ELECTRICAL WONDERS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2378, 5 July 1892, Page 3

ELECTRICAL WONDERS.

To see such a ponderous body as a bare copper ring, weighing 101 b, suddenly and without visible means go bobbing about in the air like a ballon, regardless of the laws of gravity, is among the new marvels in electrical science. Incandescent electric lamps can, be made to shine without connecting wires, either floating in water or suspended from the aforesaid ring; discs and wheels, sustained in the air, are made to rotate in either direction; with more that is weird and mysterious in the way of levitations and gyrations of various solid bodies, all entirely contrary to preconceived notions of the stability and sedateness of matter. Of such were the marvels wrought by that devotee of electricity, Dr J. W. Fleming. M. A., University college, on the afternoon of the 31st March, before a small party in the rooms of Messrs Laing, Wharton, and Down, at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham. The firm in question are among the the largest exhibitors in their department of industry at the palace and in the coming show at Chicago, In the latter place they are laying down movable sidewalks driven by electrical power. A visitor to the Chicago World’s Fair wants to move from one part of the building or grounds to the other, and without more ado he, steps upon the revolving sidewalk, which, at the rate of three miles an hour, bears him along towards his destination. If that rate of travel is too slow, as it will be, of course, for most Americans, he moves from the three miles an hour to the six miles an hour, and voila tout ! “ The thing works,” the Yankees say : and the Chicagoans are talking of moveable sidewalks for their busiest thoroughfares. On a table at Sydenham last week were two stout vertical electro-magnets, through which currents of 100 volts could be alternated upwards of 12b times each second. The larger of these magnets was about 2ft high, and composed of several hundred lengths of soft iron wire wrapped round with 70 layers of copper wire. Connecting it with the dynamo, a heavy copper ring was thrown 20ft into the air by the repulsion of the alternating currents. Falling back and kept in position by a string or cone of paper the copper reaches a point when the forces are balanced, and remains floating in the air as buoyant as a bladder filled with hydrogen. Bings of zinc and brass wfi r ß shown tq bq but slightly moved, whilst lead will not jump at all. A square plate of thick copper held over the vmiflim* ~ ( j SG as if it were lighter than the traditional feather. Further expriraents included the floating of an ordinary incandescent lamp within a glass vase, the light burning brightly whilst the bulb containing it rosq and danced about as the current was switched on ; also of detecting spurious coin by moans of a half or partially shielded electro-magnet—the bad money having relatively poor conductivity will not maintain a current. Prof. Thomson’s experiments open fresh fields not only to wonder workers, bi\t to the more serious students of science.

WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE. The President of the Women’s Progressive Society of the State of Wyoming communicates to the London Daily News, some interesting facts relative to the working of women’s suffrage in Wyoming as follows : What aay the men of Wyoming of their women? Governor Hoyte’s testimony with regard to the direct benefit of women’s suffrage was very strong in 1882. In his official x-eport lie said : “ Elsewhere objectors persist in calling the honorable statute of ours ‘ an experiment.’ We know that it is, not; that under it we have better laws, better officers, better institutions, better morals, and higher social conditions in general tfiau cquld otherwise exist | that flone of tho predi<" + '- J such as loss evils, j* ■ native delicacy and disturbances of home relations, has followed in its train ; that the great body of our women and the best of them have accepted the elective franchise as a precious boon, and exercise it as a patriotic duty— in a word, tliat after twelve years of happy experience women’s suffrage is so thoroughly rooted and established in the minds and hearts of the people that among them all no voice is ever uplifted in protest against or in question of it.” The Speaker of the House, the Hon. N. L. Andrews, a Democrat, ratified what had been said by the Republican Governors, saying publicly, “'I came to the territory in 1871 strongly prejudiced against woman’s suffrage. It has produced much good, and no evil that 1 can discern. In my

opinion the real health-giving remedy that would counteract political degeneracy would be the ballot in hands of women in every state and territory.” In 1883 Chief Justice Joseph H. Fisher stated : I have seen the effects of woman sufrage. Instead of encouraging fraud and corruption it tends greatly to purify elections.” In the same year Mr Kingman said before a Committee of 'the Massachusetts Legislature “ I have never heard of a lady being treated with disrespect at elections. Men are more respectful to women in Wyoming than elsewhere.” Governor Francis E. Warren said in 1885 : “ I have seen much of the workings of won)an suffrage. I have yet to hear of the first case of domestic discord growing therefrom. Our women nearly all vote. As the majority of women are good the result is good, not evil.” In the same year he reported to the Secretary of the Interior ;—“ The men are as favorable to women suffrage as women are. Wyoming appreciates, believes in, and endorses women suffrage.” In his official report the next year he said : popular as at first. The women nearly all vote, and neither party objects.” And in 1889 he reported :—■ “No one will deny that women’s influence in voting has always been on the side of the Government, ( the people favor the continuance.” Thus official evidence as to the beneficial effects of women suffrage is supported by the universal testimony of residents and the personal experience of visitors. On the other side are only random statements, born of a prejudice, whose wish is father to the thought. We are, therefore, bound to believe that the status of Wyoming has been favorably affected by women suffrage, if we exercise the ordinary trust and credulity on which our other beliefs and daily transactions are based.