336 BEN OIL 



Ibs. 



Tho bell in tho cathedral, Paris .... 38,800 



Ditto ditto Vienna .... 39,648 



Tho bell in the church at Erfurt .... 30,800 



Great Tom of Oxford 17,000 



Ditto Lincoln 9,894 



The bell of St. Paul's, London ... . . 8,400 



Big Bon of Westminster, London . ' . . . 30,352 



The Big Ben of the New Houses of Parliament -was designed by Mr. Donison, Q.C., 

 who undertook all the responsibility of its construction, except the casting. The 

 metal, as already stated, was an alloy of 22 parts of copper to 7 of tin. The original 

 bell was cast on August 6, 1856, by Messrs. Warner, at Norton, near Stockton-on- 

 Toes. It was thicker than the prescribed pattern, and exceeded the intended weight 

 by 2 cwt. Moreover, tho casting was defective, and when tho bell was subsequently 

 broken up, a natural crack, 18 inches long, was found in the sound-bow. In order to 

 bring out the full sound, a clapper of 13 cwt. was required, and the boll was conse- 

 quently cracked within a year after it had been cast. 



On April 10, 1858, Big Ben was recast, with certain alterations of shape, by 

 Mr. Mears. Soon after it had been placed in the clock-tower it was found .that this 

 second casting was much more defective than the first the metal exhibiting a number 

 of superficial cavities and still more internal blisters. Dr. Percy and Prof. Tyndall 

 were instructed to report officially on tho bell. It was found that instead of containing 

 22 of copper to 7 of tin, as required by contract, two fragments from the sound-bow 

 contained respectively 19 '4 of copper to 7 of tin, and 19 '9 copper to 7 tin ; whilst a 

 sample taken from the top yielded 22 - 3 of copper to 7 of tin. Thus, in addition to 

 tho porous structure of the casting, tho alloy was far from being uniform throughout, 

 and tho lower part which is, of course, tho most important part of a bell was harder 

 and more brittle than the specified alloy. Both castings, therefore, were decided 

 failures. 



With regard to the general form of bells, Mr. Denison made the following remarks 

 in a lecture at the Royal Institution : 



' Now, from these and other experiments, I have come to the conclusion that bells 

 of the common and well-known shape, with a thick lip or sound-bow, are the most 

 effective known instruments for producing a loud and musical sound, such as you 

 want when you erect a large public clock, or put up a peal of church bells. And I 

 confess, also, that after trying, at Messrs. Warners', a number of experiments with 

 bells of the usual general form, but with various deviation in the details, I am equally 

 satisfied that there is nothing to bo gained by deviating materially from the esta- 

 blished proportions of the best old bells. And I think it is some confirmation of my 

 views to tell you that Professor Wheatstone, having been commissioned by the Board 

 of Works with Sir C. Barry, -on his own suggestion, to collect information at the late 

 Paris Exhibition respecting the most esteemed chimes in France and Belgium, and 

 whether there are in those countries makers acquainted with the traditions of tho art, 

 or who have applied the discoveries of science to the improvement of bells, or to 

 efficient substitutes for them, has come back with the conclusion that no such efficient 

 substitutes have been discovered ; nor is there any known improvement on the esta- 

 blished mode and materials for casting them. Sir C. Barry and he, indeed, seem to 

 have been rather impressed with the merits of the cast-steel bells, which you have 

 seen noticed in the newspapers. I have not heard them myself, but I have heard 

 such condemnation of their harshness of sound from other persons, of probably more 

 experience in such matters, that I do not the least believe in their being received 

 generally as an efficient (though they may be a cheap) substitute for the more 

 expensive compound of copper and tin ; and, on the whole, that seems to be Pro- 

 fessor Wheatstone's opinion also.' 



BENGAL STRIPES. Ginghams ; a kind of cotton cloth woven with coloured 

 stripes, so called from tho cottons which we formerly imported from Bengal. 



BEN NUTS. (Noix de ben, Fr. ; Salbnilsse, Ger.) The tree which furnishes 

 these nuts is the Guilandina moringa of Linnaeus, a native of India, Ceylon, Arabia, 

 and Egypt. 



BEN OIL. The oil of ben, which may be obtained from the decorticated nuts, is 

 said to be far less liable than other oils to become rancid, and hence it is much 

 used by watchmakers. At a low temperature, the oil of ben separates into two 

 parts one solid and one fluid ; tho latter only is used for watch-work. At one time 

 oil of ben was employed as a base for the enfleurage process of making perfumed 

 oils from flowers in the south of France, brought thence from the Levant, but from 

 some unknown reason it has long since ceased to be imported, and oil of ben is now 



