352 Dr. 0. W. Siemens on the Transmission and 



in detail into these applications, which were merely indicated 

 in my communication to the Royal Society of Edinburgh of 

 three years ago, as a very short and simple analytical method 

 of setting forth the whole non-molecular theory of Thermo- 

 dynamics. 



University of Glasgow, 

 April 11, 1879. 



LVI. On the Transmission and Distribution of Energy by 

 the Electric Current. By C. William Siemens, D.C.L., 

 F.R.S* 



[Plate XII.] 



IN the autumn of 1876, when standing below the Falls 

 of Niagara, the first impression of wonderment at the 

 imposing spectacle before my eyes was followed by a desire 

 to appreciate the amount of force thus eternally spent with- 

 out producing any other result than to raise the temperature 

 of the St. Lawrence a fraction of a degree f, by the concus- 

 sion of the water against the rocks upon which it falls. 



The rapids below the fall present a favourable opportunity 

 of gauging the sectional area and the velocity of the river; 

 and from these data I calculated that the fall represents energy 

 equivalent to nearly 17 million horse-power, to produce which 

 by steam would require about 260 million tons of coal a year, 

 or just about the entire amount of coal raised throughout the 

 world. 



If one fall represents such a loss of power, what must be 

 the aggregate loss throughout the world from similar causes ? 

 and is it consistent with utilitarian principles that such stores 

 of energy should go almost entirely to waste ? But the diffi- 

 culty arises, how such energy (occurring as it does for the 

 most part in mountainous countries) is to be conducted to 

 centres of industry and population. 



Transmission by hydraulic arrangements or by compressed 

 air would be very costly and wasteful for great distances ; 

 but it occurred to me that large amounts of energy, produced 

 by means of the dynamo-electric current-generator, might be 

 conveyed through a metallic conductor, such as a rod of 

 copper fixed upon insulating supports. Such a conductor 

 would no doubt be expensive ; but, if once established, the 

 cost of maintenance would be very small, and its power of 



* Communicated by the Physical Society, haying "been read at the 

 meeting on February 22. 



f The vertical fall being 150 feet, the increase of temperature would be 



