Abstract :
QRIOR to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, the use of electricity had been practically limited to electroplating and to various forms of signaling, of w ich the telegraph was the most important. Only 8 years later, in 1884, the prospects of very rapid further developments, especially in electric lighting and electric railways, were such that the leaders “recognized the necessity of a society which should foster and encourage electrical applications in every useful art.”