BRIEF NOTES. 



575 



and it is now proposed to erect a building, to be 

 called the "Deutsches Reichs-Waisenhaus " (Im- 

 perial German Orphan-Home), *here orphans who 

 are left unprovided for may be properly cared for, 

 clothed, and instructed. The site proposed for 

 this institution is at Lahr, in Baden, where there 

 are a number of snuff-manufactories, and it is 

 therefore well adapted to the scheme, which we 

 can only hope may be successfully carried out. 

 Although the directors of this Home propose to 

 have a plan prepared for a large building, only a 

 small part of it will at first be erected, to which 

 each year or two more rooms may be added, in 

 accordance with the original plan, in proportion 

 to the success which is found to attend the under- 

 taking. It will be readily understood that a good 

 many difficulties beset this scheme, for it requires 

 the most perfect cooperation of the smoking com- 

 munity and some assistance also from the non- 

 smokers ; but much can be done by friends who 

 will undertake the duty of collecting, and some 

 of the most energetic of these are not unfrequent- 

 ly of the fair sex. 



The system of collection, which is extended 

 over a large part of Germany, is generally under- 

 taken by one or two ladies or gentlemen in each 

 town, who collect now and then from their smok- 

 ing friends the ends which they have been saving 

 up. These collectors either send on the cigar- 

 ends to the central society, or sell them on the 

 spot and transmit the proceeds. This latter 

 plan, when it can be worked, is preferable, as 

 saving expenses in carriage and packing. It is 

 proposed that the number of children which 

 each town shall have the privilege of sending to 



the Home shall be regulated according to the 

 amount which they have contributed to the so- 

 ciety. 



To insure the success of this institution, it 

 will be absolutely necessary for all to unite and 

 work together ; each one must not leave it for 

 his neighbor, thinking that one more or tegs can 

 make no difference. To show, however, what 

 might be accomplished by a thorough unity in 

 this matter, let us say that there are at least 

 some 10,000,000 smokers in Germany; or, to 

 be very much within the mark, we will take only 

 5,000,000 smokers, who will give themselves 

 the trouble, if such it is, of saving up their cigar- 

 ends ; and, assuming that the cigar-ends of each 

 person during one week are worth only a quarter 

 Pfennig (10 Pfennig = 1 penny English), we have 

 a total revenue for the year of 650,000 marks, or 

 £32,500. Now, these £32,500, which, as a rule, 

 are thrown away and wasted, can be used to pro- 

 vide a home for at least 13,000 poor orphan chil- 

 dren. Further, if the 5,000,000 smokers would 

 contribute but once a year the value only of a 

 single cigar, say in Germany one penny, this would 

 make an additional 500,000 marks, or £25,000, 

 which would clothe another 10,000 children. 



Now we ask, is it not worth while to be care- 

 ful in small things, and to save up these usually 

 wasted cigar-ends, when we see what great things 

 might result ? We can only conclude by wishing 

 success to this remarkable institution, which has 

 taken for its motto the most appropriate words, 

 " Viele "Wenig machen ein Viel ; " or, in the 

 words of the old Scottish proverb, " Many a 

 little makes a mickle." — Chambers's Journal. 



BEIEF NOTES. 



Comparative Illuminating Power of Gas and 

 Electric Lights. — The Electric Light Company of 

 Paris has erected a large frame building for the 

 purpose of exhibiting the illuminating power of 

 JabloshkofFs electric candle, and comparing its 

 results with those of coal-gas. A correspondent 

 of the American Manufacturer, having attended 

 an exhibition, gives in that journal a very good 

 account of his observations. The hall in which 

 the experiments are made is, he says, about 60 

 feet long, 40 wide, and 25 high. The walls and 

 ceilings are white. From the latter were sus- 

 pended three chandeliers, the central one having 

 three " opalized " glass globes about one and a 

 half foot in diameter — each surrounding an elec- 



tric candle. The other two chandeliers were or- 

 dinary gas lustres, each with 60 bat-wing burners. 

 The latter alone were lighted when the corre- 

 spondent entered the hall, but they amply sufficed 

 to illuminate it. Soon the gas was suddenly 

 turned off, and six electric candles were lighted. 

 Of these three were or the central chandelier, 

 and the others on three pillars in different parts 

 of the room. Although all these lights were sur- 

 rounded by large " opalized " globes, the differ- 

 ence between the two illuminations was remark- 

 able. These six candles gave a light much more 

 intense and "whiter" than the 120 naked gas- 

 jets. The eye experienced but little more fatigue 

 in regarding the globes sifting the electric light, 



