20 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



there is vast room for this improvement. Nothing approaching finality has yet 

 been reached. 



I see no reason whatever why our pubHc streets should not be as efficiently 

 lighted by electricity as they are now by gas, and for the same price. But the 

 public are not satisfied with the same illumination ; they will have more light. 

 They are spoiled by the dazzling splendor of the arc lamp, and they treat with 

 contempt the less showy glow lamp. Nevertheless, the best lighted street in the 

 City of London is the Holborn Viaduct. The Thames Embankment and Water- 

 loo Bridge have now been lighted by fifty arc lamps for over five years by the 

 Jablochkoff Company. Blackfriars Bridge, Bridge Street, Ludgate Hill, St. 

 Paul's Churchyard, and Cheapside have been lighted by thirty-eight Brush arc 

 lamps for three years. We are now engaged in a very interesting series of ex- 

 periments at Wimbledon, to determine the best and most efficient way of light- 

 ing public streets, and much value in an economical sense will, it is hoped, accrue 

 from these trials. 



It is remarkable how the use of electricity is growing in favor with theatre 

 managers. Supported by the success of the Savoy, the Criterion, and the new 

 Prince's Theatre in London, the Prince's Theatre in Manchester, the Prince of 

 Wales and the Royal Theatres in Birmingham, two theatres in Glasgow, and 

 many others, are following Mr. D'Oyley Carte's spirited venture, and who can 

 refrain from wishing that all would follow his example ? Cool and pure air, ab- 

 sence of headache, and cheerfulness of mind are experienced at the Savoy, while 

 the reverse is felt elsewhere where gas is used. I have recently examined the 

 estimates for lighting up the Opera House in Vienna, and I have every reason 

 to believe that less than 30s. per lamp per annum will brilliantly illuminate that 

 beautiful house, and give a handsome return to those who have undertaken the 

 contract. 



There are many small central stations at work in England, but none on a 

 ]arge scale. At New York there are several. The Edison Company's first station 

 lights 431 houses, and 10,300 lamps, and they are now erecting two new ones 

 for 50,000 and 70,000 lamps respectively. We have in London one at work on 

 the Holborn Viaduct, another at Brixton, and another for 5,700 lamps will shortly 

 be opened at Victoria Station. There are small central stations at Godalming, 

 Chesterfield, and Colchester. The Hammond Company have one at Brighton, 

 which works over an area of seven miles. This company maintains 900 arc 

 lamps and 5,500 glow lamps in different places in England. There is a cen- 

 tral station at the Edgware Road Station of the Metropolitan Railway, whence 

 Notting Hill Gate, Gower Street, King's Cross, and Aldgate Stations are lighted 

 over a length of fifteen miles long. One hundred and fifty-one glow and five 

 arc lamps are illuminated by the distributing system of Gaulard and Gibbs. 

 Lord Salisbury, an amateur electrician of no mean type, has established quite a 

 system of his own at Hatfield. The Times, ever in the van of progress, has for 

 four years lighted up its printing and compositors' room. 



Our new Law Courts are admirably lighted, and some of the judges have 



