SCIENCE. 193 fore, and it is assuredly not constant, in the best pos- S 1 C I Ep .N CE :sble vacuut obtainable." "\'e nmay indeed restIL ~~~~~~~~~~assured, that upon ftirther reflection, Nir. Edison A WEEKLY R.ECORD OF SCIENTIFIC will abanidoni this imperfect btrner3 The same au- thors in speaking of the "Sawyer laml," describe it PRORESS. as"Xthe best incandescent lamIip of this kinid that has b)eci itnvenittld." Suichl being the teachings of ani eduticational work, JOHN MICHELS, Ed1 tot. twritten by professed teaclhers on this suibject, let them be compared witlh the actual results achieved, and the PUBLISHED AT relative positions of the two men at this moment. 229 BROADWAY NEW YORK. Seldom has the irony of events demonstratednmore forcibly that the honest work of a man is proof P. 0. Box 8888. against the assauilts of frauduilenit or ignorant critics, - _ _____________ anad that the levelinitg influtence of time always reveals 9A;TURDAY, APRII, 3o, i88I. the truthl. Oni the various atteml)ts to imiitate Edison's lamp Since we last referre(d to IMr. Edis0on anid his incan- we shiall otfer buit a few words for imost p)ractical in- diescenit lamj), the Sul)ject hias been a(dvaniced anothier venitors are uisuially plagued by men wlho enideavor to stel)and thefinaRl stage of completeand unquali;fied (ldu)plica(te their successfutl inventions. If 'imitation is Succss achievd; permission has b)een1 granted to the sincerest of flattery" wve suppose MTr. Maxim is the lE(dison Light Company, to l)lace stirface con- merely desirous of paying Edison a high coliment ducting wires iunider the streets of New York City, Concerning Mr. Swan, of Newcastle, England, wiho and(I inl the coutrse of thle n1ext two or thuree monthls, l)rofesses to have l)erfected a horse-slhoe carbon lampi), one large (listrict of that city will be enjoying apparently idenitical to that of MIr. Edison's, we woould the ftull benefits of MNr. Edlison's system of electrical draw attentioni to the significant fact, that in Mlessrs. illuming tcration. Urquhart and(l Webb's work oni the *' Electric Light," ''l aking a retrosl)ective reviewv of public uitterances date(d as recently as April, I88o, anid published in MIr. on this (luestioni during the last eighteen months, we Swan's OWn country, not a single reference is made to now extenll our condolenice to a certain class of pro- the Swan electric lamp-in fact, his name does not fessed scientific experts who have maintained, from occtr in thelbook. Tahisip oukl apiear to be conclu- first to last, the iml)racticabilit) of Edison's well-de- sive e idence tkat neither ir. Swan, nor his lamp, were vise(l l)lans. known in England up to that date-unless lhe is in- Never in the annals of scientific discovery has a cluded among the nameless crowd, spoken of by the grosser attempt been made to lervert the trutlh, and authors, who had " repeatedly used burnt paper in va- mnislead p)ublic opinion. rioUs formiis," and( i'hofaiil/d t) secure cons/tnt results, As one instance among maniy, let us take up what z " /'t'sttissiUe VdCUllOll Obtdiilld/e/" is offere(d as a stan(lard work of reference on this subl)ject: " 'i'ie Electric Light, its Pro(luction anid Use, embodyinglplainl (lirections for thle working of CONGRESO INTERNACIONAL DE AMNIRICAN- galVanic batteries, electric lamips, dynamo-electric ISTAS. machines, etc.," by J. W. Urquhliart, C. E., edited WVe are in receipt of a pamphlet printed at iadrid, con- byF.C. W'ebb, Mt. I. C. E., . S. Tr. E. Lon- taining the official announcemeut of the above Congress,don,F C. UndermI.t. E.a n. . T. E.d and iustructions for those desirous of attending it. This don, IS80o. Under the headling, of "Edison's is the fourth meeting of an International Congress for the L.amps " wye finld " muclh interest has been taken in discussion of American Archa.ology, and wvill take place the sensational and often absurd announcements, con- on the 2;th, 26th, 27Lh, and 28th of September next.The object to be attained by this body is to contribute tocerning,, al)paratus in course of perfection by MIr. T. the progress of Ethnographical, Linguistic and Historical A..Edison, of Menilo Park, New York (?), and it was researches relative to the two Americas, especially for the in some qu*,irs nperiod prior to Christopher Columbus, and to bringntought, that when he had set him- together such persons as are interested in such studies. self about the task of inventing an etficient subdi- Among the delegates from the United States we notice vision of thle electric lighlt circuit, smt/zij,r wouldinCthe names ofP rofessor Spencer F. Baird, of Washington, all probabilitybe done." ~~Professor R. B. Anderson, of the University of WVisconsinall prob)ab)ility be done." IProfessor J. Putnam DLuncan, of the Academy of National "Trhere is little probability, however, that this lamp Sciences, Davenport, Iowa, an(d Albert S. Gatschet, (the horse-shoe carbon) will prove constant. Burnt Esq., of 304 E street, N. W. Washington, D. C., to inpvariousaformsphasebeenrtried be- ~vhose courtesy we are indebted for a copy of these officialpaper ivaiufomhabenrepeatedly tidb-instructions. o n A p ril 5 , 2 0 2 1 h ttp ://scie n ce .scie n ce m a g .o rg / D o w n lo a d e d fro m http://science.sciencemag.org/ SCIENCE DOI: 10.1126/science.os-2.45.193 (45), 193.os-2Science ARTICLE TOOLS http://science.sciencemag.org/content/os-2/45/193.1.citation PERMISSIONS http://www.sciencemag.org/help/reprints-and-permissions Terms of ServiceUse of this article is subject to the is a registered trademark of AAAS.Science for the Advancement of Science, 1200 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20005. 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