jfalle power Untro&uctfon. 189 



pose on such a grand scale as at Niagara Falls. 

 Wlu-ii one stands on the bank of the river and 

 sees the great waterfall as it plunges over the 

 precipice, exerting a force of from five to ten 

 million horse-power, one is overwhelmed in 

 contemplation of its possililities as a source 

 of energy that may be converted into work, 

 mechanical and chemical, through the medium 

 of electricity. 



The genius of man has devised a way by 

 which some of this constantly wasting energy 

 may be converted into electricity and dis- 

 tributed to different points to perform various 

 kinds of work. But the amount utilized as 

 scarcely a drop when compared with that 

 which might be if the whole torrent could be 

 set t<> work in the same manner as a very 

 small portion of it now is. 



