“No, no, that won’t do!”

“Why?”

“It’s too expensive — uses up force for nothing. You don’t want any ground-connection except the one through the negative brush. The other end of every wire must be brought back into the cave and fastened independently, and without any ground-connection. Now, then, observe the economy of it. A cavalry charge hurls itself against the fence; you are using no power, you are spending no money, for there is only one ground-connection till those horses come against the wire; the moment they touch it they form a connection with the negative brush through the ground, and drop dead.

Don’t you see? — you are using no energy until it is needed; your lightning is there, and ready, like the load in a gun; but it isn’t