134 GEORGE HERBERT STOCKBRIDGE 



the invention and practicalizing of the electric welding proc- 

 ess which is, so far, the last of the great electrical inventions 

 of this electrical century. The electric light, the dynamo- 

 electric machine and the electric motor, both direct and 

 alternating, and, indeed, the whole apparatus of electric loco- 

 motion have received radical improvement at his hands. 



Thomson has been from boyhood an enthusiastic in- 

 ventor, shomng great originality in all his work. While 

 a professor at the Central High school of Philadelphia, he 

 worked out, in conjunction with his colleague, Professor 

 Houston, "a machine for the perfectly continuous centrifugal 

 separation of substances of different densities." An appa- 

 ratus embodying the same principles is now extensively used 

 in dairies for separating cream from milk. 



But it is not intended here, if it were possible, to discuss 

 Professor Thomson's labors as an inventor. It is no dis- 

 paragement to them to say that it is his achievements in 

 the field of theoretical science that give rise to the enthusiastic 

 hopes of the young men. The situation may be expressed 

 in Professor Thomson's own words : 



"Our science of electricity seems almost to be in the con- 

 dition that chemistry was in before the work of Lavoisier 

 had shed light on chemical theory. Our store of facts is 

 daily increasing, and apparently disconnected phenomena 

 are being brought into harmonious relation. Perhaps the 

 edifice of complete theory will not be more than begun in 

 our time, perhaps the building process will be a very gradual 

 one, but I cannot refrain from the conviction that the in- 

 telligence of man will, if it has time, continue to advance 

 until such a structure exists." 



Professor Thomson has already supplied some of the 

 materials for this edifice, and is more likely than any other 

 living American to furnish many more. His habit of mind 

 tends strongly toward classification. He is a scientist of 

 rare abihty and remarkable powers of literary expression, 

 living amidst surroundings where more electrical phenomena 

 pass under his review in a single day than Henry could have 

 observed in a series of months. It is this consideration, 

 strengthened by his brilliant work already accomplished, 



