Page:Various Forces of Matter.djvu/183

and two sets of helices. When the machine, which is worked by a two-horse power engine, is properly set in motion, and the different currents are all brought together, and thrown by Professor Holmes up into the lantern, we have a light equal to the one we have been using this evening. For the last six months the South Foreland has been shining by means of this electric light—beyond all comparison better than its former light. It has shone into France, and has been seen there and taken notice of by the authorities, who work with beautiful accord with us in all these matters. Never for once during six months has it failed in doing its duty;—never once, more than was expected by the inventor. It has shone forth with its own peculiar character, and this even with the old apparatus—for as yet no attempt has been made to construct special reflectors or refractors for it, because it is not yet established. I will not tell you that the problem of employing the magneto-electric spark for lighthouse illumination is quite solved yet, although I desire it should be established most earnestly (for I regard this magnetic spark as one of my own offspring). The thing is not yet decidedly ac-