The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-15
LIGHT WILL FLOAT.
Nicola Tesla Speaks Of a Great Dis
COVeTy in Electricity.
We Will Have Light, Not Lights-The
Luminant Will Stream in Floods
From Walls and Doors and Ceilings,
With Chandeliers Discarded.


(Copyright)
New York, July Hail, holy light"
are the words with which Milton begins
his invocation to the Offspring of heaven
first horn, and. perhaps, because he was
blind, the theme always possessed an
awesome fascination for the patriot poet.
That was a wonderful piece of prophecy on
his part when he declared that light would
yet prove ian undiscovered country
wherein beauty's citidel rears high en-
battlements," but not until these
century end days of marvels has
even the dream of its fulfllment
come For at this very moment we are
on the eve of a revolution in electrical
science that seems destined to make of
light not beauty's citadel merely, but the
bestower OF beauty itself. Without light,
| beauty would cease to be evident. No
wonder, then, that light has become the
Nile of physics, with scientists seeking
night and day for its ultimate source.
The secret seems to have been learned at
last, and science is now the lad of the I'M
setting sun.
Imagine an ever-playing fountain of
light, or a century plant in unending
| bloom, of which the petals are sheafs of
! llSub 1nGTG 10 no EIdtSl III uLGdL1 bOO GA-
| travagant in this respect for realization
now. The chandelier, the globe, the bulb,
| the painful mechanism which has made
the connection of light and machinery so
| un8sthetically obvious hereto1ore-all
are destined 10 be swept away. Light in
| the next century will well impalpa bly, out
/ of walls 1t will stream from brackets or
| from picture frames, none divining from
| whence it comes, like the perfumes at
| Lucullan banquets.
Nicola 1eslas eyes glowed as he pre-
! dicted the results of the discovery that
| has been made. Then they were dimmed
| by q passing regret as a new thought
! came.
THE one impeachment" he said, lis cost.
| That problem will be solved yet-perhaps
in three months, perhaps not as many
! years. The existing weight in electric
| lightning is barbarous - barbarous.
! Ninety per cent. of the material en-
! ployed goes for nothing. But when we
! have settled the question of cost, the
new era will dawn. Light will become
really great transforming factor in
civilization 1t will then be not only day,
but glorious, beautiful day."
1t may be mentioned at this point that
| to d. McEarlan Moore, the American
electrician, who has done as much to pop
ularize the use of electric light as any
living man, probably, belongs the credit
of having first called the attention of
scientists TO the impending change. Tesla
has indeed been experimenting for years,
| and long ago indicated the lines along
which. the transformation would be
wrought. Mr.. Moore, however, demon
strated why the near future will witness
| the commercial adoption OF the transmits
sion Of light through tubes, and
that electricity is to be the agent
of this consumma ton. 1t is declared by
es,-N. hoe Il.
| heat into the power and power again into
the current known as electricity, seems
to have reached limit for the present
| at least, the matter of producing light
from electricity has hardly begun to be
studied.
The incandescent lamp is admittedly
the illuminant of today. In spite of It's
conceded advantages, however, the scien-
tihc world has come to look upon 1t as
a crude contrivance for reasons apart
from the humiliating circumstance that
| to extract per cent. of light,
95 per cent of the constituent
! elements goes to utter waste. Therefore,
in spite of the practical elimination of the
factors OF heat and odor from the prob
lem of dispelling. darkness, scientists
| have for years been at work in an en-
| deavor not so much to make new dis
coveries as to utilize discoveries already
| made.
Now, what is known as phosphorescent,
! or glow lighting, has come TO be recog-
niZed as the source of untold millions to
| the capitalist who can first reduce it to a
marketable commodity in the cities of the
world. So far the great cost attending
its utilization has stood in the way of any
such enterprise. Now comes Mr.. Moore,
who makes the assertion in Casters
| Magazine, that electric sparks rapidly
succeeding one another ia vacuum are
| the key to the whole treasure house.
This fact is shown by means of an
| ingenious continuance now familiar
| to most electricians, in which the current
of electricity is repeatedly broken by
! rapid vibrations The vibrations pro-
| duce corresponding number of sparks,
| which act upon the ether in bulb duly
placed to be effected in precisely this
/ manner, with the result that the whole
! bulb gives forth light. Such electricians
| as Nicola Tesla and Mct'arlan Moore
would not put the condition of things into
such simple words, Mr.. Moore, indeed,
/ saying, and very scientifically, no doubt,
! that the whole thing is the result of tn g
| current being rapidly disrupted by a
! magnetic field exterior to the evacuated
| space.
In fact, the whole problem of light may
| be said to have become one of vibrations.
/ Its solution, as stated. has been arrived at
| succeed one another rapidly in vacuum.
| And along these lines has it become
possibility to conduct light through tubes,
with results destined to effect the revo-
luton now on the eve of accomplishment.
"Then we will, indeed, have beautiful
| light" exclaimed Nicola Tesla. How
few of US realize the importance of the
cost of light on the lives of people to-day
1t is not too much to say that when the
coming changes are inaugurated our
whole municipal life will be transformed.
Light will be not merely a means of see
ing at night 1t will become the great
source of beauty in streets and homes.
Heretofore the difficulty of getting both
light and beauty has seemed insupera-
BILE. We now have the means of produc-
ing light that will not merely be beauti-
full itself, but that will make all things
beautiful"
And how soon may we look for all
thts2"
LAS soon as the matter Of cost has been
reduced within due limits. 1t will un-
doubtedly be reduced in time. He would
be rash electrician who ventured to say
precisely when. 1t may be some years.
Perhaps genius will hit upon the true
method tomorrow. AT all events, cleo
trio light cannot fail TO be ultimately one
of the cheapest of commodities,
Mr.. Tesla conceded that existing cleo
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