Skip to content

Please be aware that some material may contain words, descriptions or illustrations which will not reflect current scientific understanding and may be considered in today's context inaccurate, unethical, offensive or distressing.

The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Paper, 'On a peculiar behaviour of glow-lamps when raised to high incandescence' by W H [William Henry] Preece

Reference number: PP/6/25

Date: 1885

Description

Preece writes: 'During my recent visit to America (October, 1884) Mr [Thomas] Edison showed me a very striking experiment with glow-lamps, the principle of which he had not threshed out, although he had attempted to apply it practically to the regulation of the current flowing in electric light circuits.'

Annotations in pencil and ink. Includes five figures relating to Preece's experiments and prints of the same.

Subject: Electricity / Chemistry

Received 18 March 1885. Read 26 March 1885.

A version of this paper was published in volume 38 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society as 'On a peculiar behaviour of glow-lamps when raised to high incandescence'.

Reference number
PP/6/25
Earliest possible date
1885
Physical description
Ink and graphite pencil on paper
Page extent
33 pages
Format
Manuscript
Print
Drawing

Creator name

William Henry Preece

View page for William Henry Preece

Use this record

IIIF manifest

View​ IIIF ​ manifest Opens in new tab

Open in Mirador viewer Opens in new tab

Export this record

Download PDF Opens in new tab

Citation

William Henry Preece, Paper, 'On a peculiar behaviour of glow-lamps when raised to high incandescence' by W H [William Henry] Preece, 1885, PP/6/25, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/pp_6_25/paper-on-a-peculiar-behaviour-of-glow-lamps-when-raised-to-high-incandescence-by-w-h-william-henry-preece, accessed on 20 August 2026

Link to this record

https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/pp_6_25/paper-on-a-peculiar-behaviour-of-glow-lamps-when-raised-to-high-incandescence-by-w-h-william-henry-preece

Embed this record

<iframe src="https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/embed/items/pp_6_25/paper-on-a-peculiar-behaviour-of-glow-lamps-when-raised-to-high-incandescence-by-w-h-william-henry-preece" title="Paper, 'On a peculiar behaviour of glow-lamps when raised to high incandescence' by W H [William Henry] Preece" allow="fullscreen" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="500px"></iframe>

Hierarchy

This item is part of:

Related Fellows

Explore the collection

  • Proceedings Papers

    The archival collection known as 'Proceedings Papers' is comprised of manuscripts and occasional proofs of scientific papers sent to the Royal Society which were read before meetings of Fellows and printed in full in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.

    Dates: 1882 - 1894

    View collection