The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-02-14
PLAYING wzrM nLscrn.c.rr.


 FLAMING WITH ELECTRHcETY. The announcement that lfr. Thomas IA. Edison Is going--or says he is-- to retire from active work sounds like
 g Joke. He celebrated his soth birth
 day last Monday. and lacks . long way of being in the osler class, but he
 thinks he has had enough of hard work.
 Here is. the way he talks about his intentions:
 For forty-five years have been maklng experimcnts with electricity. but all these years have been turn. Ing these experiments to commercial chance to play with electricity for the run of the thing, just to see how much
 I can find ont about it. But from to- morrow on am going to give up the
 laboratory purely as q. scientist. That VIII De pleasure I have long been promising myself.
 During ali these years that have
 ticai commercial value have run across phenomena that Invited experi- ment. but did not have time to turn aside from the work at hand. l have to possible new discoveries. Now I am going back over these nofes and work out at nay leisure the experiments they suggest on the subject"
 We repeat that the retirement of Ed ison from practical work sounds like joke. He has been one of the most steady and persistent workers in the country. He has done more for elec- trical science than any man living. He has made and patented more inven- tions than any man who has ever lived on earth. Many of his inventions have protfed him nothing. Many of them he obtained patents for in order to protect himself in case he should ever want to prafit by them. It is not at all likely that he will quit invsnting or patenting as long as his mental and physical faculties remain sufficiently strong.
 But we imagine there will be some fun going on when rhcmas gets down to play withfelectricity." as he phrases 1t. Much as has been learned about this subtle duid. much as has been done with and by 1t, the world is ~s yet only at the threshold. as 1t were. of its power and possibilities. Those who have studied it. experimented with 1t and attempted to find cut the hid- den mysteries of this wonderful pow CT are constantly meeting with sur- prises and are not slow to aeknowledge themselves up against impossible walls at times.
 If Mir. Edison can actually and def- initely cut himself loose from the conn merciai stds Of his investigations and devote his time to experimentation. without thinking Of the money value of his labor and efforts the world may look for wonderful results. No man living. we presume. is better fitted than he. by taste. intuition and experience to search into and lay bare the un- known in electricity. With all the skill. enthusiasm and application that he can bring to bear he will be many times baffied. no doubt. but if it lies within the power of human intelligence to ascertain what electricity really Is he Is the man to accomplish it.
 Bnt playing with electricity, we should say, is something like playing with edged tools. It is as treacher- ous as it is powerful and mysterious, and many a man has ignorantly tried to play with it and met death because of his venture. No man knows its dangers better than he. and no man is better qualified to foresee and avoid them. but even he may venture too far. or may make mistake and in flash the world will lose one of its greatest living scientists and nechan. ics. Let us hope that when he sets himself down to play with electricity" he will bear in mind that his life with the full possession of all his faculties Is of untold value to the world.
 Looking at it from a strictly utili- tarian point of view it is indeed for. tunate that MT. Edison came to the resolution ha did and just at this time. The great and increasing cost and scar city of coal and other kinds of fuel, and the wonderful force and adaptabil- ity of electric power is bringing it more and more into use as a motive power, and the occasion and demand for 1t Is constantly increasing. As we have said, there are so many mysteries about it, and so much that Is as yet unknown that we can hardly imagine a greater service to man than will come from better knowledge of all the mysteries of electricity and the best method of making 1t useful to humanity. Let us join in wishing him both satisfaction. and success in his new departure.
 ST. VALENTINES DAY.
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