The times., 1898-05-17
Weak Men and
Weary Women
Find Renewed Health
in the Treatment of
DR.. CLEMENS CLEMENS
l4li Pa. Ave. Adj. Willard's Hotel.
All persons whose vitality is low, whose crcu-
laton is weak, whose nerves unstrung, whose
nutrition insufficient, are in need OF
specialists care. II you in this condition,
see the Doctor TODAY. 1t may save you many
wakeful nights and days of uncertainty. 1t may
save your life.
Question List-A for men. for women. C for
Skin Diseases
CHARGES MODERATE, MEDICINE INCLUDED.
Daily Office Ho,rs-i0 q. M. TO s p m. Mon
day, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday, to .
p. III. Sunday 10 to II m
CONSULTATION STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL.
CHARGES MODERATE, MEDICINE INCLUDED.
ELECTRICITY IN WAR.
Victory May Depend Largely on the
Experts.

VICTORY Muy DepeHu LurSeI3 On the
Experts.
New York, May l6-It is the opinion Of
Mr. S. II. Short, an eminent electrical
expert that the result of the war with
Spain will depend more upon which side
has the best electricians than upon the
question of the biggest ships and heaviest
guns.
1.-The navel and startling uses to which
electricity may be put in the next great
naval war" says Mr.. Short in the Golden
Penny. ARE likely to play decisive part
in the struggle.
at is possible that direct verbal com
munication, without electrical connection,
may be established between a fort or
flagship and a vessel miles out at sea.
A beam of light may be pressed into
service to carry the words Of the ad-
miral in default of a telephone cable.
The same commanding officer may equip
a harbor or roadstead with an invisible
battery of magnets which shall seize
hostile ship and hold her motionless, in
spite of the most frantic efforts of her
crew, right under his guns. He may even
sit in a dark room and by camera and
a mirror have her movements photograph
ed on the mine chart In front of him, un-
TIL when her miniature sails over the pa
| per map. he shall, by pressing button,
Z, explode the mine. which at that moment
must infallibiy be Immediately under the
actual stup herself. These are only a
few of the coups his electrical experts
may enable him to strike.
"A o0-horse power engine will generate
! electricity enough for a searchlight of
| 100000 candle power. No such tremendous
| light would be necessary, however 10 en-
! able the commanders Of two ships, or the
/ commanders of ship and shore fort. to
] til ,FR.a r4ns-f.s, ~
with selenium already worked out prac-
| ticaliy on land and on a small scale shall
| prove to fit the conditions of modern
4 naval warfare. The sensitiveness OF the
metal selenium is such that the instant
| d beam OF light falls upon its surface the
/ selenium gives out a distinct electrical
| click; its resistance has been changed.
| When the beam of light is removed its
| resistance is once more changed. and the
selenium gives out another click.
'The admiral who talks into the tele-
| phone mouthpiece on the battleship or In
the fort opens and closes by the yibra-
| tions of his voice the slit in the metai
plate. Every word and tone the admiral
utters into ii viii be carried by the VI
brations of the beam of light and repro
| duced exactly in the ear of listener al
the telephone receiver There would be
| telephoning along beam Of light Instead
| of along an electric wire.
"The destructive agency of high explo-
| sives was made effective some time since
| in the Russo-Turkish war, and has beer
| more recently used in the Chilean and
| Brazilian revolutions. and in the war be-
| tween China and Japan. The effects o1
such an explosion on or near a modern
steel ship were NEST lamentably exhibit
| ed in the ruin of the Maine and The
slaughter of hundreds of her men in Ha
| yana harbor.l The astonishing results Il
| be achieved by the alliance of electricity
| and high explosives are, however, yet e
be only Imagined Such combination
holds the potential ruin of entire fleets
Assuredly electricity may be made t
work yet unthought of horrors in the mex
clash OF steel navies. Indeed, I believ,
there will be no great difficulty in send
ing directly through salt water a cuTren
of electricity strong enough TO explode {
mine some distance away, without tn.
use of wires TO connect the mine to tn,
shore.
The magazines Of battleships are tot
well protected and surrounded by venti
lating spaces to be in danger of explosion
from a current of electricity conveyed t,
them directly through the water in which
the ship Is floating. although such an ex
| ploson Is conceivable were a high explo
siYe allowed to rest in direct contact witt
the steel side of the ship. Nor could he
electric lighting plant be destroyed from
without by electrical means, but her deck
might be charged with electricity enough
to kill all on board who came in contac
with ii by some such device as this: From
a station on shore equipped with a power
full electric plant q motor might be mad
TO fire two solid shots over the ship eacl
| shot having a copper wire attached to II
That would be easy enough. If thes
| wires fell on the metallic structure of tn
vessel, resting in contact with it. and
5,00O-volt current were sent through from
shore, they would fuse to the ship an
the current would be short rt-circuitet
harmlessly. But If either of the wire
should rest upon some non-metallic por
tion OF the ship. or object or structure o.
deck, then all persons who came in con
tact with that wire would be instantl,
killed, as their bodies would complete tn
circuit.
''If 1t were desired to stop and hold i'm
movable hostile ship over mine or 4
certain position peculiarly exposed t
fire from the shore, that result could b
readily accomplished. A magnet exerts
pressure of $50 pounds for every squar
inch of the surface of Its poles. An enor
nous magnet could be made very quickl
by winding two big guns with wire an
joining their larger ends in a horsesho
| shape by boiling on plates. A sufficien
number of these magnets to grip a stee
ship and hold her remorseessly motion
less at a most dangerous point coul
either be fioated out to her like torpedoe
or could be anchored at the place desired
waterproofed, OF course and connecte
by wires with a shore battery. The pres
sure of button in the battery would b
| all that would be necessary to arouse tn
| force Of the magnets, whether they wer
foated out or were anchored by chains t
the bottom. Nor could all the ships GREY
and officers and machinery release her.
1.-The most effective way to use a min
for coast or harbor defense that I ca
conceive of involves the use of a fxe
camera, which should be set into tn
walls of an observation station or dar
room on shore, its lens covering the en-
tire panorama of the bay, but especial
the surfaces under which the mines woul
be placed. There might be a score O
these mines, each connected with a ke
in the operators keyboard, and numbered
The operator would have mis- own dyna
mo right by him in the station, and
projectile cable would connect him wit
the mines, the ends of the wires restin
In the powder in the heart of the min
cases. The points at which the wires er
tered the mine cases could, of course. b
insulated with bushings.
I'm his absolutely dark room, save fo
the light that would be admitted by tn