Soarcety a mail arrives that does not bring us some news of the progress of electric ligh time woman safely say that it has been of character satisfactory to all interested. The general public are glad to know that improvements are continually being made and that the expense of production is being gradually reduced, whik those interested in gas shares may fairly derive comfort from the fact that little has as yet been accomplished in the way of splitting up the light seas to make it available for household purposes. Quite lately there has been an exhibition of electrical lighting apparatus at Glasgow. It was intended to have bad a competition, but the entries were not numerous and the trials of the various systems have been too limited to enable the Jurors to give a decision worth anything as regards the systems at present before the public, Ib is now an acknowledged fact that the light is superior to any other for certain purposes, and that in some instances it is the cheapest. For light= houses it has now been used for many years. Ita very excellence, and the extreme smallness of the light. caused great difficulty at firstintheconstraction of suitable optical apparatus, and to the present day it is considered unsafe to employ it in situations where an accident to the machinery could not be easily dealt with, The upholders of oil lamps, being put upon their nettle, have no doubt prodaced lamps which compare favourably with most electric apparatus, but it is a case of an old system gradually worked up to 'a state of perfection competing with a new system which may truly be said to be in its infancy, and we doubt not the electric light will win in the end. For such purposes as lighting streets, railway stations and manufactories, a somewhat different light is required, In the case of a lighthouse one wants to see the light, in the other cases one wants to see external objects, and if the lamp could be kept out of sight altogether it would be an advantage. Tu most cases ® subdued and diffused ight is obtained by surrounding the light with a semi-opaque shade, a method which is clearly bad in principle and can only be accepted as a makeshift. The light is however making its way, even handicapped by this disadvantage. In a few very excep. tional instances it has been shown that the expense of lighting by electricity is less than that of lighting by gas, but in almost every cause it has been introduced, not to © exporiso, but to give more light. There are two clear divisions of the éubject of electric lighting, The first is-the question of the production of the electricity, the second is the question of the best form of lamp. The two are, of course, not wholly distinct from each other, inasmuch as a special lamp may require a special description of current, but to @ great extent the discussion of the two questions may be kept separate.
We presume that all our readers are ware that the idea of producing electricity for lighting purposes by means of a galvanic battery has long been abandoned. In the present day, whether we wish to melt iron or to freeze water, we employ coal, and yo go to the same source for our electricity, 80 that whether we employ gas or the electric light, we derive our power from the combustion of fuel, and one great point to be determined is whether we get most light by extracting the gas from a ton of coal or by burning that ton under a boiler to drive a machine for producing electricity. In spite of the enormous improvements that have of late been made in gas-burners, it seems unquestionable that if we limit the discussion to this point, electricity must win, bat then comes the question, do
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.