THE ELECTRIC LIGHT. 681 
he was engaged might be, he would instantly turn aside 
from it to seize and realize the ideas of a scientific man. 
He had an inventor's power, and an inventor's delight in 
its exercise. The late Mr. Becker possessed the same 
power in a very considerable degree. On the Continent, 
Froment, 13reguet, Sauerwald, and others might be men- 
tioned as eminent instances of ability of this kind. Such 
minds resemble a liquid on the point of crystallization. 
Stirred by a hint, crystals of constructive thought imme- 
diately shoot through them. That Mr. Edison possesses 
this intuitive power in no common measure, is proved by 
what he has already accomplished. He has the penetra- 
tion to seize the relationship of facts and principles, and 
the art to reduce them to novel and concrete combina- 
tions. Hence, though he has thus far accomplished 
nothing that we can recognize as new in relation to the 
electric light, an adverse opinion as to his ability to solve 
the complicated problem on which he is engaged would be 
unwarranted. 
I" will endeavor to illustrate in a simple manner Mr. 
Edison's alleged mode of electric illumination, taking 
ad vantage of what Ohm has taught us regarding the laws 
of the current, and what Joule has taught us regarding 
the relation of resistance to the development of light and 
heat. From one end of a voltaic battery runs a wire, 
dividing at a certain point into two branches, which re- 
unite in a single wire connected with the other end of the 
battery. From the positive end of the battery the 
current passes first through the single wu - e to the 
point of junction, where it divides itself between the 
branches according to a well-known law. If _the branches 
be equally resistant, the current divides itself equally 
between them. If one branch be less resistant than the 
other, more than half the current will choose the freer 
path. The strict law is that the quantity of current is 
inversely proportional to the resistance. A clear image of 
the process is derived from the deportment of water. When 
a river meets an island it divides, passing right and left of 
the obstacle, and afterward reuniting. If the two branch 
beds be equal in depth, width, and inclination, the water 
will divide itself equally between them. If they be un- 
equal, the larger quantity of water will flow through the 
more open course. And, as in the case of the water we 
