10 
manufacture of smokeless powder, which, if carried to perfection, 
will, in Lord Armstrong’s words, ‘‘ work a revolution in modern 
armament, and render the use of quick-firmg guns not only an 
advantage but a necessity.” The new powder is impervious to 
damp and absolutely smokeless, thus offering no impediment in 
aiming or discharging the large guns, at their maximum rate of 10 
rounds per minute! Velocities have been also obtained with this 
powder of 2,300, and 2,500 feet per second. 
Turning to the vast subject of electricity, the year 1889 can 
boast of no specially important application of its power. The 
electric lighting of the Metropolis is steadily progressing, but until 
some method is devised of perfecting the insulation of the wires, 
the scheme seems likely to meet with great, and perhaps just 
opposition. £o great, however, has been the development of 
electricity in the last few years, that upwards of five million persons 
now gain a livelihood by its means. 
The elestric lighting of the British Museum which has only 
recently been accomplished, is in every sense of the word, a brilliant 
suecess. The antiquities, Roman Mosaics, and Porcelains are 
superbly illuminated, but the effect is specially fine in the sculpture 
galleries, where the light and shade are so perfect that every detail 
is brought out in quite an unprecedented manner, and enables 
studies to be made with better effect by night than by day. Hence 
it is hoped that the treasurers of our great National Museum may 
more be enjoyed by many who have been hitherto precluded from 
studying them. The electric current is generated by four Siemens 
Dynamos, and four currents are led round the building, two to the 
upper, and two to the lower floors. 
An ingenious process for making filaments for incandescent lamps 
has been devised by Messrs. Swinburne, from ordinary cabbage 
leaves. They are first soaked in vinegar to neutralize their alkali, 
then ina solution of mercury bromide,and electrolysed while therein 
by an electric shellac rod. A heavy current is then passed through 
the leaf to carbonize its vegetable fibre, after which it is cut into 
filaments and passed through a draw plate. Lastly a mixture of 
hydrogen and ammonia gases are passed over the filaments to give 
them a due resisting force, when they can be bent into horseshoe 
shape, and are then ready for use. 
What may be called an abuse of this wondrous force, i.e., elec- 
tricity, may be seen on the southern shores of France, where wires 
connected with powerful batteries, are placed along those parts of 
the coast where the migratory birds usually alight when returning 
from their winter sojourn in Africa. The wearied birds perch on 
the wires, and are instantly struck dead. Ishall hardly be believed 
when I say that it is to please the gentle sex, for whose adornment 
