THE ELECTRIC LIGHT 465 



of copper, and by ingeniously discharging a small jet of 

 cold water against the interior of the cone. His negative 

 copper is thus caused to remain fixed in space, for it is 

 not dissipated, the positive carbon only needing control. 

 I have seen this lamp in action, and can bear witness to 

 its success. 



I might go on to other inventions, achieved or pro- 

 jected. Indeed, there is something bewildering in the 

 recent rush of constructive talent into this domain of ap- 

 plied electricity. The question and its prospects are mod- 

 ified from day to day, a steady advance being made 

 toward the improvement both of machines and regulators. 

 With regard to our public lighting, I strongly lean to the 

 opinion that the electric light will at no distant day tri- 

 umph over gas. I am not so sure that it will do so in 

 our private houses. As, however, I am anxious to avoid 

 dropping a word here that could influence the share 

 market in the slightest degree, I limit myseK to this 

 general statement of opinion. 



To one inventor in particular belongs the honor of the 

 idea, and the realization of the idea, of causing the car- 

 bon rods to burn away like a candle. It is needless to 

 say that I here refer to the young Eussian officer, M. 

 Jablochkofi. He sets two carbon rods upright at a small 

 distance apart, and fills the space between them with an 

 insulating substance like plaster of Paris. The carbon rods 

 are fixed in metallic holders. A momentary contact is es- 

 tablished between the two carbons by a little cross-piece of 

 the same substance placed horizontally from top to top. 

 This cross-piece is immediately dissipated or removed by 

 the current, the passage of which once established is after- 

 ward maintained. The carbons gradually waste, while the 



