46 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. V., No. 102. 



Paris conference. The members of the con- 

 ference also dissented from the conclusions of 

 the Paris conference upon the adoption of the 

 platinum standard of light ; and a committee 

 of the U. S. electrical conference is now en- 

 gaged upon the study of a suitable standard. 

 The suggestion by Siemens to use the light 

 emitted by a square centimetre of platinum at 

 the point of fusion, under the action of a 

 known current of electricity, seems a fruitful 

 one ; and the committee is testing its capa- 

 bilities. 



In telegraphy and telephony, there is not 

 much that is new to chronicle. It is perhaps 

 a blow to our national pride to learn that we 

 are behind England in the art of telegraphy, 

 and that we are importing certain telegraphic 

 instruments instead of exporting them. 



The London central telegraphic office is 

 certainly not approached in this country for 

 completeness and system. There is a certain 

 analogy between the action of the Irish settler 

 in New England who burns up the fences and 

 cuts down all the wood, and, in short, skins 

 the farm, and the action of telegraphic and rail- 

 road corporations which run a system, but do 

 not add to it as long as subsistence and divi- 

 dends can be obtained. The American visitor 

 to the London central office, however, can 

 but be amused, that a separate room, with in- 

 struction, is provided for those operators who 

 are to learn the reading of messages by sound. 

 In America it was the operators who taught 

 the superintendents that this method of receiv- 

 ing messages was preferable to the Morse 

 register system. 



We learn that the Bell telephone company 

 has lately completed a special line between 

 Boston and New York, and proposes to open 

 telephonic communication between these cities. 

 With the new powerful transmitters that have 

 been and undoubtedly are to be invented, a 

 great increase in the range of telephony is 

 to be expected. Already most of the towns 

 and principal cities throughout New England 

 are connected by telephone-lines, to the great 

 detriment of livery-stables and of stage-lines. 

 The stud}' of this new method of village-com- 

 munication we leave to the political-economist. 

 The system is destined to work great changes 

 in manners and customs. 



Unfortunately, the storage of electricity, so 

 called, does not fulfil the extravagant hopes 

 that were excited when Eaure's battery burst 

 upon the world. It is now found that the 

 PI ante battery is more practical than the Faure, 

 and that, under careful methods of forming, 

 it gives better results than the Faure and its 



various modifications. None of the storage- 

 batteries now in use can be said to be commer- 

 cial successes, for all of them deteriorate se- 

 riously in time. To the scientific investigator, 

 however, the}' are extremely useful. One 

 having a small electrical plant can charge his 

 secondary batteries at his leisure, and thus 

 have on tap a steady source of electricity. To 

 the investigator who has ruined many suits of 

 clothes with acid-batteries, and whose hands 

 have almost ceased to be the insignia of gentle 

 birth, the storage-batter}- is already a great 

 boon. 



Much has been said and written upon the 

 subject of the transmission of power by elec- 

 tricity. It is proposed to try different systems 

 upon a certain portion of the elevated railways 

 of New York. Nothing but an experiment 

 upon a sufficiently large scale, under intelli- 

 gent scientific supervision, can determine 

 whether the electrical transmission of power 

 can compete successfully with the use of the 

 locomotive on public exposed highways. There 

 is a future for this system in many ways, even 

 if it fails on railways. The year, however, has 

 added little to our knowledge of it. 



The subject of underground wires has been 

 much agitated lately, and the Western union 

 telegraph company has lately tried the experi- 

 ment of placing many of its lines between two 

 distant points in Boston under ground. At 

 present they work successfully ; but time is 

 needed to show that a suitable degree of insu- 

 lation can be maintained in this frost-afflicted 

 climate. 



The scientific theory of electricity has not 

 received notable accessions during the year. 

 The U.S. signal-service has established sta- 

 tions for the study of atmospheric electricity 

 at Baltimore and at Cambridge. It is believed 

 that electrical observations will give additional 

 data for foretelling the approach of storms. 

 The subject of atmospheric electricity is still 

 shrouded in mystery ; and little more is known 

 than that there is a difference of electrical 

 level between the earth and the air, and that 

 this difference undergoes modifications, and 

 that we have methods of measuring these mod- 

 ifications. Little progress has been made in 

 our knowledge of the connection between earth- 

 currents and changes in the electrical potential 

 of the air. It is maintained by Mr. Blavier, 

 who has had several experimental telegraph- 

 lines under his direction in France for the 

 study of earth - currents, that changes in the 

 potential of the air cause very small changes 

 in the -character of earth-currents, and that 

 the latter have a real and separate existence. 



