138 GEORGE HERBERT STOCKBRIDGE 



The general judgment of those best informed on the subject 

 is, that the credit for the invention in a commercial prac- 

 tical form, has been rightly bestowed on Professor Bell. 

 In any event, the originality of Bell's work, and the mar- 

 velous character of the results that flowed from it are not 

 affected in any degree by experiments which the scientific 

 world either knew nothing of or had forgotten all about. 

 No mere legal technicalities will ever convince men that the 

 invention of the telephone was not a stroke of genius, and they 

 will be inclined also to honor most the man who actually 

 put the marvel into their hand. We need not, in fairness, 

 ascribe less praise to Philip Reis, or Elisha Gray, or Pro- 

 fessor Dolbear; but we cannot quarrel with the public, if 

 it chooses to single out Professor Bell for the highest homage. 



All three of the American inventors mentioned have 

 displayed inventive capacity in other ways, Mr. Gray, espe- 

 cially, being a fertile inventor in many different fields. 



Charles F. Brush has done for arc lighting what Edison 

 did for incandescent. It grew under his hands into a usable 

 system of light distribution which is now a necessity. Brush 

 also made early improvements in storage batteries, but his 

 best work has been done in connection with the arc lamp 

 and the dynamo-electric machine. The high resistance 

 shunt, if not absolutely introduced into the arts by him, is, 

 at least, his, in every proper sense, so far as it applies to the 

 purpose of arc lighting. And in the same way the univer- 

 sally used means for controlling the feed of the positive car- 

 bon, are his contribution to the are lamp. Mr. Brush gave 

 his name many years ago to one of the most successful elec- 

 trical corporations in the country, the Brush Electric com- 

 pany, of Cleveland, Ohio. 



The prominence of Edward Weston, for many years as 

 electrician of the United States Electric Lighting company, 

 would call for notice here, even if his successes in improv- 

 ing the electric light and the dynamo-electric machine did not 

 themselves merit it. But his prominence, as is usually the case 

 where large business interests are involved, has been fairly and 

 fully deserved. The Weston dynamo is one of the standard 

 machines for generating the electric current. 



