ELECTRIC LIGHTING. 



ALTHOUGH we certainly have no reason to complain of the 

 in frequency of attempts in newspapers, &c., as well as in 

 scientific journals, to explain the principles on which electric 

 lighting depends, it does not seem that very clear ideas are 

 entertained on this subject by unscientific persons. Nor is 

 this, perhaps, to be wondered at, when we observe that in 

 nearly all the explanations which have appeared, technical 

 expressions are quite freely used, while those matters about 

 which the general reader especially desires information arc 

 passed over as points with which every one is familiar. 

 Now, without going quite so far as to say that there is no 

 exaggeration in the picture presented some time back in 

 Punch, of one who asked whether the electric fluid was 

 * anything like beer, for instance/ I may confidently assert 

 that the very vaguest notions are entertained by nine-tenths 

 of those who hear about the electric light, respecting the 

 nature of electricity. Of course, I am not here referring 

 to the doubts and difficulties of electricians on this subject. 

 It is well known that Faraday, after a life of research into 

 electrical phenomena, said that when he had studied elec- 

 tricity for a few years he thought he understood much, but 

 when he had nearly finished his observational work he found 

 he knew nothing. In the sense in which Faraday spoke, the 

 most advanced students of science must admit that they 

 know nothing about electricity. But the greater number of 

 those who read about the electric light are not familiar even 

 with electrical phenomena, as distinguished , from the inter- 



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