a paper read before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers that 

 not one defective weld is found in 500. It is said also that the 

 welds thus made are considerably stronger than the ordinary- 

 brazed joint, the breaking strain being over 20% greater for the 

 electric weld than for that of a hand brazed wire joint. 



I cannot leave the subject of electricity without referring to 

 the works recently erected for the utilization of the force of the 

 Falls of Niagara. These, the largest works for the production of 

 the electrical current yet constructed, are situated in the city of 

 Niagara Falls and mark an epoch in the history of the production 

 of electricity for commercial purposes. 



The cost of the electricity to the Aluminium Company which 

 has its works close to the Falls is gth of a penny per unit. The 

 lowest charge in England, is, I believe, 3d. per unit. You will 

 notice the immense difference. It will suggest to you the great 

 pdrt which water is destined to play in the supply of energy to 

 the works and manufactories of the future. While recognizing 

 the great utility of waterfalls one cannot but lament the invasion 

 of some of the most beautiful scenery by the works necessary for 

 the transformation of their power. 



The X Rays or Rontgen Rays, as they are more generally 

 called, have been so much discussed that I hesitate to do more 

 than mention them to you. 



Professor Lenard was the actual discoverer of these rays, and 

 Rontgen merely brought the subject more popularly forward and 

 showed that they could penetrate various substances impermeable 

 to ordinary light, and that they rendered fluorescent certain 

 chemical substances. 



The actual nature of these rays is at present uncertain, 

 but whatever they may be some most wonderful results 

 have been produced by them : results closely and directly aid- 

 ing the surgeon's art and benefiting humanity. It is very seldom 

 that a discovery is so soon seized upon and practically applied. 

 Without the necessity of going through the process of impressing 

 a permanent image upon a sensitive plate — the effect of these 

 rays upon a fluorescent screen is modified by an interposed sub- 

 stance — so that at any moment portions of internal structure 

 hitherto invisible may be inspected. Doubtless we are on the 

 threshold of something far greater than we can at present con- 

 ceive. What has already been accomplished, however, teaches us 

 that there are more things in Heaven and Earth than can be 

 a.ppreciated by us, caged as we are within the limits of our senses 

 and of those comparatively small aids which science has as yet 

 been able to call in as supplements to them. 



