32(3 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



machine, by our countryman Mr. J. E. H. Gordon, which appears 

 capable of feeding from five to six thousand lamps. 



But beside the impulse above described, the Bill will have a 

 scientific influence perhaps not contemplated by its original promoters. 

 Under this Act, for the first time in the history of the world, energy 

 will come under the grasp of the law, will become the subject of 

 commercial contracts, and be bought and sold as a commodity of 

 everyday use. It is, in fact, far from improbable that the public 

 supply of electricity will be reckoned and charged for in terms of 

 energy itself. But whether this be literally the case or not, a measure- 

 ment of energy must lie at the root of every scale of charge. 



And, further, since the Act allows no restriction to be placed upon 

 the use of the electricity so supplied, it follows that it may be used, 

 and undoubtedly will be used, at the pleasure and convenience of the 

 customer, either for lighting, or for heating, or for mechanical, or 

 for chemical purposes. This beiug so, it is clear that the public must 

 by this process become, practically at least, familiar with the various 

 modes of the transformation of force ; and the Act in question might, 

 from this point of view, have been entitled An Act for the better 

 Appreciation of the Transformation of Force. 



While offering to the public this new commodity electricians may, 

 in one respect, especially congratulate themselves, namely, that their 

 article is incapable of adulteration. An electric current of a given 

 strength and given electro-motive force is perfectly defined, and is 

 identically the same whether it comes from a Siemens or a Gramme, 

 from a magneto- or from a dynamo-machine; or, as was suggested 

 by an eminent counsel before the Select Committee of the House of 

 Commons, just as if it had been merely a question of coming from one 

 machine painted red or from another painted blue. 



It has been said, and perhaps with truth, that the electric light will 

 be the light of the rich rather than that of the poor. But in more 

 w r ays than one electricity may now become the poor man's friend. The 

 advantages in avoidance of heat and of vitiated atmosphere in work- 

 shops and factories have often been pointed out, and may ultimately 

 become an important factor in the physical growth and prosperity of 

 our population. But besides this, when electricity is literally brought 

 to our doors, it will become possible, by converting it into motive 

 power of limited extent, to revive some of the small industries which 

 during the last half century have been crushed by the great manu- 

 facturing establishments of the country. There are operations which 

 are capable of being carried out by the wives and families of work- 

 men ; there are works of small extent which can be performed more 

 advantageously in a small establishment than in a large one, and it 

 can hardly fail to be a gain to the community if this new departure 

 should give fresh opportunities for the development of our industry 

 in these directions. 



