MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY. 



489 



two Protestant confessions tiie Augsburg and 

 the Helvetian; 2. The synod demands that 

 those obstacles -which, in some parts of the 

 monarchy, are still presented to the establish- 

 ment of Protestant congregations, shall be re- 

 moved ; 3. That -booksellers shall be allowed 

 to deal in Protestant books : 4. A community 

 of cemeteries ; 5. The admission of Protestant 

 pastors, as of priests, into houses of retirement 

 and charitable institutions, to exercise their 

 functions in them ; 6. The establishment of the 

 equality of the Protestant and the Catholic fes- 

 tivals, in order that the authorities may be 

 bound to protect the festivals of the Protestants 

 in the localities la which they are the most 

 numerous; V. The synod protests against all 

 interference by the subordinate p Dli tical authori- 

 ties in the affairs of the schools of the Protes- 

 tant congregations; 8. It protests against the 

 ordinance which prohibits the children of Jews 



from frequenting Protestant, if there a.'e Cath- 

 olic schools in existence in the same locality ; 

 as it also protests against the ordinance which 

 forbids Catholic parents placing their children 

 with Protestant foster-parents ; 9. The General 

 Synod advances claims on the funds of the nor- 

 mal schools in favor of the Protestant schools ; 

 10. It demands the admission of Protestant 

 teachers in the medial Catholic schools; 11. 

 The institution of Protestant catechists in the 

 schools; 12. The incorporation of the Protes- 

 tant Theological Faculty into the University of 

 Vienna ; 13. The representation of the Evan- 

 gelical Church in the Diet and in the municipal 

 council." 



The deputation which presented this memorial 

 to the Emperor of Austria, received from the lat- 

 ter the promise that the Government would take 

 the demands of the Protestants into its serious 

 consideration,and fulfil all their just expectations. 



M 



MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY. Its applica- 

 tion to lighthouse purposes has become a sub- 

 ject of interest. Some facts as to the manner 

 of its use were lately stated by !Mr. F. H. 

 Holmes, in a paper road before the British 

 Society of Arts. 



Formerly lighthouses were few, and were 

 very nearly all coal fires on high cliffs or tow- 

 ers, and most of them were the property of 

 private individuals ; but, as shipping increased, 

 so the lighthouse system became more and 

 more developed, both in the number of light- 

 houses and in the improvement of those already 

 existing. The coal fire gradually gave way to 

 the oil lamp and candles ; next was the intro- 

 duction of spherical mirrors or reflectors, and 

 these, again, were superseded by parabolic 

 reflectors, sometimes to the number of more 

 than thirty in one lantern. After this came 

 the introduction of the "Fresnel Lens," which 

 took the place of the reflectors and their lamps, 

 however numerous they might be, and required 

 instead one central lamp. 



This "Fresnel Lens" has again grown larger 

 and larger, as the want of a more powerful 

 light was felt, till it has now a diameter of six 

 feet and a height of ten, for to increase the 

 quantity of light the size of the lamp must be 

 increased, and the lens in proportion, or it 

 would have been so far out of focus that the 

 intention of the lens would have been frustra- 

 ted. 



To make these progressive improvements in 

 lighthouses vast sums of money had to be ex- 

 pended to improve the light itself. This is 

 done by the substitution of a lamp of four con- 

 centric wicks, the largest nearly four inches in 

 diameter, for the coal fire. If the improve- 

 ment had stopped at that it would have been 

 small indeed, but this lamp is more under com- 



mand than the coal fire. The value of the in- 

 troduction of oil is not so much, then, on 

 account of its greater power as for its aptitude 

 for the employment of economizing apparatus, 

 whether this consists of reflectors or lenses. 

 All incandescent bodies give out rays as it 

 were from the centre to the circumference of a 

 sphere ; of such rays only those which fall on 

 the sea would be useful to the mariner, but by 

 means of reflectors those rays which would 

 pass inland, or upwards, or downwards, are 

 reflected toward any required point, and by a 

 proper arrangement of a series of reflectors, 

 the whole or nearly the whole of the rays 

 directed where required. The Fresnel lens con- 

 sists of a middle refracting belt, and a double 

 series of reflecting prisms, or zones, as they are 

 generally termed, and, when properly con- 

 structed, it has the property of collecting all 

 the rays into one horizontal beam, so that all 

 the light from the lamp is utilized. 



"Whether a large or a small lamp be em- 

 ployed it will make no difference in misty 

 weather, so long as the thickness of the flame 

 is the same, for a large lamp may be equal to 

 ten or twelve smaller ones, and, if replaced by 

 these ten smaller, it will be evident that when 

 one of these is obscured by mist the whole of 

 them will be obscured. Quantity of light, 

 then, will not add to its power of penetrating 

 mist. By making the large lamp with four 

 concentric wicks, the intensity of the light is a 

 little increased, and such a lamp will penetrate 

 further through mist in a slight degree. But 

 it is in misty and hazy weather that1;he light is 

 most required ; hence the only thing wanting to 

 make the whole system perfect is a light ca- 

 pable of penetrating mist ; and as this power 

 depends on the intensity of the light, and aa 

 electricity is capable ->f producing the most 



