
| Sept. 14, 1871] 

NATURE 
Soh 

approximately the mean rate for the whole 1,100 feet. The soil, 
from 325 to 910 feet of depth, consists mainly of chalk and marl, 
and shows a mean rate of 1° in 56 feet. From 910 to 1,100 
feet, it consists of sandy marl, sand, and clay, and shows a mean 
increase of 1° in 54 feet. The former of these is in remarkably 
close agreement with very trustworthy determinations made by 
Walferden from observations in the chalk of the Paris basin. 
These are as follows:—Puits de Grenelle, Paris, depth, 400 
metres ; rate, 1° F. in 56°9 feet. Well at Military School, Paris, 
depth, 173 metres; rate, 1° F. in 56:2 feet. Well at St. André, 
50 miles west of Paris, depth, 263 metres ; rate, 1° F. in 56°4 
feet. General Helmersen, of the Mining College, St. Petersburg, 
informs the secretary that, in sinking a well to the depth of 540 
feet at Yakoutsk in Siberia, the soil was found to be frozen, pro- 
bably to the depth of 700 feet. The rate of increase from 100 
to 540 feet was 1° F, in 52 feet. A new pattern of thermometer 
has recently been constructed for the committee, which promises 
to be of great service. It isa maximum thermometer on Negretti’s 
principle, adapted to be used in a vertical position with the bulb 
at the top. The contraction in the neck prevents mercury from 
passing into the stem when the instrument receives moderate 
concussions. Before taking a reading, the instrument must be 
gently inclined so as to allow all the mercury in the stem to 
run together into one column near the neck. On restoring the 
thermometer to the erect position, the united column will flow to 
the other end of the tube (that is, the end furthest from the bulb), 
and it is from this end that the gradations begin. It is set for a 
fresh observation by holding it in the inverted position, and tap- 
ping it on the palm of the hand. This instrument, like that here- 
tofore used by the committee, is protected against pressure by an 
outer case of glass, hermetically sealed. 
SECTION G. 
AT the opening of this Section on Monday, after disposing of 
Mr. Symons’ Report of the Rainfall Committee, a paper Ox a 
New Form of Steam Blast, was communicated by Mr. W. Sie- 
mens, F.R.S. The new blast is employed for the movement of 
air in the pneumatic tubes connected with the central telegraph 
station in London. It is said to cost only 4o/., and will do the 
same work as an engine which costs 2,000/, 
Mr. Stevenson then read a paper describing what he termed a 
Thermometer of Translation. It consists of an expansible body, 
with needle point at its upper end, and when expanded by the 
sun is fixed at its upper end, by a needle point catching into fine 
teeth cut in a sheet of glass or other material of small expansi- 
bility pressed below. The end being fixed, the contraction 
raises the centre of gravity at the bar. In this way the daily 
march or creep of the bar chronicles the changes of temperature. 
Mr. Michael Scott, in a paper On Jmproved Ships of War, 
proposed to construct a ship of war, which should combine 
cruising and fighting qualities, by adopting the turret system for 
the guns, and having the ship so designed that the free board 
could be reduced by sinking her deep in the water through the 
filling of certain cisterns. The masts were to be of telescopic 
construction. 
Captain Jenkin, C.B., said this was a subject of grave impor- 
tance to the country. He thought, however, it would be neces- 
sary before giving an opinion on this paper, that they should be 
able to understand what, in the proposed ship, was intended to 
be below the water. All he (the speaker) could see was what 
was to be above the water, and consequently he could not give 
an opinion in a professional point of view on the plans produced. 
While Mr. Scott was entitled to their thanks for what he 
had produced, he thought it would be necessary for him to 
bring forward models of the ships he proposed to construct. 
A paper Ox an Apparatus for Working Torpedoes was read by 
Mr. Philip Braham. The author proposed to propel or ‘‘ shoot ” 
torpedoes against the enemy’s ship by means of compressed air, 
and under the surface of the water. 
On Tuesday, the reports on the treatment and utilisation of 
sewage read in the Chemical Section on Monday having been 
submitted, a paper on Zhe Carbon Closet System was read by 
Mr. E. C. C. Stanford, F.C.S. In the most populous places 
the carbon system, he held, was the most practicable, the most 
healthful, and the most profitable means that could be used in 
getting rid of the sewage ; and he thought that the system of the 
future must be some modification of the dry system such as that 
which he had brought before the section, An interesting dis- 
cussion followed the reading of this paper. 

The committee appointed to consider the various plans pro- 
posed for legislating on the subject of Steam-boiler Explosions, 
with a view to their prevention, presented an interim report, in 
which they stated that the Parliamentary report having been so 
recently published, there had not been time for its due considera- 
tion, or for the committee to meet and confer thereon, and they 
had postponed entering into the subject on the present occasion. 
Mr. Lavington E. Fletcher, C.E., in a paper on Steam-boiler 
Legislation, stated that the Parliamentary Committee had arrived 
at the three following conclusions, viz. :—(1) That the majority 
of explosions arise from negligence, either as regards original 
construction, inatiention of users or their servants, neglect 
of proper repairs, and absence of proper and necessary fit- 
tings; (2) that on the occurrence of explosions, a complete 
investigation of the cause of the catastrophe should be pro- 
moted by the appointment of a scientific assessor to assist 
the coroner ; and (3) that reports of each investigation should 
be presented to Parliament. These three conclusions, it was 
considered, formed a foundation from which a superstructure 
would spring in course of time which must eradicate steam- 
boiler explosions. What the precise character of that super- 
structure should be is a question on which opinions may differ. 
Some—among whom are the Parliamentary Committee as 
already explained—prefer a system of pains and penalties to be 
inflicted on the steam user in the event of his allowing his boiler 
to give rise to an explosion. Others prefer a system of direct pre- 
vention by the enforcement of inspection on the following general 
basis :—They would recommend a national system of periodical 
inspection enforced but not administered by the Government, 
that administration being committed to the steam users them- 
selves, with a due infusion of ex officio representatives of the 
public. For this purpose they propose that steam users should 
be aggregated into as many district corporations as might be 
found desirable, boards of control, empowered to carry out the 
inspections, and levy such rates upon the steam users as might 
be necessary for the conduct of the service, being appointed by 
the popular election of the steam users in each district, the 
different boards being affiliated by means of an annual conference, 
in order to promote the harmonious working of the whole system. 
Its advocates consider that in this way a system of national in- 
spection might be mildly, but, at the same time, firmly 
administered, and that it would then not only prevent the 
majority of steam boiler explosions, but prove of great assistance 
to steam users in the management of their boilers. That it would be 
the means of disseminating much valuable information. That it 
would promote improvements. That it would raise the standard 
of boiler engineering, and prove a national gain. It frequently 
happened, the paper went on to say, that on the occurrence of 
disastrous explosions, boiler owners were quite unable to com- 
pensate those who had been injured. Such was the case last 
year at Liverpool, where an explosion occurred at a small iron- 
foundry, in October, killing four persons, laying the foundry in 
ruins, smashing in some of the surrounding dwelling-houses, and 
spreading a vast amount of devastation all round. The owners 
of the boiler, which had been picked up second-hand, and was 
a little worn-out thing, were two working men, who but a short 
time before the explosion had been acting as journeymen. They 
were possessed of little or no capital, and were rendered penni- 
less by the disaster. Another very similar case, though much 
more serious, occurred at Bingley in June 1869, where as many 
as fifteen persons were killed, and thirty-one others severely 
injured by the explosion of a boiler at a bobbin turnery. In 
this case the user of the boiler was only a tenant, and, judging 
from the ruined appearance of the premises after the explosion, 
any attempt to gain compensation for the loss of fifteen lives and 
thirty-one cases of serious personal injury would be absolutely 
futile. The plan of imposing a fixed minimum penalty would 
tend somewhat to meet this difficulty, as the surplus of one would 
correct the deficit of another, and in this way a compensation 
fund might be established for the benefit of the sufferers. This 
definite minimum penalty would tend to meet the present ten- 
dency of boiler owners to seek to purchase indemnities from 
insurance companies in the event of explosions, rather than com- 
petent inspection to prevent these catastrophes, since, if the 
penalty were made sufficiently high, it would pay an insurance 
company as well to make inspections and prevent explosions, as 
to adopt comparatively little inspection, permit occasional if not 
frequent explosions, and pay compensation. 
A short discussion took place, in which it was argued that 
increased security for the proper inspection and manufacture of 
boilers should be obtained, 
