354 ELECTRICITY DURINCi THE ISTINETEENTH CP^NTUKY. 



in tool making". An instance of its peculiar adaptability to unusual 

 conditions is the welding of the iron bands embedded within the body 

 of a rubber vehicle tire for holding the tire in place. For this pur- 

 pose the electric weld has been found almost essential. 



Another branch of electric development concerns the storage of 

 electricity. The storage battery is based upon principles discovered 

 bj' Gaston Plante, and applied since 1881 by Brush, by Faure, and 

 others. Some of the larger lighting stations employ as reservoirs of 

 electric energy large batteries charged by surplus dynauio current. 

 This is afterwards drawn upon when the consumer's load is heavy, 

 as during the evening. The storage battery is, however, a heavy, 

 cuml)rous apparatus, of limited life, easily destroyed unless guarded 

 with skill. If a form not possessing these faults be ever found, the 

 held of possible application is almost limitless. 



There is no space here to deal with the developments of the use of 

 electricity in the employment of the physiological powers of the elec- 

 trical current which have given rise to the science of electro-thera- 

 peutics. It is probably true that electricity is tinally to be one of the 

 most potent agencies in the treatment of disease and in the alleviation 

 of human suffering: })ut unfortunately the name "electricity" is often 

 made use of by the (piack and charlatan to put forward wares in the 

 form of electric belts, electric insoles, electric combs, and what not, 

 the effect of which is absolutely nil except in the imagination of the 

 user. There are also devices which do, in fact, produce slight elec- 

 trical effecta, which are paraded as panaceas for serious ills, when in 

 reality their electrical effects amount to^nothing and their therapeutic 

 value is less than nothing. 



There is no space, either, to dilate upon the possibilities in an artistic 

 way which have arisen in the development of electricity for lighting. 

 Magnificent effects, scenic and otherwise, are now within the reach of 

 the artist. The great international expositions have in late years been 

 characterized by the profusion of such effects depending on electricity. 



The abo\e b}- no means complete account of the progress in electric 

 applications during the century just closed should properly be supple- 

 mented by an account of the accompanying great advances regarded 

 from the pureh' scientific aspect. It is, however, only possible to 

 make a brief reference thereto within the limits of this article. The 

 scientific study of electricity and the application of mathematical 

 methods in its treatment have kept busy a host of workers and drawn 

 upon the resources of the ablest minds the age has produced. Gauss, 

 Weber, Ampere, Faraday, Maxwell, and Helmholtz are no longer with 

 us. Of the earl}^ founders of the science we have yet such men as Lord 

 Kelvin, formerly Sir William Thomson, Mascart, and others, still 

 zealous in scientific work. Following them are a large number notable 

 for valuable contributions to the progress of electrical science, in dis. 



