Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/898

* ELECTRO-CULTURE OF PLANTS. 783 ELECTROLYSIS OF MAINS. fully investigated at the experiment stations of Cornell University and West Virginia, the arc light being used at the former station and the incandescent lamp at the latter. In the case of plants grown under the electric light, the effect seems to be e.xerled through the hastening and prolonging of the assimilation of the plants. A large number of vegetable and tlower and foliage plants have been experimented upon. In the experiments with the arc light it was soon found that the naked liglit exerted au injurious ellcct upon many plants. This is believed due to the presence of ultra-violet rays, the spectrum of the electric light being unlike that of sunlight. A glass screen, as an ordinary globe, was found to cut out the injurious rays and to allow the bene- ficial rays to pass through. Hanging an arc light above a greenliouse had the same effect. By this method the flowering period of many plants was, in some cases, hastened, as with Easter lilies, being advanced as much as ten days, and the colors were more intense. With vegetables the best results were secured with lettuce, plants of which were forced a week or more in advance of those in the unlighted portions of the house. This fact has been taken advantage of in a num- ber of instances in the commercial forcing of lettuce. Similar results were obtained with the incandescent light at the West Virginia Experi- ment Station. The practical utilization of the electric light in horticulture seems at present limited to forc- ing lettuce and (lowers. With these, illumina- tion for a month until midnight seems to give results connuensurate with the expense. The whole subject is hardly beyond the experimental stage as yet, except as noted above. See Elec- TROT.wis; Electkotropish ; Germix.^tiox. ELECTROCUTION (from Gk. fiXcKrpov, elek- iron. amber, electricity; a barbarous formation on the analogy- of ejcecution) . A method of in- flicting the death penalty by passing through the body of the doomed criminal a current of elec- tricity. It represents the latest attempt to rob the infliction of the death penalty of the revolt- ing features of the prevalent mode of execution by hanging. While not entirely successful in this aim, it has in some parts of the fnited States been accejjted as a more humane method of capital punishment than that which it is aimed to supersede. It was adopted in the State of Xew York in 1888, and in Ohio in 1896. The legislation which put it into effect in Xew York was. based upon the recommenda- tion of a commission appointed "to investigate and report to the I>egislature the most humane and approved method of carrying into effect the sentence of death in capital cases." Xotwith- standing the eminence of the commissioners, the prolonged and careful investigation which they gave to the subject, and the deliberate and cau- tious conduct of the Legislature in dealing with the report, the statute adoi)ted for the purpose of giving effect to the conclusion of the com- mission, and changing the mode of executing the death sentence from hanging to electrocution, was assailed as unconstitutional, on the ground that it provided for the infliction of a cruel and lunisual punishment. This contention was not sustained by the courts. On the contrary, they agreed with the commission that the application of electricity to the vital ]y.rts of the human body, under the conditions and in the manner con- templated by the statute, nuist result in instan- taneous and painless death, and lliercfore would be a far more hvimane method of inflicting the death penalty than that by hanging. See People ex rel. KcDuiiler v. Durston (110 X'ew York Re- ports, 557, 1890) ; 41 Albany Law Journal (242, 3G1, 382, 425, 480, 1890). Consult also the authorities nftrred to under PlXIsHMENT. ELECTROLYSIS. For theoretical discussion, see Electricity; and Eleciro-Chemistrv, Gex- ER.L. ELECTROLYSIS OF GAS AND WATER MAINS I from Gk. TjXeKTpon. I'h 1,1 ruii. aiiilier ^ Xiiffis, lysis, dissolution, from Xvav, lychi, to loose). The eating away or disintegrating of the metal, caused by stray electrical currents. Electric street-railway systems are chiefly rcsponsil)k' for this action, throxigh the lack of proper facilities for the return currents from the car motors to the power-house. The softening or pitting of the pipes takes place where the current leaves them, particularly at joints, where the electrical re- sistance of the metal is greater than that of the surrounding earth. The danger from this source was so little realized in the early days of electric street railways that direct electrical connection was sometimes made with gas or water mains. Since about 1892 the problem has been assuming more and more serious proportions, and there have been numerous papers and discvissions on this subject at the meetings of the various water- works and gas associations. At the points of de- parture of these stray currents, whether perma- nent or temporary, the metal, be it iron, steel, or lead, is liable to become so badly decomposed as to be in serious danger of giving way. This is particularly true of water-mains, which are under very many times as much pressure as gas- mains. When water-mains are thus broken great damage may be done by the escaping water, and a city or portion of a city might be at the mercy of the flames if a fire should break out. If. instead of the mains, the service-pipes or house connections give way, the danger and in- convenience are not so great, but no end of trouble and nuich needless expense are often caused. Where gas-mains fail, the groinid becomes more or less permeated with gas. and if the latter has an opportunity to accumulate, an explosion may occur. Since ISOO water-works managers have had more and more trouble with electrolysis, and in several instances have felt compelled to sue street-railway corporations for damages and to ask the courts to enjoin the trolley companies from a continuance of the conditions which give rise to so much anxiety, expense, and danger. Up to 1901 none of these suits had been dix-idcd by the higher courts, but preliminary rulings had, in a few instances, been made in favor of the water and gas works. It should be under- stood that the rails of the trolley lines are in- jured where the current leaves them, and that these imperfections in the circuit increase the power required to operate the railways. The remedy for the evil is to provide ample and un- failing means for the return of tlic current to the (jower-house. Much can be cfl'ecled. in the ease of the ordinary single-wire overhead trolley, by a thorough bonding of the rails: but the con- sensus of opinion among water-works oflieials is that tliis is insulUcient or unreliable, and that