of present cost,
and leave the steam engine for historical remembrance.
Electricity may be generated by water or wind power to great
advantage, and conveyed to a distance for motive power. The
practicability of generating electricity at Niagara by which to propel
trains to New York and return may be considered almost settled; and I
conceive a second invention of importance which is now needed is an
apparatus by which the rising and falling tides may be utilized for
driving dynamo machines, by which electricity may be generated for
lighting the coast cities, and it is not unreasonable to expect that
such an apparatus will soon be provided; and in such an event gas
companies would suffer.
It is a well known fact among electricians that the volume and tension
of electricity vary both in the earth and in the atmosphere at
different sections of the earth's surface, and I conceive that we may
yet find means of utilizing this differential tension of electricity;
indeed, it is reported that during a recent storm the wires of an
ocean cable were grounded at both ends and a sufficient current for
all practical purpose flowed from the European to the American
continent, with all batteries removed, showing that the tension was so
much greater in Europe as to cause the electricity to flow through the
copper cable to this side in preference to passing through the earth
or the sea.
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