Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 9.djvu/534

506 506 HARVARD LAW REVIEW. A new phase of the case, however, has recently cropped out, which may be the cause of further litigation, although it is not yet in the courts. It has been shown by experts that the effect of the discharge of the electric railway current into the ground near iron pipes such as are used for carrying the underground wires of the various electric companies, as well as water pipes, gas pipes, steam heating pipes, and similar conduits, is to produce electrolysis of the metal, accompanied in case of electric conduits by detriment to the insulating and protecting material. Whether this damage will result in an attempt to compel the electric railways to change their method of construction, and if so what the decision of the courts will be upon the rights of the parties, it is yet too early to predict. It is, however, safe to say that the courts will adequately protect the fundamental principle so important to the community, and so well defended in the cases cited above, that the primary use of public highways is for public travel. Shnon G. CroswelL