Omaha daily bee., 1903-01-05
ADDRESS ON ELECTRICITY
Edward Rosewater Speaks at Meeting Of
the Philosophical Society.
LITTLE UNDERSTOOD FORCE OF NATURE
with All the Progress in
Electrical Science the Constituent
Elements of Electricity
Are Undiscovered.

bVlS VI II philosophical society were
present at the regular meeting yesterday
afternoon at 1880 in parlor B Of the Paxton
hotel. The speaker of the afternoon was
Edward Rosewater. who delivered an ad-
dress on the subject OF Electricity as a
Vital Force" He said:
About three years ago I called upon
Thomas Edison at his laboratory In South
Orange and found him at work in expert
menting upon a new storage battery which
he has since perfected. In the course of
our conversation l asked the great cleo
t~rician, What is electricity To this
question the wizard OF Menlo park re-
sponded: you know as much about 1t as l
do That is not literally true. l am sure
Edison has forgotten more about cleo
tricity than ever l can possibly hope to
learn, but for all that his answer was sug-
gestive and significant. What Edison
doubtless intended to say was that with all
our marvellous progress in electrical sci
ence we have not been able to determine
the constituent elements of electricity.
A we know about electricity is that
1t is one Of the correlative forms Of en-
ergy. In fact, scientific tests have demon
strated that heat, light, electricity and
magnetism are interconvertible. Light is
convertible into heat, heat into electricity
and electricity into magnetism, and either
of these forms Of energy can again be con-
verified into each other. All Of these forms
Of force in reality are symptoms of motion
in matter. That brings us to several fun
damental truths:
"First-That all matter is ndestructible
and all change of form in matter is pro-
duced through energy.
"Second-That energy is as indestructi-
BILE as matter and energy permeates all
matter under all conditions. That energy
cannot be separate from matter is a truth
that is being demonstrated every hour Of
the day. Take, for example, the form OF
energy known as heat and you will find
that no known substance is without some
heat at any stage. Liquid air, reduced
by THERMOMETERS measurement to 400 de-
grees below zero, still retains an infni-
tesimal quantity of heat and consequently
Of energy. Matter, whether in a gaseous,
liquid or solid state, being permeated with
energy in some form and energy never be-
ing at rest, 1t follows as a sequence that
all matter is in constant motion.
Only n symptom of Motion.
Another fundamental truth that under
lies electricity as a vital force is that en-
ergy is only an expression or symptom Of
motion, and all energy and matter being
inseparable. 1t follows that all matter is
in constant motion and change is the uni
versal law. The basalt rocks that under
lie giant mountains have been presumed to
be absolutely stable, but experiments and
experience have demonstrated that they
are in constant motion. Every atom of
their granite masses is changing places
with other atoms, and that change, i'm
!, perceptible to us during the course of myr-
!. lads of years, is one of the sources of phys
ical evolution Of this globe.
THE most potential form OF energy, as
I manifested through visible motion in com
bination with organic matter, constitutes
what 10 called life and it's abstraction from
the living Lody is called death. But there
is no death; there is constant and eternal
change,
Astronomical science teaches us that the
earth is a planet; the solar system and
myriads of systems in the constellation
Of the heavens rotate in infinite space
through the eternal procession of the cen
e turtles. New worlds ar being born and old
$ worlds are dying, or rather changing
From the collisions Of meteoric matter and
q from the impact of larger cold and dead
world masses, derelicts in the ocean o.
g space, nebulae are forming and in the
: process of evolution become suns or planets
e mo part Of the cosmos is stable, but
s the law Of conservation Of energy and in
d destructibility OF matter proves the per.
e slstence of the universal substance. Men
planets, suns and stars live their time anC
h pass to other forms. but the universe II
an indestructible substance and perpetus
n motion continues without decline. The sue.
cession is complete. New suns and worlds
take the place of the old and any day II
as much a day OF creation as any other.
. An Electrical Reservoirs.
I'M
y magnetic energy, generated by its diurna
revolution around it's axis, while gravita
% ton represents the force that propels tn,
earth within It's planetary orbit around thu
10 sun. In it's daily rotation on its axi
"a within an atmospheric envelope the eartl
n is simply a collosal dynamo 5000 miles
In diameter. in which the poles sustain
the relation OF a magnetic cylinder. III,
atmosphere that surrounds the earth is sat
urated with gases and vapors. The terrih,
n speed Of the terrestrial dynamo, rotating
"a within this atmosphere, generates the cleo
:. tricity concentrated in the terrestrial globe
and the friction of the earth with tn
~ vapors, or clouds, that surround It gen
= crates the lightning and atmospheric cleo
trio phenomenon, which repeat themselves
from day to day and year to year.
These views relative to the earth
a function as the reservoir Of terrestrial cleo
tricity have as yet not been concurred fl
by a majority Of scientists. They are. how
:, ever. conclusions that have impressed them
selves upon me after many years OF ex
=, perience in the domain of telegraphy. Fort
- years ago telegraphers and electrical scien
lists generally held the belief that the cart
, was the conductor. or medium, for conduct
= ing the return circuit from the end Of tn,
; battery attached to a telegraph line to tn
- battery attached at It's terminus.
y "In other words, the ground wire con
- nected with the electric generating batter,
> at Omaha would carry the current OF cleo
&c tricity into the earth, and that curren
passing through the earth would reach tn
battery at Chicago by way OF the grounl
ie wire in the Chicago office, making a com
p plete circuit between Omaha and Chicago
a Rejecting a Theory.
II. This theory l rejected within a few
IT months after / had become a practical tel
nd egrapher. could not make myself believ
rs that the current generated from our bat
l. terry and passing down the ground -wir
Elk into the earth was endowed with an intel
or ligenee and precision OF impulse that woul
in lead II straight on TO Chicago. St. Louis o
a. | nanVar and 6nd ffa NAV nader .troatg o.