EDINBURGH, UNIVERSITY OF. 648 EDISON. Consult: Grant, Story of the Uniicrsity of Kdin- burt/li ( Edinbuijih, 1884, best account) ; Dalzel, History of the l.'nicersily of Edinburgh (Edin- burgh. 18t)2) ; Cali-ndar of the University of L'diiihin-yli for current year. EDINBURGH, Alfbed Ernest .Albekt, Duke of (1844-1900). The third child and second son of Queen 'ictoria. He was also Earl of Ulster, Earl of Kent, Duke of Saxony, and after 1893 ieij.niing Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Cjotha. He vas educated by special tutors, went into the royal navy at the age of fourteen, and served chieliy on foreign stations. The crown of Greece was ottered to him in 18G2, but he declined it. He married at Saint Petersburg on January 21, 1874. Marie Alexandrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia. In 1880 he received the appointment of admiral of the ilediterranean squadron. EDINBURGH REVIEW. The first of the great critical periodicals which form a distin- guishing feature of the literature of the nine- teenth century. It was started in October, 1802, by a group of young men living in Edinburgh, the principal of whom were Francis Jeffrey (q. v.), Sydney Smith (q.v.). Francis Horner, and Henry Brougham (q.v.). So much was secrecy felt or believed to be necessary to the success of the undertaking that, according to the account which .Jetirey gave to Robert Chambers in 184G, 'the dark divans' of the reviewers were held for some time "in a dingy room off Willison's print- ing-office in Craig's Close," to which each re- paired alone, and "by back approaches or differ- ent lanes." Of the first number. 750 copies were printed; the demand exceeded this limited sup- ply: 750 more were thrown oft', and successive editions followed. In 1808 the circulation rose to about 9000, and in 1813 to about 13.000. The original publisher was the well-known Constable. Sydney Smith edited the first three numliers. and was then succeeded by .Jeffrey. The influence of the Edinburgh /icrieKMn developing and strength- ening the political convictions of the Whig Party cannot be overestimated : but its power was even more visible, certainly more imme- diately palpable, in literature. The keenness of criticism, the sharpness of wit, and the bril- liancy of style exhibited by the writers, created a sensation in the world of letters; and although in the case of Wordsworth, Southey, and other writers of the romantic school, unfairness of a flagrant kind was iindoubtedly exhibited and persevered in, yet impartial justice was, on the whole, administered. After the period of .Jeffrey, the most brilliant contributor to the Edinburgh lleview was JIacaulay. It is now published in I^ondon. Consult N'apier, Life and Correspond- ence (London. 18(i2). EDINBURGHSHIRE, or JIidi.otiiian. The metropolitan county of Scotland in the south- eastern division. Iving on the south side of the Firth of Forth ( :Map : Scotland, E 4 ) . Area, 362 square miles. From the southern border, the Pentland Hills (mean height 1000 feet, and highest point 1808 feet) and the Moorfoot Hills (mean height 800 feet, and highest point 2136 feet) run northeast through the country. In the north are fertile plains, varied l)y gentle slopes. The chief rivers, not above 20 miles long, are the Esk, Water of Leith, .Almond, and Gala Water. The coast has coal-mining and other industries, but the county is chiefly agricultural, with large farms. Near the metropolis are extensive nurse- ries, vegetable and fruit gardens, and dairy pas- tures. The diief towns are Edinburgh, the capi- tal, and Leith. its seajiort. Population, in 1801, 122,lj(MI: ill 1S51, 2.50,400; in 1901, 488,050. EDISON, Thomas Alva (1847—). A cele- brated American electrician and inventor. He wa.s born at -Milan, Ohio, February 11, 1847, and when he was seven years of age his family moved to Port Huron, Mich., where the remainder of his boyhood was passed. While a mere lad he started in business as a newsboy on the Grand Trunk IJailway. His spare hours were spent in reading and in boyish experiments, largely with printing-presses and electrical and mechanical apparatus. In 1862 he published a weekly, known as the Grand Trunk Herald, and did the printing in a freight-car that also served as a laboratory where he could carry on further ex- periments. For saving the child of a station master from the wheels of an approaching car, he was receive<l as a pujul at the telegraph office at !Mount Clemens, and there learned to become an operator. While a brilliant and rapid operator, he was Tjesides fun-loving and erratic, as well as too fond of experimenting and disregarding the rules of the oHice to remain long in any one situation. It was while thus engaged that he made his first important in- vention, a repeating instrument, which enableil a message to be transmitted automatically on a second line without the presence of an o))erator. From the West Edison went to Boston, where, owing to his skill as a rapid operator, he soon secured a position, and was also able to work on various mechanical inventions which sug- gested themselves to his ingenious mind. Among these was a vote-recorder, which, while accom- plishing its object, did not possess merits of a sufficiently practical character to warrant its adoption. Recalling this failure, Mr. Edison said that afterwards he investigated minutely the necessity of any partioilar invention before he attempted to reduce it to practice. In this has been his great success as an inventor. Few, if any, great scientific discoveries are to be cred- ited to Edison, but he has trimnphed over al- most insurmountable dilficulties, and by his skill and ingenuity brought to practical use and the advancement of civilization what had often been suggested by some .scientific investigator unable to bring it to a successful outcome or practi<al realization. While in Boston. Edison devised and partly completed a stock-quotation printer, and later became connected with the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company of Xew York, whose apjia- ratus and service he greatly improved. Valuable inventions of stock-printing and other telegraph appliances were sold for .'?40.0n0. which enabled Edison to establish a laboratory on his own ae- coimt and to work out some of his more important ideas. About this time came his automatic tele- graph system, by means of which increased speed and range of action were obtained. Edison's crowning achievement in telegraphy (see Tele- CRAPii ) was his invention of the quailrupb'X system, which followed a duplex .system he had previously devised, and which was a great commercial success and made possible a far greater use of existing telegraph lines. Of the greatest value in the development of the tele- ])hone (q.v). then recently invented by Bell, were the microphone and (he carbon transmitter, and
