6. On the day following this deplorable event, Vice-president Arthur took the oath of office in New York, and repaired to Washington. Chester A. Arthur was born in Vernon, Franklin County, Vermont, October 5, 1830. He was of Irish descent, and was educated at Union College, from which institution he was graduated in 1849. For awhile he taught school in his native State, and then came to New York City to study law. During the civil war he was Quartermaster-General of the State of New York. After 1865 he returned to the practice of law, and in 1871 was appointed Collector of Customs for the port of New York. This position he held until July, 1878, when he was removed by President Hayes. Again he returned to his law practice, but was soon called by the voice of his party to be a standard-bearer in the Presidential canvass of 1880. [Illustration: Chester A. Arthur.] 7. The administration of President Arthur proved to be uneventful. The government pursued the even tenor of its way, and the progress of the country was unchecked by calamity. Several important scientific inventions were perfected about this time, and several great public works completed. [Sidenote: =Scientific Inventions.=] 8. One of the best examples of the application of scientific discovery to the affairs of every-day life is that of the TELEPHONE. It has remained for our day to discover the possibility of transmitting or reproducing the human voice at a distance of hundreds or even thousands of miles. By means of a simple contrivance, a person in one part of the country is able to converse with friends in another part, as if face to face. The invention of this wonderful instrument is to be credited to Professor A. Graham Bell, of Massachusetts, and Elisha P. Gray, of Chicago. It should be mentioned, also, that Professor A. C. Dolbear, of Tufts College, and the great inventor, Thomas A. Edison, have succeeded in the production of telephonic instruments. 9. Another recent invention is the PHONOGRAPH. It is the nature of the phonograph to receive and retain the wave-lines and figures of sound, whether of the human voice or some other sound, and by an ingenious contrivance to reproduce those sounds as if they were the original utterance. It is to be regretted that thus far the phonograph has proved to be of little or no practical utility. 10. But perhaps the greatest invention of the age is the ELECTRIC LIGHT. About 1870 it was first proposed to use electricity for practical illumination. Long before this time the possibility of electric lighting had been shown by the philosopher Gramme, of Paris. About the same time the Russian scientist, Jablokoff, also succeeded in converting electricity into light. It remained, however, for the great American inventor, Thomas A. Edison, to remove the difficulties in the way of electric lighting, and to make the invention practical. The systems produced by him and others are rapidly taking the place of the old methods of illumination.