Year: 1879

the project Of a direct line through to com.
pleiiOn,


The Close OF the Year.


We are now brought face to face with
tue close Of another year. This morning
We print our diary for 1879, giving to our
readers the principal local events, group.
edtogether under their proper heads, in
the months oil their occurrence. In most
respects the year has not been specially
eyentfnl in our midst. Our community
has gone oil in the even tenor Of its way
without much to particularly excite the
public. Wheeling and vicinity have been
exempt from any great or wide spread cal.
anty in the shape OF sickness, conAagra.
ton or other disaster, For this we have
all reason to be duly thankful. The
changes that have occurred have been
generally for the better. This time last
year a portion Of our people were not
fully employed, and their earnings were
scarcely sufficient 10 supply them with the
comforts OF life. In this respect there is a
marked change for the better. Work is
plenty and wages are good, and there Is
every reason to believe that this is to be
the case without interruption during the
new year. The business portion of
the community feel that new lease Of

life has opened before them, especially the
manufacturers. For six years past each
recurring close Of the year has brought
them 10 lower level OF values, and dis
appointed their hopes of better times.
But it is not SO now. They have seen the
clouds thoroughly dispelled at last, and
they have got out Of the old ruts Of
gloomy torebodings and mistrust, and to-
day are not only terminated by the i'm
provement already experienced, but even
more so by auticipations Of greater pros
Perity yet to come. Unless all signs fail
they will not be disappointed. The year
1850 is inl! ofpromise for the whole coun-
Try, aud while 1t is to be year Of unusual
political excitement yet the iounda-
tons Of business are so well laid by tho
fact Of specie resumption, and by the large
increase Of aggregate wealth in conse-
querCe oi our good crops and the foreign
demand for them, that we cannot doubt
that rs compared with late years, 1880
will be memorable in our annals as one Of
thr golden years Of the republic.


EdI>on's LIxht-Tne Future of Gas.


The latest news from Menlo Park, New
Jersey, where Edison has had his jets
shooting forth beautiful electric light for
days and nights at a time, is very hopeful
Of success. Some OF the rival electricians
have been prophesylng failure even while
The iCta were burning day by day. There
does not however appear to be any reason
to apprehend failure, although 1t can
hardly he said that the new light is an as
Sured success. Tho stock in Edison's
Company commands large pre-
MUM, while gas stocks have been weak in
the New York market. The Chicago
Tribune does not see that gas stock need to
decline seriously in price, even should
Edisons light prove perfect success.
Gas will still be needed for heating pur.
poses, and is probably destined to supply
luel for heating and cooking purposes in
many private houses and public establish.
ments.


As simplided by the Tribuns's explana.
ton, the theory Of Edison's light is easily
understood. IIe uses little horseshoe
shaped carbonized paste-board inclosed in
snail hermeticalIy.sealed globe, from
tAeprougs Of which platinum wires, also in
the vacuum, connect with copper wires
outside the lamp, these In turn uniting
with iron or steel wires to the battery.
The electricity traverses the latter wires
with the usual velocity amounting to
many thousand miles second, They arc
such perfect conductors that the resist
Ance is not appreciable. The platinum
wires, on the other hand. are poor con-
dnctors. They probably give ten thou
sand times more resistance than iron or
copper; whilo the carbon is so poor con-
ductOr that the electric current can hardly
creep around the horseshoe. The pro-
gess Of the current In making Its circuit
may he compared to a skater flying at
great ApGed over very smooth ice, who
suddenly strikes upon q bit Of bare ground
His speed is at once so retarded that he
Onlygoes loot or two and strikes fire at
the same moment. To appreciate the In
dnence of the carbon upon the current,
suppose that this same skater we're
TO suddenly, at his moment Of swittest
speed, strike upon surface OF sandstone
Heis not only instantly stopped, but much
heat and flashes Of fame arc generated by
the trictlonal contact, and bright sparks
Hy thick and fast under his feet, So with
the electricity. Flying with inconeslEs.
Ole rapidity and force over the iron ana
COPPER, it suddenly encounters the non
conducting platinum and the tremendous
resistance OF the carbon. Force, when
met with resistance. always correlates into
heat, and, itthe motion is great and the
resistance is strong enough, into light.
encountered the platinum alone, heat
would be generated sufficient TO fuse the
metal, as Edison found IN his earlier sk'