204 THE ADDRESSES, LECTURES, ETC., OF 



It would not be necessary to seek on the other side of the 

 Atlantic for an application of this mode of transmitting the 

 natural force of falling water, as there is perhaps no country where 

 this force abounds to a greater extent than on the west coast of 

 Scotland, with its elevated lands and heavy rainfalls. You have 

 already conducted the water of one of your high-level lochs to 

 Glasgow, by means of a gigantic tube, and how much easier would 

 it be to pass the water in its descent from elevated lands through 

 turbines, and to transmit the vast amount of force that might thus 

 be collected, by means of stout metallic conductors, to towns and 

 villages for the supply of light and mechanical power ! 



Practical difficulties would, no doubt, have to be contended 

 with, regarding chiefly the proper distribution of the main current 

 over its numerous branches. This subject has latterly occupied 

 my attention in some degree, and admits, I believe, of a satisfactory 

 solution. 



It is not my desire, however, to occupy your attention with 

 matters of practical detail of this kind, nor to enlarge further upon 

 the advantageous applications that could be made of the electricity 

 produced by natural forces for other purposes, such as the separa- 

 tion of copper and other metals from their combinations. 



Much might be said, also, regarding the utilisation of the 

 irregular force of the wind, which represents an enormous 

 aggregate of available energy capable of collection and distribution 

 in countries where other sources of energy may be wanting. 



A number of windmills, such as may be constantly seen work- 

 ing in Holland for the drainage of the land might, for instance, 

 be employed to raise water, by pumping, to an elevated lake or 

 reservoir, whence the power could be drawn off by means of 

 hydraulic motors Avhen required, and might be conducted electri- 

 cally to centres of habitation. 



Other modes of utilising solar energy, either in the form of the 

 direct ray or in other modified forms, might be added to the 

 illustrations I have selected. In dwelling probably too much upon 

 these, I fear to have taxed your patience, and to have laid myself 

 open to the reproach of having betrayed a preference for those 

 branches of the general subject with which I have been profes- 

 sionally or otherwise connected. I do not deny such a charge, but 

 plead for my excuse that those are the very branches upon which 



