Sept. 1, ISSH 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



221 



effects of a " twice " (or twenty times) " told tale," the rest 

 of the audience might have gathered comfort from the 

 thought that science nmst have something better in store 

 than this dried food. As a matter of fact many of the 

 audience seemed to have no such consoling hope, and during 

 the last half of the address, the cries of the coachmen were 

 heard by a much larger section of the audience than the 

 voice of the president. It is not dilBcult to understand 

 why, during the rest of the Association week, soirees and 

 excursions attract more than sectional meetings and evening 

 discourses. We venture to express our strong conviction 

 that for months if not years to come, the interest taken by 

 Southampton in science will be considerably less than it 

 has been during the past few years. 



The President's Address. 



It will be understood that thus viewing the mere re- 

 capitulation of well-known facts, we do not propose to 

 trouble our readers with a full report of an address, nine- 

 tenths of whicli related to matters long since sufficiently 

 dealt with in these columns. We give in full only those 

 portions of the address which we think likely to prove 

 of interest. The words of one who has done much to 

 advance science must always be worth hearing when he is 

 dealing with his own subject, or expressing his own views ; 

 and even in an address intended to be a recapitulation, a 

 man of original thought cannot at times avoid his own 

 subjects or the expression of original ideas. 



After touching on the deaths of Charles Darwin in the 

 fulness of years, and of Professor Balfour, when his work 

 was but fairly entered upon (reference to the more recent 

 loss of Professor Stanley Jevons might not ungracefully 

 have been added), Dr. Siemens referred to the past and 

 future of the British Association — to the past as encourag- 

 ing, to the future as full of promise. He then spoke of the 

 harmony which should exist between theory and practice 

 in science. " The advancement of the last fifty years," he 

 said, " lias, I venture to submit, rendered theory and prac- 

 tice so interdependent that an intimate union between them 

 is a matter of alisolute necessity for our future progress. 

 Take, for instance, the art of dyeing, and we find that the 

 discovery of new colouring matters derived from waste 

 products, such as coal tar, completely changes its practice, 

 and renders an intimate knowledge of the science of 

 chemistry a matter of absolute necessity to the practitioner. 

 Tn telegraphy and in the new arts of applying electricity 

 to ligliting, to the transmission of power, and to metal- 

 lurgical operations, problems arise at every turn, re- 

 quiring for their solution not only an intimate acquain- 

 tance with, but a positive advance upon, electrical science, 

 as established by purely theoretical research in the 

 laboratory. In general engineering the mere practical art 

 of constructing a machine so designed and proportioned as 

 to produce mechanically the desired effect would sufiice no 

 longer. Our increased knowledge of the nature of the 

 mutual relations between the different forms of energy 

 makes us see clearly what are the theoretical limits of 

 effect ; these, although beyond our absolute reach, may be 

 looked upon as the asymptotes to bo approached indefi- 

 nitely by the hyperbolic course of i)ractical progress, of 

 which we should never lose sight. Cases arise, moreover, 

 where the introduction of new materials of construction, 

 or the call for new effects, renders former rules wholly 

 insufficient. In all these cases practical knowledge has to 

 go hand in liand with advanced science in order to accom- 

 plish the desired end. Far be it from me to think liglitly 

 of the ardent students of nature, who, in their devotion to 

 research, do not allow their minds to travel into tho 

 regions of utilitarianism and of self-interest. These, the 



high priests of science, command our utmost admiration ; 

 but it is not to them that we can look for our current pro- 

 gress in practical science, much less can we look for it to 

 the 'rule of thumb' jiractitioner, who is guided by what 

 comes nearer to instinct than to reason. It is to the man 

 of science who also gives attention to practical questions, 

 and to the practitioner who devotes part of his time to the 

 prosecution of strictly scientific investigations, that we 

 owe the rapid progress of the present day, both merging 

 more and more into one class, that of pioneers into the 

 domain of nature." 



He soon after adverted to the diversity of usage in 

 this country and the Continent as respects weights and 

 measures : — " As regards the measures of length and 

 weight, it is to be regretted that this country still stands 

 aloof from the movement initiated in France towards the 

 close of last century ; but, considering that in scientific 

 work metrical measure is now almost universally adopted, 

 and that its use has been already legalised in this country, 

 I venture to hope that its universal adoption for com- 

 mercial purposes will soon follow as a matter of course. 

 The practical advantages of such a measure to the trade of 

 this country would, I am convinced, be very great, for 

 English goods, such as machinery or metal rolled to current 

 sections, are now almost excluded from the Continental 

 market, owing to the unit measure employed in their pro- 

 duction. The principal impediment to the adoption of the 

 metre consists in the strange anomaly that, although it is 

 legal to use that measure in commerce, and although a 

 copy of the standard metre is kept in the Standards 

 Department of the Board of Trade, it is impossible to pro- 

 cure legalised rods representing it, and to use a non- 

 legalised copy of a standard in commerce is deemed fraudu- 

 lent." 



Dr. Siemens spoke next at considerable length on the 

 subject of electrical measurement — suggesting the use of 

 two further units — a unit of magnetic quantity to be called 

 a " Weber " (Clausius's suggestion), and a unit of magnetic 

 power to be called a " Watt." His remarks on electrical 

 energy, on telegraphy, the telephone, and the electric rail- 

 way, contained nothing which would be new to our readers, 

 or which will not presently be dealt with in a more readily 

 understood manner in these columns. In addition to 

 what has already appeared in Knowledge respecting Dr. 

 Siemens' experiments on the infiuence of the electric light 

 upon vegetation, the following may be added as of interest, 

 " In experimenting upon wheat, barley, oats, and otlier 

 cereals sown in the open air, there was a marked difference 

 between the growth of the plants influenced and those un- 

 influenced by the electric light. This was not very appa- 

 rent till towards the end of February, when, with the 

 first appearance of mild weather, the plants under tho 

 influence of an electric lamp of 1,000 candle power placed 

 about five metres above the surface, developed with extreme 

 rapidity, so that by the end of May they stood above i ft 

 high, with the ears in full bloom, when those not under its 

 influence were under 2 ft. in height, and showed no sign 

 of the ear." 



Dr. Siemens next referred to electric railways, remarking 

 that while they possess great advantages over horse or 

 steam power for towns ; in tunnels, and in all cases where 

 natural sources of energy, such as waterfalls, are available, 

 it would not be reasonable to suppose that they will (in 

 their present condition) compete with steam propulsion 

 upon orduiary railways. What followed on the definition 

 of metals from their solutions, on electric lighting, and 

 on secondary batteries, woulil not lie new to readers of 

 Knowledge. Speaking of by-products in gasworks — a 

 subject on which Mr. Mattieu Williams has already written 



