EDISON 



1925 



EDISON 



Old Town and the New Town by a deep ravine, 

 through which runs Princes Street, said to be 

 one of the most beautiful in the world. In 

 the Old Town only one street is wide enough 

 to admit carriages or automobiles. 



Among the interesting sights of the city is 

 Holyrood Castle, parts of which were built 

 eight centuries ago; it was the home of the 

 Stuarts before they became kings of England, 

 and is still occasionally occupied by royalty. 

 A monument unusual for Europe commem- 

 orates the Scots who fell in America in the 

 War of Secession. There are two libraries, one 

 given by Andrew Carnegie, the other the Advo- 

 cates' Library, founded in 1682, of which Hume 

 was for some years librarian. 



The site of Edinburgh was settled before 

 Roman times, but it did not bear its present 

 name until the seventh century, when it was 

 seized by the Saxons of Northumbria, for 

 whose king, it was called Edwin's burgh. The 

 city's nickname, Auld Reekie, means Old 

 Smoky, though Edinburgh is not a great manu- 

 facturing center. 



The University. No one of the other three 

 Scotch universities has been the school of as 

 many famous men as Edinburgh. Barrie, Car- 

 lyle, Darwin, Conan Doyle, Hume, Scott, 

 Stevenson, Thomson the poet, all received at 

 least part of their education in it. The uni- 

 versity was originally called the Town's Col- 

 lege, for it was established by the Edinburgh 

 Town Council and remained under the latter'a 

 direction from its opening in 1583 until 1858. 

 It is now governed by the principal and pro- 

 fessors, under the supervision of officers of 

 both town and gown. Degrees are given in 

 arts, science, medicine, law, music and theology. 

 Like other Scottish universities, Edinburgh ad- 

 mits women to all its privileges. It shares in 

 the Carnegie funds, and joins Saint Andrew's 

 University in sending a member to Parliament. 



EDISON, ed'isun, THOMAS ALVA (1847- 

 ), familiarly known as the "Wizard," is the 

 greatest among the world's inventors, one of 

 the very few men of all time who have devoted 

 their lives to invention as a profession. The 

 work of no other man in the field of electrical 

 science approaches the extent and range of 

 his activities, which have been solely in the 

 direction of devices which have stimulated in- 

 dustry and forced advancement more rapidly 

 in a decade than any other influence in like 

 time in the history of the world. 



His birthplace was Milan, O., but the greater 

 part of his boyhood was spent in Port Huron, 



Mich. He began his career as a newsboy on 

 the Grand Trunk Railway, and his taste for 

 experimenting led him to fit up a small labora- 

 tory in a compartment of a bapgagi- car. His 

 experiments were 

 brought to an 

 end by the over- 

 turning of a bot- 

 tle of phosphorus 

 which set the car -SfidlM^BI 

 on fire. He next 

 studied teleg- 

 raphy, and se- 

 cured a position 

 as telegraph 

 operator at Port 

 Huron, and later 

 in Canada, on THOMAS A. KLISOX 

 the Grand Trunk He has been called the most 

 Railway. After useful cltlzen of the world - 

 working a number of years in this capacity he 

 began his career as an inventor in 1869; the 

 stock ticker, the first product of his genius 

 which was of commercial importance, was 

 brought out in that year. 



The World's Debt to Edison. The work of 

 Edison includes so many great inventions and 

 has built up so many industries that it is im- 

 possible to point out any one of his triumphs 

 as his greatest. One of his first invention* was 

 a machine for recording votes at elections, but 

 after he had perfected it nobody wanted to 

 use it. He then made up his mind that he 

 would never again spend his time on a device 

 or machine which was not of immediate, prac- 

 tical use. Strict adherence to this rule is the 

 reason why Edison's name is familiar the 

 world over. He has not made great discoveries 

 in theoretical science, but he has applied and 

 developed to new uses the principles which 

 other men have estabfished. A partial list 

 of the industries that have been built up wholly 

 or in part on the inventions of Kdison is here 

 given to indicate the scope of his work : 

 trie lighting, brought to its high efficiency 

 through his genius; manufacture of incandes- 

 cent lamps; manufacture of electric fixtures; 

 the development of electric railways; manufac- 

 ture of dynamos and electric motors; the tele- 

 graph, the efficiency of which he has wonder- 

 fully increased; moving pictures; manufacture 

 of the phonograph and the various forms of 

 talking machine that .have sprung from the 

 phonograph. 



Edison's inventions are the result of almost 

 Oi iflj 1- industi \ and an ictivt . - '. ' 



