STORAGE OF ELECTRICITY. 299 



RAILWAY AND CANAL TRANSPORTATION. 



Eastward of Chicago and St. Louis a vast network of railways disputes the 

 precedence with any and all other routes of transportation. There is now a 

 fiercer rivalry than ever before. On Canadian soil the Grand Trunk Railway 

 parallels the St. Lawrence system of canals, and extends beyond their Montreal 

 terminus as far to the east as Quebec and Portland. The western terminus is 

 overlapped by the distance between Port Colborne and Detroit, Sarnia, Colling- 

 wood, and other upper lake ports. At Collingwood, a friendly railroad relieves 

 the steamers of freight that they so recently carried through the Welland, and 

 delivers it to other parties or to the Grand Trunk at Toronto. In 1878, grain 

 to the value of $272,803 passed over this route for the eastern or foreign market. 

 In 1879, the value of grain transported was $1,536,351. This remarkable in- 

 crease of traffic is to receive the attention of the United States government as a 

 matter affecting the collection of customs and the interest of American shippers 

 in general. 



PHYSICS. 



THE STORAGE OF ELECTRICITY. 



Sir William Thomson, who is one of the highest living authorities, amply 

 confirms the statement that a small box containing 1,000,000 foot-pounds of elec- 

 tric force has been conveyed from Paris to Glasgow.' This small box was in re- 

 ality a Faure secondary battery, in which the electricity can be accumulated and 

 stored until it is required for use. By the application of the same kind of battery 

 M. Faure has run a bicycle, and has also applied the principle to a small boat 

 which has been successfully tried near Paris. Sir William Thomson has tested 

 this battery, and reports that it does really afford a means of storing electrical force 

 — a fact which is of vital interest and importance to the public. As we have pre- 

 viously pointed out, the great defect of dynamically-created electricity has been 

 its existence only so long as the motive power was kept running. When the en- 

 gine stopped the current ceased.^ Under the new plan this is no longer the case, 

 and, as the eminent scientist named points Out, the electric energy may be stored 

 for household or other purposes, just in the same manner as water or gas. In 

 this way we may light our houses, or utilize the electricity as power, under abso- 

 lute control, and with a minimum of trouble and expense. Such being the case 

 we may expect to witness an enormous- development of the applications of elec- 

 tricity, assuming, of course, that the Faure battery is capable of indefinite repro- 

 duction on a practical scale. There are not wanting those who entirely dispute 

 the value of the invention, and who ridicule the ideas set forth by Sir William 



