i84 RAY STANNARD BAKER 



illuminated by the wonderful new tubes. The light was dif- 

 ferent from anything ever seen before, grateful to the eyes, 

 much like daylight, only giving the face a curious, pale green, 

 unearthly appearance. The cause of this phenomenon was 

 soon evident; the tubes were seen to give forth all the rays 

 except red — orange, yellow, green, blue, violet — so that under 

 its illumination the room and the street without, the faces of 

 the spectators, the clothing of the women, lost all their shades 

 of red; indeed, changing the very face of the world to a pale 

 green blue. The extraordinary appearance of this lamp and 

 its profound significance as a scientific discovery at once 

 awakened a wide public interest, especially among electricians 

 who best understood its importance. Here was an entirely 

 new sort of electric light. The familiar incandescent lamp, 

 the invention of Thomas A. Edison, though the best of all 

 methods of illumination, is also the most expensive. Mr. 

 Hewitt's lamp, though not yet adapted to all the purposes 

 served by the Edison lamp, on account of its peculiar color, 

 produces eight times as much light with the same amount of 

 power. It is also practically indestructible, there being no 

 filament to burn out; and it requires no special wiring. By 

 means of this invention electricity, instead of being the most 

 costly means of illumination, becomes the cheapest — cheaper 

 even than kerosene. No further explanation than this is 

 necessary to show the enormous importance of this invention. 



Second — A new, cheap, and simple method of converting 

 alternating electrical currents into direct currents. 



At first glance, an invention of this sort makes little 

 appeal to the non-scientific world, though every electrician 

 is instantly cognizant of its great importance and significance. 

 The chief pursuit of science and invention in this day of won- 

 ders is the electrical conquest of the world, the introduction 

 of the electrical age. The electric motor is driving out the 

 steam locomotive, the electric light is superseding gas and 

 kerosene, the waterfall must soon take the place of coal. But 

 certain great problems stand like solid walls in the way of 

 development, part of them problems of science, part of me- 

 chanical efficiency. The battle of science is, indeed, not un- 

 like real war, charging its way over one battlement after 



