334 THE ADDRESSES, LECTURES, ETC., OF 



thus enables us to see pictures, furniture, and flowers as by day- 

 light ; it supports grooving plants instead of poisoning them, and 

 by its means we can carry on photography and many other in- 

 dustries at night as well as during the day. The objection fre- 

 quently urged against the electric light, that it depends upon the 

 continuous motion of steam or gas engines, which are liable to 

 accidental stoppage, is met by the introduction into practical use 

 of the secondary battery ; this, although not embodying a new 

 conception, has lately been greatly improved in power and con- 

 stancy by Plante, Faure, Volckmar, Sellon, and others, and 

 promises to accomplish for electricity what the gasholder has done 

 for the supply of gas and the accumulator for hydraulic trans- 

 mission of power. 



It can no longer be a matter of reasonable doubt, therefore, 

 that electric light will take its place as a public illuminant, and 

 that, even though its cost should be found greater than that of 

 gas, it will be preferred for the lighting of drawing-rooms and 

 dining-rooms, theatres and concert-rooms, museums, churches, 

 warehouses, show-rooms, printing establishments and factories, 

 and also the cabins and engine-rooms of passenger steamers. In 

 the cheaper and more powerful form of the arc light, it has proved 

 itself superior to any other illuminant for spreading artificial 

 daylight over the large areas of harbours, railway stations, and the 

 sites of public works. When placed within a holophote the 

 electric lamp has already become a powerful auxiliary in effecting 

 military operations both by sea and land. 



The electric light may be worked by natural sources of power 

 such as waterfalls, the tidal wave, or the wind, and it is con- 

 ceivable that these may be utilised at considerable distances by 

 means of metallic conductors. Some five years ago I called 

 attention to the vastness of those sources of energy, and the 

 facility offered by electrical conduction in rendering them avail- 

 able for lighting and power-supply, while Sir William Thomson 

 made this important matter the subject of his admirable address 

 to Section A last year at York, and dealt with it in an exhaustive 

 manner. 



The advantages of the electric light and of the distribution of 

 power by electricity have lately been recognised by the British 

 Government, which has just passed a bill through Parliament to 



