_March 1852._
The lecture experiment at the Museum of Practical Geology, in Jermyn
Street, has proved eminently successful. There were a thousand more
applications for tickets than could be supplied, in consequence of
which the executive very wisely determined, that the course should be
repeated until the demand was satisfied. This fact of numbers speaks
highly in favour of the working-men of London--none others are
admitted to the course here referred to; and once having got the
knowledge, it is to be hoped they will be able to turn it to good
account. One of the lecturers told me, that the hall is always
crowded, and that a better-behaved auditory has seldom been seen in
any quarter, which we may consider to be an encouraging sign of the
times. The other courses are also going on for those who are able to
pay high fees, and attend during the day. The titles of a few of the
lectures will give you an idea of the nature of the instruction
offered; namely--The Relations of Natural History to Geology and the
Arts; On the Value of an Extended Knowledge of Mineralogy and the
Processes of Mining; On the Science of Geology and its Applications;
On the Importance of Special Scientific Knowledge to the Practical
Metallurgist; and On the Importance of Cultivating Habits of
Observation. You must remember, that the institution is a government
school of mines as well as a museum of geology.
In connection with this, it may be mentioned that the Society of Arts
are discussing a project for the 'affiliation' of all the literary,
philosophical, scientific, and mechanics' institutions throughout the
kingdom, with a view to render them less languid and more beneficial
than too many of them now are. Unity of purpose effected wonders with
the Great Exhibition; and it is thought that the same cause should
produce a similar result in the educational and recreative
establishments alluded to. There is a talk, also, of an assembling of
most of the learned societies of our great city under one roof--a sort
of Palace of Science, which has long been wanting in London, but which
has long existed in Paris. Should this scheme be carried out, the
philosophers might then adopt Brother Jonathan's motto--_E pluribus
unum_. And, next, the Suburban Artisan School of Drawing and
Modelling, established last year at Camden-Town, has succeeded so well
that the committee, with Prince Albert as patron, have determined to
establish four additional schools in our other suburban districts.
These schools are to be open every evening for instruction, at a
charge per month of 2s. No working-man in the metropolis after this
need be ignorant of drawing. Then, again, a 'Department of Practical
Art' is organised in connection with the Board of Trade, which, by
means of travelling and stationary superintendents, and other
officers, is to assist in the development of artistic talent, and its
application to useful purposes, wherever it may be found.
Co-operation of some sort or other is the order of the day; and now a
good deal of attention is excited by the announcement of an 'Athenæum
Institute for Authors and Artists,' something different from the Guild
of Literature and Art set afoot last winter, the object being to
endeavour to form an incorporated association of the two classes
mentioned--of course for their common benefit. The aid of the
possessors of rank and wealth is to be asked at starting, because, as
the promoters say, 'we think literature has a right to ask the
assistance of these other two great powers of society, because it so
materially assists them; and because, in many of its branches, it has
no other mode of being paid by society. The severely scientific, the
highly imaginative, the profoundly legislative authors, do not produce
promptly marketable, though they produce priceless, works. La Place,
Wordsworth, Bentham, could not have existed had they depended on the
first product of their works; they would have perished before an
acknowledging world could have given them bread.' They say, further,
that 'the humblest literary man works for something more than hire,
and produces something more effective than a mere piece of
merchandise. His book is not only sold to the profit of the
bookseller, but to the benefit of the public. The publisher pays for
its mercantile value, but the public should reward the author for its
moral and social effect, as they take upon themselves to punish, if it
have an evil tendency.'
Whether the promoters are right or wrong in their views, will be best
proved by the result; meantime, they put forth some good names as
provisional president, vice-president, and managers, and propose that
the Institute shall comprise four branches--namely, a Protective
Society, a Philanthropic and Provident Fund, an Educational
Association, and a Life-Assurance Department. The subscribers are to
consist of two classes: those who give contributions for the benefit
of the Institute, and those who seek to benefit themselves. The former
are to be asked to insure their lives, for different rates of premium,
the amounts to fall into the corporation at the decease of the
subscribers; and thus a fund would be raised out of which, on certain
conditions, participating subscribers would be able to secure a
provision for old age, or premature decay of mental power, the means
of educating their children, and leaving a _solatium_ to their widows.
If all this can be carried out, and if literary men, as a class, are
capable of all that the prospectus of the new scheme implies, how much
of distress and heart-breaking misery will be saved to society!
There are several subjects which, having recently been brought before
our Horticultural Society, have somewhat interested gardening folk. At
one of the meetings, there was exhibited 'a very fine specimen of
common mignonette,' which 'was stated to have been a single plant
pricked out into a pot in January 1851, and shifted on until it had
attained a large size. It was mentioned, that mignonette is not an
annual, as many imagine it to be; but that it will become a woody
shrub, and last for years, provided it is well managed, and kept free
from frost and damp.' So runs the report in the society's journal.
There was, likewise, an exhibition of black Hamburg grapes by Mr Fry,
a Kentish gardener, who made thereupon some observations, which appear
to be deserving of wider circulation. The grapes were grown in a
building seldom heated artificially, and were much attacked by mildew
during the last two seasons, on which prompt measures were taken to
diffuse perfectly dry 'sulphur vivum' throughout the house by means of
a sulphurator, until fruit and foliage were completely but lightly
coated. 'Fires were lighted, and the temperature kept up to from 80 to
90 degrees, ventilation being considerably diminished, and water in
any form discontinued. After being subject to this treatment for about
four or five days, the vines received a thorough syringing, which
cleansed them from every particle of sulphur. With respect to the use
of sulphur in killing mildew, many ladies and gentlemen,' adds Mr Fry,
'with whom I have conversed, consider it highly objectionable: they
say, that they do not like the idea of eating sulphur with grapes;
neither would any one, and I can prove to them that this need never be
done; and, moreover, that the use of sulphur, when timely and
judiciously applied, does not in any way deteriorate the fruit. I much
question if the most practised eye could detect sulphur on the grapes
exhibited, although they have been twice covered with it; and as to
the mildew itself among vines, I fear it no more than I do green-fly
among cucumbers, which is so soon deprived of existence by the fumes
of tobacco.'
What is called 'a French sulphurator,' whose great merit appears to be
'simplicity and cheapness,' was also exhibited. It is described as 'a
tin box for holding the sulphur, placed on the upper side of the pipe
of a pair of common bellows. The sulphur gets into the pipe through
small holes made for the purpose in the bottom of the box, and, in
order that no stoppage may take place, a small hammer-head attached at
the end of a slight steel-spring, is fixed on the under side of the
bellows, a gentle tap from which, now and then, keeps up a continuous
fall of sulphur into the pipe.' It is said, that 'these appliances,
which may be attached to a pair of bellows for little more than
sixpence, answer every purpose for which they are intended, equally as
well as a more expensive machine.'
At the same time with this contrivance, some bunches of black Prince
Grapes were shewn to the assembled horticulturists, which could only
be preserved from mildew by frequent applications of sulphur. The
bunches are to be afterwards cleaned by dipping in water, or what is
considered preferable, 'syringing on all sides with a fine syringe,'
which process, it is well to remember, disturbs the _bloom_ on the
fruit least when directed 'downwards, or obliquely, as rain would
fall.'
As the season for gardening operations is coming on, Mr Rivers'
account may be mentioned of his mode of growing strawberries in pots;
it will be found to involve certain combinations opposed to ordinary
practice. 'About the second week in July,' he says, he filled a number
of six-inch pots 'with a compost of two-thirds loam, and one-third
rotten dung, as follows: three stout pieces of broken pots were placed
in the bottom, and a full handful of the compost put in; a stout
wooden pestle was then used with all the force of a man's arm to pound
it, then another handful and a pounding, and another, till the pot was
brimful, and the compressed mould as hard as a barn-floor. The pots
were then taken to the strawberry-bed, and a runner placed in the
centre of each, with a small stone to keep it steady. They were
watered in dry weather, and have had no other care or culture. For two
or three years, I have had the very finest crops from plants after
this method, and those under notice promise well. If the pots are
lifted, it will be apparent that a large quantity of food is in a
small space. I may add, that from some recent experiments with
compressed earth to potted fruit-trees, I have a high opinion of its
effect, and I fully believe that we have yet much to learn on the
subject.'
There is a committee sitting at the Admiralty, to devise a method for
the uniform lighting of ships and steamers at night, the object being
to diminish the chances of accident or error to vessels at sea. And
apropos of this, Mr Babbage has published a plan which will
effectually prevent one lighthouse being mistaken for another: it is,
that every lighthouse, wherever situated, shall have a number--the
numbers not to run consecutively--and no two adjoining lights to have
the same numeral digits in the same place of figures. There would then
be no need for revolving or flashing lights, as the only thing to be
done would be to make each lighthouse repeat its own number all night
long, or whenever it was illuminated. This is to be 'accomplished by
enclosing the upper part of the glass cylinders of the argand burner
by a thin tube of tin or brass, which, when made to descend slowly
before the flame, and then allowed suddenly to start back, will cause
an occultation and reappearance of the light.' The number of
occultations denotes the number of the lighthouse. For instance,
suppose the Eddystone to be 243, the two is denoted by two hidings of
the light in quick succession; a short pause, and four hidings;
another short pause, and three hidings, followed by a longer pause;
after which the same process is repeated. It would not be easy to make
a mistake, for the numbers of the lighthouses nearest to the Eddystone
would be very different; and supposing that the boy sent aloft to
watch for the light were to report 253 instead of 243, without waiting
to correct his view, the captain, by turning to his book, would
perhaps find that No. 253 was in the Straits of Sunda, or some equally
remote situation, and would easily recognise the error. When we take
into account the number of vessels lost by mistaking one lighthouse
for another, the value of this proposal becomes apparent. Mr Babbage
shews, that bell-strokes might be employed to announce the number of a
beacon in foggy weather; and he believes that the time is not far
distant when buoys will also be indicated by a light. Now that
lighthouse dues are to be reduced one-half, we may hope to see
improvement in more ways than one.
This is but a small part of what promises more and more to become a
great question--that of navigation. It is felt that, in these go-ahead
days, we must be paying not less attention to our maritime than to our
inland arm of commerce; and this has brought the question of wood
_versus_ iron ships again into prominent notice. The advocates of iron
shew that the dry-rot, so destructive to wood, cannot enter metal;
that lightness and speed, those prime essentials, are insured by the
use of iron; that iron ships are safer, more easily repaired, and
cheaper than vessels built of wood; and that they are more lasting.
The chief objection hitherto has been the liability of iron to become
foul in tropical climates; but this now appears to be in a measure
overcome. According to Mr Lindsay: 'An admixture has been applied,
termed "Anti-Sargassian Paint," which has been found to answer the
purpose better than any yet discovered. From the experience of its
properties, we cannot say that in itself it is yet sufficient; but it
appears a fair substitute till some other preparation is discovered. A
gentleman at Glasgow,' he adds, 'has already discovered a compound,
which, being mixed in a fluid state with the iron, is expected to
answer the desired purpose. There is another disadvantage which will
soon be overcome--the greater liability to error in the compasses of
iron ships; an error which, however, also occurs, though perhaps to a
less extent, in every wooden ship. By a most ingenious invention,
which will shortly be made public, such errors in any ships, under any
circumstances, can at all times be at once detected.'
An important patented process for producing tapered iron, has been
explained before the Franklin Institute at Philadelphia--one by which
every variety of taper may be produced, or combinations of taper, with
flat or other forms; and seeing how much tapered iron is used on
railways, in many kinds of machinery, in ships and steamers, the
subject may be considered worthy of more than a mere passing notice.
Tapered iron is a form to which machinery has been thought
inapplicable, and only to be produced by hand-labour. The new method,
however, which has been successfully carried into practice at the
Phoenixville Ironworks, is thus described: 'The principle on which it
acts is that of hydrostatic pressure, or, more properly, _hydrostatic
resistance_. A small chamber, similar to that of the common
hydrostatic press, is set on the top of each housing; the closed end
of the press being uppermost, and a plunger entering from below; but
instead of water being forced _into_ the press, the chamber is at
first filled with water, and the pressure of the iron in passing
between the rollers, tends to lift the top one, which is held down by
the plunger. An escape-pipe, provided with a valve, is inserted into
the top of the chamber. When any upward pressure acts on the top
roller, it is communicated by the plunger to the water, which escapes
through the valve, and the roller rises.
'When the valve is partially closed, the water escapes more slowly;
and the rise of the roller, and consequently the taper of the iron,
are more gradual.
'Any rate of taper may thus be had by regulating the rise of the
opening of the escape-valve. If the water is all driven out before the
bar is entirely through the rollers, the top roller ceases to rise,
and the iron becomes parallel from that point. Then, if the ends of
the bar be reversed, and it be again passed between the rollers, the
parallel portion will become tapered; thus we can get a bar.'
At the same time, a 'Thermometrical Ventilator' was exhibited, which
is described as circular in form, with a well-balanced movable plate.
'Upon the side of the valve is an inverted syphon, with a bulb at one
end, the other being open; the lower part of the tube contains
mercury; the bulb, atmospheric air. An increase of temperature expands
the air in the bulb, drives the mercury down one side and up the
other, thereby destroying the balance, and causing the valve to open
by turning on its axis. A diminution of temperature contracts the air
in the bulb, causes the mercury to rise in the side of the tube, and
closes the valve.' Besides this, there was 'an improved
magneto-electric machine, for medical use, with a new arrangement, by
which the shock is graduated by means of a glass tube, in which a wire
is made to communicate with water, so as to produce at first a slight
shock; by gradually pressing down the wire attached to a spiral
spring, the shock is received in its full force.'
It now appears that Mr Robertson of Brighton claims priority of
discovery touching the boring power of _Pholades_. His statements are
founded on daily observation of the creatures at work for three
months. 'The _Pholas dactylus_' he says, 'makes its hole by grating
the chalk with its rasp-like valves, licking it up, when pulverised,
with its foot, forcing it up through its principal or bronchial
syphon, and squirting it out in oblong nodules. The crypt protects the
_Pholas_ from confervæ, which, when they get at it, grow not merely
outside, but even within the lips of the valves, preventing the action
of the syphons. In the foot there is a gelatinous spring or style,
which, even when taken out, has great elasticity, and which seems the
mainspring of the motions of the _Pholas dactylus_.'
At last, steam communication with Australia seems about to become a
reality, for the first vessel is announced to start in May for Sydney,
to touch at the Cape and other colonies on her way out; and
accommodation is promised for two hundred passengers of different
classes. There is also a project on foot for a line of steamers from
Panama to Australia, and to Valparaiso, which, if brought into
operation, will make a voyage round the world little more than a
bagman's journey. Apropos of Australia, Mr Clarke, who first predicted
that gold would be found in that country, says, 'that just 90 degrees
west of the auriferous range in Australia, we find an auriferous band
in the Urals; and just 90 degrees west of the Urals, occur the
auriferous mountains of California.' A speculation for cosmogonists.
In our own country, we are finding metalliferous deposits: vast
accumulations of lead-ore have come to light in Wales, which are said
to contain six ounces of silver, and fifteen hundredweight of lead to
the ton; and in Northamptonshire, an abundant and timely supply of
iron-ore has just been met with. We might perhaps turn our metallic
treasures to still better account, if some one would only set to work
and win the prize offered by Louis Napoleon; namely, 'a reward of
50,000 francs to such person as shall render the voltaic pile
applicable, with economy, to manufactures, as a source of heat, or to
lighting, or chemistry, or mechanics, or practical medicine.' The
offer is to be kept open for five years, to allow full time for
experiment, and people of all nations have leave to compete. One of
the electric telegraph companies intends to ask parliament to abolish
the present monopoly as regards the despatch of messages; in another
quarter, an under-sea telegraph to Ostend is talked about, with a view
to communicate with Belgium independently of France; and there is no
reason why it should not be laid down, for the Dover and Calais line
is paying satisfactorily. And, finally, another ship-load of 'marbles'
and sculptures has just arrived from Nineveh; and the appointment of
Mr Layard as Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs (though now but
temporary) is regarded as a praiseworthy recognition of his merits and
services; and now that we have a government which combines a few
_littérateurs_ among its members, it is thought that literature will
be relieved of some of its trammels.