POPULAR MISCELLANY, 



429 



made at the Certosa, near Florence, by a few 

 lingering Carthusians of the old society, 

 whose secret is likely to perish with them. 

 The Dominicans of Santa Maria Novella for- 

 merly manufactured elixirs and scents, but, 

 according to Chambers's Journal, have been 

 broken up by the Government. The Bene- 

 dictines make a rival to Chartreuse ; and the 

 monks of Tre Fontane, near Rome, make a 

 " Eucalyptica," with Eucalyptus ; but Chart- 

 reuse continues to enjoy the higher esteem. 



The Massachusetts Institute of Technol- 

 ogy. The twenty-fifth anniversary of this 

 highly respected school occurred in 1890, 

 and was commemorated by an address re- 

 viewing the career of the institution, which 

 was delivered by Augustus Lowell. The In- 

 stitute was founded by the eminent geolo- 

 gist, Prof. William B. Rogers. The work 

 of organization was retarded by the civil 

 war, but in February, 1865, the school 

 opened with twenty-seven students. In 

 1872 the number had increased to three 

 hundred and forty-eight, and then came the 

 financial crisis, which very nearly wrecked the 

 undertaking. It survived, however, and the 

 revival of business brought it a new era of 

 prosperity, so that its students now number 

 nine hundred, with ninety instructors and 

 eleven courses of study. The purpose of 

 the Institute of Technology is to prepare 

 men to direct those great industrial enter- 

 prises and public works which require a 

 thorough training, based upon an adequate 

 acquaintance with science, for their success- 

 ful prosecution. Additions to the facilities 

 of the school have been made in rapid suc- 

 cession, often looking to the future to sup- 

 ply the requisite means. This institution 

 was one of the first in the world to instruct 

 chemistry classes by the laboratory method. 

 Its first chemical instructors were Charles 

 W. Eliot, now President of Harvard, and 

 Prof. Frank H. Storer. A physical labora- 

 tory was established at about the same time. 

 In 1871 a laboratory for the course in min- 

 ing engineering was begun, by the purchase 

 of apparatus in which economic quantities 

 of ores could be treated. Two years later a 

 sixteen-horse-power engine, with apparatus 

 for engine and boiler tests, was provided. 

 In 1881 a laboratory of applied mechanics, 

 devoted especially to tests of building mate- 



rials, was added. A distinct course in elec- 

 trical engineering was organized in 1882, 

 and this study had its special laboratory fit- 

 ted up in the new building which the growth 

 of the school required to be erected in the 

 following year. Six years later another new 

 building was put up, and during all these 

 years delicate instruments and powerful ma- 

 chines of great variety have been continually 

 added to the equipment of all departments. 

 In carrying on its work the Institute has 

 several times incurred heavy debts, most of 

 which have been canceled by the efforts of 

 its friends. It still owes, however, the cost 

 of its latest building ($1 20,000). The gradu- 

 ates that it has been sending out for over 

 twenty years are doing valuable work in the 

 several engineering professions, and as in- 

 structors in various departments of science 

 and technology, while the example of the 

 Institute has done much to extend the labo- 

 ratory method of science-teaching. 



The Nature of a Flash of Lightning. 



Describing the electric discharge of a flash 

 of lightning, Prof. Oliver J. Lodge compares 

 the cloud and the earth as forming the two 

 coats of a Leyden jar, in the dielectrics of 

 which houses and people exist. The occur- 

 rence of the discharge is determined at the 

 moment when the maximum electric tension 

 which the air can stand is reached. " At 

 whatever point the electric tension rises to 

 this value, smash goes the air. The break- 

 age need not amount to a flash ; it must 

 give way along a great length to cause a 

 flash ; if the break is only local, nothing 

 more than a brush or fizz may be seen. 

 But when a flash does occur, it must be the 

 weakest spot that gives way first the 

 place of maximum tension and this is 

 commonly on the smallest knob or surface 

 which rears itself into the space between the 

 dielectrics. If there be a number of small 

 knobs or points, the glows and brushes be- 

 come so numerous that the tension is great- 

 ly relieved, and the whole of a moderate 

 thunder-cloud might be discharged in this 

 way without the least violence. This is by 

 far the best way of protecting anything 

 from lightning : do not let the lightning- 

 flash occur if you can possibly avoid it. 

 But one can not always prevent it, even by a 

 myriad points. A good deal more might be 



