We now obtain so many of our comforts and conveniences by the use of electricity that all young people ought to learn something of this wonderful force, in order to understand some of the principles which are brought into practice.

You all know that we have the telegraph, the telephone, the electric light, electric motors on street-cars, electric bells, etc., besides many other conveniences which the use of electricity gives us.

Every one knows that, by the laws of multiplication, twice two makes four, and that twice two can never make anything but four. Well, these useful inventions have been made by applying the laws of electricity in certain ways, just as well known, so as to enable us to send in a few moments a message to our absent friends at any distance, to speak with them at a great distance, to light our houses and streets with electric light, and to do many other useful things with quickness and ease.

But you must remember that we do not know what electricity itself really is. We only know how to produce it by certain methods, and we also know what we can do with it when we have obtained it.

In this little book we will try to explain the various ways by which electricity is obtained, and how it is applied to produce the useful results that we see around us.

We will try and make this explanation such that it will encourage many of you to study this very important and interesting subject more deeply.

In the advanced books on electricity there are many technical terms which are somewhat difficult to understand, but in this book it will only be necessary to use a few of the more simple ones, which it will be well for you to learn and understand before going further.