The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-12-24
SCIENCE MADE POPULAR
Or. SMITH LECTURES ON SOME DREAMS
OF MODEM INVENTORS"
Under the Auspices of the Westminster League
of the Presbyterians Large Au-
dience Hears Him.

DIR. III. l.. Smith, of Davidson College,
Modern Inventors TO large and SUI
perior audience ut the Presbyterian
church yesterday evening. The lecture
was given under the auspices of the
Westminster League, and the size and
character of the audience were Il trib-
ute to the reputation of DIR. Smith as a
lecturer and certainly none was disap-
pointed.
DIR. Smith is an enthusiastic scientist,
whose exploits are by no means con-
fined TO dreamland or the lecture plat
form He is one of the best electricians
in the South and an expert i'll the hand
ling of the Roentgen ray. lie speaks
with something Of the nervous eagerness
of the enthusiast and the devotee, but
clearly, entertainingly and convincing
ly withal.
In beginning the speaker said that he
should Use the marvellous discoveries
of the past few years merely as a basis
of inference and to show that what
is now Il matter of common experience
was once as wild dream as any of
the things he should suggest. 1t must
be admitted that while some of the pro-
jects suggested by the lecturer seem
rather visionary, they are no more so
to the lay mind than would have been
before Senior Marconi made it an ac-
complished fact.
The lecturer spoke Of six inventions
tax TIL -,
with more or less assurance Of ultimate
success. The first Of these was dura-
BILE and efficient storage battery. This
will mean u revolution in methods of
travel, and the application of power, as
great as was produced by the steam en-
CINE. All that is required here is inn
provement, not origination.
The second invention is the produc-
ton of cold light, by process rs eco
nomical as that of the glow-worm or
bit of decaying wood This would save
80 per cent of the power now used to
produce the incandescent electric OF
other light
The third invention, and one upon
which scientists are constantly working
with more or less promise of success, is
a process for the production of electric
ity directly from coal without the cir
cuitous and wasteful route of the steam
engine and dynamo.
The fourth dream of the inventor is
wireless telegraphy. This, through the
genius of the Italian inventor, Marconi
has already become practicable to Il
distance of "a miles. 1t may yet be that
from n single transmitter stationed in
New York messages may be flashed all
over the country without the use OF
wires.
The fifth dream and as yet one OF
the NEST elusive dreams, of the inventor
is some method for conserving the ener-
gy of the sun'cs heat as it falls on the
earth's surface. Enough power is thus
wasted on one square mile of surface to
drive every wheel and spindle in the
State.
The last dream of the scientist is the
production of food by artificial means
directly from the elementary constit
uency. Thus the synthetic chemist
who has mastered that secret could make
bread and sugar from charcoal and
water; and beef steak from charcoal
water and the nitrogen of the air.
The speaker received the closest atten
, tion throughout. showing that science
can be as popular as fairy stories wher
properly handled.