734 



SOUND-SIGNALS. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



a fog-signal as well when the upper and lower 

 currents of air run in different directions ; that 

 is, when his upper sails fill and his lower sails 

 flap, or when his lower sails fill and his upper 

 sails flap. He should not expect to hear the 

 fog-signal so well when between him and it is 

 a swiftly-flowing stream, especially when the 

 tide and wind run in opposite directions. He 

 should not expect to hear it well during a time 

 of electric disturbance. He should not expect 

 to hear a fog-signal well when the sound must 

 reach him over land, as over a point or an 

 island. And when there is a bluff behind the 

 fog-signal he should be prepared for a regular 

 interval in audition, such as might be produced 

 could the sound ricochet from the trumpet as 

 a ball may go from a cannon ; that is, he might 

 hear it two, four, six, eight, and ten miles from 

 the signal, and lose it at one, three, five, seven, 

 nine, and eleven miles, or at any other com- 

 bination of distances, regular or irregular. 



These deductions, some made by the first 

 physicists of the age, and some drawn from the 

 original investigations here noted, are submitted 

 for consideration, rather than given as direc- 

 tions. They are assumed as good working 

 hypotheses for use in further investigations. 

 While it is claimed that they are correct as to 

 the localities in which they were made, it seems 

 proper to say that they have not been disproved 

 by the practical mariners who have given them 

 some personal consideration, and who have tried 

 to carry them into general application. If Prof. 

 Tyndall's finely phrased assertion that " we 

 know both the reason and the range of their 

 variations " may be taken as a prediction, the 

 time may then come when the variations of au- 

 dition may be corrected as we now correct the 

 variations of the mariner's compass. Until 

 then, it will be well for the mariner, when he 

 does not get the expected sound of the fog- 

 signal, or when he does not get it as his sailing 

 directions teach him to expect it, to assume 

 that he may not hear the warning that has been 

 faithfully given, and then to heave his lead and 

 resort to the other means used by the careful 

 navigator to verify his position. 



Bibliography. The following authorities were 

 consulted in the* preparation of this paper : 



" Documents relating to Lighthouses," vol. i ; 

 " Annual Keports of the Lighthouse Board " ; Par- 

 liamentary Papers, 1864 ; Stevenson's " Lighthouse 

 Illumination"; Tyndallon "Sound"; "Transac- 

 tions of the Epyal Scottish Society of Arts," vol. vi 

 " Coast Fog-Signals," a lecture at the Royal United 

 Service Institution, by Alexander Beazeley ; " Signal- 

 ing by means of Sound," a lecture by E. Price Ed- 

 wards ; " Philosophical Society's Transactions," vol. 

 xxyi ; " Annales de Chimie et de Physique," tome 

 xiii, and 1816, vol. i; " Wirkungen aus der Feme " ; 

 "Encyclopaedia Metropolitana " ; Smithsonian Ke- 

 ports and Miscellaneous Collections; Henry on 

 ''Sound"; "Proceedings of the British Associa- 

 tion," 1857; "Washington Philosophical Society's 

 Transactions," vol. v; Dublin "Philosophical Mag- 

 azine," vol. 1 ; " American Journal of Sciences," third 

 series, vol. xi ; " Reports of the British Association," 

 xxiv, second part " Phares Electriques et les Signaux 

 Sonores," par MM. Sautter et Lemonnier ; " Meinoire 



sur la Portee des Sons et sur les Caracteres a attri- 

 buer aux Signaux Sonores," by Emile Allard. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. State Government. The fol- 

 lowing were the State officers during the year : 

 For Governor, Hugh S. Thompson, Democrat ; 

 Lieutenant- Governor, John 0. Sheppard ; Sec- 

 retary of State, James N. Lipscomb; Treas- 

 urer, J. P. Richardson; Comptroller-General, 

 W. E. Stoney ; Attorney-General, 0. R. Miles; 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, Asbury 

 Coward ; Commissioner of Lands, A. P. But- 

 ler. Judiciary, Supreme Court : Chief-Justice, 

 W. D. Simpson ; Associate Justices, Henry 

 Mclver and Samuel McGowan. Railroad Com- 

 missioners, M. L. Bonham, L. J. Walker, and 

 D. P. Duncan. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature convened 

 on November 27th and adjourned December 

 23d. Among the acts that became laws are 

 the following : 



To limit the ages of pupils attending the free public 

 schools. 



To prohibit the sale of unsound meat. 



To amend the law in regard to the registration of 

 electors. 



Providing the manner in which joint debtors may 

 separately compound their indebtedness. 



In relation to bonds heretofore executed, or which 

 may hereafter be executed, to secure the payment of 

 the phosphate royalty to toe State. 



To prevent the netting and trapping of partridges 

 except by persons upon their own lands. 



To require foreign co-operation assessment com- 

 panies to complv with the insurance laws of the State, 

 and to clearly define who shall be considered agents 

 of insurance companies. 



To declare the persons occupying offices in railroad 

 stations agents of the corporations. 



To declare void contracts for the sale of articles for 

 future delivery made under certain circumstances. 



To declare the law in reference to the liability of 

 stockholders in corporations. 



To secure the rights of persons having an interest 

 in lands forfeited for taxes. 



The supply bill levies a State tax of 5 mills, exclu- 

 sive of the school-tax, for the support of the govern- 

 ment for the fiscal year beginning Nov. 1, 1883. A 

 tax for county purposes, of varying rate, is levied in 

 each county. The Governor and Treasurer are author- 

 ized to borrow as much money as needed to meet the 

 interest on the bonds, provided the amount shall not 

 exceed $200,000. 



An important act was that amending the railroad 

 law. All those sections of the late law giving the com- 

 mission power to fix rates are repealed. The railroads 

 are to submit their rates to the commission for ap- 

 proval or modification before putting them into effect. 

 If the commission approve, they go into effect almost 

 immediately. If the commission disapprove and mod- 

 ify after hearing argument from the roads, and the 

 roads will not accept the commission's modification, 

 they have the right to appeal to the Circuit Judge of 

 Richland county, or in his absence to some other Cir- 

 cuit Judge selected by the Chief Justice. The evi- 

 dence taken before the commission is submitted to 

 him, and he must decide the case within ten days, his 

 decision to be final. The rates to be submitted to the 

 commission by the roads include through and .joint 

 rates. The sections against discrimination remain in 

 the law. 



An act was passed for the organization of boards 

 of health, and for the protection of the public health. 



A constitutional amendment, to be submitted to the 

 people in November, 1884, was adopted, which pro- 

 poses to limit the amount of indebtedness that may 





