Gotha. In Nov. 1882, he was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral in Her Majesty's fleet.
EDISON, Thomas Alva,
inventor, born in Ohio in 1847. The
deficiencies of his education (limited
to a school attendance of eight
weeks) were in part compensated
for by the care of his mother and
by his early passion for reading,
which took particularly the
direction of chemistry. He became
when still very young a newsboy
on a railway, where he was able to
continue his reading, and even to
make some experiments in
chemistry, and to finally publish an
amateur paper. Becoming
interested in telegraphy he studied it
late at night in a railway station,
and in a few months became so
expert an operator that he was
successively employed at Port
Huron, Michigan, Stratford,
Canada, and Adrian, Michigan. At
this last place he fitted up a small
shop for the repair of telegraph
instruments, and for the
manufacture of novel machinery. From
Adrian he went to Indianapolis,
Indiana, where he invented his
automatic repeater. After brief
stays at various places he settled
at Cincinnati, Ohio, and at the age
of twenty had acquired some little
reputation as a successful inventor,
but was soon called to Boston on
telegraphic business, where he set
up a shop for his experiments.
Not long afterwards he was made
superintendent of the Gold
Indicator Co. in New York, and while in
that position established his factory
for experiments in Newark, New
Jersey. In 1876 he resigned his
superintendency in order to devote
his entire time to research and
invention, locating himself for this
purpose about twenty-five miles
from New York, at a place called
Menlo Park. He remained there
until 1882, when he was obliged to
return to New York to personally
supervise the introduction of
electric light into the city. Mr.
Edison's inventions, which number
about three hundred, include the
carbon telephone, the phonograph,
the micro-tasimeter, the aërophone,
the megaphone, the phonometer,
the electric pen, and the quadruplex
system of telegraphing.
EDMUNDS, George F., lawyer
and politician, was born in
Richmond, Vermont, Feb. 1, 1828. He
was educated at the common school
and by a private tutor, studied law
at an early age, and began the
practice in 1849. In 1851 he
removed to Burlington, Vermont.
From 1854 to 1859 he was a member
of the lower branch of the State
Legislature, serving as Speaker for
three of these years. In 1861-2
he was a State Senator acting as
Speaker pro tempore. On the death
of Mr. Foote in 1866, he was
appointed to the vacancy in the U. S.
Senate, which position he has
continued to fill by successive
re-elections. He is one of the prominent
Republican leaders of that body,
and has been a member of some of
its most important committees.
He was a member of the Electoral
Commission in 1876, which decided
the Presidential controversy
between Mr. Hayes and Mr. Tilden.
At the National Convention in
1880, he received some votes for
the nomination to the Presidency.
EDWARD, Thomas, son of a
private in the Fifeshire Militia,
was born at Gosport in 1814, and
after his parents' return to
Scotland, was brought up by them at
Aberdeen. His education, such as
it was, terminated when he was six
years old. For the next four years
he earned his own bread by working
at Grandholm Factory, and then
he was apprenticed to a shoemaker
and he worked at this trade till
1875. In 1837 he married, gave up
the idea of emigration, which for
some time he had seriously
entertained, and settled at Banff. From
his earliest boyhood he displayed
the greatest enthusiasm for the
study of natural history. After
