Proceedings of tse Polytechnic Association. 739 



miniites. "When a piece of ice is exj)osed to the sun on a dry winter's 

 day, it will shine in the dark ; the ice must be dry. The luminosity 

 of ice water is entirely due to electric action. The insects which 

 show this light have their luminosity deep in the body ; this light is 

 also electric. 



Officers of the Association. 



Dr. Warren Eowell announced that on Monday evening last the 

 committee of the Institute having the organization of this society in 

 charge held a meeting, and appointed Prof. S. D. Tillman chairman, 

 and Mr. C. E. Emery secretary, of the Polytechnic Association, for 

 the coming year. 



Sketch of the ExGiisrEERs Brunel. 



Dr. J. Y. C. Smith read a paper on " the Life of a Mechanic," con- 

 taining an interesting biographical sketch of the elder and the younger 

 Brunei, giving personal reminiscences of an acquaintance wdth the 

 latter, formed at the great London Exposition. 



Machine for MxiKiNo- Horse Shoes. 



Mr. 0, A. Howe exhibited a small working model of his machine 

 for making horse shoes, which he operated, and distributed many 

 small shoes, made of lead, among the audience. Mr. Howe's horse 

 shoe machine, intended for making a horse shoe grooved centrally on 

 the under side, so as to act much more eifectually in preventing the 

 slipping of horses upon pavements than the ordinary calked horse 

 shoe, but which has not been manufactured before the advent of this 

 machine because of the difficulty of displacing metal in the center of 

 the under surface of the shoe in order to form the groove. This 

 machine effectually performs this function, giving the proper grooved 

 shape to the shoe without any waste of material, and is furthermore 

 capable of making the ordinary shoe, either plain or calked, at the 

 rate of twenty shoes per minute, and by a slight change and adjust- 

 ment of parts may be made to shape shoes of any desired size. The 

 inventor also claims that, by making the shoe grooved and complete 

 for use, no expense is involved in fitting up by a blacksmith, as has 

 always hitherto been required, anXi the cost of keeping a horse shod 

 in good order is reduced in the neighborhood of one-half as compared 

 with ordinary shoes. 



