St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1893-04-13
THE FUTURE or ELECTRICITY,

In all the hcldS Oh human cndcaNOi
there is none in winch the promise
and potency OF future achievement IS
greater than in that of the develop
ment of that wonderful form OF
energy which we know as "elcctrlcl-
ty." In this field progress isadvanc'
ing in two paths; the one leading to
the production of the force cheaper
than by known means, and the other
toward new devices and ways for
applying it to the practicaI needs OF
mankind. The first path is the least
attractive; but it leads to by Tar the
most momentous discoveries as al
fecting our everyday lie. The cur
rent which now supplies our lamps
and motors is obtained by revolving
a coil of wire in the field of the mag
net. The steam engine does this just
as it turns a coffee mill, or a churn,
or lathe. Therefore, coal is burned
under the boiler to produce steam,
and steam drives the engine, the
engine turns the dynamo, the dyna-
mo delivers its current on the wires
which lead to the lamps. Hence the
efficiency of the whole system de-
ponds mainly upon the efficiency of
the engine and boiler which furnish
the power. The best engine and
boiler do not utilize more than ten
per cent of the energy locked up in
the fuel; and this is due, not tofaulty
construction or bad management,
but chiefly because of natural laws
mainly dependent upon the tempera-
ture in which we live, To improve
the dynamo or the lamps simply
means greater economy in the utill-
zation of the obtained ten per cent.
1t does not affect the problem of how
to get more than ten per cent, and
that is the great discovery of the
future-so great, that the man who
finds the way to convert, not eighty
or ninety, but even twenty per cent
of the stored energy in fuel into cleo
tricity will do more for human civil
zation than all the inventors of all
the marvellous applications of that
force put together have done since
electricity was discovered.
Present indications point to the
voltaic cell as the probable means of
attaining this result. Not to cell
consuming zinc, of course: for cleo
tricity thus produced is about twen-
ty-hve times dearer than that OBJ
tanned from the steam engine and
dynamo; but to cell directly con-
Stunning carbon, not by hot combus-
ton, but by cool, chemical combina-
ton with the boundless store of
oxygen in the air Carbon is cheap,
and air is cheaper; and if they can be
made to combine at low temperature
by means perhaps no more costly
than the CRATE or furnace in which
we make them unite at high temper
allure, then we shall get very much
more than ten per cent of the avail
able energy. 1t is not necessary to
seek any further reason for the end
of the reign of steam. When people
can get machine which wastes even
eight, or seven, or six dollars out of
ten, they will no longer use an appar-
atus which wastes nine All along
the frontier of the science open in
Vulnerable paths with endless vistas
fascinating in their invitations to
the student and to the inventor.
Even in the Oldest of our electrical
marvels (the telegraph) the posi-
bilities are still wonderful. A pen
guided in Chicago will now write in
New York the autograph of the oper-
ator, so that bank might safely
pay the check to which it is appended.
We are multiplying the number OF
dispatches which can be sent stimuli
taneously; and we are rapidly ap,
preaching the time when unlimited
messages can be transmitted at per-
ceptibly the same instance in oppo.
site directions over single wire. We
have contrived systems OF communi.
eating time which will possibly en-
able a thousand clocks at once, dis.
tributed all along the continent
and perhaps from one end of the
world to the other, to work II
synchronism and with a current les.
than is required for ordinary tele
graphing. Whether this will result
in the establishment of absolute tim,
throughout the world and the hna
deposition Of the sun as timepiec,
remains to be seen. We have fount
substances which are so sensitive tt
light that they will modify an cleo
trio current in accordance with thu
intensity of the light ray whicl
strikes them-and there is the germ
OF the picture-telegraph. Before TIL
next century expires, the grandson
OF the present generation will see on
another across the Atlantic, and tn
great ceremonial events Of the worl
as they pass before the eve of tn
camera will be enacted at the sam
instant before all mankind. The us
of the high-frequency electrical cul
rent, with possibly screens from out
side inductive influences, is believe
by many to offer at last a solutio
to the difficulties which prevent tel,
phoning over long submarine cables
If this be realized, and with tt
transmission of images and possibl
of colors over the wires likewi.
achieved, then the nations of II
earth will indeed stand face to fax
and speech to speech Park Benjj