The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-18
THE REAL EDISON

I1OmaS Ava Ed1SOn came from
Nashville, Tenn, to New York in the
early seventies to take a position as
electrician in the offices of the Frank
lin, Pacific & Atlantic and Atlantic &
Pacific telegraph offices, which were
then located on Broad street near the
junction of Wall. Country boy" was
stamped all over him. He wore a
brownish suit and his hat was a soft
butternut; his long lanky hair stoo1
out defiant of brush or comb. He was
rather slight in those days, although
" ~r@s put on rotundity with advanc-
ing years. At that time the Western
Union had as rivals the companies
named and in addition the Bankers &
Brokers and 1 think the Southern &
Atlantic. On New street, near by,
there was another company, the Auto
matte. run by D. H. Craig, also in the
rival combination.
With Mr.. Edison were associated two
young telegraph experts named Wright
and Johnson, the former a short man
ter sl.ghter and taller than Edison
himself. They had as an experiment
room q small light-tight wooden cab
inet, fitted UP in the office of the
Franklin and it was an everyday oc-
currence for the three to rush out to
escape into the main operating room
from the smoke and fumes which is
sued from their little chamber as the
result OF their experiments.
Edison at that time had not made
any OF his wonderful inventions but he
was regarded as coming man" in
telegraphy, nevertheless. His first
successful invention showed his quick
and facile genius. He was very deaf
and one had to speak quite loud to
make him hear conversation; yet his
ear detected the faintest metallic click.
All the telegraph companies used the
same sounder-the Page sounder. 1t
had been invented by a man who had
died some time previously and the
patent, which was in the name of his
wife was controlled by the Western
Union
One day, In the midst Of business,
and when brokers' messages and gen.
eral kilograms. including the usual
hooks. the opposition companies were
served simultaneously with an injunc-
ton. obtained from a judge Of the Su-
preme Court in New York, restrain
ing them absolutely, from using the
PAGE sounder. The blow fell like a
fhunderbolt from a clear sky The
keys were silenced and in the great
. operating rooms there was nothing
doing"
The managers were in consultation
over the dilemma when Edison saun-
tered into the operating room. Mr..
acquainted him with the situation.
Edison grinned and sat down at an
| instrument. He reached out for q
sheet Of tin. such as were used in
making manifold copies" and called
for q stout pair OF scissors From one
OF his pockets-which were always
bulging with wire and other appli
ances Of his craft-he took pair Of
| pliers. First he detached the Page
sounder from the instrument, an in
tensely interested crowd watching his
every movement. Then. with the sc:s-
sors, he cut a section of the thin sheet
of tin, about three inches wide and
possibly four or five inches in length.
He then sliced it at either end, max
ing two points through each of which
he bored a hole. He then curved it
lengthwise doubled up the ends and
fitted them to the instrument precisely
where the page sounder had been pre-
viously connected and tapped the key.
The clfcking-and it was a joyful
sound-could be heard all over the
room There was a general chorus
of surprise and admiration at the ready
got it, was the exclamation and, sure
enough. the responsive answer from
the other end of the line:-"Did you
get me?'' 20 X o Kl''
Within an hour, every instrument in
the room was equipped with the i'm
suured The injunction was complete
" obviated and the officials of the
rival companies broadly. smiled Ed
ison's star was in the ascendant. He
had won a brilliant victory with
scarcely an effort Similar saunders
were improvised all over the various
circuits and business went on as US
ual. although the operating rooms, as
some remarked, were somewhat like
smaIl-sized boiler shops for noise. In
a. few days, under EdisonIs instruc-
ficns, the factory of the allied COM
papses was turning out hundreds of
welf-made saunders of the new mod
ell
Edison's patents now number nearly
q thousand. but none of them brought
him greater fame than this.
Edison's genius deals almost exclu-
eivelF with material problems. He is
a natural scientist; but If one were to
ask him to define electricity, Or to
describe in terms the current which
flows from one synchronized point to
another over the wireless he would
smile but would not attempt defini-
fion. His training has been practical
rather than theoretical, and his ex-
perience does not go beyond visible
causes and effects. When he under
takes to speak Of the human brain.
it Is soon apparent to the average
student of the subject that he does
not understand the problem. DR.. w.
H Thomson, in the recent discussion
raised by Edison's observations On i'm
mortality, showed that the inventor
did not even know that the brain was
a dual organism with two lobes. His
opportunities for the study of such
subjects must necessarily have been
1neagre-
1t is not the purpose of the writer
to criticize Mr.. Edison as scientist,
for. as has been stated,( he is an apt
student on all lines of practical sci
ence: but in the fields of speculative
science he shows inaptitude. The re-
marks on immortality-that he could
find no evidence of a soul in the hu-
man body-are on a level with those
of the surgeon who, in cutting up a
cadayer. might observe that he had
not found either in the brain or the
heart or anywhere else the slightest
evidence of an immortal principle; the
life had gone out with the cessation
of the hearts function, and there was
nothing more.
The existence of the soul and the
proof of Immortality are not demon
strable by any known scientific pro-
cess One must have advanced far
beyond Edison and penetrated into
the realms of faith and spiritual life,
before he can apprehend the mystery
of mans spirit and its divine longings
Nor does one need to be a scientist or
Inventor TO do this. for there are count
H.