POPULAR ELECTRICITY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5360, 1 June 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

POPULAR ELECTRICITY.

(From the New York Timet.)

Within the present century vast progress lias been made iu the study of the nature and applications of electricity. From the first sparks drawn from the back of the primeval cat by her cave-dwelling master to the discovery of the photograph there is au immense distance. Nevertheless, it is believed by many scientific persons that we are yet merely on tho threshold of electricity, and that in the future wo shall make discoveries infinitely more important than those which the ablest electricians have hitherto made.

It is only just beginning to be understood that the electric currents of the earth have an intimate connection with a great quantity of things. The aurora borealis is believed to be in some mysterious way connected with spots on the solar disc, and these spots iu their turn have an influence.upon our climate, and upon the spread of pestilential diseases. Recently it has been asserted that no man can sleep well unless tbe major ,axis of his bed, and consequently bis personal major axis, corresponds with the position of the axis of the earth. This is due to the fact that the currents of earthly electricity flow in the direction of the earth’s axis ; or, in other words, from pole to pole. If they enter a recumbent human being at his feet, and pass out at his head, ho becomes sleepy, while if, owing to the wrong position of his bed, they enter him from one side or the other, their struggles to get out again produce such a derangement of his nervous system as to render it impossible foe him to sleep. These arc but a few of the hosts of facts which might be mentioned to prove the influence of earthcurrents upon man and his surroundings, and we shall yet make discoveries in this particular field which no one outside of an insane asylum will be capable of believing. The reason why the cats, whose howls disturb our nocturnal slumbers, are uniformly found on back fences running a direction perpendicular, or nearly pendicular, to the axis of the earth, Las never yet been ascertained. Sir Isaac Newton attempted to explain the fact by asserting that the great majority of fences are built parallel to the Equator, but this explanation is glaringly at variance with well ascertained facts. ; Buffon suggested that cate are mysteriously,influenced by the moon, and that hence they prefer fences which are built in tho general direction of. the plane of the moon’s orbit. This is certainly a plausible explanation, but it has yet to bo proved that moonlight is the cause, rather than a mere incident, of nocturnal cat ooncertsThe other explanations which have been hazarded by lesser authorities are scarcely worth mentioning. All that we really know is the single fact that nocturnal cats are distributed around the earth in belts parallel to the equator. Fully 93 per cent, of the cats that bring us from our midnight couches with bootjacks in our hands, and.rage in our hearts, are perched upon the east and west fences, and to the truth of this assertion every NewYorker will readily agree. In examining this very interesting and important problem, let ua begin by asking why the midnight cat howls? Superficial observers have alleged that howling is the natural expression of the tender passion among cats, aud that the intensity of a cat’s admiration for the females of his species may be accurately measured by tbe hideousness of his howls. This is an insult to human intelligence and feline self-respect. Would any young man desiring to plead his suit with the lady of his heart place himself under her window and yell as if he were undergoing the severest torments ? Of course he would not, and equally of course no intelligent oat would be guilty of a like folly. The yells of the midnight oat bear every sign of being the expression of the keenest suffering, and only the most perverse ingenuity can regard them as tbe voice of love.

We have thus learned that the cat perched on a back fence perpendicularly to the axis of the earth, and (6 the direction of the earth’s currents of electricity, howls, because he—or she, as the case may be—is undergoing acute agony. Very possibly cats pass, over fences running from north to south-quite as frequently as they do over fences running in tho direction of the equator ; but in tho former case they experience no pain, and hence do not attract attention by their outcries. The moment however that a oat finds himself on au east and west fence he is, racked by internal pains. He tries to relieve his mind by howls and profanity, and he thereby excites the rage of the human audiences; Now, if we ascertain what produces these pains we shall have found the true answer to the question under discussion. May it not be that electricity is at the bottom of the whole affair T ■ ’

The cat, be it remembered, is more addicted to electricity than any other animal, except tlie electric eel, and hence is peculiarly susceptible to the influence of the earth currents. So long as the oat walks over fences running from north to south bis axis is coincident with the direction of these currents. They pass smoothly through his spinal column, and beyond gently stimulating his mind aud tail, they have no perceptible effect' upon-him. When, however, he tries to walk on a fence built parallel to the Equator, his private axis becomes perpendicular to the earth-currents. They penetrate into his vitals and wrench him all to pieces id their efforts to force their way through him. Filled withanguish he stops, clings fiercely to the fence, and lifts up his voice in frenzied agony. To some extent the muscles of his legs are paralysed, and he is unable to move until the unfeeling boet-jaek comes hurtling through the air and stimulates him into action. He then springs from the fence ; bis pains vanish, and bis voice is silent. Is not this a complete and scientific [explanation of the question which has so long defied the ablest scientific minds ? We thus see how beautiful are the reasoning processes by which true science investigates abstruse questions. . We l also see that one of the most common incidents of every-night life is due to the electricity of the earth. Let us, then, be thankful that we live in a scientific age, and that there are more uses for electricity than anyone has yet dreamed of.