132 THE SCIENTIFIC PAPERS OP 



In the discussion of ihe above Paper and those 



"ON THE APPLICATION OF IRON TO TELEGRAPH 

 POLES," by MAJOR WEBBER, R.E., 



" ON TELEGRAPH POLES," by LIEUT. JEKYLL, R.E., and 

 " ON THE RIBAND TELEGRAPH POST," by MR. R. B. LEE, 



MR. SIEMENS said that, as a paper of his was one on the list, he 

 wished to premise by stating that it was not intended to be a 

 paper, but simply a statement of facts regarding the construction 

 of the posts which he introduced many years ago, and that state- 

 ment was intended as being in addition to the information which 

 was brought before the members by Major Webber in his paper. 

 He had hoped that Major Webber would have brought before the 

 meeting the construction of posts of that type, in order that they 

 might have benefited by the results of his investigation and 

 inquiry into the subject ; and he was somewhat disappointed ta 

 find that Major Webber confined himself to criticisms on the 

 existing constructions and to a sort of resume of what had been 

 done. There were several parts of his paper from which he (Mr. 

 Siemens) dissented, and he was quite sure that his friend, Major 

 Webber, would be quite pleased to find that his propositions would 

 lead to a discussion that would tend to the understanding of the 

 facts of the case. 



Twelve years ago his (Mr. Siemens's) attention was first drawn 

 to the necessity of iron posts for countries where wooden posts 

 were subject to dry rot. He found that in all southern countries 

 wood did not last above one-third or one-fourth the length of time 

 that wooden posts lasted in this country in fact, two or three 

 years seemed to be the lifetime of a wooden post in South America 

 or Africa. Though these posts might be specially prepared, in- 

 jected with sulphate of copper, or creosoted, such processes did 

 not materially prolong their lives, and the necessity of providing 

 a stronger material for the purpose became evident to him. The 

 necessities of the case pointed to iron as the best material, and 

 then arose the question, what is the best form to put iron into in> 



