The Laboratory At Orange And The Staff - 9

The Laboratory At Orange And The Staff - 9

 The last of these original buildings, No. 4, was used for many years in Edison's oreconcentrating

experiments, and also for rough-and-ready operations of other kinds, such

as furnace work and the like. At the present writing it is used as a general stock-room.

In the foregoing details, the reader has been afforded but a passing glance at the great

practical working equipment which constitutes the theatre of Edison's activities, for, in

taking a general view of such a unique and comprehensive laboratory plant, its salient

features only can be touched upon to advantage. It would be but repetition to enumerate

here the practical results of the laboratory work during the past two decades, as they

appear on other pages of this work. Nor can one assume for a moment that the history of

Edison's laboratory is a closed book. On the contrary, its territorial boundaries have been

increasing step by step with the enlargement of its labors, until now it has been obliged to

go outside its own proper domains to occupy some space in and about the great Edison

industrial buildings and space immediately adjacent. It must be borne in mind that the

laboratory is only the core of a group of buildings devoted to production on a huge scale

by hundreds of artisans.

Incidental mention has already been made of the laboratory at Edison's winter residence

in Florida, where he goes annually to spend a month or six weeks. This is a miniature

copy of the Orange laboratory, with its machine shop, chemical-room, and general

experimental department. While it is only in use during his sojourn there, and carries no

extensive corps of assistants, the work done in it is not of a perfunctory nature, but is a

continuation of his regular activities, and serves to keep him in touch with the progress of

experiments at Orange, and enables him to give instructions for their variation and

continuance as their scope is expanded by his own investigations made while enjoying

what he calls "vacation." What Edison in Florida speaks of as "loafing" would be for

most of us extreme and healthy activity in the cooler Far North.

A word or two may be devoted to the visitors received at the laboratory, and to the

correspondence. It might be injudicious to gauge the greatness of a man by the number of

his callers or his letters; but they are at least an indication of the degree to which he

interests the world. In both respects, for these forty years, Edison has been a striking

example of the manner in which the sentiment of hero-worship can manifest itself, and of

the deep desire of curiosity to get satisfaction by personal observation or contact.

Edison's mail, like that of most well-known men, is extremely large, but composed in no

small degree of letters--thousands of them yearly--that concern only the writers, and

might well go to the waste-paper basket without prolonged consideration. The serious

and important part of the mail, some personal and some business, occupies the attention

of several men; all such letters finding their way promptly into the proper channels, often

with a pithy endorsement by Edison scribbled on the margin. What to do with a host of

others it is often difficult to decide, even when written by "cranks," who imagine

themselves subject to strange electrical ailments from which Edison alone can relieve

them. Many people write asking his opinion as to a certain invention, or offering him an

interest in it if he will work it out. Other people abroad ask help in locating lost relatives;

and many want advice as to what they shall do with their sons, frequently budding

geniuses whose ability to wire a bell has demonstrated unusual qualities. A great many

persons want autographs, and some would like photographs. The amazing thing about it

all is that this flood of miscellaneous letters flows on in one steady, uninterrupted stream,

year in and year out; always a curious psychological study in its variety and volume; and

ever a proof of the fact that once a man has become established as a personality in the

public eye and mind, nothing can stop the tide of correspondence that will deluge him.

It is generally, in the nature of things, easier to write a letter than to make a call; and the

semi- retirement of Edison at a distance of an hour by train from New York stands as a

means of protection to him against those who would certainly present their respects in

person, if he could be got at without trouble. But it may be seriously questioned whether

in the aggregate Edison's visitors are less numerous or less time-consuming than his

epistolary besiegers. It is the common experience of any visitor to the laboratory that

there are usually several persons ahead of him, no matter what the hour of the day, and

some whose business has been sufficiently vital to get them inside the porter's gate, or

even into the big library and lounging-room. Celebrities of all kinds and distinguished

foreigners are numerous--princes, noblemen, ambassadors, artists, litterateurs, scientists,

financiers, women. A very large part of the visiting is done by scientific bodies and

societies; and then the whole place will be turned over to hundreds of eager, well-dressed

men and women, anxious to see everything and to be photographed in the big courtyard

around the central hero. Nor are these groups and delegations limited to this country, for

even large parties of English, Dutch, Italian, or Japanese visitors come from time to time,

and are greeted with the same ready hospitality, although Edison, it is easy to see, is torn

between the conflicting emotions of a desire to be courteous, and an anxiety to guard the

precious hours of work, or watch the critical stage of a new experiment.