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LECTURES
ON
POPULAR AND SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS
BY THE
EARL OF CAITHNESS, F.R.S.
_DELIVERED AT VARIOUS TIMES AND PLACES._
Second Enlarged Edition.
LONDON:
TRÜBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL.
1879.
Ballantyne Press
BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
CONTENTS.
COAL AND COAL MINES
SCIENCE APPLIED TO ART
A PENNY'S WORTH; OR, "TAKE CARE OF THE PENCE, AND
THE POUNDS WILL TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES"
PAST AND PRESENT MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
THE STEAM-ENGINE
ON ATTRACTION
THE OIL FROM LINSEED
HODGE-PODGE; OR, WHAT'S INTILT
LECTURES ON POPULAR AND SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS.
_COAL AND COAL-MINES._
There are few subjects of more importance, and few less known or thought
about, than our coal-mines. Coal is one of our greatest blessings, and
certainly one originating cause of England's greatness and wealth. It
has given us a power over other nations, and vast sums of money are
yearly brought to our country from abroad in exchange for the coal we
send. Nearly £17,000,000 is the representative value of the coal raised
every year at the pit's mouth, and £20,000,000 represent its mean value
at the various places of consumption. The capital invested in our
coal-mining trade, apart from the value of the mines themselves,
exceeds £20,000,000 sterling, and the amount of coal annually extracted
from the earth is over 70,000,000 of tons. Taking the calculation of a
working miner--J. Ellwood, Moss Pit, near Whitehaven--we may state, that
if 68,000,000 tons were excavated from a mining gallery 6 feet high and
12 feet wide, that gallery would be not less than 5128 miles, 1090
yards, in length; or, if this amount of coal were erected in a pyramid,
its square base would extend over 40 acres, and the height would be 3356
feet.
There are grounds for believing that the produce of the various
coal-fields of the world does not at present much exceed 100,000,000 of
tons annually, and therefore our own country contributes more than
three-fifths of the total amount. If we divide the coal-yielding
counties of Britain into four classes, so as to make nearly equal
amounts of produce, we find that Durham and Northumberland yield rather
more every year than seven other counties, including Yorkshire.
Derbyshire, again, produces more than eight other counties, and nearly
as much as the whole of North and South Wales, Scotland, and
Ireland--the yield of the latter being about 17,000,000 of tons, and
that of the two first-named about 16,000,000 of tons.
In 1773 there were only 13 collieries on the Tyne, and these had
increased to upwards of 30 in 1800. The number of collieries in 1828 had
increased to 41 on the Tyne, and 18 on the Wear, in all 59, producing
5,887,552 tons of coal. The out-put of coal in Northumberland and Durham
in 1854 was no less than 15,420,615 tons, and now in these two counties
there are 283 collieries. Mining began on the Tyne and continued on the
Wear, where the industry has been largely developed. There are in all
about 57 different seams in the Great Northern coal-field, varying in
thickness from 1 inch to 5 feet 5 inches and 6 feet, and these seams
comprise an aggregate of nearly 76 feet of coal. Taking the area of this
field to be 750 square miles--a most probable estimate--we may classify
the contents as household coal, steam coal, or those employed in
steam-engine boilers, and coking coal, employed for making coke and gas.
Of household coal there is only 96 square miles out of the total 750,
all the remainder being steam or coking and gas coal. The greater part
even of this 96 square miles has been worked out on the Tyne, and the
supply is rapidly decreasing also on the Wear, where the largest bulk
of the household coal lies. The collieries of the Tees possess but six
square miles out of the 96, as far as we at present know. Turning,
however, to that part of the coal-field regarded as precarious, and
consisting of first, second, and third-rate household coal, we have for
future use 300 square miles. London was formerly supplied from the pits
east of Tyne Bridge, where is the famous Wallsend Colliery, which gave
the name to the best coal. That mine is now drowned out, and, like the
great Roman Wall, at the termination of which it was sunk, and from
which it derived its name, is now an antiquity. There is now no Wallsend
coal, and the principal part of the present so-called coal comes from
the Wear, but the seam which supplied that famous pit is continued into
Durham, and that seam, or its equivalent, sends a million or two of tons
every year into London. The supply, however, in this district is rapidly
decreasing. Careful calculations have been made as to the probable
duration of this coal, of which the following is a summary. The workable
quantity of coal remaining in the ten principal seams of this coal-field
is estimated at 1,876,848,756 Newcastle chaldrons (each 35 cwt.).
Deducting losses and underground and surface waste, the total
merchantable round or good-sized coal will be 1,251,232,507 Newcastle
chaldrons. Proceeding on this estimate, formed by Mr. Grunwith in 1846,
we may arrive at the probable duration of the supplies: taking the
future annual average of coal raised from these seams to be 10,000,000
of tons--and this is under the present rate--the whole will be exhausted
in 331 years. A still later estimate was made by Mr. T.G. Hall in 1854,
and he reckoned the quantity of coal left for future use at
5,121,888,956 tons; dividing this by 14,000,000 of tons as the annual
consumption, the result would be 365 years; and should the annual demand
arrive at 20,000,000 of tons, the future supply of this famous
coal-field would continue for 256 years. The total available coal (1871)
in the British coal-fields, at depths not exceeding 4000 feet, and in
seams not less than 1 foot thick, is 90,207,285,398 tons, and taking
into account seams which may yet become available, lying under the
Permian, New Red Sandstone, and other superincumbent strata, this
estimate is increased to 146,480,000,000 of tons. This quantity, at the
present annual rate of production throughout the country--namely,
123,500,000 tons--would last 1186 years. Other estimates of various
kinds relative to our coal supply have been put forth: some have
asserted that, owing to increasing population and increasing consumption
in manufactures, it will be exhausted in 100 years, and between this
extreme and that of 1186 years there are many other conjectures and
estimates.
In the United States there are about 120,000 square miles underlaid by
known workable coal-beds, besides what yet remains to be discovered;
while on the cliffs of Nova Scotia the coal-seams can be seen one over
the other for many hundred feet, and showing how the coal was originally
formed. With this immense stock of fuel in the cellars of the earth, it
seems evident that we need not trouble our minds or be anxious as to the
duration of our coal supply. Besides, the conversion of vegetable matter
into coal seems to be going on even now. In the United States there are
peat-bogs of considerable extent, in which a substance exactly
resembling cannel coal has been found; and in some of the Irish
peat-beds, as also in the North of Scotland, a similar substance has
been discovered, of a very inflammable nature, resembling coal.
Yes! what could have produced this singular-looking, black, inflammable
rock? How many times was this question asked before Science could return
an answer? This she can now do with confidence. Coal was once growing
vegetable matter. On the surface of the shale, immediately above the
coal, you will find innumerable impressions of leaves and branches, as
perfect as artist ever drew. But how could this vegetable matter ever
accumulate in such masses as to make beds of coal of such vast extent,
some not less than 30 feet thick? It would take 10 or 12 feet of green
vegetable matter to make 1 foot of solid coal. Let us transport
ourselves to the carboniferous times, and see the condition of the
earth, and this may assist us to answer the question. Stand on this
rocky eminence and behold that sea of verdure, whose gigantic waves roll
in the greenest of billows to the verge of the horizon--that is a
carboniferous forest. Mark that steamy cloud floating over it, an
indication of the great evaporation constantly proceeding. The scent of
the morning air is like that of a greenhouse; and well it may be, for
the land of the globe is a mighty hothouse--the crust of the earth is
still thin, and its internal heat makes a tropical climate everywhere,
unchecked by winter's cold, thus forcing plants to a most luxurious
growth.
Descend, and let us wander through this forest and examine it more
closely. What strange trees are here! No oaks, no elms, or ash, or
chestnut--no trees that we ever saw before. It looks as if the plants of
a boggy meadow had shot up in a single night to a height of 60 or 70
feet, and we were walking among the stalks--a gigantic meadow of ferns,
reeds, grasses, and club-mosses. A million columns rise, so thick at the
top that they make twilight at mid-day, and their trunks are so close
together we can scarcely edge our way between them, whilst the ground is
carpeted with trailing plants completely interwoven. What strange trees
they are! Beneath us lies an accumulation of vegetable matter more than
200 feet in thickness--the result of the growth and decay of plants in
this swamp for centuries. All things are here favourable for the growth
of vegetation--the great heat of the ground causes water to rise rapidly
in vapour, and this again descends in showers, supplying the plants with
moisture continuously. The air contains a large proportion of carbonic
acid gas, poison to animals but food to plants, which, by means of its
aid, build up their woody structure. Winds at times level these gigantic
plants, for their hold on the earth is feeble, and thus the mass goes on
increasing.
We are now on the edge of a lake abounding with fish, whose bony scales
glitter in the water as they pursue their prey. Lying along the shore
are shells cast up by the waves, and there are also seen the tracks of
some large animals. How like the impression of a man's hand some of
these tracks are! The hind-feet are evidently much larger than the
fore-feet. There is the frog-like animal which made them, and what a
size! It must be six feet long, and its head looks like that of a
crocodile, for its jaws are furnished with formidable rows of long,
strong, sharp, conical teeth.
The continued growth and decomposition of the vegetation during long
ages must have produced beds like the peat-deposits of America and Great
Britain. In the Dismal Swamp of Virginia there is said to be a mass of
vegetable matter 40 feet in thickness, and on the banks of the Shannon
in Ireland is a peat-bog 3 miles broad and 50 feet deep. When conditions
were so much more favourable for these deposits, beds 400 feet in
thickness may easily have been produced. This accumulated mass of
vegetable matter must be buried, however, before we can have a coal-bed.
How was this accomplished? The very weight of it may have caused the
crust of the earth to sink, forming a basin into which rivers, sweeping
down from the surrounding higher country, and carrying down mud in their
waters, the weight of which, deposited upon the vegetable matter,
pressed and squeezed it into half its original compass. Sand carried
down subsequently in a similar manner, and deposited upon the mud,
pressed it into shale, and the vegetable matter, still more reduced in
volume by this additional pressure, is prepared for its final conversion
into shale. In time the basin becomes shallow from the decomposition of
sediment on its bottom, and then we have another marsh with its myriad
plants; another accumulation of vegetable matter takes place, which by
similar processes is also buried. Where thirty or forty seams of coal
have been found one below another, we have evidence of land and water
thus changing places many times.
When vegetable matter is excluded from air and under great pressure, it
decomposes slowly, parting with carbonic acid gas; and is first changed
into lignite or brown coal, and then into bituminous coal, or the soft
coal that burns with smoke and flame. I have been in a coal-mine where
the carbonic acid gas, pouring from a crevice in the coal, put out a
lighted candle. The high temperature to which the coal has been
subjected when buried at great depths has also probably assisted in
producing this change; and where that temperature has been very high,
the coal by the influence of the heat having parted with its inflammable
gases, we have the hard or anthracite coal, which burns with little or
no flame and without smoke. It is indeed coal made into coke under
tremendous pressure, and this is the kind of coal which Americans use
exclusively in their dwelling-houses and monster hotels.
It was at first supposed that the plants of the carboniferous times were
bamboos, palms, and gigantic cactuses, such as are now found in tropical
regions, but a more careful examination of them shows that, with the
exception of the tree-fern now found in the tropics, they differ from
all existing trees. A large proportion of the plants of the
coal-measures were ferns, some authorities say one-half. From their
great abundance we may infer the great heat and moisture of the
atmosphere at the time when they grew, as similar ferns at the present
day are only found in the greatest abundance on small tropical islands
where the temperature is high. Coal often contains impressions of fern
leaves and palm-like ferns--no less than 934 kinds are drawn and
described by geologists. Many animals and insects are found in the coal,
such as large toad-like reptiles with beautiful teeth, small lizards,
water lizards, great fish with tremendous jaws, many insects of the
grasshopper tribe, but none of these are of the same species as those
found now living on this globe.
Wood, peat, brown coal, jet, and true coal, are chemically alike,
differing only in their amount of oxygen, due to the difference of
compression to which they were subjected. The sun gave his heat and
light to the forests now turned into coal, and when we burn it ages
afterwards, we revive some of the heat and light so long untouched.
Stephenson once remarked to Sir Robert Peel, as they stood watching a
passing train: "There goes _the sunshine of former ages_!"
COST OF WORKING.
Having thus stated shortly the origin and extent of the coal of this
country, more particularly that of the northern coal-fields of
Northumberland and Durham, I think it may be interesting to say
something of the cost at which this valuable article is obtained, as I
am sure few are at all aware of the vast sums of money that have to be
expended before we can sit down by our comfortable firesides, with a
cold winter night outside, and read our book, or have our family
gathered round us; and few know the danger and hardship of the bold
worker who risks his life to procure the coal. The first step is to find
out if there is coal. This done, the next is to get at it, or, as it is
termed, to _win_ the coal. The process is to sink a shaft, and this is
alike dangerous, uncertain, and very costly. The first attempt to sink a
pit at Haswell in Durham was abandoned after an outlay of £60,000. The
sinkers had to pass through sand, under the magnesian limestone, where
vast quantities of water lay stored, and though engines were erected
that pumped out 26,700 tons of water per day, yet the flood remained the
conqueror. This amount seems incredible, but such is the fact. At
another colliery near Gateshead (Goose Colliery), 1000 gallons a minute,
or 6000 tons of water per day, were pumped out, and only 300 tons of
coal were brought up in the same time, and thus the water raised
exceeded the coal twenty times. The most astonishing undertaking in
mining was the Dalton le Dale Pit, nine miles from Durham. On the 1st
June 1840 they pumped out 3285 gallons a minute. Engines were erected
which raised 93,000 gallons a minute from a depth of 90 fathoms or 540
feet, and this was done night and day. The amount expended to reach the
coal in this pit was £300,000. Mr. Hall estimates the capital invested
in the coal trade of the counties of Durham and Northumberland,
including private railways, waggons, and docks for loading ships, at
£13,000,000 sterling.
The great difficulty in working coal, should these upper seams fail, is
not only the increase of cost in sinking further down, but the increased
heat to be worked in. At 2000 feet the mine will increase in heat 28°,
at 4000, 57°; to this must be added the constant temperature of 50° 5',
so that at 2000 feet it would be 78° 5', and at 4000, 107° 5' Fahr. By
actual trial on July 17, 1857, in Duckingfield Pit, the temperature at
2249 feet was 75° 5'. From this it may be conceived in what great heat
the men have to work, and the work is very hard. One may fancy from this
what can be endured, but it would be next to impossible to work in a
greater temperature. I can speak upon this from actual experience, as
when down the Lady Londonderry Pit the temperature was 85°, and here the
men worked naked. Another great source of expense and anxiety lies in
keeping up the roof, as, from the excessive pressure, the roof and floor
are always inclined to come together, and props must therefore be used,
and these in some pits cost as much as £1500 a year. To digress for a
moment, an amusing story is told of Grimaldi, the celebrated clown, when
paying a visit to a coal-pit. Having gone some way through the mine, a
sudden noise, arising from the falling of coal from the roof, caused him
to ask the reason of the noise. "Hallo!" exclaimed Grimaldi, greatly
terrified, "what's that?" "Hech!" said his guide, "it's only a wee bit
of coal fallen down--we have that three or four times a day." "Then I'll
thank you to ring for my basket, for I'll stop no longer among the wee
bits of falling coal." This "wee bit" was about three tons' weight. A
large proportion of the sad accidents in coal-mines is caused by these
falls of the roof, which give no warning, but suddenly come down and
crush to death those who happen to be near.
MODE OF WORKING.
The cost of working having thus been given, I wish now to lay before you
an explanation of the method of working and bringing the coal to the
surface. It may not be uninteresting to mention how many men are
employed in this work, as the number is very large. Coal was not
formerly excavated by machinery, but it is so now, and therefore hands
must be had. The number of men employed in the mines of county Durham in
1854 was 28,000; of these, 13,500 were hewers, winning several thousand
tons of coal daily. Of the remainder, 3500 were safety-staff men,
having, besides, 1400 boys belonging to their staff; 2000 were off-hand
men, for bargain work or other duties; 7600 lads and boys, working
under the various designations of "putters," or pushers of coal-tubs,
underground "drivers," "marrows," "half-marrows," and "foals," these
latter terms being local, and significant of age and labour. For
Northumberland must be added 10,536 persons, and Cumberland 3579, making
a total for these three counties of upwards of 42,000 persons labouring
in and round our northern collieries. The average that each hewer will
raise per day is from two to three tons in thin, and three to four tons
in thick seams. The largest quantity raised by any hewer on an average
of the colliers of England is about six tons a day of eight hours. The
mode of working is very laborious, as the majority of seams of coal
being very thin--that is to say, not more than two feet thick--the
worker of necessity is obliged to work in a constrained position, often
lying on his side; and you can fancy the labour of using a pick in such
a position. To get an idea of the position, just place yourself under a
table, and then try to use a pick, and it will give you a pretty clear
idea of the comfortable way in which a great part of our coal is got,
and this also at a temperature of 86° in bad air. The object, of
course, of the worker is to take nothing but coal, as all labour is lost
that is spent in taking any other material away. The man after a time
gets twisted in his form, from being constantly in this constrained
position, and, in fact, to sit upright like other men is at last
painful. Then an amount of danger is always before him, even in the best
regulated and ventilated pits. This danger proceeds from fire-damp, as
one unlucky stroke of the pick may bring forth a stream of carbureted
hydrogen gas, inexplosive of itself, but if mixed with eight times its
bulk of air, more dangerous than gunpowder, and which, if by chance it
comes in contact with the flame of a candle, is sure to explode, and
certain death is the result--not always from the explosion itself, but
from the after-damp or carbonic acid gas which follows it.
Upwards of 1500 lives are yearly lost from these causes, and not less
than 10,000 accidents in the same period show the constant danger that
the miner is exposed to. It would appear that England has more deaths
from mining accidents than foreign countries, as Mr. Mackworth's table
will show:--
Prussia 1.89 per 1000
Belgium 2.8 "
England 4.5 "
Staffordshire 7.3 "
This statement shows that more care is wanted in this last-named county
especially, as I find that the yield of coal in Belgium is half as much
as in England. Long working in the dark, if one may so speak, is a cause
of serious detriment to the sight, and the worker also suffers much from
constantly inhaling the small black dust, which in course of time
affects the lungs, causing what is known as "miner's asthma." Without
going further into the unhealthy nature of the miner's work, it may be
interesting to mention something of the actual process, and having
myself been an eye-witness of it, I will explain it as shortly as I can.
The workers having arrived at the pit-mouth at their proper hours--for
the pit is worked by shifts, and consequently is generally worked day
and night--the first operation is for each to procure his lamp from the
lamp-keeper, receiving it lighted and locked; this is found to be
necessary, as from the small light given by the Davy-lamp the men are
often tempted to open them, and some are even, so foolhardy as to carry
their lamp on their cap and a candle in the hand, and hence a terrible
explosion may take place. A few words on the Davy-lamp, which came into
use about sixty years ago, may not be out of place here. This
safety-lamp of the miner not only shows the presence of gas, but
prevents its explosion. It is constructed of gauze made of iron-wire
one-fortieth to one-sixtieth of an inch in diameter, having 784 openings
to the inch, and the cooling effect of the current passing through the
lamp prevents the gas taking fire. If we pour turpentine over a lighted
safety-lamp, it will show black smoke, but no flame. Provided with his
lamp, the miner takes his place with others in the tub, which conveys
him with great rapidity to the bottom of the shaft. Here landed, he
takes his way to the workings, some of these, in large pits, being two
miles from the bottom of the shaft. To a novice this is not easy, as you
have to walk in a crouching manner most part of the way. Once there, he
begins in earnest, and drives at his pick for eight hours, the monotony
only relieved by his gathering the products into small railway waggons
or tubs to be removed. This is done mostly by boys, but in the larger
mines by ponies of the Shetland and other small breeds. The tubs are
taken to a part of the mine where, if one may so speak, the main line is
reached, and then formed into trains, and taken to the shaft by means of
an endless rope worked by an engine in the pit. In accomplishing all
this work, great care has to be taken that the current of air is not
changed or stopped. This is effected by means of doors placed in various
parts of the mine, so as to stop the current and drive it in the
required direction. These doors are kept by boys, whose duty it is to
open and close them for the passage of the coal tubs. Those boys are
often allowed no light, and sit in a hole cut in the side of the road
near to the doors. Upon their carefulness the safety of the mine in a
great measure depends, as if they neglect to shut the door the current
of air is changed. I have been told that these boys are subject to
accidents no less than the workers, for, sitting in the dark, and often
alone for hours, they are very apt to go to sleep. To ensure being awoke
at the proper time, they frequently lie down on the line of rails under
the rope, so that when the rope is started it may awake them by its
motion, but at times so sound is their sleep, that it has failed to
rouse them in time, and a train of coal waggons has passed over them,
causing in most cases death.
The coal having been brought to the pit-mouth, it remains to be shown
what becomes of this most valuable mineral, the consumption of which is
now so large in all parts of the globe. The next person employed in the
trade is the sailor, to convey it to the market, and the collier vessels
are a valuable navy to the country, proving quite a nursery of seamen
for our royal marine service. Newcastle, Sunderland, West Hartlepool,
and a large number of other ports along our coast, have an immense
amount of shipping employed exclusively in the coal trade--no less than
5359 vessels carrying coal having entered the port of London alone in
1873, and the average annual quantity of coal exported abroad during the
three years ending 1872 was 12,000,000 tons.
I will not now detain you longer on the subject of the extent and
working of coal, lest I should tire your patience; but before concluding
I should wish to give some account of the uses to which this most
valuable product is applied. The main use of coal, as we all know, is to
produce heat, without which many a paterfamilias would grumble when the
dinner-hour came and he had nothing hot to eat. It not only, however,
supplies heat, but the beauty of the processes for lighting up our
houses is now mainly derived from coal. The immense consumption of coal,
among other things, is in the production of the vapour of water--steam,
by which our thousands of engines on sea and land are made to perform
their various appointed tasks. This production, formed of decayed
vegetable matter, which in ages past nourished on the surface of the
earth, as I have already shown, is again brought forth for our use, and
is a testimony of the goodness and kindness of God in providing for our
wants. By its heat some 10,000 locomotive engines are propelled, and
many hundreds of iron furnaces are kept in work, besides those for other
purposes. It moves the machinery of at least 3000 factories, 2500 steam
vessels, besides numerous smaller craft, and I cannot tell how many
forges and fires. It aids in producing delicacies out of season in our
hothouses. It lights our houses and streets with gas, the cheapest and
best of all lights--London alone in this way spending about £50,000 a
year. It gives us oil and tar to lubricate machinery and preserve timber
and iron; and last, not least, by the aid of chemistry it is made to
produce many beautiful dyes, such as magenta and mauve, and also, in the
same way, gives perfumes resembling cloves, almonds, and spices.
The annual consumption of coal in Great Britain is reckoned to be not
less than 80,000,000 tons. The amount raised in 1873 amounted to
127,000,000 tons, and of this was imported into London alone 7,883,138
tons--4,000,000 tons, or 15 per cent. of the total out-put of the
country, being sent from Durham alone. The cost of the Wallsend coal on
board the ship may be stated at 10s. 6d. per ton; to this must be added
the charge at coal-market of 2s. 8d., freight say 5s. 9d., profit 7s.
6d., so that a ton of coal of this kind will cost in your cellar in
London the sum of £1, 6s. 5d.
I think it is now time to conclude this most interesting subject, for
though I have by no means exhausted it, yet I fear I have said as much
as a lecture will warrant. The subject shows us how mindful a kind
Providence has been of man, and to this nation in particular, for to our
coal we in a measure owe much of our greatness. So while we admire the
geology of our globe, let us not forget who made it and all that it
contains, and who, when He had finished the work, pronounced it all very
good. Let us so strive to live, that though we may be called away
suddenly, as 199 of our fellow-creatures were called by what is termed a
mining accident, we may be ready to meet Him who not only made us, but
made the coal, and who, when man, at first made perfect, fell away, was
pleased to send a Saviour to redeem us and bring us to that light which
fadeth not away.
_SCIENCE APPLIED TO ART_.
A resumé of science and art requires to set forth what they have already
done and what they are now doing--to trace them down to our own time,
and contrast their early stages with their present development. Giving
to art and science all that is their due, it must be evident to every
one that they are primarily not of human origin, but owe their existence
and progress to those inherent faculties of man which have been bestowed
upon him by an Almighty Being--faculties given not only to fathom the
works of creation, and adapt them for man's use and benefit, but also
that they might show forth the praise and honour of their Creator, as
"the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His
handiwork." To set forth science and art before an Institution like that
here met together, behoves one to enter upon the subject in a way which
will not only interest but also instruct. But this is only an opening
address, and the lecturers who will follow me in due course will bring
before you the special interests of those special subjects on which they
are to treat. These cannot fail to interest as well as instruct those
who attend, their object being profit to the mind, and hence not only
the furtherance of mental culture, but increasing capabilities for
material prosperity.
To address a meeting in Glasgow gives one a feeling of pleasure; but,
before going further, I trust that when I have finished you may not be
able to say of me, as the two Highlanders did after leaving church--"Eh,
man! wasna that a grand discoorse?--it jumbled the head and confused the
understanding!" This city has brought forth one of the greatest of
men--though, like many others, he had to fight an uphill battle in his
early career--that man was James Watt. But what a career was his! and
what a benefit to all now living has proved the result of his
perseverance, for to his genius are we mainly indebted for the manifold
applications of the wondrous power of _Steam_! That word is enough; and
the engines it now propels are a powerful testimony to the talent of
the great man who brought this mighty power to bear on the vast
machinery, not only of this great country, but of the whole world.
Contrast, for one thing, the travelling facilities of Watt's early days
with those we now possess through his persevering industry. Fourteen
days was then the usual time for a journey from Glasgow to London, while
at present it can be performed in a less number of hours.
Railways! what have they not done! We see towns spring up in a few years
where only a few cottages formerly stood, and wild glens transformed
into fruitful valleys, by means of railways in their neighbourhood
developing traffic and trade, and creating employment by placing them in
communication with larger towns, and thus opening up new sources of
material prosperity. Look at the magnitude of our railways. With respect
to locomotives alone, in 1866 there were 8125 of these, and the work
performed by them was the haulage of 6,000,000 trains a distance of
143,000,000 miles. As each engine possesses a draught-power equal to 450
horses, these 8125 locomotives consequently did the work of more than
3,500,000 horses, and as the average durability of a locomotive is
computed to be about fifteen years, each will have in that time
traversed nearly 300,000 miles! Then, again, there have to be replaced
about 500 worn-out locomotives every year, at a cost for each of about
£2500 to £3000, entailing an annual expenditure of nearly £1,500,000
sterling. All this money circulates for the country's benefit, keeping
our iron, copper, and coal mines, our furnaces and our workshops, all at
work, and our people well and usefully employed, and thus proving one of
the greatest advantages of applied science and art to this country and
the world at large. If it had not been for steam, this valuable
Institution might not have been in existence, having for its chief
objects the promotion of the growth and increasing the usefulness of the
applied sciences.
We have now one of the greatest triumphs of engineering art in the Mont
Cenis Railway, and this, though worked out under great difficulties, has
proved a perfect success. Still more recently we have had brought under
our notice the bold scheme of connecting Britain and France by a tunnel
under the English Channel--a project which, but a few years ago, any one
would have been thought mad to propose; but science has proved that it
can be carried out; and it is only a few days since a large meeting was
held in Liverpool with a view of tunnelling under the Mersey, and thus
connecting Liverpool and Birkenhead. Nor do these schemes seem at all
visionary when we learn that our go-ahead Transatlantic cousins have a
project before the Legislature of New Jersey for laying wooden tubes
underground, through which the mails and small parcels will be forwarded
at the rate of 150 miles an hour! Through a similar tube, 6 feet in
diameter, laid under the East and Hudson Rivers, passengers are to be
transported from Brooklyn to Jersey city. A like scheme is in course of
construction under the Thames.[A] Another American engineering triumph
will be the railway suspension bridge proposed to be built across the
Hudson River at Peekskill, in the hilly district known to New Yorkers as
the Highlands, which is to have a clear span of 1600 feet at a height of
155 feet above high water.
Another grand and comparatively recent application of steam is in its
adaptation to agriculture. Fields are now turned up by the
steam-plough--an invention as yet in its infancy--in a manner that could
never be done by mere hand-labour. Steam-culture has already penetrated
as far north as John-o'-Groats, where I have one of the ploughs of Mr.
Howard of Bedford, and but for its assistance I could not have taken in
the land I have now worked up. So great is the demand for
steam-cultivating apparatus, not only in Britain, but throughout the
German plains and the flat alluvial soils of Egypt, that the makers have
now more orders than they can readily supply.
In all our manufactories steam proves itself the motive power, and there
is hardly a large work without it. This city can show its weaving,
spinning, bleaching, and dyeing works--all which have tended to raise
Glasgow from the small town of Watt's time to the proud position it now
holds of being the first commercial city of Scotland. In this city,
second only to Manchester in the production of cotton goods, it cannot
fail to be interesting to state, that in the first nine months of the
present year there has been exported 2,188,591,288 yards of cotton
piece-goods manufactured in this country--a larger quantity by nearly
150,000,000 yards than the corresponding period of 1867, the year of the
largest export of cotton manufactures ever known until then. Of course
Glasgow has had its share in this great branch of export trade,
rendering it large, wealthy, and populous--results which have mainly
followed from the application of science to art.
Last, not least, see what steam has enabled us to do in regard to the
food for the mind, both in printing it and afterwards in its
distribution. Look, for instance, to Printing House Square--to the
"Times" newspaper. In the short space of one hour 20,000 copies are
thrown off the printing-machine, and, thanks to the express train, the
same day the paper can be read in Glasgow. Still further in this
direction, the value of steam is also shown by its having enabled us to
produce cheap literature, so strikingly instanced in the world-famed
works of Sir Walter Scott, which we are now enabled to purchase at the
small sum of sixpence for each volume--a result which well shows the
application of science to art.
Let us now observe what a varied number of mechanical and agricultural
appliances are required to furnish us with this cheap literature. There
is agriculture, in the growth of the fibre that produces the material of
which the printing paper is made; then the flax-mill is brought into
play to produce the yarn to be woven; then weaving to produce the
cloth; after this, dyeing. Then the fine material is used for various
purposes too numerous to mention; and after it has performed its own
proper work, and is cast away as rags, no more to be thought of by its
owner, it is gathered up as a most precious substance by the papermaker,
who shows us the true value of the cast-off rags. Subjected to the
beautiful and costly machinery of the paper-mill, the rags turn out an
article of so much value that without it the world would almost come to
a stand-still. Yet further, we have next the miner, who by his labour
brings to the surface of the earth the metal required to produce the
type for printing; after this the printing-press; and next the chemist,
who by certain chemical combinations gives us the ink that is to spread
knowledge to the world, by making clear to the eye the thoughts of
authors who have applied their minds for the instruction and amusement
of their fellow-men. But we do not end here; consider also that each and
all, the farmer, the spinner, the weaver, the chemist, the miner, the
printer, and the author, must respectively have a profit out of their
various branches of industry, and does it not strike one forcibly what
a boon to the world is this all-important application of science to
art--putting within the reach of the poor man and the working man the
means of cultivating his mind, and so, by giving him matters of deep
interest to think over, keeping him from idleness and perhaps sin (for
idleness is the root of most evil), and making him a happy family-man
instead of a public-house frequenter.
Many were strongly opposed to the introduction of steam, and would
rather have seen it put down, and the old coach and printing-press,
loom, spinning-wheel, and flail kept in use, fearing that machinery
would limit employment; and a hard fight it has been to carry forward
all that has hitherto been done. But what has proved to be the result?
Thousands are now employed where formerly a few people sufficed, and we
are all benefited in having better and cheaper goods, books, provisions,
and all things needful. There is therefore the satisfaction of knowing
that, by the thousand and one applications of steam, the physical,
mental, and even moral condition of the people has been greatly
ameliorated; in this way again proving a triumph for the application of
science to art.
Glasgow is not only famous for its multifarious applications of water
in its finely divided gaseous form of steam, but it has made admirable
use of that element in its more familiar and fluid form, as shown in the
gigantic undertaking of bringing a water-supply into this thriving and
populous city. The peaceful waters of a Highland lake are suddenly
turned from their quiet resting-place, where they have remained in peace
for generations, the admiration of all beholders, and made to take an
active part in contributing to the health, wealth, and comfort of
Glasgow. The beautiful Loch Katrine has been brought into the city,
furnishing a stream of pure water to minister to the wants of all
classes of the people--an undertaking which a few years ago would have
been pronounced impossible; but here again science and art have
prevailed, and brought about this all-important object and greatly
desired and inestimable boon. The great capital of England itself cannot
boast of such an advantage, and must still be content to drink water
contaminated with impurities. Does not this speak volumes for the wealth
and energy of Glasgow? What so conducive to health and cleanliness (and
cleanliness is akin to godliness) as a pure and perfect supply of water
such as you now possess; and you have great reason to be grateful for
this beneficent application of science and art. With a worldwide
celebrity for your waterworks, you have cause also to be proud of your
chemical works, and that famous chimney of St. Rollox, one of the
loftiest structures in the world. There are few cities more highly
favoured than this. Would not Captain Shaw be glad if, in London, he had
the head or command of water such as you have from Loch Katrine to save
the great metropolis from the destruction by fire that they are in daily
dread of? In Glasgow we hardly want this--our grand Loch Katrine does it
all.
Turn to your river, the beautiful Clyde, which eighty years ago could be
forded at Erskine, while Port Glasgow was as far as ships could then
come up--a striking contrast to what is now to be seen at the
Broomielaw, where the largest steamers and ships drawing thirty feet of
water are moored in the very heart of the city, discharging produce from
all parts of the world. What has done this but steam--the energy of man;
steam cutting a channel by dredging to admit of ships passing so far up
the river: and this has been to Glasgow a great source of wealth by the
promotion of commerce. Art has been permitted to work out great things
for your city, and I trust still greater things are in store. Take the
trade now in full progress on the banks of the Clyde. The shipbuilding
is fast leaving the Thames and finding its way here. It is a pleasure to
hear people say: "There is a fine ship--she is Clyde-built."--"Who built
her? Was it Napier, or Thomson, or Tod, or M'Gregor, or Randolph &
Elder, or Caird, or Denny of Dumbarton, or Cunliff & Dunlop?" Pardon me
if I have left out any name, for all are good builders. Then, again, it
may be asked: "Who engined these ships?"--"Oh, Clyde engineers, or those
who built them." I had the pleasure of being this year on board the
Trinity yacht "Galatea," on a cruise when fourteen knots an hour were
accomplished; and that yacht is a good specimen of what Clyde
shipbuilders can turn out. She was built by Caird. I have also had the
pleasure of a trip in the "Russia," one of the finest screw-vessels
afloat, built by Thomson; and she has proved herself perhaps the fastest
of sea-going steamers. Does not all this show what science applied to
art has done?
Glasgow has also a College of the first order, one that is looked up to
as sending men of high standing forth to the world. Watt worked under
its roof as a poor mathematical instrument maker, and although enjoying
little of its valuable instruction, he produced the steam-engine--a
lesson as to what those ought to do towards promoting the application of
science to art who have the full benefit of a scientific training such
as your College affords.
Each day brings forth something new--the electric telegraph, for
instance, by which our thoughts and desires are transmitted to all parts
of the world, so to speak, in a moment of time. When we think that we
are within an instant of America, it gives one a feeling of awe, for it
shows to what an extent we have been permitted to carry the application
of science to art. A small wire is carried across the great Atlantic,
and immediate communication is the result. The achievements of science
were shown to a great extent in the laying of this cable, and perhaps
still more in its recovery after it had been broken. A small cable is
lost at the bottom of the ocean, far from the land, and in water about
two miles in depth--a ship goes out, discovers the spot, and then
grappling irons are lowered. Science with its long arm, as it were,
reaches down the almost unfathomable abyss, and with its powerful hand
secures and brings to the surface of the ocean the fractured cable,
which is again made to connect the Old and New Worlds--thus verifying
almost the words of Shakespeare, when he speaks of calling "spirits from
the vasty deep." After splicing the cable, the vessel proceeds with the
work of paying it out, as it sails across the Atlantic; and once more
science and art find a successful issue, for Europe and America are
united.
What the combination of science and art has done is, however, not yet
exhausted: witness the splendid specimens of artillery now produced by
Sir Joseph Whitworth and Sir William Armstrong--weapons by which
projectiles are thrown with an almost irresistible force. The beauty of
their construction is a triumph to art, and their mathematical truth a
triumph to science. One thing follows another, and no sooner have men of
originality and observation perfected the means of destruction, when
others press forward and furnish the means of defence. Our armour-clads,
such as the "Warrior" and others which lately visited these waters, have
thus been called into existence, and they are splendid specimens of
what science applied to art can achieve.
The Menai Bridge is another instance of the power of man in applied
science. A railway bridge is required to further communication, but
Government demands that the navigation of the Strait shall not be
impeded. The mind of a great man is called into action, and by applying
scientific principles to engineering art, we have that wonder of the
world, the great tubular bridge over the Menai Straits. This work
required a mind of no ordinary nature, but such a one was found in the
celebrated Robert Stephenson. I am proud to say I was privileged to have
him as a friend, and I greatly lamented his death, not only as a friend,
but as an irreparable loss to the world of science.
Another instance of science applied to art--and not the least
important--is the adaptation of glass to form the lens which enables the
flame of a lamp to be seen from a great distance. What this has done for
the mariner is shown in our lighthouses, which enable him to know where
he is by night as well as by day, for the lights are made to revolve, to
be stationary, or to show various colours or flashes, which reveal to
him their respective positions. The compass also, though ancient, is
still an application of applied science, and by it the mariner is
enabled to guide his ship safely over the ocean. A very beautiful
instance of applied science to art is electrometallurgy, in which metals
are deposited by means of the galvanic battery in any required form or
shape, and this process of gilding and plating is executed with
marvellous rapidity. All these various instances show what the mind of
man has done, and is doing; but the applications of science to art are
so endless, that even their simple enumeration could not be included in
the limits of an opening address, for there are few things to which
science cannot be applied. One of the most recent and beautiful is the
art of photography, where, by means of applied chemistry, aided by the
rays of the sun, there can be produced the most pleasing and lifelike
representations. This new application of chemistry is a most interesting
one, which shows that we do not stand still, and as long as arts and
science are permitted to be practised by us we are not intended to stand
still, but to exercise our minds to the utmost to unravel those
mysteries of nature that are yet to be developed.