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The Steam Turbine 213 the case of small installations, yet it becomes of far-reaching import when large plants are being laid down. In fact, the extent to which power may be compressed within a limited space by the adoption of the turbine as compared with a reciprocating engine of equal power is astonishing. It is these features which have contributed to the design and construction of units of such power as would never be attempted with the older type of prime mover. As the science of applied electricity, in its ever- conquering advance, took up the question of generating electricity from water-power, either by harnessing stupendous falls such as those of Niagara or the flow of rivers such as the Mississippi and others, the ques- tion of the best ways and means to turn this power to advantage in the most effective, economical, and simplest manner naturally arose. In the earliest days the water-wheel constituted the obvious means of driving the electric generator. But the water-wheel in its familiar form, whether undershot or overshot, had its limitations of application, which were sharply defined. Still, it constituted an ideal foundation for further thought and development which has cul- minated to-day in the water turbine. The water turbine does not differ from its steam contemporary in its fundamental features. It is a rotary engine driven by the falling water instead of by steam. An American inventor made the first decisive step in this direction, and, curiously enough, he occupied himself with the problem with water as the driving force about the same time that the Hon. C. A. Parsons centred his thoughts upon the steam turbine. Pelton, the American in question,