10 W. J. MCGEE 



lightning is harnessed in our houses as the thunder is subdued 

 in telephone and graphophone. Meantime, motors and trans- 

 mitters were perfected, and electric transportation came into 

 successful competition with steam locomotion, while the 

 power derived from waterfalls and central plants was made 

 diAdsible, so that units of power are now sold as freely as pounds 

 of tea or sugar were fifty years ago ; and a way has been found 

 to counteract the concentration of artisans in factories located 

 by waterfall or engine. The conquest of nature by electric 

 power, gained through controlling an infinitesimal part of the 

 vibrant atomic energy of our corner of the cosmos, has come 

 rapidly, and so steadily as almost to escape notice; 3^et it is a 

 marvel beside which the magical lamp of Aladdin and all other 

 figments of Oriental fancy are as nothing. 



In 1848 a Frenchman and an Englishman made advances 

 in the new art of photography, developed partly by Professor 

 Draper of New York, a few years before. In 1850 a journal 

 of photography was established in this country, and the art 

 became the property of the people. Its progress well illus- 

 trates the growing solidarity of nations, for contributions have 

 been made by England, France, Germany, and other countries, 

 as well as America, and parts of the same apparatus are often 

 the handiwork of two or more countries. America's contribu- 

 tions to the art are characteristic in that they have reduced 

 the cost and increased the use of the apparatus so far that 

 every village and a tenth of our families have their cameras. 

 Recent events indicate that a new field is opening for the pic- 

 ture maker, and the next half century may see advances much 

 greater than those of the last; for while photography has been 

 limited to luminous rays and to portraiture of external sur- 

 faces. Roentgen has proved the possibility of using other 

 phases of radiant energy, and of depicting internal structures 

 as well as outer forms. 



Half a century ago Joseph Henry published the plan of 

 the Smithsonian institution, and his first mentioned means of 

 increasing knowledge was a '^system of extending meteor- 

 ological observations for solving the problem of American 

 storms." So began a line of research which has added much 

 to science, and is daily contributing to personal comfort and 



