Masterpieces of Science 



the whole executing tasks of a delicacy and com- 

 plication new to industrial art. On an electric 

 railroad an identical current propels the train, 

 directs it by telegraph, operates its signals, pro- 

 vides it with light and heat, while it stands ready 

 to give constant verbal communication with 

 any station on the line, if this be desired. 



In the home electricity has equal versatility, 

 at once promoting healthfulness, refinement 

 and safety. Its tiny button expels the hazard- 

 ous match as it lights a lamp which sends forth 

 no baleful fumes. An electric fan brings fresh 

 air into the house in summer as a grateful 

 breeze. Simple telephones, quite effective for 

 their few yards of wire, give a better because a 

 more flexible service than speaking-tubes. Few 

 invalids are too feeble to whisper at the light, 

 portable ear of metal. Sewing-machines and 

 the more exigent apparatus of the kitchen ind 

 laundry transfer their demands from flagging 

 human muscles to the tireless sinews of electric 

 motors which ask no wages when they stand 

 unemployed. Similar motors already enjoy 

 favour in working the elevators of tall dwellings 

 in cities. If a householder is timid about burg- 

 lars, the electrician offers him a sleepless watch- 

 man in the guise of an automatic alarm; if he 

 has a dread of fire, let him dispose on his walls an 

 array of thermometers that at the very inception 

 of a blaze will strike a gong at headquarters. 

 But these, after all, are matters of minor im- 

 portance in comparison with the foundations 

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