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t PfTRtrTTT la nnt m frirm of o-
El ergy any mora than water I" a
a vehicle of energy whin at a
high level or In motion; no may
electricity. Electricity cannot be manu
factured, a heat can; It can only b moved
front placa to place, tike water; and its
energy must be lit the form of rotation or
of strata write 8r Oliver I-odp", F. R. S..
In Harper's Magaslne. E'ectrlcity under
Strain constitute "eft sir k-;' electricity In
locomotion constitutes a current and m;
netlnm; electricity n vibration constitutes
light. What electricity Itself la we do not
know, but It may perhaps be a form or as
pect of matter. So have taught for thfry
years the disciples of Clork-M ixwell.
Now we can go one step further and say
matter Is composed of electricity, and of
nothing else a thesis which I wish to ex
plain and partially justify.
' First we must ask what Is positive elec
tricity, end the answer Is stKl we do not
know. For myself I do not even guess
beyond supposing It to be a mode of man
ifestation, or a dlfferetluted portion, of the
continuous and all-pervading either. It
Seems to exist lit lumps the size of the
atoms of matter; and no portion of It less
In bulk than an atom has ever been iso
lated, nor appears likely to be Isolated.
But concerning negative electricity we
know a great deal more. This exists In
excessively minute particles, sometimes
Called e'.ectrons and sometimes called cor
puscles; these are thrown oft the relatively
charged terminal In a vacum tube, and
they fly with tremendous speed till they
strike something. When they strike they
Cm a propel as welt aa heat the target, and
they can likewise make it emit a phosphor,
scent glow, especially If It be made of
glass or precious stones. If the target Is a
massive metal nice platinum, the sudden
Stoppage of tfre flying electrons which en
counter It causes the production- of the.
thereat poises known aa X-rays. Electrons
are not very easy to stop, however; and
a fair proportion of them can penetrate
not only wood and paper, but sheets of
Such, metals as aluminum and other mod
erately tula obstacles. That la because
they are extremely small muea smaller
than the atom of matter.
- Sack electro has a definite charge of
Teetrtclty vis: the same charge as. Is con
veyed, by each single a ton when a current
la passed through a chemically conducting
llijuld. Bvery electron has afaao a definite
and uniform mass, which Is about 1 -830th
Of that of an atom of hydrogen hitherto
the lightest known form, of matter.
From every kind of materia the game
and no other kind of electron can be- ob
tained, and we have reuson for inserting .
that no other klud exists.
Electric currents are always due to the
loco notion of these 11 tlla. electric charges;
they permeate and make their way through
metals, being handed on from one atom,
to the next, aa a fire bucket la passed from
hand to hujod. This la mstalUa conduction.
Liquid conduction is different; the elec
trons travl with the- atoms In tkrutda,
and hence travel slowly, being Jostled' by
the crowd, and being laden with the heavy
Atom which they conv-ey or propel, aa a
posy (or a flee hi mass a pony, but la
bulk i flea) might drag a henry wagon
thrjugh crowded streets, an til at the ter
minal station It Is BRharncasMd and alr
Jowod to trot Into Its stable, which is what
hfippen when the boundary between liquid
and metallic conductor fa f cached. Elec
trons become atlll nor emancipated, bow
ever, hi rarefied gasas, wsJet act aa a
cleared race eonraav or Hk a fre range
for flight; and then It is possible to rind
them flying at prodigious speed, even aa
high aa 100,0(0 milea a second, and some
Ubm faster still, but twver quite so fast
aa light.
Whenever an eteetvoa Is suddenly st&rtsd
or stopped, or mado to turn a corner, it
disturbs the ether through which It had
been quietly moving and excites a ripple
In it. These ethereal ripples constitute
radiation, and the best known variety of
them we call "light." With this we have .
been fsraillar for a long time, because of
our happening to possess eyes Instruments
for the ready appreciation of ethereal rip
ples. We used not " to know the reason,
however, for the production of light. We
know now that It la due to the sudden
ehanga of motion, either m speed or di
rection, of an electron; and probably to
no other cause.
The charge In on electron Is very small,
but is extremely concentrated that Is to
say, it exists only as a very minute nucleus;
and in order to explain the manifestation
of the observed mass of 1-SOOth, part of a
hydrogen atom by so trifling a quantity of
electricity it W necessary to suppose that
It is concentrated into a space one-hundred-thonsandeth
of the diameter of a material
atom. This Is the sine which. Is at present
accepted for an electron. It la quite the
smallest thins; known.
Matter, then appears to be composed of
positive and negative electricity, and noth
ing else. All Its newly discovered as woll
as alt Its long-known properties ran thus
be explained even the long-standing pusxle
of -cohesion- shows signs of giving way.
The only outstanding still Intractable phys
ical property is "gravitation,- and no satis
factory theory of the nature of gravitation
has been so far forthcoming. I doubt,
however. If It Is far away. It would seem
to bo a slight bat quite uniform secondary
or residual effect due to the immersion of
a negative electron In a positive atmos
phere. Harasles TTklrd-Itaul ftvsteae.
Aa electric third-rail train system that w
claimed to be safe and trustworthy has
been Invented by a Chicago man. By means
of hi device, la which the third rail is in
verted, and practically hidden from view,
the Inventor declares it Impossible for per
sona or animals to come In contact with
the charged rail. Its efficacy, he maintains.
Is In no way affected by sleet, snow, rains,
high winds, lightning or other weather con
ditions which heretofore have delayed traf
fic. In the new system the third or con
tact rail la stretched alongside the track
by means of an iron support shaped much
like the letter C. and is insulated at every
point, except where the "shoe" travels, by
a covering said to ba practically indestruc
tible. By a sectional system was meant
one in which the electric power is con
ducted to the car or cars in soctiona of any
desired length and made operative by the
moving truin. For example, if adopted on
the elevated trains, they might be run with
a headway of twenty seconds, and wher
ever It might be employed no section of the
line would be charged unless occupied by a
train. The same power that Is used to pro
pel the train 1 also employed to operate
block signals and safety stops, aa at cros
sings or Intersections of the road. Other
advantages claimed for the system over the
overhead trolley and the open third rail
are economy In the cost of Installation, a
caving la the cost of operation and main
tenance, and also economy In power the
latter being; assured by "positive Insulation
and non-exposure to the elements. Abso
lute safely, however, nnder any and an
conditions, la the Inventor's strongest claim
for the system. As to the speed possible to
attain by ltx use. practical tests are said
to have shown that ninety miles an hour
may be reached without any difficulty. "By
the under-running trolley contact,"' said
the Inventor, "a pressors of but throa
pounds upon the third rail la suflVirnt for
ell opera ting requirements, while the too
contact commonly employed neceasttates a
minimum weight of ftiurteen puonda on
the elevated roads In Chicago and sixty
pounds on the Bob too elevated. This
weight makes the floating shoe tend to es
cape from the center of gravity aa the re
sistance Increases, whereas by our system
any tendency to escape from the center of
gravity adds to the shoe's contact capacity
or pressure. Our shoe, or collector. Is non
magnetic, instead of being made of cast
iron, and is connected with the cars by
protected wires. It Is designed to wear to
a very smooth surface, which eliminate
the slid lug or grinding nolae usually
heard."
New Slaale i'tuta aTeor.
A communication In the London FJec
trlclan from L. Schuler, criticises a type of
single-phase motor suggested recently by
Rudolf GoldschmidU In. this the place of
the commutator is taken by a collector
with a small number of parts. An open coll
winding Is adopted, the repulsion principle
be lag made use of. The idea was that the
circuit of every coll would be broken when
there was no current flowing; but Mr.
Bchnter contends that tbhr condition of
operation is not practical He tried a
motor of thm type some time ago and
found that It worked sparklessty If rotated
slowly, but sparked badly when approach
ing full speed. The reason for this is that
the coils on the rotor are cutting the mag
netic lines, due to their motion, and there
la no sparklesa position for the brashes. JL
further objection to this type Is that the
use of a smaller number of rotor colls pre
vents the motor from developing Its fuft
starting torque In aR positions of the rotor.
A more uniform starting torque can only
be obtained by Increasing the number of
rotor colls and commutator segments.
Pwaat'sr the jfwmmtrnm ltatlway.
The frnMHis Jungfran railway la being
rapidly pmFheI forward, and the great
tunnel up through the heart of the moun
tain has now reached aa attitude of over
10,000 feet. When l.OC feet more have been
pierced through the rock the- Mer de Glace
will be reached, Where a fine station, ob
servation gallery and buffet are to be cut
out of the solid rock. The view from the
Mcr de Glace station will be the most mag
nificent In the whole of the Swiss Alps, for
the Jungfrau Sea of Ice la the starting
point of mnny 'of the most famous giant
glaciers of Europe.
Wireless War Kites.
In the presence of the German kaiser
some Interesting experiments took place In
the Baltic the other day with a newly dis
covered method of wireless telegraphy by
means of kites, writes a Hamburg corre
spondent The inventor Is a German-
American professor, at present residing at
Havre, who has for a long time past been
In communication with the German naval
authorities, and has now displayed the new
invention to the emperor personally. Nat
urally the stricest secrecy is observed re
garding; the whole matter, and every sailor
to whom the new apparatus was shown
. was compelled to take an oath not to speak
of the device. At the operations, which
were carried out about a mile from shore,
seven kites were flown on copper wires to
a height of from 10JQ0 to feet. The
experiments were partly made from the
kaiser's dispatch boat Blcipner. travelling
at the rate of thirty sea miles aa hour, and
several languages were employed. It to
possible to emptor the system over the
greatest distances without affecting any
. other wireless telegraphy station. The form
of the kites ased is that of two cubes side
by ski. The patent will ba acquired by tha
Ccrmau nary.
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Klertrteal BeerfMac-ka.
The Ximmermsa automatic shiner, aa
electrically driven machine for polishing;
boots and shoes, is ousting the human
shoeblack perhaps. The apparatus oa
elota chiefly of a railad circular platform,
which makes one complete revolution every
two minutea On the platform axe placed
six seats. In one round the platform
makes six stops of twenty second each. It
la during these Intervals, when the plat
form la at rest opposite the brueh batter
ies fixed on the outer immovable rail, that
the polishing la performed. The client
steps onto the platform and seats himself
on one of the six chairs. By aslng Ameri
can hustle tt is possible to be fairly set
tled by the time tha platform has moved
to station L There, during the first pans
to the revotaUon, the first set of brashes
descends on the now stationary shoes and
removes all mud from the leather; station
S applies a cleansing mixture; No. I rub
it off. At No. 4 the polish Is put on, and
at No. 5 the final polish Is given. .U the
end of the sixth interval of twenty i:sconds
the platform has brought the custodier to
the 1umt)lng-off station, with his shes clas
hing to the eyes of the beholder. Eighteen
hundred pairs of shoes per day of ten
hours each Is the record of this new ma
chine, and to accomplish this the atten
tion of two boys is all that la necessary.
They look after the clients and control th
two-horse-power electric motor. The ma
chine does the rest.
Lion Tamer's Escape
By turning on a sulphurlo acid gas fire
extinguisher in the face of a furious ltoa
that had seized its tamer, John Forster, by
the arm at the Sea Beach Palace soo, Fire
man Ell Sanderson saved Forster's life.
Forster was administering a calomel pill
to the lion Romeo. Romeo was cross, and
Forster pried the great Iron Jaws open with
a powerful gag. Then he ran his arm down
the roaring throat and placed the pill at
the base of the tongue.
The gag gave way Just at the crucial mo
' ment and Romeo's teeth closed with a snap
in the flesh of Forster's arm. Warm Mood
spurted out into the lion's month, render
ing him savage.
Forster,' fainting with pam and terror,
kept up cries for help until Private Fire
man Sanderson, nnder the Impression that
a fire had broken out, came running with
a Are extinguisher. He set op the extin
guisher on the edge of the cage and turned
the stream full on the lion's nose. Tha
fumes of the nanseous gaw nlled Ms nos
trils and blinded his eyes. He dropped tha
arm of the fainting keeper and slunk away
into a corner of the cage, pawtng at his
nose and rotting his head on the floor. San
derson entered the cage and carried out
Forster, almost dead from loss of blood.
On of the lion's Incisors severed an artery,
but except for a bad laceration, of the arm
the man was otherwise unhurt. A physic
ian dressed the wounds and it is not
thought that any serious results will fol
low. New York Herald.
Apologetic Burglar
Tall and of slight build, a young man
giving the name of Christopher Gergory,
pleaded guilty at Clar ken well sessions to
burglary. He left a note In the house
which he entered. It ran:
"I took an oath that the first day I was
without food I would get Into the hands of
the police, and this is the first time I have
been in want of food and shelter. I dare
not sleep in the open air, for my health Is
not of the best. I am sorry for the damage
done to the shutters, also to the tree In tha
garden.
Assuring you of my regret for damaging
your house, but tt had to be, and you will
be doing me a service if you prosecute. 1
am, sir, yours respectfully.
"O. GREGORY."
"Gregory" resolutely refused to state
who he really is, but uihm Mr. McCoonell
promising that nothing should be made
public, he In court supplied norm particu
lars privately.
He was then handed over to the mission
ary, who hits found work for hlia. Londos
Mail.
