ELECTR O-MA GNE TISM 



cedures of our daily life. They far surpass any cor- 

 responding advance in our theories or knowledge of 

 the nature of Electricity itself. Very little has been 

 discovered therein beyond Hertz's corroboration of 

 Maxwell's ideas as to the non-instantaneous transfer- 

 ence of electric and magnetic forces, and the establish- 

 ment of the identity of the phenomena of radiant light 

 and electricity ; the waves of the latter, or the electric 

 vibrations of the Ether that transmit them, substan- 

 tially agreeing in rapidity of transference through 

 space, in reflection by a suitable mirror, in being dis- 

 persed by a prism and in becoming polarized, with 

 the similar phenomena of light waves ; differing only 

 in the much greater length and slower movements of 

 the waves of electricity. 



The importance of the practical adaption of electro- 

 magnetism to the dynamic motor ; its use in the tele- 

 graph and the telephone, are well known, but the 

 details thereof are not within the scope of this writ- 

 ing. The late and interesting discovery of the strange 

 properties of the so-called X-rays, or the Rb'ntgen rays, 

 and of the closely related Kathode rays require that 

 they should be noticed. 



The generating vessel of the Kathode rays and of 

 the Rontgen or X-rays consists of a glass tube or 

 bulb the so-called Crooks' tube into each of the 

 opposite ends of which a platinum wire is inserted by 



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