Evening star., 1897-03-26
ELECTRICITY WITHOUT HEAT
The Latest Stage of the Search for This
Result.
Mr.. Cases nterestInG Experimruts
With the Blood of an
Animal.

From Electricity.
One of the most interesting ami enter-
tanning lectures that have ever been given
before the New York Electrical Society Was
that given by Mr.. Willard f. Case on
February "A, on the subject "Eleeiriclty
from Carbon Without Heat The subject
OF the direct conversion of fuel into elec-
trlcfty has long been an enRroSsing one
among scientists, and while il has been ac-
complished in a multitude Of Ways and
some of them quite efficient either tne cost
of the materials. the lack of efficiency. or
the great trouble involved In the proper.
maintenance of the operation, or all COM
bined. has left the development tar short
of the ideal. that today the burning OF
coal under boiler, the transformation OF
the latent heat OF steam into mechanical
energy and the latter into electrical en-
ergy by means Of the dynamo. with all OF its
attendant losses. SIN remains supreme
The primary battery, OF all the proposed
methods, is by far the most efficient, reach
ing theoretically an efficiency of some ~
per cent in some types Poggendorf's chro-
mic acid battery against some 6 or 4 per
cent as the ultimate efficiency of conversion
by means of the boiler, engine and dynamo.
The direct conversion Of the ene~gy of
coal into electricity by means of atnios-
pheric oxygen. instead of that of zinc by
means of chemically produced oXye,-l. has
therefore been considered great a ,lesid-
eratum to attract the attention OF scien-
tific men the world over.
within the past year two gr at adj
rances have undoubtedly been mace, and
much has been added to our knowledge at
least of what 10 do as well as of the
directions in which work might seem profit
able.
To the layman not less than to tho s,,en-
tst has this field been attractive ami Mr.
Cases lecture Will doubtless be c,J,ad and
read quite as widely, If not more so. Than
a tss,n nor af fl.a. h4,.
ceded.
Marvellous was the discovery of Roent-
gen, II was no more so than that OF Hertz
and Ierard, but it received a popular
recognition entirely out of proportion to
Its real relative Importance. BY many this
Is ascribed to the peculiar way la Nhich il
was presented-its first work practically
being the disclosure OF the bones OF the
living organism.
Mr.. Case has chosen a no less happy. and
certainly less shasIly. method of pre-
senting the phenomenon nf direct pro-
duction OF electricity by the oxidation Of
carbon by atmospheric Oxygen i'm ma king
a battery in which the electropositivc cl.-
n ent is the hydrocarbons of the blood
He showed that by the intrc duction af a
reducing agent the blood took On th. color
of veinous blood, and that by pouring this
back and forth, so as to thoroughly aerat,-
II. II became oxIdiZed as it is by the lungs
and took on the bright red color of artcriaI
blood.
He next improvssd an electric battery
in which the haemuglobin of the biocd act
ed as the conveyer OF oxygen TO the hydro
CARTONS, and oy connecting this with a bell
caused the latter 10 ring by means of the
current generated.
His argument from this was that the en-
erey OF carbon could be directly converted
into electrical energy by means of atmos-
pheric oxygen without the generation of
neat, provided only that the carbon he
properly prepared beforehand and that a
suitable coENeyer OF oxygen from Tho Al
mts I here TO IN. prepared fuel be provided.
His ether experiments, while not new,
We're fun OF interest
The un-platin um-c hromc chlorid. ba:-
terry, the subject of his FIRST experiment
was one of the prettiest in theory We have
seen. and is doubtless capable OF further
development.
his criticism OF DIR. Jacques carbon bat
tory. viz, that ii is new only as being less
emcient than the Bradley-Crocker cell
seems well-founded and the illustration of
the great advantage of nickel over iron ss
used by jacques SHOWS how the latter ap-
parent!y failed 10 avail himself of a much
better element equally at his disposal with
iron.