Someone clutched each of the handles of the machine and then a circuit was formed , of young men and maidens , and sometimes old people too , taking hands , which were vigorously and affectionately squeezed under the influence of the galvanic current which was made stronger and stronger as long as the arms and fingers could bear it .sx The apparatus was then a scientific novelty and adapted in this special way to human needs .sx I have no doubt that his early surroundings and the encouragement quietly given at home helped to turn my brother's interest to electricity and its application and that the scientific discoveries which he made later on , when he brought his mathematical genius and trained power of observation to promote the development of electrical industry , owed something to the experiments made in boyhood .sx Much has been done , no doubt , by what may be called ` happy guesswork,' but the use of current electricity has made far more rapid progress by having had a scientific basis during its development at the end of the last century and not depending on chance and hap-hazard observations .sx The history of the construction of the dynamo is a good illustration of this truth .sx At the date of which I am speaking electrical traction was unknown ; the telephone had not been thought of ; if wireless transmission of words or of music had been suggested it would have been scouted as a wild and impossible dream ; electricalpower was not in practical use for driving machinery .sx Now many factories are driven entirely by electricity .sx Electric lighting was unknown , though possibly an arc light might occasionally be tried .sx I remember that it was into private houses that incandescent lamps were first introduced .sx One of the first in which electric lighting was adopted was the home of an able engineer , Mr. Holt of Manchester , who held an important position in Crossley Brothers , and it was then thought fortunate if we were not plunged in total darkness at some period during dinner by the failure of the apparatus .sx The electric telegraph , electro-plating and electrolysis , decomposing water into its constituent gases , seemed almost the only known uses of electricity .sx It was not until many years later that electric lighting became at all general , and about 1874 there was a remarkable slump in gas shares in the belief that owing to the discovery by Edison and Swan of the incandescent film and vacuum bulb , gas would no longer be required .sx It was about that date that I remember meeting Dr. Henry Wilde , who himself had made valuable contributions to the practical use of electricity , and he advised me to buy gas shares .sx Unfortunately I was not in a position to follow his advice , but I believe he bought a considerable number himself , and by so doing made a large amount of money , .sx part of which was devoted to the establishment of a lectureship at Oxford associated with the name of Locke .sx Locke's philosophy was congenial to .sx him as it is also to all who have themselves built up such theoretical knowledge as they may possess , from observation , experience and experiment .sx Reference to Locke brings back the memory which may seem strange to the people who have been told that sixty years ago women were uneducated that my mother had a copy of his work On the Human Understanding in which she had been interested and which she gave me to read .sx I believe that his arguments are so clear as to be understood at a comparatively early age and they perhaps aided in producing a tone of mind which has always been impatient of anything in the nature of philosophic jargon .sx The demand for the best form of dynamo for generating electricity having been met , there arose next the problem of its distribution for lighting , heating and power over large areas .sx This was solved by the invention of what was called the three-wire system .sx I believe that the idea came to my brother John in a sudden flash of inspiration and was included by him , along with other things , in an English patent .sx Almost at the same time , Edison made the same discovery in America , and when my brother applied for the American patent it was too late .sx There seems to be no reason to doubt that the discoveries were independent .sx The validity of the English patent was contested and an action brought in my brother's name by the Company which had purchased it .sx It was tried by Mr. Justice Romer , himself a Senior Wrangler .sx The Counsel for the .sx plaintiff were Webster ( afterwards Lord Alverstone ) , Aston , Fletcher Moulton , also a Senior Wrangler , and myself .sx The case depended mainly on the evidence given by my brother , another Senior Wrangler .sx Lord Kelvin was also called as a witness , but this was a role in which that great man was not wholly successful .sx The weight of his authority was , however , deservedly very great , and I remember Sir Horace Davey , who led for the defendants , said that the plaintiff's case was being fought magni sub nominis umbra , under the shelter of the great name of Lord Kelvin .sx The validity of the patent was established and the ` three-wire ' system , probably with some modifications or developments , is still the basis for electric distribution .sx I cannot claim the know-ledge which would enable me to speak with confidence on any scientific subject and still less to follow in detail any recent developments , but I have no doubt from what I heard at the time that what is here stated is substantially correct .sx Although it is now more than thirty years ago since my brother's life was prematurely cut short , his memory is cherished by scientific men , especially by electricians , and his friends gratefully recall that in November last Sir Tom Callender , the well-known member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers , presented to the Institute a picture of him which is hung in their hall by the side of Faraday , Kelvin , Volta and Clark Maxwell .sx On that occasion Sir Tom Callender spoke with .sx full knowledge and deep feeling of my brother's work and the advance in the scientific knowledge of electric production and distribution in which he aided .sx The artist who was commissioned to paint the portrait , Mr. R. H. Campbell , in spite of the difficulty of producing a real likeness of someone he had never seen , has , in the opinion of those who knew my brother best , succeeded in his task and shown that he well understood the character of his subject .sx Going back again to the time over fifty years ago , I recall how my father regularly spoke to us of various practical applications of science which he had seen or heard of , noting especially the laying of the first Atlantic cable and how telegraphic communication was first established with the United States .sx How eagerly we followed when he told us of the problems which arose in the construction and laying of the cables , and how difficulties were overcome when a cable broke and how the broken ends were recovered , and then of the ultimate triumph of the constructors !sx Quite recently all this was vividly brought back to my mind by a lecture delivered by Sir Charles Bright which I read with additional interest because of these old memories .sx It is an account to which anyone who wishes to know the history of oceanic telegraphy should refer , as Sir Charles Bright's father was a great pioneer in the work and he him-self has taken a very active share in it .sx How simple and intelligible communication by wire and cable seems , compared with what is now achievedso perfectly through the air or ether with nothing visible to show how it is done ; when without stirring from our chair we can hear the living voice a beautiful speech like that of Mr. Baldwin on Empire Day , or the tones of Mr. Snowden as he vividly described the progress of the negotiations at the Hague and explained the result achieved .sx For sound whether music or the living voice distance and space seem eliminated .sx No doubt very soon the same thing will be true of sight .sx Turning to the question of transport , we find that the change in sixty years has been more than in the whole of the world's history and beyond the dreams of those whose scientific knowledge and range of imagination was greatest .sx At the present rate of progress our great-grandchildren will take as little time for a journey to China or Peru as our great-grandparents did for a journey from London to Oxford .sx This is not the place , nor have I the knowledge necessary , to describe in any detail the steps taken with regard to the construction of those early effective gas engines which were made at the works of Crossley Brothers in Manchester before 1880 .sx The subsequent extension of the use of such engines was rapid and enormous .sx Before 1876 , when Sir Dugald Clerk first began to take an interest in the subject , the total power generated by gas engines in the United Kingdom did not exceed 2,000 h.p. ; by 1907 , factories alone had at work a total of 680,177 h.p. and .sx 98,785 h.p. of gas , petrol and oil engines were employed in agriculture .sx It must be hard for the present generation to realise that the first practical motor car was constructed less than fifty years ago and the first aeroplane about 1906 .sx Probably neither would have been possible but for the internal combustion engine .sx At the time of which I was speaking at the beginning of this chapter , the mills of Lancashire and Yorkshire were usually driven by an old-fashioned water-wheel which required a large weight of water , usually stored in a reservoir or lodge on the bank of one of the small rivers or becks which flowed from the Pennine hills , and at times also by one of the old low-pressure beam engines which had been in existence from a time shortly following the discoveries of Watt .sx The engineering firm of which my father was the active member kept fully abreast of the practical engineering knowledge of the time and none could have been more ready to adopt and apply new notions .sx It was often found that these old engines were inadequate for the increased loads upon them , and to increase the motive power as well as for economy an ingenious step was taken .sx My father's firm had then in its employ a draughtsman of great inventive capacity , named Crossland , who drew plans for a compound engine .sx A high-pressure oscillating cylinder was introduced and worked on the same crank as the connecting rod of the old beam engine and so , with comparatively small outlay and adaptation , and without scrapping oldplant , a compound engine was produced and the power was greatly increased .sx The same principle was adopted in other cases with high- and low-pressure oscillating cylinders , working on one crank and shaft .sx The old firm also produced very effective hydraulic cotton presses , and improved winding machines for thread , some of which were exhibited in the Exhibition of 1862 , and , in connection with them , what was known as detector mechanism for stopping spinning machinery automatically when a thread broke .sx Many years afterwards I was engaged as counsel in a litigation ( which went to the House of Lords ) in support of a patent for the use of a ` detector ' made of wire which fell when a thread broke and came in contact with a moving part of the machine , and so , by a single motion of a lever , both stopped the machine and put a brake on the bobbins that otherwise might have damaged the spinning by overrunning .sx I remember playing at home with some of the first little detector pins that were made for this purpose .sx Some of the first machinery for embroidery which was very complicated , and some of the earliest sewing machines , were made at the works of my father's firm .sx I recollect one old sewing machine in an attic in our home , but so far as I know this machine never came into use .sx In fact , as so often happens in pioneer work in invention and engineering , those who first had the idea were not those who reaped the financial benefit from its commercial application .sx