The late meeting of the British Association at Birmingham has proved a success with regard both to the attendance of members and to the importance of the various papers read in the several sections. Next year the Association will meet at Manchester, and the year after at Bath. The suggestion from Sydney, that the Association should in 1888 visit New South Wales and hold its meeting there in the January of that year, cannot, on account of many difficulties which are foreseen, be accepted in its entirety. But it is intended that about fifty members shall form a representative delegation to our Australian colony, their expenses being liberally defrayed by the government of New South Wales. It is very pleasing to record this little sign of the good-fellowship which exists between far-off Australia and the mother-country.
We expressed a hope some months ago that an institution of a permanent nature might grow out of the splendid Indian and Colonial Exhibition at South Kensington, which in a few days will close its prosperous career. It has now been proposed by the Prince of Wales that the Jubilee of Queen Victoria’s reign shall be commemorated by an Institute which should represent the Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce of Her Majesty’s Colonial and Indian Empire, and which should be at once a Museum, an Exhibition, and the proper locality for the discussion of Colonial and Indian subjects.
Very little is heard now of tempered or toughened glass for domestic purposes, although, a year or two back, such glass was much advertised and its praises constantly sung. We understand that the reason why it has at present disappeared from public notice is that its efficiency does not last. When fresh from the factory, it can be dropped from a height on to the floor and knocked about with impunity. But some gradual and not understood change occurs in its constitution, for after a short time it will fly to pieces without any apparent cause. It is said, too, that unscrupulous traders who have a stock of the faulty material are selling it as ordinary glass. Those, therefore, who experience unaccountable breakages, will know to what cause to attribute them. A really unbreakable glass would be such a boon, that it is to be hoped that further experiment will soon show how it can be manufactured.
From some recent experiments in New York, it would seem that the danger of using dynamite as a charge for explosive projectiles has been obviated. The weapon used was a four and a half inch rifled gun, with a charge of three and a quarter pounds of gunpowder, the experimental shells holding each more than one pound of dynamite. To avoid any risk from concussion, and premature explosion of the shell in the bore of the gun, the cartridge and shell were separated by wads made of asbestos. Twenty-seven shells were fired with such safety to the gunners, that the extraordinary precautions observed during the first rounds were ignored during the later ones.
The boat which the other day twice crossed the Channel between Dover and Calais affords an example of the rapid progress which has lately been made in the science of electricity. This little craft, which is only thirty-seven feet in length, glided over the water with no visible means of propulsion. The voyage was an experimental one, and was designed to show that this plan of electrical propulsion was as practicable on the sea as before it had been proved to be on inland waters. Such a boat could, say her promoters, be carried hanging to the davits of a ship, and be ready for immediate use. The required electrical current is derived from accumulators, or secondary batteries, stored and acting as ballast beneath the deck floor of the little vessel. These require to be charged by a dynamo machine at intervals, and such a charge this Channel trip amply proves will suffice for a run of between forty and fifty miles. Supposing that the system were adopted for torpedo vessels, it is obvious that this amount of storage capacity would be far more than sufficient for ordinary needs.
Another vessel which obtains its motive-power from a very different source, but which must also be looked upon as an experimental boat, has been invented and built by Messrs Secor of Brooklyn. Unlike the electric boat, it possesses no screw propeller or other moving parts. But it is furnished on each side with open ports below the water-level, which are in communication with an ‘exploding chamber.’ This chamber is constructed of steel, and is capable of sustaining an enormous internal pressure. It is filled with charges of petroleum vapour and air under pressure, and this explosive mixture is ignited by electricity. It will therefore be seen that the propelling apparatus of this boat may be compared to a gas-engine; but the explosions, which occur several times in a minute, instead of forcing forward a piston to act upon a fly-wheel, impinge upon the water at the stern of the vessel, and so push the boat forward. Should this method of driving a vessel through the water prove efficient, it will certainly be economical, for little more than half a barrel of petroleum will suffice for a twenty-four hours’ run.
Another invention from Brooklyn is of far greater importance than the one just recorded, for it is of a life-saving character, and is designed to prevent those collisions at sea which seem to be so greatly on the increase. It consists of a marine brake, and is the contrivance of Mr John M‘Adams. The experimental vessel, The Florence, which is fitted with the brake, has been reported upon officially, and the behaviour of the apparatus is highly commended. The brake consists of two wings made of steel, one on each side of the vessel and below water-level. These have the appearance of flat boards about eight feet square, hinged to the stern-post, and which when not in action fold forwards, secured by hidden chains, close to and touching the vessel’s sides. In case of danger of collision, the touch of a button by the captain on the bridge will loosen these chains, and cause some springs to act upon the wings, so that they fly out at right angles to the sides of the ship. In this position they are held by the now lengthened chains, and form an obstacle to the water, which checks the motion of the vessel immediately, even if the engines continue to work. If the engines are stopped at the moment the brake is put into action, the ship is brought to a standstill in twenty-two seconds. If, again, the engine be stopped and reversed at the moment of working the brake, the vessel commences to go astern in the remarkably short space of twelve seconds. It will be seen from these results that the invention gives every promise of being of great use. Besides being efficient, it is simple in character, and, from its nature, cannot be a very expensive additional fitting to a ship.
The lamentable accident at the Crarae Quarries, by which seven persons lost their lives, is happily a most unusual one, although in character it is closely allied with those fatalities from ‘choke-damp’ by which so many poor colliers have been killed. The explosion of gas underground, or of gunpowder above ground, leads to the evolution of a quantity of carbonic acid gas, or, to call it by its proper name, carbon dioxide, the principal product of combustion in either case. In the workings of a mine, this gas fills every available space, and has no outlet. In the quarry, on the occasion referred to, much the same condition of affairs existed, for there was no wind to carry off the deadly vapour, and its natural heaviness made it cling to the place of its creation. The surviving relatives of the victims of this accident have our heartfelt sympathy. They will be comforted by knowing that death under such conditions is supposed to be painless. It is a sending to sleep, but a sleep, unfortunately, from which there is no awakening in this world.
The little town of East Moulsey is now lighted, so far as its public lamps are concerned, by paraffin instead of gas, as heretofore. The reason of this apparent retrogression is found in the excessive demands of the Gas Company, who required the local board to pay at the rate of four guineas per annum for each lamp. This the local board refused to do, and provided the district under their care with paraffin lamps. They are rewarded for their pluck by finding that the cost of the oil-lamps is but one half of the charge demanded by the Gas Company, and by hearing the generally expressed opinion of the people that the place had never before been so well lighted.
The recent earthquakes, which have caused such fearful havoc and loss of life both in Southern Europe and in America, remind us that our knowledge of the causes of such terrible phenomena is very meagre, and that science has not yet discovered any means by which their occurrence may be predicted. But, in spite of these admitted facts, there are not wanting on occasions of earthquake self-styled prophets, who will boldly declare what the morrow will bring forth. Such mischievous charlatans do much harm, for they terrify the ignorant at a time when men’s nerves have been already unstrung by recent calamities. In the year 1750, when London felt a sharp earthquake shock, a prophet announced the immediate coming of the judgment day. Another predicted a terrible earthquake for a certain night, with the result that the people encamped in thousands in Hyde Park. Coming nearer to present times, we may note the destructive earthquake in 1881 in the island of Ischia. Here, again, there was a prophecy that there would not be another visitation of the kind for eighty years. But only two years after this the beautiful island was shaken to its foundations, and many lives were lost. During the late disaster at Charleston, a prediction was made that upon the 29th of September a fearful catastrophe was to take place. The originator of this mischievous statement should be severely punished.