The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1895-05-08
ALEXANDRIA, La, WEDNESDAY, MAY s. 1885,
AIR A STORAGE BATTERY.
A Theory That It Can Be Tapped For All
tile Electricity Needed. ~.

AIR A STORAGE BATTERY.
A Theory That 1t Can Be Tapped For All
tile Electricity Needed. H
es Elias B. Dunn, the weather observ-
or at New York, has been studying
atmospheric electricity for a few
years. The sergeant, as they used to
call him; the farmer, as they call
him now, said the other day that he
will live to see the day when cleo
tricity collected from the atmosphere
and stored by some means which an
Edison. or a Tesla will have to devise
will revolutionize the world. The
prophet expects that cities will be
lighted and heated by atmospheric
electricity; that every train and Car
will be run, lighted and heated by it;
that coal will become a curiosity;
that steam heating will be q granny
talk to tho children of the next gen.
GRAFTON; that the telegraphs and tele-
phone companies will lose their mo-
nopolies; that war will become
farce, because a touch Of electricity
will mako the British Grenadiers or
the German Uhlans or the Scotch
-Highlanders sit down on the cold
ground powerless.
Even the dreams of communica-
ton with the inhabitants of Mars
will become realities, and a man will
be able to strike up electricity as he
does parlor match There will be
no more trolley strikes, because there
will be no more trolleys. Mankind
will tap the atmosphere for almost
any convenience except food and
clothing, and even tho clothing will
be woven and the food cooked by at
mospheric electricity; street clean
ing will be as easy as the magician's
presto, change!' and everybody
will live comparatively happier ever
after.
Mr.. Dunn is sure that his ideas are
practical and probable. The atmos-
phereis his constant study, and hav-
ing introduced general humidity to
the public as the principal element
in uncomfortable days, he has deter
mined that the potent element for
good in the air we breath shall no
longer be wasted. Why, he said, tho
whole atmosphere is soaked with
electricity.
The earth, as is we'll known, is a
storehouso of electricity. That it
passes from the clouds to the earth
we can SEQ in every thunderstorm.
The earth is good conductor, espe-
oially damp earth, and water is tho
best conductor possible, Every per-
son is possessed of body electricity.
The vital force is all in tho electrical
powers you contain in your body.
When the day is damp, you become
weakened through the loss Of your
bodily electricity, because the atmos-
phero is a greater conductor of the
electrical fluid than your body, and
consequently what is in your body
will pass to this moist, damp air.
That is the cause of that tired feel
ing.
This passing of electricity to the
atmosphere enervates you to such a
degree that person in a naturally
weak state will collapse or become
much worse by tho loss of this bodily
electricity. The atmosphere being
charged with electricity and the
earth being storehouse for it, if
there were some controllable method
of storage devised by which you
could draw off moderate amount of
electricity at will and keep that force
on tap all the time, with an appli-
anoe by which power could be gen.
erated-and there's no reason why
that can't be done-then the atmos-
pherio electricity would make all the
wheels in the world go around. The
barons would be done up. There
would be no more need for coal.
There ought to'be enough electricity
in the atmosphere to supply light
and heat as we'll as to do all the
work.-Boston Transcript.