Discoveries and Inventions of the Nineteenth Century

that have been overcome. No wonder that the announcement made at the beginning of 1892 should have been received with incredulity, for it was to the effect that Edison had contrived some happy combination of photography and electricity by which a man (presumably one who could afford to pay for luxuries) might sit in his own room and see the moving forms of the actors in an opera projected on a screen before his eyes, while at the same time he would hear their voices singing. Every movement, every change of expression, every glance of the eye, and, in fact, all that was visible to the spectator in front of the stage would appear on the screen, while not a note of vocalist, or chord of orchestra, would fail to reach the ear. And all this was to be evoked at will, and repeated as often as desired, not, therefore, of course, as a presentation of what was taking place at the time, but as a reproduction of some previous performance. This wonderful result has virtually been attained by the application of delicate and ingenious machinery designed to make the phonograph and the camera work synchronously. The first part of the problem was the production of a succession of so-called instantaneous photographs at an extremely rapid rate. In the actual apparatus forty-six photographs are taken every second, a feat which would beforehand be thought impracticable. This is accomplished by making use of a band of sensitive celluloid film, which alone admits of being moved and stopped with the desired rapidity. The movement is imparted by an electric motor, and the arrangement is such that for each exposure the film is held stationary for 910ths of 146th of a second, during which the lens is uncovered, then for the remaining ⅒th it is covered, while at the same time the film is jerked forward so as to expose a fresh surface to receive a new impression. Obviously the mass moved and stopped with this rapidity (which without the stoppages 480is at the rate of 26 miles an hour) must be small, and it is found that photographs about 1 in. in diameter cannot be much exceeded in view of this condition. The lens has to be entirely stopped or screened during the tenth of the short interval (1460th of a second) in which the onward movement of the film is taking place, and it has to be practically open during the remaining 910ths of the interval (9460ths of one second) in which the film is held stationary in order to receive the photographic image. These alternations of movement and stoppage must take place with the utmost regularity, and Edison has used a beautifully regulated electro-motor as the active power, which also simultaneously moves a phonograph so that sights and sounds shall proceed in step, for it is thus they have to be reproduced. This is done by developing the band of film, and from it printing photographic positives on a similar band, whose images are successively projected on a screen by means of a lantern with a step by step movement, exactly the same as that by which the original photographs are taken, while the phonographic cylinder is so timed as to give off to a loud-speaking instrument the sounds that accompanied the photographs. A description of the ingenious mechanism by which all this is accomplished is not suitable for these pages, for it is the result, rather than the details of apparatuses, that interest the general reader. In a simpler form of kinetoscope the positive images on the band of film are viewed directly by single observers, each looking through magnifying glasses; in this a disc with 46 slits revolves, and in its passage, as each slit momentarily permits a view of the image, an electric flash simultaneously lights it up. The same principle is, of course, used in the screen projections. From the very great number of impressions made on the eye in one second, there is none of that jerky movement that is observable in the older appliances. Mr. Edison has found it necessary to provide a special stage, or rather small theatre, in which the actors of the little dramas may be photographed with every advantage in the way of lighting, &c. Fig. 251a shows this kinetographic theatre with the electric camera in action. The subjects reproducible in the kinetoscope include the most rapid movements, such as quick dances, blacksmiths hammering on an anvil, &c., or incidents of ordinary life involving much gesture and change of facial expression, and nothing can be more amusing than to see all these shown to the life by the images on the screen, or by the pictures viewed through the lens, especially if at the same time the phonograph is made to emit the corresponding sounds. 481 Fig. 252.—Portrait of Sir W. Thomson.[5] 5. Now Lord Kelvin. ELECTRICITY. About sixty years ago a popular book was published having for its theme the advantages which would flow from the general diffusion of scientific knowledge. Great prominence was, of course, given to the utility of science in its direct application to useful arts, and many scientific inventions conducing to the general well-being of society were duly enumerated. Under the head of electricity, however, the writer of that book mentioned but few cases in which this mysterious agent aided in the accomplishment of any useful end. The meagre list he gives of the instances in which he says “even electricity and galvanism might be rendered subservient to the operations of art,” comprises only orreries and models of cornmills and pumps turned by electricity, the designed splitting of a stone by lightning, and the suggestion of Davy that the upper sheathing of ships should be fastened with copper instead of iron nails, with a hint that the same principle might be extended in its application. At the present day the applications of electricity are so numerous and important, that even a brief account of them would more than fill the present volume. Electricity is the moving power of the most remarkable and distinguishing invention of the age—the telegraph; it is the energy employed for ingeniously measuring small intervals of time in chronoscopes, for controlling time-pieces, 482and for firing mines and torpedoes; it is the handmaid of art in electro-plating and in the reproduction of engraved plates, blocks, letterpress, and metal work; it is the familiar spirit invoked by the chemist to effect marvellous transformations, combinations, and decompositions; it is a therapeutic agent of the greatest value in the hands of the skilful physician. Such an extension of the practical applications of electricity as we have indicated implies a corresponding development of the science itself; and, indeed, the history of electricity during the present century is a continuous record of brilliant discoveries made by men of rare and commanding genius—such as Davy, Ampère, and Faraday. To give a complete account of these discoveries would be to write a treatise on the science; and although the subject is extremely attractive, we must pass over many discoveries which have a high scientific interest, and present to the reader so much of this recently developed science as will enable him to comprehend the principles of a few of its more striking applications. The science of electricity presents some features which mark it with special characters as distinguished from other branches of knowledge. In mechanics and pneumatics and acoustics we have little difficulty in picturing in our minds the nature of the actions which are concerned in the phenomena. We can also extend ideas derived from ordinary experience to embrace the more recondite operations to which heat and light may be due, and, by conceptions of vibrating particles and undulatory ether, obtain a mental grasp of these subtile agents. But with regard to electricity no such conceptions have yet been framed—no hypothesis has yet been advanced which satisfactorily explains the inner nature of electrical action, or gives us a mental picture of any pulsations, rotations, or other motions of particles, material or ethereal, that may represent all the phenomena. Incapable as we are of framing a distinct conception of the real nature of electricity, there are few natural agents with whose ways we are so well acquainted as electricity. The laws of its action are as well known as those of gravitation, and they are far better known than those which govern chemical phenomena or the still more complex processes of organic life. Definite as are the laws of electricity, there is no branch of natural or physical science on which the ideas of people in general are so vague. Spectators of the effects of this wonderful energy—as seen violently and destructively in the thunderstorm, and silently and harmlessly in the Aurora—knowing vaguely something of its powers in traversing the densest materials, in giving convulsive shocks, and in affecting substances of all kinds—the multitude regard electricity with a certain awe, and are always ready to attribute to its agency any effect which appears mysterious or inexplicable. The popular ignorance on this subject is largely taken advantage of by impostors and charlatans of every kind. Electric and magnetic nostrums of every form, electric elixirs, galvanic hair-washes, magnetized flannels, polarized tooth-brushes, and voltaic nightcaps appear to find a ready sale, which speaks unmistakably of the less than half-knowledge which is possessed by the public concerning even the elements of electrical science. Electricity has also a special position with regard to its intimate connection with almost every other form of natural energy. Evolved by mechanical actions, by heat, by movements of magnets, and by chemical actions, it is capable in its turn of reproducing any of these. It plays an important, but as yet an undefined, part in the physiological actions constantly going on in the organized body, and is, in fact, all-pervading in its influence over 483all matter, organic and inorganic—a secret power strangely but universally concerned in all the operations of nature. We are compelled to regard electricity not as a kind of force acting upon otherwise inert matter, but rather as an affection or condition of which every kind of matter is capable, although we are still unable to form a conjecture of the precise nature of the action. We have now to address ourselves to the task of unfolding so much of the science as will enable the reader to understand the leading principles of such important applications as electro-plating, illumination, and the telegraph; and this will necessarily include an account of the grand discovery of the identity, or at least intimate connection, of magnetism and electricity. ELEMENTARY PHENOMENA OF MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY. The distinctive property of a magnet is, as everybody knows, to attract pieces of iron, and this property having been observed by the ancients in a certain ore of iron which was found near the city of Magnesia, in Asia Minor, the property itself came to be called Magnetism. A bar of steel, if rubbed with the natural magnet or loadstone, acquires the same property, and if the bar be suspended horizontally or poised on a pivot, it will settle only in one definite direction, which in this country is nearly north and south. If a narrow magnetized bar be plunged into iron filings, it will be found that these are attracted chiefly by the ends of the bar, and not at all by the centre. It appears as if the magnetic power were concentrated in the extremities of the bar, and these are termed its poles, the pole at the end of the bar which points to the north is called the north pole of the magnet, and the other is named the south pole. If a north pole of one magnet be presented to the north pole of another, they will repel each other, and the same repulsion will take place between the south poles, whereas the north pole of one magnet attracts the south pole of another. In other words, poles of the same name repel each other, but poles of