64 



tally the applications of galvanic electricity to a few of the 

 arts of every day life. Electricity, he said, is one of the 

 more newly developed of the wonderful and beautiful forces 

 that nature offers with a lavish hand, and in this great awak- 

 ening on scientific subjects, the efforts to invade the pen- 

 etralia of her domain have been amply rewarded by the 

 glorious revelations she has vouchsafed of the operations 

 carried on in the mysterious depths of her aerial and subter- 

 ranean laboratories. 



Electricity, though long known, has always been, and is 

 now, very imperfectly understood. It is true it can be lib- 

 erated from its elemental prison house, measured and sent 

 laden with intelligence to the uttermost parts of the earth in 

 a moment of time, but should the question be raised, "What 

 is electricity?" the lecturer said that he for one should have 

 to say, he did not know. It is simply known that it is one 

 of the most powerful of the natural forces, but the intensity 

 which can carry it, upon a free conductor, entirely around 

 the circumference of the earth four times in one second is 

 utterly beyond comprehension. 



It is customary to speak of it as a fluid, and talk of a cur- 

 rent of electricity flowing through a wire. But that cannot 

 be, for certainly a fluid and a solid cannot occup}' the same 

 space at the same time. However, that is a convenient way 

 of speaking, and to call it a current also hides our ignorance 

 on the subject. As one of the natural forces it is of very 

 vital importance in every day life. It pervades all things. 

 The air we breathe is vitalized by its presence. The food 

 we eat is rendered palatable and nutritious by its power. It 

 attends the rising and the setting of the sun, and the midday 

 solar heat causes a suro-in2f of vast electric and miis^netic 

 forces, which exert a powerful influence in the great economy 

 of nature. 



The methods of developing electricity in considerable 



