before the University of Oxford, was full of interesting particulars
relating to the great progress in every way which that vast country
had experienced under British rule. But perhaps the most interesting
portion of his remarks was that relating to the new route to India
which will probably be opened, and which it is expected will lead
to great development of intercourse between our Eastern and Western
possessions. This route will consist of a journey from London to
Odessa; thence by steamer across the Black Sea to Batoum; then by
Russian railway—a thirty-six hours’ journey—to Baku on the Caspian;
and a day’s voyage across the Caspian to Michaelovsk. At this latter
place is the terminus of the Central Asian Railway, which some months
ago was complete for one hundred and forty-four miles, and which will
eventually land the traveller at the gate of India—Herat. The journey
from Calais to our Indian frontier will be possible in nine days, so
long at least as we remain friends with Russia. Professor Williams
considers that we shall be bound to extend our railway from its present
limit at Quetta, through Candahar, so as to meet the Russians at Herat.
He thinks that we can meet them there as friends rather than enemies;
and all will agree in trusting that his words may come true.
During the past year, the progress made by the British Ordnance Survey
has been greater than in any previous period, an area of more than two
and a half million acres having been mapped. It is expected that the
survey of the entire kingdom will be complete by the year 1888, and
that the publication of the maps will be finished two years later. A
largely increased staff of surveyors and draughtsmen has been engaged
to insure this acceleration in the work, and considerable time has been
spent in instructing their assistants in their duties. The maps are
reduced to the six-inch scale, and are reproduced by the zincographic
process. All particulars of the work are contained in a recently
published Blue-book.
The long-continued dispute as to the right of the telegraph department
to erect posts and wires over our crowded city streets has at last been
set at rest, and the Postmaster-general can, with certain restrictions,
do much as he likes about the matter. The Telephone Companies, who
are new-comers and have no statutory powers, have yet to fight the
question. We must for many reasons deplore the circumstance that
additions will still be made to the metallic spider-webs which cover so
many of our fine metropolitan streets. It has been suggested that the
lines could be made to follow the contour of the roads, and could be
hidden under eaves and behind coping-stones so as no longer to offend
the eye, or to present the risk of danger to life, which they now
undoubtedly do. This innovation would doubtless mean a great deal of
difficulty to telegraphic engineers, and would be naturally opposed by
them, for there is a sweet simplicity about a suspended wire; but the
gain to others would be great.
The International Health Exhibition, London, which follows so closely
upon the Fisheries Exhibition, and occupies the same spacious site,
bids fair to be a success, although it can hardly be expected to be
quite so popular with the multitude as its predecessor. Still, there
is much to attract the far larger part of the community who long for
amusement rather than instruction, and as the financial success of
the undertaking must be dependent upon such visitors, the caterers
cannot be blamed if they have admitted within their walls many exhibits
which, by the widest stretch of the imagination, can hardly be
associated with the subject of health. For more thoughtful visitors,
there are Conferences upon all manner of questions connected with
Domestic Sanitation, questions of which the majority of people are at
present profoundly ignorant. There will also be papers read upon the
subjects of Meat-supply; Food-adulteration and Analysis; School-diet;
School-life in Relation to Eyesight; Posture in Schools; Epidemics in
Schools; and numberless other matters of social interest. As these
Conferences are under the care of different Societies and Associations,
which exist only to increase our knowledge regarding the different
subjects indicated, and which have in most cases been at work for
many years, we may be sure that much good will accrue from these
discussions. Following the procedure of the Fisheries Exhibition, a
number of pamphlets will also be issued, dealing with the multifarious
sections of the Exhibition.
Although, as we have more than once pointed out, the general adoption
of the electric light for domestic purposes cannot be looked for in
the near future, it can easily be installed for special occasions.
An account has recently been published of a ball at a private house
in London where the rooms were illuminated during the evening by
one hundred and twenty incandescent lamps. These lamps were fed
by secondary batteries, which arrived in two vans, and which were
subsequently accommodated in an adjoining coach-house. The batteries
had been previously charged at a place ten miles distant. This use
for the light may possibly become common in cases where cost is not a
matter of first consideration.
Another phenomenal diamond has fallen to the lot of a fortunate digger
at the Kimberley mine, South Africa. Its weight is three hundred and
two carats; but, unfortunately, it does not possess that purity of
colour, or rather absence of colour, which is the first desideratum in
a diamond. Its value is said to be about three thousand pounds; whereas
the far smaller Porter-Rhodes gem, found in the same mine about three
years ago, was valued by its owner at one hundred thousand pounds. But
the popular notion is that the value of a thing is what it will fetch,
and there are certainly very few persons in the world who would lock up
such an enormous sum for the doubtful advantage of possessing such a
thing.
A document, which should be widely known, was recently issued by the
Board of Trade, in the form of a Report of the first year’s experience
of the Boiler Explosions’ Act of 1882. This Act, we may remind our
readers, provides that an inquiry should be held into the cause of
every boiler explosion, with a view to their prevention if possible.
The causes of the forty-five casualties of this description which were
inquired into, and which resulted in the loss of thirty-five lives
and injuries to as many more, were entirely preventable. One of the
assistant-secretaries to the Board goes so far as to say that ‘the
terms “inevitable accident” and “accident” are entirely inapplicable
to these explosions, and that the only accidental thing about many
of them is that the explosions should have been so long deferred.’
The prevailing cause of the disasters is the unsafe condition of
the boilers through age, corrosion, wasting, &c.; and a noticeable
feature in many cases is the absence of any effort on the part of the
steam-user to ascertain the condition of the boiler, and consequently
of any attempt to repair, renew, or replace defective plates or
fittings.
The authorities of Kew Observatory have undertaken a duty which will
be hailed with satisfaction by all watchmakers and watchowners in the
kingdom. They will undertake for a small fee to test the virtues of
any watch left in their care, and with every watch so tested, will
issue a statement of its going powers, under varied conditions of
position, temperature, &c. They will also award to watches of superior
excellence certificates of merit, which certificates will possess an
equal value with documents of the same nature which have for years
been granted by the Geneva and by the Yale College Observatories. The
Swiss and Americans have long enjoyed these facilities for obtaining
independent testimony as to the qualities of their watches, and it
is only surprising that a movement has not been made before in this
direction here at home; for English-made watches, in spite of foreign
competition, are still much sought after.
A new method of dealing with road-sweepings and the contents of
domestic dust-bins is now on its trial in New York, and seems to be
very successful. The rubbish is carted, to the extent of forty loads
a day, to a wonderful machine, which separates the paper, rag, iron,
glass, coal, and cinder into different heaps. These are afterwards
sold, with the exception of about four hundred pounds of coal and
cinder, which are used for firing the engine attached to the machine.
The remaining refuse—of no use to anybody, and too often, under
existing systems, a possible source of disease—is reduced by fire to
impalpable ash. It has been the custom in New York for many years to
carry their rubbish out to sea and to discharge it outside the harbour.
Pilots and others have long protested against this procedure, and
affirm that the approaches to the harbour’s mouth are gradually being
silted up by the accumulation of dirt thrown in. The experiment will be
watched with interest by all those who acknowledge the importance of
improved sanitation in our large towns and cities.
Moon’s Patent Quicksilver-wave Gold Amalgamator is the imposing title
of a clever machine which has been introduced to obviate the serious
loss of gold which is inseparable from previously existing methods of
treating the ore. From the discovery of gold in California in 1848
to the end of 1882, the value of the gold found there was nearly
two hundred and thirty-seven million pounds sterling. It is said on
competent authority that this vast amount is less than fifty per cent.
of the gold known to be in the ore treated, more than half the precious
metal escaping in particles so fine that the machines employed could
not intercept them. In this new machine, the crushed ore, mingled with
water, is thrown in small quantities into a moving wave of quicksilver,
and not merely across a quicksilvered plate, as under the old system.
The tiniest spangles of gold are by this means speedily absorbed by or
amalgamated with the liquid metal, the two being afterwards separated
by heat in the usual manner. In one mine where Mr Moon’s machine is in
use the increase of yield is estimated at forty pounds sterling per
week, so it would seem that the cost of the appliance is soon repaid
to its purchaser.
A very convenient combined seat and easel for the use of sketchers
has lately been brought under our notice. It packs into a very small
compass; it will hold a large picture; it fully justifies its name,
‘The Rigid,’ and actually weighs only four pounds. Its price is
moderate, and it is to be had of Messrs Reeves, London.
Referring to a recent article in this _Journal_ on ‘Some Queer Dishes,’
in which it was stated that the cuttle-fish is used for food in Japan
and elsewhere in the Pacific, a Portuguese correspondent writes to us
that in Portugal the cuttle-fish is used as an article of food. It is
opened, and then dried; and may be seen hanging up for sale in the
shops. The people, he remarks, consider it a delicacy; and it is, when
properly cooked, very rich and nourishing.
OCCASIONAL NOTES.
NEW POSTAL ORDERS.
The system of Postal Orders, instituted in 1881, has proved so
successful, that it has been found desirable to make certain
alterations and extensions therein, with a view to affording further
facilities to the public for the ready transmission of small sums of
money through the post. On the 2d of June, a new series of Postal
Orders were issued, the former series being entirely withdrawn. The new
Postal Orders are of fourteen different denominations, instead of ten,
as formerly; and the amounts of the various denominations, together
with the rates of poundage chargeable thereon, are as follows:
_s._ _d._ _d._
1 0 0½
1 6 0½
2 0 1
2 6 1
3 0 1
3 6 1
4 0 1
4 6 1
5 0 1
7 6 1
10 0 1
10 6 1
15 0 1½
20 0 1½
There can be no doubt that these classes will prove extremely useful
to the public generally, more especially as any amount of shillings
and sixpences up to twenty shillings can be transmitted by means of
only two of the above-named classes of orders. A novel feature, too,
is introduced, whereby postage-stamps not exceeding fivepence in value
are to be allowed to be affixed to the back of any one Postal Order to
make up broken sums—a feature which, it needs not much of the spirit
of prophecy to anticipate, will extensively be taken advantage of. By
this useful concession, any sum up to a pound can now be sent through
the post by means of Postal Orders, and in no case are more than two
orders required to make up the exact desired amount. It will be noticed
that the former twelve shillings and sixpence and seventeen shillings
and sixpence orders are not included amongst the new denominations
of Postal Orders; but their abolition will cause no inconvenience,
as these two denominations were of all the orders of the old series
probably the least used; and where such amounts are desired to be sent
under the new series, they can be made up by using two orders, the
poundage on which will be no more than is now charged for each of
the denominations referred to—namely, twopence. In several cases, the
poundage has been reduced, a benefit that will probably be the best
appreciated of all. A ten shillings and ten shillings and sixpence
order now only costs one penny; and the orders for fifteen and twenty
shillings have been reduced to three-halfpence, instead of twopence,
as heretofore. Compared with the former money-order rates, the Postal
Order system is remarkably cheap, and on this score, will undoubtedly
commend itself more than ever to popular favour; and it is extremely
probable that for small sums the money-order system will in future be
very little if at all used. Indeed, the Postal Order system, with its
ready convenience and cheapness, seems likely to supersede all other
methods of transmitting sums of a pound and under.
The Act under which these changes have taken place also authorises the
issue of Postal Orders on board Her Majesty’s ships, a boon that the
seamen concerned will not be slow to appreciate. The system is also
to be extended to many of the colonies as opportunity occurs. It is
indeed now in operation in Malta and Gibraltar, where it has met with
much popularity, owing to the fact, no doubt, that the same rates are
charged on Postal Orders issued there as on Postal Orders issued in
this country. If we compare these rates with those charged on foreign
and colonial money orders, it can readily be imagined that the system
will be hailed with unmixed satisfaction by the colonies where it is
shortly to be instituted.
NEW METALLIC COMPOUND.
Delta-metal, a new metal said to be not unlikely to rival steel under
certain conditions, has, according to the _Hamburg Correspondent_, been
lately submitted to the Polytechnic Association in Berlin. Delta-metal
contains iron in addition to the ordinary constituents of brass. It
takes on an excellent polish, and is much less liable to rust than
either steel or iron. When wrought or rolled, it is harder than steel,
but not when cast only. It can be forged and soldered like iron, but
not welded. It melts at about one thousand seven hundred and fifty
degrees Fahrenheit; and at from one thousand three hundred to one
thousand five hundred degrees it is remarkably malleable, and in this
condition can admirably well be pressed or stamped. For founding, it is
also well suited. The price is somewhat higher than that of the better
kinds of brass. It should be found specially serviceable for objects
exposed to rust and requiring great hardness. At present—not to mention
other cases—the small steamers for the exploration of Central Africa
are being made of delta-metal.
HARBOUR OF REFUGE FOR EAST COAST OF SCOTLAND.
We have before alluded to the operations of the Committee appointed
by the Government to take evidence as to the most suitable place for
a harbour of refuge on the east coast of Scotland. The Report of the
investigators has now been published, with their final recommendations.
The towns and harbours of Wick, Fraserburgh, Peterhead, Aberdeen,
Arbroath, and Montrose, are severally reported upon, and the
advantages and disadvantages of each stated, with the result that the
reporters unanimously recommend Peterhead as the site of the proposed
harbour of refuge. That town is situated almost midway between the
great natural harbours of the Firth of Forth and Cromarty Firth, and
its bay is well adapted as a place of shelter. Its anchorage also is
excellent, the bottom of the bay being of mud with a sandy surface,
affording a good holding-ground. The harbour is to be constructed by
Scottish convict labour.
SUBTERRANEAN FISH.
A fact of much interest to students of natural history is vouched
for by Cavalier Moerath, a civil engineer, formerly of Rome, and now
visiting this country. This gentleman has devoted much labour and
attention to the improvement of water-supplies in Italy. In sinking for
water with one of Norton’s Abyssinian Tube Wells, he tapped a spring
from which was pumped a tiny living fish. This fish had passed into the
tube well through the ordinary perforations of about one-eighth of an
inch. Examination proved it to have no eyes, clearly indicating that
it belonged to an order intended to inhabit subterranean waters. The
occurrence was certified to by two other gentlemen who were present
when the fish was pumped up.
The site of the well is Fontano del Prato, near the old city of Cori,
between Rome and Naples, and the depth is about seventy feet. The soil
from which the fish came was fine sand. The strata passed through above
this sand were volcanic loose earth, clay and water, other volcanic
earth, rocks and sand, and clay. The temperature of the water was
low—about forty degrees Fahrenheit. The water was fresh. The fish, we
are informed, has been preserved in spirit, and is to be brought to
England, when it will probably be exhibited at the Health Exhibition in
London.
THE FASTEST PASSAGE ON RECORD.
This great feat has just been achieved by the Guion line steamer
_Oregon_, which left New York on the 26th of April last, and arrived
at Queenstown at 5.16 on Saturday morning the 3d of May, making the
trip in six days sixteen hours and fifty-seven minutes, which is the
fastest homeward trip yet recorded. This is the more remarkable from
the fact that she had to traverse over a hundred miles at least out of
her course to avoid the icebergs, those pests of the North Atlantic.
Passengers who embarked at New York on Saturday the 26th April were
landed at Liverpool on the evening of that day week. The _Oregon_ is
another of those naval masterpieces for which the industry and skill of
Scotland are so justly celebrated, and is considered one of the finest
steamers afloat. Her highest score of miles run in one day was four
hundred and thirty-six.
A CANINE ‘COLLECTOR.’
That dogs can be taught the performance of tricks or acts showing a
remarkable amount of sagacity and intelligence, no one will pretend to
doubt, for it is a fact patent to all. But that a dog could become a
‘collector,’ and a collector of money too, is at first sight somewhat
startling. Yet such is the fact. A splendid and thoroughbred Scotch
collie, known as ‘Help,’ has been actually trained as a collector of
money for charitable contributions, or subscriptions, for the ‘Orphan
Fund of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants.’ His tutor
has been one of the guards of the night-boat train on the London,
Brighton, and south-coast line. He is described as a dog not only of
great beauty, but of gentle and winning ways, possessing marvellous
intelligence and a generous disposition. In his capacity as collector
he has travelled over the greater part of England, always returning
home to the headquarters in the City Road, London, with the proceeds
of his charitable efforts. Last year, he is reported to have crossed
the Channel, having been taken over by the captain of the steamer
_Brittany_, and introduced by him to Her Majesty’s consul at Dieppe.
In this port he is stated to have collected about six pounds ten
shillings; and on returning home he seems to have made a rather
profitable stay at Newhaven, where he collected nearly seven pounds.
In February last it was reported in the newspapers that Help had been
killed at a level crossing at Middlesborough, in Yorkshire, where he
had been run over by an ‘express’ train. This, however, turns out to
have been a mistake. A handsome Scotch collie _was_ killed as stated,
and as he resembled Help very much, the story got about that the canine
‘collector’ had lost his life on the line. But Help is at this moment
actively following his charitable avocation, in which, we believe, he
excites more interest than ever. And long may he continue to carry
on his useful career of helping the fatherless and the afflicted.
It would be interesting to know the plan or system employed for the
dog’s operations; in other words, how it is done. The animal must, of
course, always be in charge of somebody, otherwise, when he had done a
fair day’s work in collecting money, there are numbers of unprincipled
people who would speedily ease the collie of his subscriptions, if they
did not take his life as well.
WILD-FLOWERS FROM ALLOWAY AND DOON.
BY ALEXANDER ANDERSON.
No book to-night; but let me sit
And watch the firelight change and flit,
And let me think of other lays
Than those that shake our modern days.
Outside, the tread of passing feet
Along the unsympathetic street
Is naught to me; I sit and hear
Far other music in my ear,
That, keeping perfect time and tune,
Whispers of Alloway and Doon.
The scent of withered flowers has brought
A fresher atmosphere of thought,
In which I make a realm, and see
A fairer world unfold to me;
For grew they not upon that spot
Of sacred soil that loses naught
Of sanctity by all the years
That come and pass like human fears?
They grew beneath the light of June,
And blossomed on the Banks of Doon;
The waving woods are rich with green,
And sweet the Doon flows on between;
The winds tread light upon the grass,
That shakes with joy to feel them pass;
The sky, in its expanse of blue,
Has but a single cloud or two;
The lark, in raptures clear and long,
Shakes out his little soul in song.
But far above his notes, I hear
Another song within my ear,
Rich, soft, and sweet, and deep by turns—
The quick, wild passion-throbs of Burns.
Ah! were it not that he has flung
A sunshine by the songs he sung
On fields and woods of ‘Bonnie Doon,’
These simple flowers had been a boon
Less dear to me; but since they grew
On sacred spots which once he knew,
They breathe, though crushed and shorn of bloom,
To-night within this lonely room,
Such perfumes, that to me prolong
The passionate sweetness of his song.
The glory of an early death
Was his; and the immortal wreath
Was woven round brows that had not felt
The furrows that are roughly dealt
To age; nor had the heart grown cold
With haunting fears that, taking hold,
Cast shadows downward from their wing,
Until we doubt the songs we sing.
But his was lighter doom of pain,
To pass in youth, and to remain
For ever fair and fresh and young,
Encircled by the youth he sung.
And so to me these simple flowers
Have sent through all my dreaming hours
His songs again, which, when a boy,
Made day and night a double joy.
Nor did they sink and die away
When manhood came with sterner day,
But still, amid the jar and strife,
The rush and clang of railway life,
They rose up, and at all their words
I felt my spirit’s inner chords
Thrill with their old sweet touch, as now,
Though middle manhood shades my brow;
For though I hear the tread of feet
Along the unsympathetic street,
And all the city’s din to-night,
My heart warms with that old delight,
In which I sit and, dreaming, hear
Singing to all the inner ear,
Rich, clear, and soft, and sweet by turns,
The deep, wild passion-throbs of Burns.
* * * * *
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_4th._ Offerings of Verse should invariably be accompanied by a
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