time for the development of many practical details necessary to 

 its ultimate success. Already nine companies are at work supply- 

 ing from central stations, the electric light to the greater 

 portion of the western and north western districts of the Metro- 

 polis, and there are twenty-seven lighting stations now at work in 

 various towns in England, besides many otiiers which are in course 

 of being established, and it is to be hoped our own town will not 

 be long witliout so desirable an improvement. Our American 

 cousins are, however, far in advance of us in this respect, for 

 whereas in America there are two hundred and thirty five thousand 

 arc lamps, and three million glow lamps in use, we have in 

 England but one hundredth the number of the former, and one 

 tenth the number of the latter, ISo practical indeed are the in- 

 habitants of the new world, that we learn (not without a romantic 

 feeling of regret) that Siemens' dream of utihsing the force of the 

 vast cataract of Niagara, is now on the eve of realisation. We, 

 however, hold the foremost rank in the efficient application of the 

 electric light for our passenger ships and our Navy, and, indeed, for 

 all purposes of coast defence. It has also been adopted for signal- 

 ling from captive balloons, as a lighthouse illuminant, and for the 

 lighting of the main roads in coal mines, and indeed in no place more 

 than the latter, is the electric light likely to be of practical service, 

 in averting those terrible calamities which so often arise from even 

 the most guarded use of lamps ni coal or other explosive mines. 



The electric railway which was opened in London last November, 

 and which is the first of its kind in England, seems likely to be 

 most successful. The motive power being electricity, there is an 

 entire absence of the sulphurous atmosphere which prevails in 

 other underground railways from the fumes of coal or coke fires, 

 and the use of separate subways for the up and down trains tends 

 still farther to ensure the purity of the air. The entire line is 

 over three miles in length, and the run is performed in fifteen 

 minutes ; the trains consist of three carriages, capable of carrying 

 a hundred passengers, and a locomotive containing two dynamo 

 motors, the permanent generating station being at Stockwell. The 

 current is supplied to the line at an electromotive force of one hundred 

 and fifty volts, and is taken from the line by brushes v/hich feed 

 the dynamos as the locomotive travels on. It is said to be an easy 

 and agreeable method of travel hng, the motion being absolutely 

 free from vibration. The carriages and stations are all provided 

 with incandescent lamps, and the passenger stations are accessible 

 from the line by hydraulic lifts. The engineers to the line are 

 Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker, the famous engineers 

 of the Forth Bridge. 



Electricity has now for some years been frequently adopted a§ 



