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most of us what an immense waste of mi utilised force is for ever going 

 on around us. Take for example, the rays of the sun, though of course, 

 this applies more particularly to coimtries which are more abundantly 

 blessedwith sun&hine than we are. If we could only economically (for 

 that is the knotty problem — that question of £ s. d.) utilise the 

 wasted light and heat of the sun by concave reflectors, condensers, 

 convex lenses, &c., what an amount of work we might get from the 

 mighty ruler of our universe. Then there is the power of the daily 

 recurring tides, utilised at present only in floating ships up and 

 down rivers — no small matter, by the way — -but if we could only 

 store up some, even a tithe of this immense energy, what work 

 might we not accomplish with it. This is a scheme over which 

 I have often pondered, but the only machinery I can in imagination 

 devise, would be, I know, too intricate and ponderous to pay. 

 What I believe to be the most feasible plan would be to collect and 

 store up some of the prodigious water power running constantly to 

 waste in the numberless rivers, torrents, and streams in different 

 parts of the world. When travelling in Norway, Switzerland, the 

 Tyrol, or other mountainous districts, I have often been struck 

 with the almost limitless power thus running to waste from the 

 innumerable torrents rushing down from the mountains above, and 

 the comparative ease with whicli it might be made available and 

 stored m Faure's or some other form of electric accumulators. This 

 accumulator, I would remind you, is only a box 9m. high by 5in. 

 in diameter, packed with a pair of lead plates coated with red lead, 

 and sheathed in felt which is saturated with sulphuric acid and 

 water. This is a simple and very portable machine and yet when 

 charged with electricity trom a battery, or revolving dynamos, is 

 capal)le of receiving and storing up a charge of electric force or 

 energy sufficient to lift one million pounds to the height of one 

 foot. The cost of charging any number of boxes would be almost 

 nil, for the motive power, which commonly necessitates a steam 

 engine, i.e., expensive coal and more expensive machinery, is here 

 supplied by nature in infinite quantity and without cost. All that 

 would be required, would be a revolving water wheel, which would, 

 as it were, "tap" the power of the torrent and thereby turn 

 dynamos, by which the electric force would be generated and stored 

 in the accumulator. It would then become merely a question of 

 expense of transport of the accumulators, and that is really " the 

 rub," for these torrents and streams are usually in more or less in- 

 accessible districts and the cost of carriage would be a very expen- 

 sive item. Think of the motive power, the heating, the lighting power 

 to be derived from Niagara ; but the Americans, though an eminently 

 practical people, are not quite educated up to this pitch. 



To return to our own affairs we are all, I am sure, glad to welcome 



