1893." 



on Economies in the Utilisation of Energy. 



91 



I think more creditable 

 of modern engineers than 

 the smallness of the losses 

 represented by D. 



I do not think that 

 the distribution losses G 

 are likely to be reduced 

 to any very sensational 

 extent below the figure 

 at which I have put 

 them. We frequently 

 hear of their almost neg- 

 ligible magnitude, but 

 whenever they get really 

 measured, the sum of a 

 number of things which 

 separately are supposed 

 to be so minute appears 

 to be anything but neg- 

 ligible. No doubt the 

 15 per cent, loss will 

 be gradually driven back 

 to 10 per cent. ; but it 

 will be hard work, and 

 will come about only by 

 degrees and by care and 

 pains in detail, not by 

 any new system of dis- 

 tribution or by any strik- 

 ing invention. 



But truly in our last 

 stage we have got one 

 in which improvement is 

 needed and in which we 

 all hope that enormous 

 improvement is possible. 

 Moreover, here it can no 

 longer be said that im- 

 provement is a matter of 

 detail and of common 

 sense only. On the con- 

 trary, here is a case where 

 we know beforehand that 

 we may any day be sur- 

 prised by a discovery, 

 on the part of one of 

 the many men who are 



Fig. 5. 



