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, Breguet, 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 

 advantage 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 wire 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 



