THE ELECTRIC LIGHT IN PARIS.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2817, 23 February 1878, Page 2

THE ELECTRIC LIGHT IN PARIS.

A correspondent' sendr the: foHoWinjr concerning the Electric Light as used in Paris: —"Somewhere about,.the : .point where the Boulevard Montmartre merges into the Boulevard: dcs Italiens, there is a narrow street to the right ai you come i from the Forte St. Denis. It was at the end of this street, a long way down, that I came to the once open space in front of the Grand Opera. There I see daylight imprisoned in six large globes, each, about the sjse' of a mans head. ' "It is' Her electric light! Fare,' intense, and yet 1 so soft, that yon can look at it.withi out the slightest pain to the eye. It it. white, bat with just that tinge., of, blue which you see" in™ bright hew silver.: As you stand in the Place de I'Opera, you can see some hundreds of gas-lights. In the presence of this electric.light they look like pieces of 3 very dirty yellow material/each sticking * in its place, its illuminating power endirig"' with the lines that 'form its shape. The place is so full of light that you may read small print two hundred yards.away from its source. When Irecorer from my'first amazement, I retrace my steps to seekfor the narrow street down wbieh my eyes * had looked and seen, but nbt perceived, v this light. Here,it is, a long way down this street, but my cariosity i is. fairly roused, and I hasten towards it. It is the office of the Figaro where one of these globes is diffusing daylight and totally extinguishing the illuminating power of all. the gas within sight. I see a welldressed, intelligent'looking ;. Parisian 'standing by, who takes no notice of it; he is evidently so accustomed to it that it attracts him not. I ask him about it, and he tells me that they have also L'Eclaire Electriqw at the Magasin dv Louvre. Good! I am staying at the Hotel dv •Louvre, I hasten there at once, and I am ■soon on friendly terms with Monsieur le jpireeteur, who is quite pleased with the) {interest I take in this thing. ' Would I wish to go down to the engine-room and see the machinery at work!' 'With pleasure, if you will have the goodness'to < permit me.' Down in the engineroom I discover that what littleof, the French language. I know is of no use to me. One may know enough to supply all the ordinary wants of the traveller, but when it comer to ' machinery and scientific technicalities I am utterly lost. I must look for myself, and pretent to understand him. The me* ehinery is very simple, but in order to gain some idea of it, you must go back to your early recollections of the electric battery—a glass cylinder, with a piece of silk lying over it. You used to turn the cylinder, and the friction, of the glass \ upon the silk produced the electric sparks. That is exactly* as far as I could see, the simple first principle of this wonderful achievement, with the addition of steam* power to turn the cylinder, round which ■ number of powerful magnets are pi«jWj to convey the electric current thus grLti rated, through wires, to the large white globes of very thick glass, in which is the' magnesium and some other substance, the secret of which is known only -to the; iniwntafv ' What is the expense of this light? 'Nothing, or nearly so, com.; pared with gas, after the first outlay for machinery.' ? Then why is it not more extensively used ? Why is not the whole city and other cities illuminated with it P' ' Ah! there's the rub; the gas companies are a mighty power (I myself have shares . in ono), but the power of this grand dis« covery is greater, and as sure us we live will this light be universally adopted. I have visited the factory and the bureau of the Syndicate of L'JKclaire Electrique Fro* eddc* Jablochkoff, in Avenue de villiers, on the outskirts of Paris, and I find from enquiries there that .they have an agent in London. Is he asleep? or are the forces of vetted interetU too great for him to cope with ? Time will show. But there is the great fact, it is accomplished; we can have daylight at night if we will." —Home Net*.