NoveMBER 5, 1896] 
NALOKRE 
19 
tricity to the working of heavy trains under the exigencies of such 
traffic as the Metropolitan and District Railways will involve 
some new problems and require much consideration; but for 
myself I think the time has come for the work to be faced, and I 
am persuaded that, large as the necessary capital required may 
be, it will be well spent. 
Before leaving the subject of the present developments of 
electricity, I may draw attention to the work recently inaugu- 
rated at Foyers or Loch Ness for the employment of water- 
power in the production of electricity for the manufacture of 
aluminium out of bauxite. For the production of aluminium 
successfully by this process with commercial success, a great deal 
of power must be available at a cheap rate, and water-power 
appears to be the only available source forsucha purpose. The 
rainfall in this country, especially on the west coast, provides a 
most important agent ifit can be stored cheaply ata high level, 
and both these desiderata are possible at Foyers, as also at other 
sites on the west coast. When we know that the rainfall at such 
places as Fort William, Ballacludish, Cumberland, and North 
Wales, varies from 6 feet to 7 feet per annum, and that the con- 
figuration of the country renders storage peculiarly easy, we can 
see thata great future may remain for the use of water-power, 
not only in the manufacture of aluminium, but also of acetylene 
and other products which may in the future attain to much im- 
portance. At Foyers the working head of water is 350 feet, and 
the power already developed is 3608 h.p., at an estimated 
cost per h.p., persannum, which is only 25 per cent. of the 
cost of steam-power where coal is cheap. Of course this is 
merely in a humble way what has been done by harnessing 
Niagara for commercial purposes; but this application of the 
forces of nature seems to me to have much promise for the 
future in this country. 
Another most interesting subject of contemplation is the 
work of the engineer as applied directly to domestic life. I 
suppose that the invention of the lucifer match—not an 
engineering but chemical achievement—slightly before the be- 
ginning of the reign, but brought to mature development within 
its early years, was perhaps the greatest domestic boon of the 
century. An old friend of mine (my fishing ghilly) has de- 
scribed to me how, about 1839, he bought, in a then remote 
part of Scotland, three lucifer matches for sixpence, and ex- 
hibited them to his friends and neighbours, who naturally 
looked upon them with amazement and some amount of dis- 
trust as not altogether canny. The instant availability of light 
and heat was a stride of the greatest importance, and it is im- 
possible to overrate it as a priceless boon for humanity. In 
the same way three most important home engineering feats, viz. 
the invention of the sewing-machine, the adaptation of machinery 
to the manufacture of watches and clocks, and the invention of 
the safety bicycle, touch and will continue to touch the home 
life of more individuals directly and intimately than many other 
engineering developments of the epoch. 
Approaching now the circumstances of the present year, I 
think a subject of special interest at the present moment to 
engineers is that new departure which has been authorised by 
Parliament, and which may have an important bearing on the 
subject of intercommunication to which I have alluded—I mean 
the Light Railways Act, and what may be called the Auto-Motor 
Emancipation Act of last session. 
I have little doubt that light railways will, in many districts, 
be of great utility, and I earnestly hope for, and fully expect, at 
the hands of the Commissioners appointed, a well-considered 
policy. Much will depend on the inauguration of the system on 
sound lines. I hold strongly that light railways should in all 
cases, other than where they will be independent approaches to 
a port or to a market, be of the same gauge as the standard 
gauge of thecountry. The traffic on these lines (with the above 
exceptions) must be dependent on the trunk or parent line, and 
in the nature of things will be small in each individual case. 
A very important subject for consideration also in connection 
with the Light Railways Act, and in itself, is the future of auto- 
motors as applied to the light traffic, whether of goods or 
passengers, to be accommodated by the proposed light railways ; 
and no engineer can read the accounts of the results attained by 
auto-motors, or have seen the machines in operation, without 
recognising their great promise for the future. 
The astonishing thing is that, seeing that about the date of 
the Queen’s aceession Hancock ran his steam omnibuses 
regularly between Paddington and the city, and that Gurney 
and Scott Russell also ran auto-motors commercially about the 
NO. I410, VOL. 55 | 
same time, and that the subject has engaged the attention of 
engineers from that time to the present, resulting in various 
most promising auto-motors, it should be reserved for 1895 and 
1896 to show so many practical vehicles. One would have 
thought that the force of invention, backed by public opinion, 
would have been sufficient before now to have compelled an 
alteration of the ridiculous regulations of the Acts of Parliament 
now happily repealed. 
Without for one moment decrying the status of the able 
engineers who exercised their craft prior to 1837, I think it may 
be said that the Queen’s reign has, practically speaking, wit- 
nessed the birth of engineering as a profession of a most im- 
portant character, and with a great future, fulfilling duties of 
extreme delicacy, and bearing perhaps more responsibility in 
respect of life and expenditure than is supported by any other 
calling. 
I have enlarged on the subject of the exploits and triumphs 
of the engineering profession, not in a spirit of boasting, as the 
representative for the time being of a profession to which I am 
proud to belong, but with the view of pointing out the dignity 
of our calling, and the burden laid upon us thereby, as 
members of this great Institution, of not letting that dignity 
suffer any loss or disparagement in the years to come. 
In connection with the subject of the education of engineers, it 
isa matter of much interest to us to know what is the instruction 
given to engineers of other countries, and the guarantees that 
it has been more or less assimilated by those who are members 
of kindred institutions. I will only say here that I have made 
it my business to gain, through our Secretary, much recent in- 
formation on these points, which were also investigated in 1870 
at the request of the President and Council by our Honorary 
Member, then our Honorary Secretary, Dr. Pole. To enter 
into these particulars in such an address as this is impossible, 
and I must content myself by saying that in France, Germany, 
Austria, Russia, Belgium and Holland, the greatest attention is 
paid by the State to a strict scientific training, and that the 
utmost care is taken to see that all candidates for employment 
as engineers are, so far as education is concerned, thoroughly 
equipped for the work which may lie before them. 
I see no proper way to ensure the same results being attained 
in this country except through the instrumentality of this body, 
which is the representative of the profession here ; and I venture 
to think that if this Institution is to retain its present honourable 
position as the acknowledged head of the engineering profession 
of Great Britain, and of Greater Britain, we should see that 
any credentials or degrees conferred by us are based on un- 
deubted qualifications. 
BOTANY AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 
FTER the delivery of the presidential address by Dr. 
D. H. Scott, F.R.S., an interim report was presented on 
the method of preserving and displaying botanical museum 
specimens. 
An important new feature at this year’s meeting was an 
address by the Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, on the 
geographical distribution of plants. The lecture was primarily 
intended for those possessing a general interest in botanical 
science, rather than for specialists. It is hoped that the success 
of the experiment will lead to a continuance of such addresses 
at future meetings of the Botanical Section. Another interesting 
feature was the prominence given to two important subjects 
which have been matter of discussion and research for some 
years—the ascent of water in trees, and the problems of cell- 
division. 
Mr. Francis Darwin, F.R.S., in opening the discussion on 
the former subject, contributed a paper in which the present 
state of our knowledge of the ascent of water was lucidly set 
forth, and treated from a critical standpoint. Prof. Marshall 
Ward discussed several of the questions raised, from a botanical 
aspect, with special reference to capillarity and imbibition, 
and particularly the structure of wood. In addition to various 
botanists, Prof. Fitzgerald and Dr. Joly, of Dublin, took part 
in the discussion, and dealt with the question mainly from 
the physical side. It is probable that a fuller account of the 
discussion will be given in a forthcoming number of the dzna/s 
of Botany. Mr. Darwin dealt with the subject under two main 
heads—the fath of the ascending current in trees, and the force 
which produces the ascent of the water. Attention was called 
