The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-08-23

n
w progress an article ought to be
written at least once every three
hours At this writing the most intense
activity prevails in the laboratories of the
world The sciences that are in the fore
front just now are electricity, radiation,
psychology, electro-chemistry and astron-
omy. The advances in electricity now
made daily seem to figure and forecast
the fact that the habits, customs. mode of
living and civilization of mankind will
all be changed by the common use of cleo
tricity Perhaps it is not wild to say that
three-fourths of the work Of the world
will be done by electricity-the writer be-
lieves in nine-tenths, but will say three
quarters.
All railways at least will be run by the
still unknown agency. We say unknown,
for although the chief scientific men of
the world believe that electricity is COM
posed of Thomsanian corpuscles, right
mathematical proof is not yet made. The
building of electrical railways is now go
ing on at a rate so rapid that one can
not follow the details. No such colossal
movement of capital, advanced by the
leading financiers of the void, in so short
time has appeared in history Southern
California is simply being covered by a
network of almost perfect electric rail-
roads. The Huntington system Is not sur
passed in the United States. Ohio Is be-
Ing traversed in all directions. and Mas
sachusetts.
The gigantic tunnel under the Hudson
river from Jersey City to New York
is gradually nearing completion after
thirty years of toll, Electricity only
will be the motive power for. the cars.
The imense underground railways under
the city of New York will al be actuated
by electric currents Steam railways are
being turned into electric in many parts
of the world where water power is
plenty.
If a buzzsaw is in rapid motion it
seems to be at rest. And this idea may
apply to progress. for it is so rapid that
the observer is dazed and confused, and
the panorama so far as he is concerned.
might as well be quiescent-he fails TO
comprehnd.
Since old King Suphis put up his big
pyramid no such feats of engineering
has been consummated. The new bridge
between New York and Brooklyn is
one of the most sublime works ever
wrought by human hands. In fact, the
vast city, New York, Is now one great
center of magnificent engineering. The
bridge took seven years to build, and
I1It -trx
first in the clutch of mathematics. One
sight of the formulas of the higher an
slysis in computing the strength of ma
terials, strains. pressure, pushes and
pulls, Is enough to cause ones brain to
whirl. The genius of man was called
into play to swing the enormous cables
Vast anchors were buried deep into the
earth in New York and Brooklyn to
keep the cables from sagging. They
alone-the anchors-cost $1,57O000, the
total cost of the bridge and land termi-
nails being over $4,000, COO. Its length
over the river between towers is 1.6O0
feet. and the width of the floor is lis
feet Two steam railroads, four electric,
two roads for horse carriages and two
for foot passengers fill this elevated
aerial street.
A sypstem of running railway cars at
great speed at low cost has just been
devised in Berlin. The problem seems to
have been solved in this case by means
of alternating currents at high pressure
which can be transmitted on a small wire
at lower cost than direct low pressure.
Vast and worldwide changes will be
made in electrical >rai;ways the moment
that alternating currents can be sent di-
rectly into the motors under the cars
without the present expensive cost of
transformation of low direct into high al !
ternating Really, it will change the |
transportation problem of the world.
Another gigantic work of engineering Is I
that of the Edisen Portland Cement |
Works. It brushes stones in the great roll !
lers that in many cases weigh five tons |
each. The use of Portland cement in our |
great buildings is rapidly on the increase.
In radiation the world is continually be- |
ing startled with the discovery of new
waves of many varying lengths that issue |
from almost every object In fact, 1t is |
now thought that energy waves emanate |
from every phase of matter. The diff |
ficulty SO. far has been to make appa-a-
tus delicate enough to detect them and |
measue their lengths. Waves that are set !