Jan. 30, 1890J 



NATURE 



301 



THE ELECTRIC LIGHT AT THE BRITISH 



MUSEUM. 



THE authorities of the British Museum are to be 

 congratulated on the thorough and admirable 

 manner in which the scheme for the electric lighting of 

 the galleries has been carried out. Everyone present at 

 the private view on Tuesday evening was pleased with 

 the results v/hich had been achieved. Both arc and glow 

 lamps are employed ; the former in the galleries on the 

 ground floor containing Greek and Roman sculpture, 

 the Elgin marbles, and Assyrian and other antiquities, 

 and in some galleries on the upper floor. The suite of 

 bronze and vase rooms on the west, and the ethnographical 

 gallery on the east, of the upper floor are lighted by glow 

 lamps. The light from glow lamps is more agreeable to 

 the eyes than the more powerful light of arc illuminants ; 

 but tliese have been regulated with the utmost care, and 

 on Tuesday evening there was a very general feeling that 

 the beauties of the sculpture were brought out by them more 

 effectually than by such daylight as is at times rendered 

 possible by our northern climate. With regard to the 

 arc lights on the upper floor, it was noticed that they were 

 admirably adapted for the exhibition of the Japanese 

 drawings, even the minutest details of these delicately 

 finished works being rendered plainly visible without 

 any diminution of the beauty of the colours. 



We quote from the Times of January 29 the following 

 description : — 



"In the galleries on the ground floor there are 69 arc 

 lamps of various -powers, while on the upper floor there 

 are 57 arc and 627 glow lamps. In addition to these there 

 are five large arc lamps in ihe reading-room, six in the 

 court-yard, and upwards of 200 glow lamps in the offices 

 and passages. The total current required to work the 

 whole of the lamps is nearly 1200 amperes, with an E.M.F, 

 of 115 volts at the lamp terminals; and this output is 

 produced by the expenditure of nearly 200 brake-horse- 

 power. The current is generated by four Siemens dynamo 

 machines, each capable of givmg an output of 450 

 amperes and 130 volts, which are connected to a general 

 switchboard in the engine-room by means of which they 

 can be put to work in parallel to any or all of the circuits. 

 The switchboard is fitted with instruments indicating the 

 current given off by each dynamo and four circuits are 

 led from it round the Museum — two for the upper and two 

 for the lower floor. The main wires are laid outside the 

 building. In order to insure safety, and to guard, as far as 

 possible, against failure of light, the motive power is in 

 duplicate. The four dynamos are driven in pairs, each pair 

 by a separate engine with a separate countershaft. Each 

 engine has a separate steampipe in diiect communication 

 with the boilers, and there is an ample reserve of boiler 

 power The powerof theenginesanddynamosissoadjusted 

 that each of the two sets is capable of working the whole 

 of the lamps in those galleries proposed to be lighted on 

 any one evening ; the other set standing by ready to work. 

 Further, in order to work if required, at half-power, or in 

 order to provide half-light for the whole of the galleries — 

 which light should suffice for an emergency such as sudden 

 fog or accident — the lamps are connected in pairs alter- 

 nately, so that half of the number being cut off, the light 

 of the other half still remains evenly distributed. The 

 engines have been supplied and erected by Messrs. 

 Marshall, Sons, and Co. (Limited), of Gainsborough, and 

 the electrical work has been executed by Messrs. Siemens 

 Brothers and Co. (Limited)." 



The eastern and western portions of the Museum will 

 be open to the public on alternate week-day evenings, and 

 all the world agrees with the Times that " the educational 

 value of the unique collections of art and scientific 

 treasures the Museum contains will be greatly enhanced 

 by the change." 



NOTES. 



The Medals and Funds to be given at the anniversary meeting 

 of the Geological Society on February 21 have been awarded 

 by the Council as follows : the Wollaston Medal to Prof. 

 William Crawford Williamson, F- R- S. ; the Murchison Medal to 

 Prof. Edward Hull, F.R.S. ; and the Lyell Medal to Prof, 

 Thomas Rupert Jones, F.R.S. ; the balance of the Wollaston 

 Fund to Mr. W, E. A. Ussher, of the Geological Survey of 

 England ; that of the Murchison Fund to Mr. Edward Wethered ; 

 ihat of the Lyell Fund to Mr. C. Davies Sherborn ; and a portion 

 of the Barlow- Jameson Fund to Mr. William Jerome Harrison. 



The Council of the Royal Meteorological Society have 

 arranged to hold at 25 Great George Street, Westminster, on 

 March 18 to 21 next, an Exhibition of Instruments and Photo- 

 graphs illustrating the application of photography to meteorology. 

 The Exhibition Committee invite co-operation, as they are 

 anxious to obtain as large a collection as possible. They will 

 also be glad to show any new meteorological instruments or 

 apparatus invented, or first constructed, since last March ; as 

 well as photographs and drawings possessing meteorological 

 interest. Anyone willing to co-operate in the proposed 

 Exhibition should furnish the assistant secretary (not later than 

 February 12) with a list of the articles he will be able to con- 

 tribute and an estimate of the space they will require. 



The second course of the Clifford Lectures at Glasgow will 

 begin on February 5. As announced in the first course, these 

 lectures will treat of what Prof. Max Miiller calls "Physical 

 Religion," or the belief in natural, sub-natural, and super-natural 

 powers, discovered in some of the great phenomena of Nature. 



Some most interesting notes on the last days of Father Perry 

 are contributed to the Tablet of January 25 by Father Strick- 

 land, S.J. The facts stated by the writer bring out in a very 

 striking light the earnest and resolute spirit in which, to the end 

 of his life, Father Perry devoted himself to science. During 

 the voyage he suffered badly from sea-sickness, and on his 

 arrival at the Isles de Salut he was "much done up." Never- 

 theless, he allowed himself no rest, but landed at once to view 

 the site and introduce himself to the authorities. Captain Atkin • 

 son urged him to live on board the Cotnus and land each morning 

 for his work ; and Father Strickland is of opinion that if he had 

 done this " his life would not have been sacrificed to his over- 

 anxious desire to do everything for the best for the success of 

 the work confided to him." He preferred, however, to take up 

 his quarters in the hospital, and said nothing about the fact that 

 he was in bad health, making " light of all his personal wants 

 for fear of giving trouble to others. " The observatory erected 

 for the occasion was half a mile from the hospital, and "the 

 intervening ground was very rough, being a steep descent and 

 ascent, and the distance was gone over on foot four times each 

 day in fair weather or foul." " On the Friday before the eclipse 

 Father Perry complained of being 'very bad inside,' but he 

 worked on until nearly 3 a.m., and when the men retired to the 

 Coinus he tried to snatch a little rest where he was, and lay 

 down in a hammock in the tent. He was up again before 6 

 o'clock to take the position of the sun at rising. At 6.45 the 

 men arrived from the ship, and at 7.30 there was a complete, 

 most careful, and most successful rehearsal of all the operations 

 and duties which were to be performed next morning in the 

 solemn moments of the eclipse, for which they had been pre- 

 paring so long and had travelled so far. Everyone was surprised 

 at Father Perry's exactitude in contributing to carry out his own 

 orders and his courage in facing fatigue. His readiness to sacri- 

 fice himself and his own convenience in order to save trouble 

 to others endeared him to all who worked with him, and chal- 

 lenged their utmost efforts to secure success for their work in 



