The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1912-05-24
ELECTRICITY.
why u Is Difficult For the Layrnaa 20
Understand What IT Is,

;. "What is electricitysY is a favor
lite query with people who desire Il
get a rise" out of scientific man
And when he fails to answer it il
the same simple fashion that he
might treat the question "What i:
BISCUIT? the questioner cries out
Aha! You profess to know al
about electricity. Why, you can't
even tell what it is!'
Now, to "tell what a thing is"-
that is, to define its to state its
relations with something more fa-
mlliar. The particular familiar
thing that the questioner is think
ing of IN this case is ordinary mat
ter. Heat has been explained to
hlm as a vibration of material par
ticles. Light, he has been told. il
aswave motion in the ether, and he
understands the ether to be kind
OF matter or a substance resem-
bling matter in some particulars.
1t Is not to be denied that no
such simple general relationship
can be stated between electricity
and matter. But, this being so, it
would be just as correct to say that
we Go not Know what matter is "A
that we do not know what eiectrici-
W Is. AS a matter OF fact. we do
not know what matter is, and the
latest plausible theory of il builds
1t up on an electric basis, so that on
this theory the idea of electricity is
more fundamental than that of
matter. Unfortunately our senses
have been evolved by contact with
matter and are trained to detect
only matter. Electricity they know
only secondarily, through its action
upon matter-the light or heat that
1t causes matter to give out, the at
traction that it causes certain sub
stances to exert, and so on. To tho
man N the street, therefore, matter
Is familiar, and he demands a state
ment of the latter in terms of the
former, illogical though this may
be. After the scientist has stated |,
all this the reply comes back, eyes.
| understand all that, and It 10
most clear, | am sure, but tell me,
then, what ia electricity anywayY
Another source of confusion 10
the lay mind is that scientific men
10 not always use tho word "elec-
Irlcity" to mean the same thing.
The engineer often employs it to
express the thing that the theosct-
cal electrician calls electric encr-
~"
To find the energy of electricity
that is, It's ability 10 do work.
he electrician multiplies tho guam
ity of electricity by the potential
,r tension under which II exists.
sut Ito the engineer this product
tself measures the thing that no
alls electricity"
Ihe work that n pound OF water
nay do by falling foot is one foot
'ound. The water is the safnc after
alling as before, though its energy :
less. So to the electrician Q
uantity of electricity at 100 volts
precisely the same as at one volt,
hough the former is able to do a
undred times as much work.
This difference in meaning causes
thousands of disputes among stu
ents. electricity is a form of
nergy," says one, ''just like light
r heat" ooh, nor is the reply.
1t Is not energy at all, though it
lay possess or convey energy" One
isPutant is talking about the cleo
ricity of the physical and the other
bout that of the engineer; hence
neir dispute is merely a matter of
ehnition, though they do not know
. What wonder that some people
re still content to regard the whole
lbject as a civilized Mumbo Jum-
o?-St. Louis Republic.
The Nutmeg Tree.
The nutmeg is the kernel of tho
ut of several species of trees
rowing wild in Asia, Africa and
merica. The cultivated nutmeg
ee is from fifty to seventy-fve
a. high and produces fruit for
1ty years. The fruit is of the -
ze and appearance of a roundish
ar, yellow in color. Tie feshv
lrt of the fruit is rather hard and
sembles candied citron. Within
the nut, enyeloped in the curious
.llowish red aril known to us as
ace. Up to 1876 the Dutch, being
possession of the islands produc-
z the only valuable variety of the
ltmeg, jealousy tried to prevent
e carrying of the tree or living
ed of it into am territory indie.