Middletown transcript., 1896-06-13

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| doubtless true as it was then. In on,
sense there is absolutely nothing new
in the world; that which is, is tha
which has been, and that which shal
be and there is nothing Of which it car
be said "this is new," it hath been al.
ready of old time. Antiquarians who
have dived deep into the hidden mys.
teries of past ages delare that there is
but little, if anything. which science
brings to light to-day that was not
known in some feature to scientists of
ancient times, yet when we take ret
respective view of the wonderful dis
coveries made by scientists and inven-
tors, and the marvellous applications
Of natures forces to the use and SER
vice OF man, within the past century,
we are impelled to believe that the
wise mans assertion has been at least
somewhat modified.
Though these forces may have
been known, as they doubtless were,
to learned men and students in the
past, it remained for the nineteenth
century to develop and apply them
to our daily use. Franklin ca aught
and imprisoned the lightning from
the clouds, but it remained for the,
Morses and Edisons of the nine
teenth century to harness it to the car
of mans ambitions and apply iit to his
needs.
James Watts discovered the princi-
pie of steam but it was not applied to
practical purposes until John Fitch ran
the first steamboat on our own Della
ware, in 1854, fifteen years before Full
toms boat piled the Hudson, Fitch be-
ing poor could not carry his labours as
far as he might have done, and he Of.
ten remarked that some one after him
would reap fame and fortune from his
invention.
The next use to which steam was ap-
piled was to the railway cars, the first
train being run between Baltimore and
in the year 1926. This
was very important step in the pro-
yress of nations, for it virtually
brought together the ends of the earth.
The invention of iron-clad boats, by
Ericsson, during the Civil War, de-
'ided the fate of the navy, for had it
not been for the little 'cheese box"
lhe Monitor-the entire American ma
val force would have been destroyed.
Still more remarkable, however, |
we're the magnetic telegraph and the
aging of the Atlantic Cable. but how |
much more wonderful was Edison,
when he gave to us the electric light.
People were startled by the almost
uperhuman power, and it seemed for
n instant as if the zenith of scientific
esearch had been reached, but mans
unsatisfied, .uncontent, con-
inually reaching cut for new fields to
conquer and new laurels to win,
rought to light the long h idden, long
Unknown powers of electricity, as ap- |
lied to surgery md developed to what
known to the world as the Cathode
ays, thus giving to the science Of
1edicine a powerful ally in its
battle with pain" The startling
nd sensational form in which the ex-
raordinary possibilities of the rays
7ere announced, their capablity of
evealing bones within the flesh, of To-
ating balls that deied the surgeons
robe. any object within per ectly
ark chamber by means Of photography
Limulated hosts of inquiries and imi-
ators into scientific scramble, the
ke of which has never before been
nown. As has been said, sit was like
ne rush to the gold fields in 49," but
ne subject is now settling down TO
)ber scientific discussion.
The chemist can now produce in his /
lboratory artificial waterspouts and 8
'hirl-winds, aid by this means safely ,
ursue their study, and SO learn of ,
leir relative causes and effects. Dis
,veries and applications of electrical .
'iences are most striking since the :
.tlantic Gable was laid, in 1856. What ,
Extraordinary advances have been
adel The electrical exhibition re-
'ntly opened in New York is mag q
lfcent triumph of invention. The a
Inhibition was formally opened by Il
evi P. Morton, Governor of New t
ork State. His address was brief =
i'd striking but the act with which he .
osed was more eloquent than words, r
r with the same golden key with n
hich President Cleveland opened the v
'orld's Fair, Governor Morton turned v
! the current generated by the thun- s.
ring waters of Niagara, and the null Y
.udious and complicated machinery a.
as set in motion, the brilliant lights Ii
ere set a-going, the roar of Niagara Vi
As heard in the palace in which the n,
ectators were assembled, guns were
multaneously fired by the electric tt
trent at Augusta, Maine; St. Paul, th
n Francisco, New Orleans, and Lon te
n. m
Those whose names are intimately IN
,ociated with recent discoveries in o,
ctricity were present at this great I'm
Of that wonderful power
lat slumbered unsupported until the th
ginning Of this century and whose | q,
sat marvels have become familiar sil
In n, a tssv, Late ~,os - A-.,- 49, n.