The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-11-12
HISTORY BUILDERS.
When Edison Had a Sudden Inspira-
ton.
written expressly for The Washington Her1d.j
BY DR.. L. J. EDWARDS.

uOH.
Written expressly for The Washington Her.dJ
By DIR. L. J. EDWARDS.
Edison Day was celebrated here anC
there throughout the country on October
| q, and / was reminded by these trib'
utes to the inventor of an incident thai
occurred in 1873, when Edison's reputa
ton was based chiefly on some Inven'
| lions associated with the telegraph ant
telephone and his absolutely original in
vention of the photograph.
One hot afternoon in August, 1873,
met Edison on a train of the New Haven
railroad He was sweltering with the ex-
cessive heat and his brown linen dusteI
showed evidences of it. He was, how
ever. in excellent spirits and he passed
many jokes with his friend, Prof. George
Barker. of the University of Pennsyl-
vania, who was going with him TO visit
large manufacturing plant in the town
of Ansonia, Conn.
Edison told me that the managers OF
a large industry in Ansonia were on the
day following. which was Sunday. 10
make a test or demonstration OF a new
and very large apparatus which they had
manufactured. They had invited him and
Prof. Barker to be their guests and To
witness the experimental test.
Edisen said that this was only a holi-
day excursion for him. He expected TO
be entertained. perhaps instructed, but
that was all. \ gentleman of some eX-
pert knowledge was of the party, and
was urged by Edison to join the party,
but an assignment from Charles A. Dana
which entailed a visit to Eastern Con-
necticut compelled me to decline the in
vitation.
A few days after my return to New
York 1 met the gentleman who accom-
panied the Edison party and he said to
me: THE test and experimental dem
onstration were interesting. But my at
tention was concentrated a few moments
after the test began on Edison. He had
been all the morning in high spirits. full
of fun. making jokes. as you know is his
custom, but suddenly, as he stood in
front of the apparatus, his demeanor
and expression changed. 1 never saw on
the countenance of any man an express
sion Of such intense absorption as was
that OF Edison at that time. j observed
that he was not looking at the appa-
ratus which he had been invited to wit
ness when in operation. but instead his
gaze was fixed on an arc light. The bril-
liancy OF this light was intense, and It
seemed to me that Edison was imperilling
his eyes by such steady concentration OF
his gaze upon that arclight
and the party was on its way from the
factory to accept the hospitality OF the
hosts. Edison still continued in that alb
stract, absorbed demeanor. He spoke
when spoken to. but that was all. Later
asked Prof Barker II he had observ-
ed the demeanor OF Edison and he said
that he had and that Edison had told
him that as he was looking at the arc
light the thought suddenly occurred to
him that II the electric current could be
divided and subdiyided perfect system
of electric lighting would be secured, and
that he had determined to lay aside all
other work upon which he was engaged
and begin investigation and study with
intent to perfect electric light"
That was the beginning of one of Edi-
sons chief achievements. Fourteen
years later. he told me that his electric
light had brought him his first capital
at that time about $4,000 .0oo
Copyright. leIs. BY Z. J. Edwards. All Righs Re
servedg
Tomorrow DR.. Edwards win tell when
Pooling Methods Were Beneficial"