[LB047247], Letter from Alfred Ord Tate to William Hemstreet, February 6th, 1891
https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/LB047247
Transcription
Feb. 6, 1891. Mr. William Hemstreet, #1332 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. Dear Sir:- Replying to the two question contained in your letter of 2nd instant addressed to Mr. Edison: (1) Electricity has been experimentally generated within a vacuum, although I am not aware that the particular source you mention – a dynamo – has been used in such experiments. (2) It is not yet known whether electricity is or is not a substance, but it probably is not. If we are entitled to judge from the evidence as it stands to-day, electricity is a particular mode of motion of matter, just as heat is another particular mode of motion, and such modes of motion may be in excess or deficit like material quantities. Yours truly, A. O. Tate Private Secretary.