The opening of the new station of the Electric Lighting Co., of Salem,
Mass., was recently celebrated with appropriate festivities.
Among the letters of regret from those unable to attend the opening
was the following from Prof. Moses G. Farmer:
"ELIOT, Me., Aug. 5, 1889.
"_To the Salem Electric Lighting Company, Charles H. Price,
President_:
"GENTLEMEN: It would give me great pleasure to accept your kind
invitation to be present at the opening of your new station in Salem
on the 8th of this present August.
"It is now thirty years since the first dwelling house in Salem was
lighted by electricity. That little obscure dwelling, 11 Pearl Street,
formerly owned by 'Pa' Webb, had the honor to be illuminated by the
effulgent electric beam during every evening of July, 1859, as some of
your honored residents, perhaps, well remember. Mr. George D. Phippen
can doubtless testify to one or more evenings; Mr. Wm. H. Mendell, of
Boston, can also add his testimony; dozens of others could also do the
same, had not some of them already passed to the 'great beyond,' among
whom I well recollect the interest taken by the late and honored Henry
L. Williams, Mr. J. G. Felt, and I do not know how many others. I well
remember reading some of the very finest print standing with my back
to the front wall and reading by the light of a 32 candle power lamp
on the northernmost end of the mantel piece in the parlor; very
possibly the hole in which the lamp was fastened remains to this day.
In a little closet in the rear sleeping room was a switch which could
be turned in one direction and give a beautiful glow light, while if
turned in the other direction, it instantly gave as beautiful a dark.
My then 12 year old daughter used to surprise and please her visitors
by suddenly turning on and off the 'glim.' It is not well to despise
the day of small things, for although the dynamo had not at that date
put in an appearance, and though I used thirty-six Smee cells of six
gallons capacity each, yet I demonstrated then and there that the
incandescent electric light was a possibility, and although I
innocently remarked to the late Samuel W. Bates, of Boston, who with
his partner, Mr. Chauncey Smith, furnished so generously in the
interest of science, not wholly without hope of return, the funds for
the experiment, that it 'did not take much zinc,' and though Mr. Bates
as naively replied, 'I notice that it takes some silver, though,'
still it was then and there heralded as the coming grand illuminant
for the dwelling. I am thankful to have lived to see my predictions
partly fulfilled.
"During the early fifties I published a statement something like this:
'One pound of coal will furnish gas enough to maintain a candle light
for fifteen hours. One pound of gas (the product of five pounds of
coal) will, in a good fishtail gas burner, furnish one candle light
for seventy-five hours. One pound of coal burned in a good furnace,
under a good boiler, driving a good steam engine, turning a good
magneto-electric machine, will give a candle light for one thousand
hours. But if all the energy locked up in one pound of pure carbon
could be wholly converted into light, it would maintain one candle
light for more than one and a half years.'
"So, gentlemen, _nil desperandum_; there is still room for
improvement. Let your motto be 'Excelsior.' Possibly you may have
already extracted from one-fifteenth to one-twelfth of the energy
stored in the pound of carbon, but hardly more. Go on, go on, and
bring it so cheap as to reach the humblest dwelling when you shall
celebrate the centennial of the opening of your new station.
"I do most sincerely regret that I cannot be with you in the flesh. I
am, like Ixion of old, confined to a wheel (chair in my case), cannot
walk, cannot even stand; hence, owing to the impairment of my
understanding (???), I must wish you all the enjoyments of the
evening, and gladly content myself that you have made so much
possible.
"Very truly yours, MOSES G. FARMER."
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