Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/57

 JAsvAxr 16, 188G.)

��siiin of money for the purjjoae of testing the truth of the so-called spiritualism.

Since September, the Boston committee has held iioinerotis meetings, and discussed the and eons of the formation of a psychical ity, nod tinally brought forward a consti- ition under which some eighty geutlemeu from different parts of the country have orgauizcd themselves, A notice of this meeting was ^veu io No. 100 of Science; ami in this week's issue we give an account of the com- pletion of the details of organization. It will be seen in this account that the society [iro- poses immediately to tM?gin investigations on thought-transference. It is verj' iiecessaiy that this work should be in the hands of trastj' investigators, and that they should have ample opportunity and means for carrying on their work. To some extent, they may find parties in private life who possess the alleged powers, but it may be necessary foi" them to oaU uiK>D professionals ; and, at any rate, it lid be well if they were able to hire the reasionals, and subject them to sudi exper- its as would test their capacities. If there S large propoitiou of fraud, one of the best works of the society would he to detect it, and publish it to the world ; but this it canuot do. supplied freely with the necessary funds.

�� ��Electrical science has not made greatstrides during the jear lill84; but in the direction of pi-actical applications it is feeling the powerful aid of business ability and capital. The IT. S. patent office is crowded with applications for pateuts on various electrical appliances. The scientific investigator must soon make a strug- gle for the free use of many old and familiar electrical appliances which he has known from boyhooil, unless he, too, enters the field as an ap- plicant for patents. The tendency of the limes is certainly in the direction of obtaining patents in order Ut prove priority, even in the dii-ection of pure science. We leave it to the moralist to decide the diflerence between a copyright for a literary man and a patent for a scientific man.

The problem of electric lighting is gradually

��yielding to the efforts of the great army of in- ventors. The Ellison company has plants in almost all countries. The incandescent system has made its way on steamboats and steam- ships. The great Fall-River line of steam- boats took the initiative in lighting the steamer Pilgrim, and has now extended the system to the other principal boats of the line. It is said, that, although the cost of lighting by incandescence is double that of gas, the belter quality of light and the greater safety from fire counterbalance the increased cost. Experiment* have been made by the Weston electric-light company during Ihe year, upon long-filament incandescent lamps, which prom- ise to give lamps approaching the candle- power of many arc-lights with a far pleasanter and steadier light.

Among the methods of electric lighting by incandescence, which have received reDewe<l advocacy during the year, is the battery sys- tem. Trouv^'s modification of th? bichromate- of-[jotash batt«ry consists in employing a very large proiwrtion of sulphuric acid with bichro- mate of potash. An experience of three months with this battery will lead its most en- thusiastic advocate to long for a cheaper source of electricity.

The problem of electric lighting is to fiud a cheaper motor than the steam-engine to drive the dynamo-electric engine, or to discover a more direct process of obtaining electricity from heat. No advance has been made this year in the generation of electricity by lliermo- electricity. The meetingsof the British associa- tion at Montreal, and the American association in Philadelphia, did not result in the produc- tion of manj' important papers on electricity ; yet there is no doubt that many i)ersone had their ideas clarified and tbeir thoughts stimu- lated by these meetings. Perhaps the coming year will bear evidence of this. The electrical exposition in Philadelphia showed the great activity in the fields of electric lighting, and was chiefiy interesting as an exhibition of various types of dynamo-machines.

The members of the electrical congress, also held in Philadelphia at the time of the elec- trical exposition, were incUnetl to dissent IVom the resolutions of the late Paris congress in regard to the adoption of a hundred and six centimetres of mercury, a millimetre in secUon, at the temperature of 0° C. as the legal ohm ; since the work of Professor Rowland, it was believed, would give a closer value. Professor Rowland has not yet published; but it is i)e- lieved that results have been obtained which will lead to a revision of the decision of the

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