12 ROYAL ^UCIKTY OF CANADA 



KLECTiiirrrr. 



In oriliT tu pri'Sfiit more l'ully tlie recently enhanced value of our 

 Canadian water jjower, some reference is necessary to certain properties 

 of electricity, the power which has happily been described as " the mosî 

 romantic form ol energy" by "Wm. Henry Precce, C. B., F. R. S.. in liis 

 recent address as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 



Jnasmuch as the cost of production of electrical energy depends 

 upon continuity of output, water power must be the ideal one for this 

 purpose, at least until some cheaper power is discovered. In some 

 places where steam is now used for electric light other industries have 

 been added to secure the more continuous use of the power in daylight 

 hours. 



The only quality in which any deficiency has been exhibited by elec- 

 tricity is for lighthouse purposes, a lesser power of penetration in fogs, 

 in which respect it is inferior to oil or gas: but even this, has in the 

 present year, been more than compensated for by the successful appli- 

 cation of " wireless telegraphy "', by which, in any weather, communi- 

 cation between the ship and the shore can be established. The shores 

 of the St. Lawrence from the Atlantic to the Lakes are lined with water 

 power which can be used to light, in fair, or protect, in foul weather, 

 the passing vessel; to ring the bell or blow the horn. 



When water is applied for light and power purposes its economy is 

 always the important factor; but it is chiefly to its value for electro- 

 chemical industries that Canada will look to reap the greatest benefits, 

 because, in these it is not merely a question of competition of power 

 producer.?, but one in which intense electricity has the monopoly, and 

 in the case of some of them, as in the production of aluminium, calcium 

 carbide, carborundum, liquid air, etc., their existence depends upon 

 ample supplies of an intense electric current, for the generation of Avhich 

 abundant and cheap water power is indispensable. 



Touching electro-metallurgical processes Mr. Preece says : 



" Every electrolyte requires a certain voltage to overcome the affinity 

 between its atoms, and then the mass decomposed, per minute or per 

 hour, depends solely upctn the current passing. The process is a cheap 

 one and has become general. Three electrical IL P., continuously ap- 

 plied, deposits 10 lbs. of pure copper every hour, from coj)per sidphates, 

 at the cost of one ])enny. All the copper used for telegraphy is thus ob- 

 tained. Zinc in a very pure form is extracted, elect rolytically, from 

 chloride of zinc produced from zinc blende, in large quantities. Caustic 

 soda and chlorine are produced by similar means from common salt. 

 The passage of electricity through certain gases is accompanied by their 

 dissociation, and by the generation of intense heat. Hence the arc 



