36 
POPULAR SCIENCE REYIEW. 
drive it. If the experiment answers, it is anticipated that the 
entire Palace will be lighted up in the same manner. At first 
there will be only four lights, each fixed at an elevation of sixty 
feet above the main floor of the Palace, at the angles of the large 
open space under the central transept. The current will be 
transmitted by wires, each about one hundred yards in length, 
laid under the floor of the building, and converging into a special 
apparatus, whence other wires will proceed to the several lights, 
each light having its own pair of wires proceeding from the ap- 
paratus. A trial of the light, under the auspices of the same 
company, is also about to take place on the premises of a firm 
in the City. Arrangements are likewise pending for lighting 
up one of the large railway stations in London, and the Agricul- 
tural Hall at Canterbury. 
The present excitement on the subject of the electric light 
occasions a great demand for the Gramme machine. Patent 
rights and royalties, backed up by Chancery proceedings, create 
some degree of obstruction in the use of dynamo-electric machines, 
and occasion delay in the development of processes for regulating 
the light. The lamp is one thing, and the machine for generat- 
ing the current is another. In some cases the use of galvanic 
batteries is contemplated as a substitute for a machine, where 
only one or two lights are required. Another essential is that 
of the motive power by which the dynamo-electric machine is to 
be driven. Sir W. Armstrong’s use of water-power for this pur- 
pose is very instructive and encouraging. The suitability of gas- 
engines to drive the dynamo-electric machine is so generally 
recognised, that a great demand has sprung up in consequence, 
and, according to some accounts, there is a difficulty in getting 
orders executed for the delivery of these motors, thereby giving 
rise to another source of delay. These obstacles in themselves 
stimulate invention, and it is not unlikely that some new form 
of dynamo-electric machine will ere long be placed before the 
public. The Meritens machine, lately invented in France, is 
stated to develope more power than the Gramme machine, in the 
proportion of three to one. That is to say, the Meritens machine 
is credited with maintaining one Jablochkoff light by the 
expenditure of one-third of a horse-power. On the other hand, 
the cost of this machine is high, being nearly double that of a 
Gramme comparable to it in size. The French patent for the 
Meritens machine is understood to have been sold for a very 
large sum. It may be safely asserted that there is no finality in 
respect to electric light inventions; and there is little doubt that 
many new devices, with several startling changes, will present 
themselves in this domain of science within a brief period of 
time. The Patent Office is still besieged with inventors engaged 
in perfecting the electric light or its accessories, and among 
