The Phonogram, Vol. 1:10 (1891-10)

THE PHONOGRAM. 2311 Jlulhors PuLIi5Ker5. L’ELECTRICIEN. This standi devotee of science brings us its weekly freight of facts and figures and illustra- tions to impart knowledge of the most profound and hard-earned character to the American stu- dent. We look anxiously for its appearance, lie- cause its statements are correct and based upon the experiments and deductions of scholarly minds, and the material it oiTcrs the public is serious, solid, and tilled with germs of thought which suggest further prosecution of the themes of which it treats. The Review of Reviews conics to us bearing a treasure of three hundred and sixty-six pages of choice matter, literary, scientific, and critical. It is a Jupiter among periodicals, shining peerless and unrivaled fccause of its capacity to attract and secure pabulum for all sorts of minds; in other words, it possesses a grasp, a potentiality, amid the hosts of writers, artists, and those great spirits who do the world’s intellectual work that Jove was said to hold among the heathen deities. Survey the vast field of literature this monthly in- cludes, and note the discernment which prompts the presentation of the. faces of Ary SchctTcr and General von Mol Ike to those readers which the Review knows intuitively will appreciate them. THE " REVUE 8CIEKTIFIQUE.” Paris, the great center of those gems of thought which scintillate in the brains of French writers, and finally rush forth like fiery fountains and are caught and transfixed by the more prosaic press of that reflective, calculating community, folds within her arms numerous valuable monthly and weekly reviews. The subjects therein t rented take a wide range and describe new discoveries in every branch of learning, the current news, events and happenings of every race and clime. It is, therefore, an attractive messenger from those dis- tant shores, and welcomed with sincere pleasure. THE CANADIAN “ELECTRICAL NEWS.” This interesting periodical contains not only valuable information on electrical matters, but items useful to all readers. For instance: “ A speaking-tul)c may be so arranged as to lierome a telephone;* ’ and “ Water may Ik* heated as high as two hundred and twelve degrees Fahrenheit with- out passing into steam, but the slightest motion, even that of a footstep near, will convert it into steam.” With regard to storage batteries, this journal says: “ The storage battery promised a month ago to run a street-car in Toronto has not yet material- ized. Although the ownership of* the funda- mental patent of the storage battery has been awarded by the United States to C. F. Brush, this victory is a matter of small concern so long as its weight interferes with its merits. The corroding, sloppy electrolyte must be renounced and a permanent solid battery introduced. No rehash of the well-thumbed discovery of Faure will an- swer. Let inventors work on new lines, and wealth and fame awaits the perfect battery.” Speaking of the electric motor, the hydraulic and gas engine, this journal adds: “ This will super- sede the steam-engine, because there is no smoke, noise, or dirt; it requires no fire, is less costly, is not dangerous, is easy to repair, and can be run during the dry months.” The Cosmopolitan Magazine always takes one by surprise: it seems to possess some mysterious power of divining what its patrons do not know and what they would like to know, and putting together these facts; it gathers in with its all-em- bracing net from the great ocean of events and learning old and new material which is at once striking, novel and useful. For instance, how many people in the great city of New York know what is meant by alfalfa farming? Who is there outside of Italy and the charmed circle of men of letters mostly resident in the old world that is aware of the duration or extent of crimes and suffering carried on within the walls of the Homan amphitheater? How many inhabitants of the United Slates (to say nothing of the rest of mankind) entertain clear ideas of the beauty of the city of Chicago, or the Titanic energy which that municipality has em- ployed within* the short term of its existence to construct a fixed and ample point d'appui for the immense trade which gravitates to that command- ing position? Yet all this the Cosmopolitan paints for us with pen and pencil in the November num- ber—and more. It also cries aloud to its brethren of the press to Ik* up and doing, so as to furnish literary nourish- ment of sufficient quantity and the best quality to all who demand it. LE PIIONOOKAM APPRECIE A PARIS. “ Un nouveau journal a fait son apparition cn Ameriqucsous le litrede The Phonogram. O'est Forganc officiel, dit-il, dcs eompagnics phono- graphiques des Ktats-Unis. II se public a New York (sallc 87, Unlitzcr Building), depuisquclqucs mois; il conticnt beau coup de renseignements in* teressants. II racontc, entre autres, que, tout recemmcnt, le eelebre humoristc Mark Twain, n’ayant pu se rendre a New York pour econiter un discours sur la vie de sa belle-m&re, un tele- phone fut installe entre la chain: du predicateur et le domicile de Fecrivain, a pres de 900 kilo- metres de distance, et de la sortc ce dernier ne perdit pas un mot de Poraison.” If every periodical now published in the civilized world contained the same amount of literary and scientific matter pertinent to the cause it unfolds and elucidates, and at the same cost of publication as the Electrical World , what a vast fund of knowledge would be opened up to man at almost a nominal price. Here we have the learning of centuries upon the subject of electricity exploited from the mines of the past and the laboratories of the present, and piled up into an immense mountain of erudition by Mr. Mottelay. We have Thompson’s, Houston’s, Atkinson’s and Ayrton’s Lessons, Courses, Dictionaries, and Illustrated Lectures on Electrical Science, en- gineering, machinery, and systems, so that noth- ing is wanting to those who wish to learn.