Birmingham age-herald., 1895-02-14
KING ELECTRICITY.
FARMER DUNN PREDICTS A REvolu-
 TON FOR EARTHLY FOLKS.


 Supply Light, Heat and Motive Power. Coal a Curiosity.
 Elias B. Dunn, the weather observer, has been studying atmospheric electricity. The sergeant, as they used to call him, the farmer, as they call him now, said that ho will live to sec the day whom elcc- tricity, collected from the atmosphere and stored by some means which an Edison or a Tesla will have to devise, will revolu- tionizo tho world.
 The prophet expects that cities will be lighted and heated by atmospheric electric ity; that railway trains and cars will be run, lighted and heated by it; that coal will become curiosity; that steam heat ing will be granny talk to tho children of tho next generation; that the telegraph and telephone companies will lose their monopolios; that war will become farce, because a touch of electricity will mako tho British grenadiers or the German Uhlans or the Scotch hiehlandors sit down on the cold ground powcrless; that even the dreams of communication with the inhabitants of Mars will become real ities, and that man will be able to strike up electricity as ho does a parlor match.
 There will be no more trolley strikes, because there will bo no more trolleys. Mankind will tap the atmosphere for al- most every convenience or necessity, ex- cept food and clothing, and even tho cloth ing will ho woven and the food cooked by atmospheric electricity. Street cleaning will be as easy as the nagician's Presto, changol" and every body will live compar- atively happy ever after.
 Mir Dunn is sure that his ideas arc practical and practicable The atmosphere is his constant study, and having intro duced general humidity to tho public as the principal clement in uncomfortable days he has determined that tho most po- tent element for good in tho air VIC breathe shall no longer Dc wasted.
 Why" hc said, "the whole atmosphere is soaked with electricity. The earth, as is well known, Is storehouse of electric ity. That it passes from tho clouds to tho earth ,7e can sce in every thunderstorm Earth is a good conductor, especially damp earth, and water Is the best conductor pos sible.
 Every person is possessed of body elec- tricity. Tho vital force is all in the elec- trical power you contain in your body. When the day Is damp, you become weak ened through tho loss of your bodily c1cc- trioity, because the atmosphere is great CT conductor of tho 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 feeling. This passing of the electricity to the at- mosphcro cnervatcs you to such degree that person in naturally weak state will collapse or become much worse by the loss of this bodily electricity.
 '.The atmosphere being charged with electricity, and the earth being Q storc- house for 1t, if there were some controlla- ble method of storage devised by which you could draw off a moderate amount of electricity at will and keep that force on tap all the time, with an appliance by which power could be generated-and there is no reason why that can't be done -thcn atmospheric electricity would make all tho wheels In tho world go round.
 ''The coal barons would bo done up, said Farmer Dunn savageiy, thinking of the coal bill for his house in Brooklyn. "There would be no moro need of coal. There ought to be enough electricity in the atmosphere to supply light and heat as well as to do all the work except the housework. I'm afraid it won't do away with the servant girl question, though it will modify it. expect to live to see the day of atmospheric electricity on tap. It will run everything on earth.
 Ut is well known that there Is a greater numb Dor of deaths in tho carly morning, say from 1 a m. to a. m., than at any other time. Dickens was aware of that, but ho didn't know the reason. You TO- member that poor old Peggotty, in David Copperfeld went out with the tide. That's right. And it is in the early morn- ing, that the daily ebb of tho atmosphere occurs, when the daily atmospheric pres sure is least. If at that time the atmos- s- -f ion heavily charged with humidity, then the electric force loaves persons body and flows to the atmosphere, greatly debilitat- ing him when be is in a weakened condi- tion. Now, should person in that state be kept in extremely dry surroundings, so that he could be furnished with an ade- Quato supply of artificial electricity and at the same time have the humidity re- duced, thero would be, in my opinion, O greater chance of prolonging life.
 ''lf the doctors could provide means to supply in such circumstances artificial electricity instead of natural, it would probably bc very beneficial. Just think of itl Here we are, spending millions of dol lars to generate electricity, when it is all around us, and we arc breathingitl Here's another thing: When a current of elec- trioity is generated, where does it goP It can't die. It is somewhere. Ishould judge that it is simply adding to the amount of electricity in the atmosphere
 Ut is natural to suppose that as long as the earth is given to us for useful pur- poses the atmosphere was not given for nothing Of course it gives us health and breath, as the earth gives us what we eat, but since the atmosphere contains elec- tricity, and we can rse the earth as a-pow- CT for carrying it, aL .s done by telegraph companies why not use the electricity in the atmosphere3
 'Once begin to use it, and there is no telling where it would end War with at mospherio electricity as factor would have to cease. The problem of signaling. to Mars would be solved. With atmos- pherio electricity in control we could communicate with all tho inhabited plan cts. ''-New York World.