The Times of Wednesday gives an interesting summary of Lord
Kelvin's practical discoveries. He has given us the theory of the speed of electric signalling through submarine cables, and has rendered the most effective assistance to the establishment of electric telegraphs to the most distant parts of our planet. He has investigated all the causes of the dis- turbance of the mariner's compass, and shown how to allow for them. He has effected the most signal improvements in the art of deep-sea sounding. He has shown how to predict the rise and fall of the tide in any given place. He has altogether revolutionised the instruments for electrical measurements, and made the modern electroscopes and electrometers what they are. He has discovered balances for weighing electric currents, and for measuring electric power and energy. He has elaborated the mathematical theory of electricity. And he directed his great colleague, the late Professor Clark Maxwell, to the right method of pursuing his own electrical studies. And all this, together with a, multitude of other valuable researches, he regards as " failure."
Previous page
