, 1914-01-14
WHITE MAGIC.
By HENRY FARRAND griffin.
From tie Oudoob.)
Contained from Auis No 81

tCOft PtUtt j OHt ZCtS 4bO, ~
"Do you think, l asked him, chat this
sort Of electric drive will replnce the present
steam engine on transatlantic liners %
eyes, was his reply.
ON how long a time?'
''Ihat is hard to judge"
"But do you think that ultimately the
greater proportion Of large liners viii be
driven by electric motors z"
eyes"
Perhaps | should add here that many pro-
minent electrical engineers and marine ex-
perts altogether Disagree with Dr.. Stein
metz on this question of electric motor drive
for ships, Men like Edison, Professor
Charles f. Scott, of Yale University, and
Charles G.. Curtis, the inventor Of the steam
turbine, all believe that the problem present
ed by the different speeds at which propeller
and turbine are most efficient can be best
solved by some sort of reducing gear,
Edison's comment on this question was
brief and to the point:
81 don't agree that tho reducing gear pro-
position is impracticable," lie said. "Aud
a generator and motor make a pretty expen-
sive substitute for a mechanical device"
Edison l found late one night hard at
work in his laboratory in West Orange. The
lights still burned brightly in the little brick
building, almost hidden among the dark
masses of many-stoned modern factories.
The Waterman peered Mt my pass, the gates
changed behind me, and with no more formal
introduction | found myself IN the laboratory
where SO many famous inventions have been
puzzled out.
In the library Edison met me, with q
shake Of his chemical stained hand, curiously
~listless, contrasted with his quick, searching
,l.,oo HI laI tho yvoy a Dru,,tlv 70 a l,nr
table by his old-fashioned roll-top desk, all
fairly flooded with light, rapidly read over
any list Of questions, informed me TINT [ was
going to write al encyclopaedia, and then
settled down to answer the questions, meth.
odically, one by one, es they were written.
| would have given q good deal for more
time to browse about that curious laboratory
library. The room rises nearly forty feet
to the ceiling, with two tiers of galleries
running around the open we'll in the center.
At one end there is an enormous fireplace,
and the desks, chairs, tables, and other fur
niture are mingled in the oldest way with
models, mechanical devices, glass cabinets,
meteorological specimens, marble statues,
busts. ingots Of metal and-Edison himself
only knows what besides. All this hetero-
geneous collection fades into the shadows
that lurk under the galleries despite the bril-
liant ILLUMINATION OF TIE room. III the aICONeS
and up in the galleries are shelves upon
shelves Of books, papers, and periodicals.
Half hidden behind a curtain in one alcove
is the little cot on which Edison snatches his
syncopated maps between study and expert
ment.
His very first words were to dissent from
the idea that anything very wonderful had
yet been accomplished in the way Of %electri-
cal development.
"What we have done is only o beginning"
he is declaring "we have barely emerged
from the chimpanzee stage. 1t is all a ques-
ton of the development of the human brain,
Some men now think eight times faster than
others. | have measured it by actual test
on a machine. As the brain becomes more
complex we will be able to accomplish things
that would sound fantastic to-day.
"These things that you ask me" he con-