130 



POPULAR SCIEI^CE I^EWS. 



[September, 1888. 



group in white Windsor, with a tower six feet in 

 diameter ornamented with bas-reliefs from Thor- 

 waldsen and Giovanni. 



The Clyde being a centre of the ship-building 

 industry, a large exhibit of naval architecture and 

 engineering was to be expected; and the main 

 avenue of the building contains models which at 

 once arrest attention, not only for the sake of the 

 ships they represent, but for the beautiful finish 

 that has been given to every detail of their con- 

 struction. The principal lines to all parts of the 

 world are well represented, and even a cursory 

 glance excites interest in the different arrangements 

 needed for the different waters over which these 

 ships must sail, and the different purposes for which 

 they are constructed; and most interesting to 

 transatlantic visitors, who, within a few hours, have 

 seen the gigantic ships themselves in the docks of 

 Thomson, James, and George, are the "City of 

 New York," and " City of Paris," now building 

 for the Inman and International Line. A length 

 of 560 feet, with breadth of 63f; fifteen water- 

 tight compartments, separated by steel bulkheads 

 in such a way that two could be knocked into one 

 without rendering the vessel unseaworthy; twin- 

 screws and boilers separated into three groups by 

 two of the compartments, and special arrangements 

 in the triple expansion engines, — mark an impor- 

 tant advance in the direction of safe and comfort- 

 able travelling at sea, and justify the hope that the 

 passage will be reduced to five days. 



But neither ships, nor parts and fittings of ships, 

 must detain us longer : the large exhibit of wo- 

 men's industries is a special feature of this exhibi- 

 tion, and we must turn into the courts allotted to 

 it. Here we are at first bewildered with the array 

 of screens, lectern-cloths, curtains, mi.ssal-paint- 

 ings, fans, Christmas-cards, painted china, from 

 every part of the world, with dolls dressed in the 

 national costume of the exhibiters. We are in- 

 terested to hear that much of the embroideries, 

 both the white on delicate muslin, and the richly 

 colored on satin and velvet, has been done by 

 peasant-women in their own kitchens, the materials 

 having been provided by ladies interested in wo- 

 man's work. The lace displayed is all hand-made, 

 its colors, texture, design, and stitch all bespeak- 

 ing, to a practised eye, the nationality of the maker, 

 and often the very district in which she lives. 

 Here and there we may see her now before us, 

 dressed in her native costume, and plying her bob- 

 bins according to the fashion of her ancestors for 

 many centuries past. Two dark-haired, rosy-cheeked 

 lasses look at us with bright eyes, and encourage us 

 to conversation. They are making Iloniton lace, 

 very difficult to learn; but the art once acquired, 

 any pattern can be worked with ease; it is not 

 hard on the eyesight; their grandmother over eighty 

 can see to make it now. " Without glasses? Yes, 

 indeed. No one wears glasses in Devonshire: there 

 is no short sight there, every one has good sight." 



There is a great deal of work going on in these 

 courts. Gloves are being made, from the first cut- 

 ting of the kid to the embroidery on the back. 

 Welsh women are weaving their check-flannels on 

 looms of ancient construction ; and wool is carded, 

 spun, and woven into the plaids, petticoats, blank- 

 ets, and cloths typical of many of the Scotch isl- 

 ands; and a fair-haired girl from Shetland sits 

 placidly spinning, while two others knit those lacey 

 shawls which are at once so light and warm. 



We seek next for what is being done for and by 

 the rising generation, and find large exhibits of plain 

 needlework, darning, patching, etc., showing that 

 sewing is not yet one of the lost arts, and that it 

 shall not become so in this generation. Germany 

 provides models illustrative of methods of teach- 

 ing dressmaking and millinery and needlework 



generally. The mission schools do bravely, and 

 those in connection with the Society for Promoting 

 Female Education in the East present many varied 

 features. From the display made of pupils' work, 

 it would seem that Indian girls accomplish only em- 

 broideries ill finished, though gay in color, and 

 sometimes glittering with gold and silver threads ; 

 while the Kaffir girls devote themselves to the 

 making of underclothing and baby-clothes with the 

 greatest possible neatness and precision. It is said, 

 indeed, that little Kaffir girls always turn over the 

 dolls given them by missionaries, and examine the 

 underclothes; while their Indian sisters look out 

 only for dress and style. 



There is an exhibit of appliances for teaching 

 science and art to the blind, and, it would seem, 

 every branch of a liberal education. Astronomical 

 and geographical maps have been prepared, a 

 Euclid, various plans and diagrams, volumes of 

 Scotch, English, and ancient histories, music, 

 dictionaries, frames for writing, and erasers for 

 removing faulty or superfluous dots. That techni- 

 cal education is now receiving some measure_of at- 

 tention, is proved by models for teaching physics 

 and science, — the greater part coming from Ger- 

 many; by models of mechanism, examples in build- 

 ing construction and solid geometry, from the 

 Dundee High School, and by engineering instru- 

 ments, patterns and drawings, and models of ma- 

 chines and parts of machines made by pupils of 

 the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical Col- 

 lege. Most interesting to naturalists are two cases 

 lent by Professor Mcintosh of St. Andrew's Univer- 

 sity and Marine Laboratory, containing eggs and 

 young of the food-fishes. Here, in small sealed 

 bottles, are seventeen specimens of the whiting, 

 showing its development from egg to perfect fish; 

 thirteen of the gray gurnard; and fourteen of the 

 flounder, flat from its earliest infancy. Here, too, 

 are minute salmon with their egg-sacks still at- 

 tached; and larger specimens, the prey of internal 

 or external parasites ; and on a shelf above the 

 parasites, bottled in alcohol, are specimens of the 

 victims of the salmon itself. 



The exhibits illustrating the natural history and 

 industries of Ceylon are of great interest. The 

 former are mainly set out in the square enclosure in 

 the middle of the court, surrounded by a simple 

 Kandyan railing. In the centre is a rockwork 

 composed of blocks of the chief minerals of Cey- 

 lon, and covered with specimens of the flora. 

 Various wild animals found in the island stand on 

 the ledges; and the rockwork is surmounted with 

 a zinc model of a Dagoba, or shrine, in which the 

 devotees of Buddhism preserve their sacred relics. 

 The staple industry of Ceylon — the growth and 

 manufacture of tea — is represented in all its stages : 

 the rockwork shows specimens of the growing 

 bush; while an entire side of the building is taken 

 up with cases containing different kinds of the pre- 

 pared leaf, and drawings illustrative of the various 

 stages in the manufacture. Other natural and 

 industrial products are also fully represented, such 

 as the numerous preparations of the cocoa-nut, 

 plumbago, coffee, cinchona, cinnamon, etc. ; and 

 model representations give one a good idea of such 

 industries as pearl-fishing, arrack-distilling, and 

 capturing wild elephants in a kraal. Similar models 

 are a great feature of the Indian courts; and, did 

 time permit, a good knowledge of the life of the 

 natives might be obtained. On a stand is a model 

 of an opium-house with smokers in every stage of 

 intoxication ; on another is a school where Bengal 

 boys are receiving their primary instruction ; another 

 model shows a landlord's court, where the pay- 

 ments of rice must be made, with three beehive- 

 shaped granaries for the rice, and small, guarded 

 prison-huts for delinquents. Better than models, 



the Hindoos themselves are giving an illustration 

 of their modes of work, — fashioning pottery with 

 their hands or on simple wheels, and burning it in 

 small kilns ; making native sweetmeats, and many 

 other things, too, which we long to investigate. But 

 our time is gone : and we dare not look towards the 

 Machinery Department, or enter the Picture Gal- 

 lery ; for outside in the beautiful grounds, now gay 

 with masses of rhododendrons, is a building made 

 after the model of the old Bishop's Palace of Glas- 

 gow, and filled with historical relics, especially of 

 the Stuarts; and more than this, there is the Mu- 

 seum, in which are to be seen about eight hundred 

 of the jubilee presents of Queen Victoria. 



[Original in Popular Science KewaJ] 



KENT'S CAVERN : ITS WONDERFUL STORY 

 OF PREHISTORIC MAN. 



BY SAMUEL BKAZIER. 

 PART II. 



The first deposit in the cave, i.e., the uppermost 

 deposit, consisted of blocks of limestone varying 

 from a few pounds to a hundred tons in weight, 

 and often cemented together with stalagmatic mat- 

 ter. The next deposit below and between these 

 blocks of limestone was a black mould composed 

 chiefly of vegetable matter. This extended 

 throughout the cavern, and varied from three 

 inches to quite a foot in thickness. Beneath the 

 black mould was the stalagmite, averaging about 

 eighteen inches in thickness, but varying from an 

 inch to upwards of five feet. This stalagmite, the 

 general reader may like to be reminded, is formed 

 by the water of the cave depositing the limestone 

 with which it is impregnated. Water always con- 

 tains more or less carbonic acid, which dissolves 

 the limestone over which it passes. Dropping con- 

 stantly from the roof to the floor of the cave, it 

 there forms a thin film, which slowly hardens into 

 limestone, and in the course of ages has increased 

 to the thickness named. The water also leaves a 

 deposit at the roof of the cave, at the spot from 

 which it falls, forming slowly like an icicle. This 

 limestone formation that depends from the roof of 

 the cave is called stalactite: that which forms on 

 the floor is stalagmite. Below the stalagmite, in 

 one part of Kent's Cavern, was a black band com- 

 posed mainly of charcoal, and covering a space of 

 about a hundred square feet. 



Next below was what was called "cave-earth," 

 which was composed of about half light red loam, 

 and half angular pieces of limestone. 



In certain parts of the cavern the explorers came 

 to a lower stalagmite which was crystalline, and 

 under this a deposit called "breccia," which was 

 really a second cave-earth, and of course of much 

 greater antiquity than the one lying above and 

 separated by the second stalagmite. 



The reader will get a clearer impression of the 

 relative antiquity of these deposits, and be able to 

 better understand the method pursued in exploring 

 the cavern, and the significance of the facts 

 disclosed, if we recapitulate in the following 

 manner : — 



The order of the deposits, after the blocks of 

 limestone which had fallen during an unknown 

 period of time from the roof, was as follows: — 



1. The black mould, chiefly vegetable debris, cov- 

 ering the floor of the cave to a depth varying from 

 three inches to a foot or more. 



2. Stalagmite of a granular character, varying 

 in thickness from an inch to upwards of five feet, 

 and averaging about eighteen inches. 



3. The cave-earth (including the black band 

 already mentioned), four or five feet in thickness. 



4. A lower stalagmite, which was crystalline in 

 character, and in places twelve feet thick. 



