Mr. Edison, the great American inventor, has nearly all the qualifications of areal prophet. For months together he remains invisible in the hermit seclusion of his laboratory, Suddenly he issues forth to proclaim to the world the results of his meditate the duly his newest utterance is always more startling than the one before; and again he vanishes to prepare yet "a bigger dog-story." The only' disadvantage of his messages is that they have an awkward knack of coming true. This robs them of that sporting element of uncertainty which is essential to all genuine prophecy, and reduces them to the inglorious. level of a mere algebraic equation. Thus with misgiving we read Mr. Edison's last pronouncement, which tells us how ina few year's time, electricity is to do every thing for us from cradle to grave, and how nitrogen is to be drawn from the atmosphere to give us more fertile harvests and fatter herds—a literal accomplishment of the theory of that famous scholar whose horse had just learnt to subsist upon sig when it foolishly died. Horses are doomed, however, by Mr. Edison, The bright hearth and the yule log, with all that they mean in fellowship and good cheer are also doomed; nay, the very beauties of Nature are threatened, for we cannot afford to waste on spectacular effects what a simple scientific applicati common air will convert into nat landers. The scientists's dream is as depressing to common—mem the dream of the soda joys of independence, ambit sonal mor Labour and proportions every man's reward, not to his own ability, b get everything auer by machinery at the by the scleritis
mere trouble of pressing a button. But on closer examination, we sce a flav of inconsistency in Mr. Edison's argument which lets in a ray of hope upon the dreary fature that he pai fatter cattle, richer harvests versal electricity, the world have ten times more energy than now. Energy, however, cannot produce itself from whatsoever source, That is a fundamental law of Nature, So that cither we shall have to work ten times harder for it—in which case we shall be wore off than we are now: or Mr.
Edison has prophesied falsely at last, and we may listen to him with the interest that his utterances deserve, and with restored confidence in our own destiny.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.