68 
NATURE 
Vou. 16, 1882 
the large expenditure which must necessarily be incurred in 
reducing a first conception into a practical shape. Great credit 
is due to Monsieur Gramme for taking the initiative in the 
practical introduction of dynamo-machines embodying those 
principles, but when five years ago I ventured to predict for the 
dynamo-electric current a great practical future, as a means of 
transmitting power to a distance, those views were still looked 
upon as more or less chimerical. A few striking examples of 
what could be practically effected by the dynamo-electric current 
such as the illumination of the Place de I’Opera, Paris, the 
occasional exhibition of powerful arc lights, and t'eir adoption 
for military and lighthouse purposes, but especially the gradual 
accomplishment of the much desired lamp by incandescence in 
vacuum, gave rise to a somewhat sudden reversion of public 
feeling ; and you may remember the scare at the Stock Exchange 
affecting the? value of gas shares, which ensued in 1878, when 
the accomplishment of the sub-division of the electric light by 
incandescent wire was first announced, somewhat prematurely, 
through the Atlantic cable. 
From this time forward electric lighting has been attracting 
more and more public attention, until the brilliant displays at 
the exhibition of Paris, and at the Crystal Palace last year, 
served to excite public interest, to an extraordinary degree. 
New companies for the purpose of introducing electric light and 
power have been announced almost daily, whose claims to 
public attention as investments were based in some cases upon 
only very slight modifications of well-known forms of dynamo- 
machines, of are regulators, or of incandescent carbon lights, 
the merits of which rested rather upon anticipations than upon 
any scientific or practical proof, These arrangements were sup- 
posed to be of such superlative merit that gas and other illumi- 
nants must soon be matters simply of history, and hence arose 
great speculative excitement. It should be borne in mind, 
however, that any great technical advance is necessarily the 
work of time and serious labour, and that when accomplished, 
it is generally found that so far from injuring existing industries, 
it calls additional ones into existence, to supply new demands, 
and thus gives rise to an increase in the sum total of our re- 
sources. It is, therefore, reasonable to expect that side by side 
with the introduction of the new illuminant, gas lighting will go 
on improving and extending, although the advantage of electric 
light for many applications, such as the lighting of public halls 
and warehouses, of our drawing-rooms and dining-rooms, our 
passenger steamers, our docks and harbours, are so evident, that 
its advent may be looked upon as a matter of certainty. 
Our Legislature has not been slow in recognising the import- 
ance of the new illuminant. In 1879, a Select Committee in 
the House of Commons instituted a careful inquiry into its 
nature and probable cost, with a view to legislation, and the 
conclusions at which they arrived were, I consider, the best that 
could haye been laid down. ‘They advised that applications 
should be encouraged tentatively by the granting of permissive 
Bills, and this policy has given rise to the Electric Lighting 
Bill, 1882, promoted by Mr. Chamberlain, the President of the 
Board of Trade, regarding which much controversy has arisen. 
It could, indeed, hardly be expected that any act of legislation 
upon this subject could give universal satisfaction, because while 
there are many believers in gas who would gladly oppose any 
measure likely to favour the progress of the rival illuminant, and 
others who wish to see it monopolised, either by local authorities, 
or by large financial corporations, there are others again who 
would throw the doors open so wide as to enable almost all 
comers to interfere with the public thoroughfares, for the estab- 
lishment of conducting wires, without let or hindrance. 
The law as now established takes, I consider, a medium course 
between these diverging opinions, and, if properly interpreted, 
will protect, I believe, all legitimate interests, without impeding 
the healthy growth of establishments for the distribution of 
electric energy for lighting and for the transmission of power. 
Any firm or lighting company may, by application to the local 
authorities, obtain leave to place electric conductors below public 
thoroughfares, subject to such conditions as may be mutually agreed 
upon, the terms of such license being limited to seven years ; or an 
application may be made to the Board of Trade for a provisional 
order to the same effect, which, when sanctioned by Parliament, 
secures a right of occupation for twenty-one years. The license 
offers the advantage of cheapness, and may be regarded as a 
purely tentative measure, to enable the firm or company to prove 
the value of their plant. If this is fairly established, the license 
would in all probability be affirmed, either by an engagement 
for its prolongation from time to time, or by a provisional order 
which would, in that case, be obtained by joint application of the 
contractor and the local authority. At the time of expiration of 
the provisional order, a pre-emption of purchase is accorded to the 
local authority, against which it has been objected with much 
force by so competent an authority as Sir Frederick Bramwell, 
that the conditions of purchase laid down are not such as fairly 
to remunerate the contracting companies for their expenditure 
and risk, and that the power of purchase would inevitably 
induce the parochial bodies to become mere trading associations, 
But while admitting the undesirability of such a consummation, 
I cannot help thinking that it was necessary to put some term to 
contracts entered into with speculative bodies at atime when the 
true value of electric energy, and the best_conditions under which 
it should be applied, are still very impertectly understood. The 
supply of electric energy, particularly in its application to trans- 
mission of power, is a matter simply of commercial demand and 
supply, which need not partake of the character of a large 
monopoly similar to gas and water supply, and which may there- 
fore be safely left in the hands of individuals, or of local 
associations, subject to a certain control for the protection of 
public interests. At the termination of the period of the pro- 
vi-ional order, the contract may be renewed upon such terms and 
conditions as may at that time appear ju:t and reasonable to 
Parliament, under whose authority the Board of Trade will be 
empowered to effect such renewal. 
Complaints appear almost daily in the public papers to the 
effect that townships refuse their assent to applications by electric 
light companies for provisional orders; but it may be surmised 
that many of these applications are of a more or less speculative 
character, the object being to secure monopolies for eventual use or 
sale, under which circumstances the authorities are clearly justified 
in withholding their a sent ; and no licenses or provisional orders 
should, indeed, be granted, I consider, unless the applicants can 
give assurance of being eble and willing to carry out the work 
within a reasonable time. But there are technical questions in- 
volved which are not yet sufficiently well understood to admit of 
immediate operations upon a large scale. 
Attention has been very properly called to the great 
divergence in the opinions expressed by scientific men re- 
garding the area that each lighting district should comprise, 
the capital required to light such an area, and the amount of 
electric tension that should be allowed in the conductors. In the 
case of gas supply, the works are necessarily situated in the out- 
skirts of the town, on account of the nuisance this manufacture 
occasions tothe immediate neighbourhood ; and, therefcre, gas 
supply must range over a large area, It would be possible, no 
doubt, to deal with electricity on a similar basis, to establish 
electrical mains in the shape of copper rods of great thickness, 
with branches diverging from it in all directions; but the 
question to be considered is, whether such an imitative course is 
desirable on account either of relative expense or of facility of 
working. My own opinion, based upon considerable practical 
experience and thought devoted to the subject, is decidedly ad- 
verse to such a plan. In my evidence before the Parliamentary 
Committee, I limited the desirable area of an electric district 
in densely populated towns to a quarter of a square mile, and 
estimated the cost of the necessary establishment of engines, 
dynamo-machines, and conductors, at 100,000/, while other 
witnesses held that areas from one to four square miles 
could be worked advantageously from one centre, and at a cost 
not exceeding materially the figure I had given. These discrep- 
ancies do notj necessarily imply wide differences inthe estimated 
cost of each machine or electric light, inasmuch as such esti- 
mates are necessarily based upon various assumptions regarding 
the number of houses and of public buildings comprised in such 
a district, and the amount of light to be apportioned to each, 
but I still maintain my preference for small districts. 
By way of illustration, let us take the parish of St. James’s, 
near at hand, a district not more densely populated than other 
equal areas within the metropolis, although comprising, perhaps, 
a greater number of public buildings. Its population, according 
to the preliminary report of the census taken on the 4th April, 
1881, was 29,865, it contains 3,018 inhabited houses, and its 
area is 784,000 square yards, or slightly above a quarter of a 
square mile. : 
To light a comfortable house of moderate dimensions in all its 
parts, to the exclusion of gas, oil, or candles, would require 
about 100 incandescent lights of from 15 to 18-candle power 
each, that being, for instance, the number of Swan lights em- 
