224 



. KNOWLEDGE 



[Sei'T. 1, 1883. 



The lon{»est span of wire in the world is used for a 

 'ilctrraph in Indiii, over the river Kistnnh, between 

 IVrorah and Sectannsjruni. It is more than 6,000 feet 

 '•iiisj. ftjid is stn'tclud between two hills each 1.200 feet 

 liik'h. 



We are informed that the IVitish Electric Light Com- 

 ]>a«y have recognised the fact t^f their infringement of the 

 F.dison patents for electric lighting by paying a substantial 

 <um as royaltj' to the Edison Electric Light Company 

 > Limiteil). 



AVb are given to understand that " the School of 

 Telegraphy and Electrical Engineering," which lias been 

 Arrying on its work at 4, George-street, Hanover-si]unre, 

 nnder the less elegant title of "the School of Submarine 

 •-•id Military Telegraphy, Telephony, Electric Light, and 

 Twhnical ln.struction Company," has removed to li', 

 Princes-street, Hanover-square, and that the school re- 

 fl't-ns after the summer vacation, on Sept 1. 



Asbestos Paint. — A public demonstration of the United 

 A.sbestos Company's fire-proof paint, as a preventive of 

 lire, took place recently on a piece of vacant ground 

 in Whitehall - place, adjoining the Thames Embank- 

 ment The demonstration had been arranged with special 

 reference to the inquiries now being made respecting the 

 tire-proof qualities of this paint For the purpose of 

 testing these, two wooden buildings, constructed in the 

 form of theatres, one of them coated with ordinary paint 

 and the other with aslx-.stos paint, were filled with shavings 

 ;\iid fired at the same momeut, and, in the course of a few 

 minutes, the first named was a mass of blazing ruins, while 

 the only sign of injury shown by the asbestos paint was 

 that it had been blistered with the heat A second ex- 

 pirimrnt was then made for the purpose of showing the 

 '■llicacy of a draught-proof curtain, in the event of a fire 

 breaking out upon the stage, in preventing the spread of 

 llames. The experiments were generally regardetl as satis- 

 factory in favour of the asbestos paint 



THE BRITISH ASSOCTATIOX. 



Bv THE Editor. 



THE tone in which the meetings of the British A.ssocia- 

 tion are almost always spoken of by the press, 

 weekly as well as daily, is one of such unmixed gratulation 

 that we hesitate to express what, nevertheless, is our care- 

 fully formed opinion to a contrary eflfect We see and 

 hear it stated on all sides that these annual visits of the 

 Association to important centres of the population stir up 

 throughout the country an enthusiasm for science which 

 otherwite would not have existed ; and the Association 

 itsnif gravely claims as its own work that growth of scien- 

 tific z'al which certainly has continued during a largo 

 portion of the existence of the British Association. In his 

 opening addrcwi this year. Dr. Siemens even implied that 

 "thosn special societies which have sprung into existence 

 sin'-e the foundation of the British Association " (the 

 Phyiiical, Om-.^p-aphical, Meteorological, Linnaan, .tc, Ac.,) 

 owe their exi.st/>nce in rcaKty to its influence. Nay, the 

 very development of scientific journalism which began 

 before the founding of the A"isof:iation, and has done its 

 work in creating and fostz-ring it, is spoken of by Dr. 

 Siemeni a? part of the work of a body whose meetings 

 oocapy ).at a small portion of each year, and whose work 

 x'^m? to th-)**; who contemplate it from the outside, with 



some apprehension of the real wants of unscientific people, 

 to be quite incapable of producing the eflects thus in all 

 good faith attributed to it 



When we come to analyse the actual proccodinga of the 

 British Association, at any of its meetings, we cannot but 

 recognise the fact that these holiday gatherings of science 

 can scarcely developo in any useful way (except by the 

 sort of scientific tax levied on the towns visited) the 

 advancement of science. Putting on one side the work of 

 the various sections in as far as it is done by men of 

 science for men of science — which amounts, indeed, chiefiy 

 to the kind of work known as " mutual admiration" — what 

 particular eflect is likely to bo produced on the general 

 public by what comes before them at these gatherings'? 



At most of them, you will be told, the presidential address 

 is altogether the most interesting part of tho affair : at 

 others, addresses on subjects of special interest may invite 

 and attract attention ; but nearly always there is a great 

 falling-offin attention and attendance after the presidential 

 address. Now the address of tho Presid(;nt is nearly always 

 a recapitulation of successes achieved up to the time of the 

 meeting, and chiefiy during the preceding year. It may be 

 an able literary work, covering skilfully tho whole ground 

 of science, like Sir John Lubbock's address last year at 

 York ; it may be a brilliant lecture, such as Professors 

 Tyndall or Iluxley have delivered, with so much that is 

 striking— in both senses of tho word— that the hearers 

 really are interested (but not more than they would be in 

 a special lecture given by skilful speakers, as are Tyndall 

 .ind Iluxley) ;''or it may be a recapitulation ^vauting both 

 in oratorical and literary skill, yet still a fair general 

 account of what has been done in the past year ; or, lastly, 

 it may be a recapitulation by a specialist of such w-ork 

 only as has been done in his special department But, in 

 any and every case, in what way can a recapitulation of 

 scientific progress possiVjly interest cither the scientific or 

 the unscientific ? The scientific know all about it ; .the 

 unscientific cannot possibly care at all about it, present<-d 

 in a crude and condensed form (as it must be in a recapitu- 

 lation). Such interest as a Lubbock may excite by literary 

 ability in an address, or a Tyndall or a lluxlcy by lecturing 

 skill, is in reality outside the task specially to be performed 

 in these addresses. 



Thus, during Dr. Siemens' address — to take a concrete 

 example, a fair average sample of these things — the 

 audience could be readily classified by an observer of any 

 keenness, into two portions — those who were wearied 

 because they knew already all that the speaker told them, 

 and those who were wearied because they could make 

 nothing of such statements as were fiung at their heads, 

 as, for instance, that " a Watt expresses the rate of an 

 Amp;-re midtiplied by a Volt while a horsepower is 7tG 

 Watts, and a Choval de Vnpeur 735." To u.so the 

 charmingly simple mode of illustration which Dr. Siemens 

 beamingly bestowed on his audience, as something sweet 

 and poetical which they would like to remember, un- 

 scientific minds must not lie crossed at a .sharp angle by 

 scientific statements, but " looked upon as the asymptotes 

 to be approached indefinitely by the hyperbolic course " of 

 scientific exposition. 



I am not sure but that the most encouraging feature of 

 the presidential address was the efiect produced in the 

 " place of skulls" on the platform. If the scientific part of 

 the audience had been interested, the uns<;ientific might have 

 despaired indeed; "if this is what interests men of science," 

 they might have thought, " how rrtn men of science have 

 anything to say which would interest us." But when one 

 bald pate after another was Vjowed in sleep, and of the 

 others on the platform scarce a tenth tried to hide the 



