In the talks that will follow it will be the endeavor of the writer to give such a simple and popular exposition of the phenomena and applications of electricity, in a general way only, that the popular reader may get, at least, an elementary understanding of the subject so far as it is known. As we have said, the descriptions will have to be elementary, for nothing else can be done without such elaborate technical drawings and specifications as would be impossible in our limited space, and would not be clear to the ordinary reader who knows nothing of the science. Thousands who are employed in various ways with enterprises, the foundations of which are electrical, know nothing of electricity as a science. A friend of mine, who is a professor of physics in one of our colleges, was traveling a few years ago, and in his wanderings he came across some sort of a factory where an electric motor was employed. Being on the alert for information, he stepped in and introduced himself to the engineer, and began asking him questions about the electric motor of which he had charge. The professor could talk ohm, amperes, and volts smoothly, and he "fired" some of these electrotechnical names at the engineer. The engineer looked at him blankly and said: "You can't prove it by me. I don't know what you're talking about. All I know is to turn on the juice and let her buzz." How much "juice" is wasted in this cut-and-dry world of ours and how much could be saved if only all were even fairly intelligent regarding the laws of nature! A great deal of the business of this world is run on the "let her buzz" theory, and the public pays for the waste. It will continue to be so until a higher order of intelligence is more generally diffused among the people. A fountain can rise no higher than its source. A business will never exceed the intelligence that is put into it, nor will a government ever be greater than its people. Let us begin the subject of electricity by going somewhat into its past history. It is always well to know the history of any subject we are studying, for we often profit as much by the mistakes of others as by their successes. I shall also give the theories advanced by different investigators, and if I should have any thoughts of my own on the subject I shall be free to give them, for I have just as good a right to make a guess as any one. It must be confessed, however, that the older I grow the less I feel that I know about the subject of electricity, or anything else, in comparison with what I see there is yet to be known. I once met a young man who had just graduated from college, and in his conversation he stated that he had taken a course in electricity. I asked him how long he had studied the subject. He said "three months." I asked him if he understood it--and he said that he did. I told him that he was the man that the world was looking for; that I had studied it for thirty years and did not understand it yet.