to Paris; the second and third
went to London, where they were installed in 1881 by Mr. Johnson and his
assistant, Mr. W. J. Hammer, in the three-thousand-light central station
on Holborn Viaduct, the plant going into operation on January 12,
1882. Outside of Menlo Park this was the first regular station for
incandescent lighting in the world, as the Pearl Street station in New
York did not go into operation until September of the same year. This
historic plant was hurriedly thrown together on Crown land, and would
doubtless have been the nucleus of a great system but for the passage of
the English electric lighting act of 1882, which at once throttled the
industry by its absurd restrictive provisions, and which, though
greatly modified, has left England ever since in a condition of serious
inferiority as to development in electric light and power. The streets
and bridges of Holborn Viaduct were lighted by lamps turned on and
off from the station, as well as the famous City Temple of Dr. Joseph
Parker, the first church in the world to be lighted by incandescent
lamps--indeed, so far as can be ascertained, the first church to be
illuminated by electricity in any form. Mr. W. J. Hammer, who supplies
some very interesting notes on the installation, says: "I well remember
the astonishment of Doctor Parker and his associates when they noted the
difference of temperature as compared with gas. I was informed that the
people would not go in the gallery in warm weather, owing to the great
heat caused by the many gas jets, whereas on the introduction of the
incandescent lamp there was no complaint." The telegraph operating-room
of the General Post-Office, at St. Martin's-Le Grand and Newgate Street
nearby, was supplied with four hundred lamps through the instrumentality
of Mr. (Sir) W. H. Preece, who, having been seriously sceptical as to
Mr. Edison's results, became one of his most ardent advocates, and did
much to facilitate the introduction of the light. This station supplied
its customers by a network of feeders and mains of the standard
underground two-wire Edison tubing-conductors in sections of iron
pipe--such as was used subsequently in New York, Milan, and other
cities. It also had a measuring system for the current, employing the
Edison electrolytic meter. Arc lamps were operated from its circuits,
and one of the first sets of practicable storage batteries was used
experimentally at the station. In connection with these