THE CONQUEST OF NATURE 



mercia] electric light was of necessity deferred until a 

 cheaper method of generating electricity should be dis- 

 covered. 



This discovery was not made for another generation, 

 but then, as seems entirely fitting, it was made by Davy's 

 successor and former assistant at the Royal Institution, 

 Sir Michael Faraday. His discovery of electromagnetic 

 induction in 1831 for the first time made possible the 

 electric dynamo, although still another generation passed 

 before this invention took practical form. In the mean- 

 time, however, the magneto-electric machine of Nollet 

 was used for generating an electric current for illumina- 

 ting purposes as early as 1863; and when finally the 

 dynamo-electric machine was produced by Gramme in 

 1870, engineers and inventors had at their disposal 

 everything necessary for producing a practical electric 

 illuminant. 



It must not be supposed, however, that inventors stood 

 by patiently with folded hands waiting for the coming 

 of a machine that would furnish them with an adequate 

 current without attempting to produce electric lamps. 

 On the contrary, they were constantly wrestling with the 

 problem, in some instances being fairly successful, even 

 before the invention of the magneto-electric machine. 

 Great advances had been made in batteries and cell 

 construction over the primitive cells of the time of Davy, 

 and for exhibition purposes, and even for lighting fac- 

 tories and large buildings, fairly good electric lights had 

 been used before 1863. 



The first practical application of electric lighting 

 seems to have been made in France in 1849. During 



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