who knows. We know no more about electricity than we know about gravity; even less than we know of that force which is called gravity. People are talking more about electricity, because of late years some of its manifestations have been brought in most striking and dramatic way into their daily view, but we do not know what it Is, and l think that the more scientific men study the matter the more they find themselves in fog and doubt.
 "NOw let me illustrate my meaning. You take a magnet, hold it in your hand and pass it up and down for lit tie while near copper or iron wire. That will result in carrying a current of electricity through this wire We know that by experiment. We can detect the electric current by delicate instruments. There is force, a current, something call it by what name you will-which, by reason of the motion of the magnet near the wire, is conveyed through the wire. Now that something is electricity. But what that is no man has yet deter mined, and until the great problems of the universe are solved it is doubtful if any man will discover it.
 Yet the energy which passed through that wire was the energy of a moving arm which held the magnet. If the man who held the magnet did not move it up and down before the wire then no cleo tricity would pass through the wire, so that the energy which was Communi- cated is human force. Now what is hu- man force. It is simply the roast beef and bread and butter which the man has eaten for his dinner. The force of the arm is furnished by the food which a man consumes. But we can go farther back than that and ask where does the food get its force, and even child at school will tell you that it comes from the light and heat of the sun, which en- ables vegetable life to thrive on the sur face of the earth. Therefore the energy conveyed through the wire is traceable easily back to the sun.
 Practically in commercial affairs in stead of using the human arm we use steam power We build our boilers and make our engines and these turn the huge magnets before the wires which compose dynamo, thereby producing a current of electricity intense or feeble according as we desire. So it is easy to see that electricity as we use it commer. cially is developed by steam power. h. stead of using steam directly we use it to create a current of electricity, but where does the steam power come from? Of course from coal, and coal is simply carbonized vegetation containing energy which was planted in it by the sun. So that we get back to the sun again. And the best that electricians can do in speaking of this matter is to suggest that electricity is current or medium which conveys the forces which origi- nally came from the sun to the earth.
 "People are not asking what the sun light is, suppose, because they are so familiar with it, and yet there is more mystery tO scientific men even in the sunlight than in electricity. Perhaps it is because electricity does sensational things apparent to the naked eye, while the wonderful things which sunlight does are carried on in silence and sub tloty. We see electrici cook a steak. Surgeons use it to cut out mans tongue, It will mn a train. It twill kill all OK or criminal IL will carry con yersatiOn over wire. It will explode a