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LEWIS EVANS-ADDRESS : 
the eighteenth century, as I have already mentioned, became an 
accomplished fact about 1847, and has been developing ever since ; 
it is now usual to send many different messages simultaneously 
over the same wire, and in these days it is even possible to 
telegraph drawings and written matter. The telephone, originated 
by Eeis, was first used about 1875; and wireless telegraphy, based 
on Hertz’ discovery of the waves produced in ether by electric 
sparks, was brought to a practical issue by Marconi in 1897, and 
has now been proved to be workable over a distance of 1,500 miles 
or more. 
The importance of electricity amongst manufacturers has been 
growing ever since 1840, when electro-plating was introduced, and 
it has received an immense impetus from the development of the 
dynamo first introduced by Paccinotti and by Gramme in 1861. 
Por many years past various chemical substances, such as bleaching 
powder and caustic soda have been produced by electrolysis on 
a commercial scale in various parts of the world. Steam or 
water power is now habitually distributed by electricity, and in 
some cases is conveyed with economy for distances of over 100 
miles, and even in this county machinery is largely driven by 
electricity, and one hears rumours about the advent of electric 
tramways into some of the towns in our county. In 1849 the 
electric light was unsuccessfully tried in London, and little use was 
made of it until 1880, when part of the Thames Embankment was 
lit by it; since then both arc and incandescent lamps have come 
more and more into use all over the world, and bid fair to 
displace most other illuminants both in Watford and elsewhere, 
whilst at the same time electricity itself is clearly destined year 
by year to take a more intimate and important part in all the 
doings of mankind, both domestic and commercial. 
The strides made in Astronomy during the past hundred years 
have been enormous, thanks to the improvements made in telescopes 
and other instruments and to the invention of the spectroscope and 
photography. 
The discovery of new planets or asteroids during the century 
commenced with that of Ceres by Piazzi in 1801 and of Pallas 
by Olbers in 1802, and in 1868 there were about 100 known to 
astronomers. At the present time the orbits of nearly 500 have 
been ascertained. Of all these discoveries the most noteworthy, 
from a scientific point of view, was that of Neptune in 1846. 
Astronomers had for years noticed irregularities in the orbit of 
Uranus, and M. Leverrier and Mr. Adams set to work independently 
to discover mathematically the values of the elements of the orbit 
