448 
NAT: 
URE [ Sepz. 29, 1870 
Section G.—Jfechanical Science.—President, Mr. Charles 
B. Vignoles, F.R.S., Pres. C.E. : } 
In his introductory address, bearing chiefly on railway 
development and the defence of the country, the President 
remarked that that day, the 15th of September, was the 
anniversary of an event in which Liverpool played a most 
important part forty years ago. The opening of the Liver- 
pool and Manchester Railway was entirely owing to the 
high public spirit shown by the merchants of Liverpool. At 
that time the ways and means of communication were so com- 
pletely crippled that the trade of Liverpool would have become 
paralysed, had not better, speedier, and cheaper means of com- 
munication been created, and especially by the opening of the 
railway connecting Liverpool and Manchester. In this great 
work Liverpool took the lead ; and it was particularly owing to 
the zeal of one of Liverpool’s most distinguished citizens, the late 
Mr. Henry Booth, who was the original secretary of the railway 
company, and to the energy and scientific knowledge which he 
brought to bear upon the question of railways, that attention was 
paid to the improvements of the steam-engine, which was now 
performing such wonders both at home and abroad. He (the 
President) thought the people of Liverpool had not shown them- 
selves sufficiently grateful to the memory of Mr. Henry Booth in 
allowing his name to lapse, as it were, from public recollection ; 
but he was glad to have been invited to a meeting held in Liver- 
pool a short time ago, at which a subscription was inaugurated 
for the raising of a statue to that eminent man and successful 
worker in mechanical science. The subscription list needed only 
a little addition to complete this most desirable object. Liver- 
pool was peculiarly appropriate for this meeting of the British 
Association, for that Association and the railway system might 
be said to have had their birth in the same year, both having 
originated just forty years ago. He had himself taken part in 
laying down the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and felt a 
special interest in this anniversary. The President then went on 
to mention the principal subjects which would be discussed in 
that Section. He next referred to the position of this country in 
regard to the means and preparedness for military defence, and 
as to the military service of England. He might, perhaps, be 
disabusing the minds of many persons who had supposed that the 
Government of this country was not prepared or was not alive to 
the necessity of creating the best means of internal communica- 
tion, in the event of war or invasion of the country, when he 
mentioned to them that for several years past the military authori- 
ties had been in constant communication with the chief engineers 
of the country, and had formed deliberate arrangements, by 
which, in the event of such a casualty asa military invasion of 
England, within forty-eight hours the military forces of the whole 
country, say 100,000 men, might be brought down upon any 
given point that might be attacked. Therefore they might feel 
reassured as to the position of England in case of an invasion. 
As an old soldier himself, he had, at the request of the Govern- 
ment, treated this question, and had shown completely that 
within twelve hours of the alarm of invasion at any given point, 
the rolling stock of the railways of the country could be applied 
for concentrating all the military resources of the country upon 
the point threatened. He had stated in Liverpool forty-one 
years ago that the institution of railways would have this very 
result ; and it had been practically exemplified in the war that 
was raging on the Continent. On Tuesday, he might mention, 
papers would be read upon the construction and stability of 
ships by some of the most distinguished men in the country, 
bearing upon the most unfortunate accident that had occurred 
to the ironclad steamship Cagtaiz, to the causes of which the 
attention of the whole scientific world was now being directed. 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON BOILER EXPLOSIONS 
Mr. Lavington E. Fletcher, C.E., reporter. The other mem- 
bers of the Committee were Sir William Fairbairn, Bart., C.E., 
F.R.S., LL.D., &c.; Sir Joseph Whitworth, Bart., C.E., 
F.R.S. ; John Penn, C.E., F.R.S. ; Frederick J. Bramwell, 
C.E. ; Hugh Mason, Samuel Rigby, Thomas Schofield, Charles 
F. Beyer, C.E. ; and Thomas Webster, Q.C., F.R.S. 
In concluding their report, the committee stated that they de- 
cidedly incline to the plan of enforcing inspection directly by law 
rather than indirectly by penalty. They are not without appre- 
hensions that, however ingeniously the principle of joint-stock 
insurance might be surrounded with a series of checks and counter- 
checks, yet that it would lead to inspection being cut down to 
the lowest possible point. On the other hand, were the inspec- 
tion enforced by law, and nationally administered either by 4 
central steam board or by a series of district ones, they consider 
that a far more generous system would be secured. ‘The steam 
boards, uninfluenced either by private or local interests, or by 
the desire to accumulate profits, would take altogether higher 
ground, and inspect, not simply in their own interests, and just 
sufficiently to narrowly escape explosion, but with a view to 
assist steam users, disseminate practical information on the 
making and management of boilers, and promote progress. These 
objects would be altogether foreign to competing joint-stock in- 
surance companies. The committee hold the view that,$ had 
coroners’ verdicts been as satisfactory as they might have been, 
boiler explosions would not have been as numerous as they now 
are. With the additional experience of another year they feel 
compelled to take one other step in advance, and they have come 
to the conclusion that the time has arrived when the Government 
should enforce the periodical inspection of all steam boilers. They 
are convinced that exp’osions might be, and ought to be, pre- 
vented ; that competent inspection is adequate for this purpose, 
and that any well-organised system of inspection extended 
throughout the entire country would practically extinguish boiler 
explosions, and save the greater part of the seventy-five lives 
now annually sacrificed thereby. 
A paper on the same subject was read by Mr. E. B. Marten, 
C.E., and the discussion was taken upon both communications, 
The speakers were Sir William Fairbairn, Mr. Siemens, Sir 
Joseph Whitworth, Messrs. Hawksley, Bramwell, Rigby, Long- 
ridge, Gray, Mallet, Sir William Armstrong, and the President. 
In summing up, the President remarked that many accidents were 
attributable to the dishonest construction of boilers. English 
habits seemed to kick against anything like Government inter- 
ference, but such accidents as had arisen from boiler explosions 
should be put an end to as forcibly as possible—like stamping 
out the smallpox or the cattle plague, notwithstanding vulgar 
prejudices—if necessary, by an iron hand. The Government 
should pass a law making the inspection of boilers compulsory, 
On Mechanical Stoking.—Messrs. James Smith and -J. and 
T. Vicars, Liverpool. The paper is too long to reproduce here, 
but we may mention, in reference to the method described in it, 
that Mr. L. E. Fletcher, C.E., of the Steam Users’ Association, 
remarked that he had witnessed some very carefully-conducted 
trials with the apparatus as against very careful hand-firing, and 
that he could testify that the furnace was perfectly smokeless, 
and in every respect attained good results. 
CONTENTS Pace 
Hovusr ACCOMMODATION FOR LEARNED SOCIETIES » « « « Fee <0) 
THE BERLIN WorRKING MEn’s CLUB . . . 2 . 429 
Rep.y To Pror. Huxvey’s INAuGURAL ADDRESS AT LIVERPOOL ON 
_THE QUESTION OF THE ORIGIN or Lire. II, By Dr. H. CHARLTON 
IBASTIAN RSS. | ts) Gente netcnase me ite rcs ame 431 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR :— 
University College Lectures for Ladies.—G. Croom ROBERTSON . 434 
Mirage eeA-gke aca. *. 0s esis) Mee 
Meteor.—S. PiEssE . SR On tw ey A Pee, - o)- 
Origin of Species and of Languages.—W. TayLtor . . . . «© « 435 
The Cockroach.—Kev. C. J. ROBINSON. . . 2 2 2 © «© « © 435 
On'the Dissipation of Energy << « - « %. «= eee 435 
INORES <i ye) be VEN) Selwyie fovea ena ejb Bie) etree telnet aE 
Tue British AssociaTion.—OuR CoRRESPONDENT’S LETTER . . 437 
RESOLUTIONS OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE . , .. « 439 
Synopsis oF GRANTS OF Money . rere een OE ao 60S 
SECTIONAL ProcgEDINGS :—SectTion A.—Papers by Prof. Rankine. 
Section B.—Papers by W. Weldon, F.C.S. ; A. E. Fletcher, 
F.C.S,; J. B. Spence. Section C.—Papers by Prof. P. M. Dun- 
can, F.R.S., Dr. L. Adams, W. Pengelly. Section D.—Continua- 
tion of Prof. Rolleston’s Address ; Address by J. Evans, F.R.S., 
Paper by Prof. P. M. Duncan, F.R.S. Section E —Paper by 
J. K. Laughton. Section G.—Mr. C. B. Vignoles’s Address ; 
Report by Mr. L. E. Fletcher, Papers by Mr. E. B. Marten, and 
Messrs. J. Smith, J.and IT. Vicars . . ... . - 440-448 
Errata,—Page 391, col. 2, the asterisk referring to first foot-note should 
have been placed after the word “feet,” line 33—Page 393, col. 2, line 5 from 
bottom, for “* Cyclus” read ‘‘Cyclas” ; line 2 from bottom, for ‘‘ Surg.” read 
“ Surv.”— Page 408, col. 2, Contents, for ‘‘G. D. De Rance” read **C. E. 
De Rance.”—Page 423, col. 2, line 34 from bottom, for ‘‘this” read ‘‘ their” ; 
line 6 from bottom, for ‘‘ Gaskell’s” read ‘‘ Quekett's "—Page 424, col. 1, line 
30 from bottom, for ‘‘gvadatinum” read “ gradatim” ; col. 2, line 4, for 
“* Loca” read ‘‘ Local”’; line 6, for “this” read “‘the” ; line 5 from bottom, 
for ** Darwin's” read ‘* Damon's”—Page 425, col. 1, line 5, for “ conjuvat” 
read “conjurat ”; line 8 from bottom, for ‘‘ Ajax or” read “* Ajax of”; col. 
2, line 28, for “‘ which” read ‘‘who"—Page 426, col. 1. line 13, for “‘ war” 
read “‘ woe”; line 34 from bottom, for ‘‘knotgrass, cowgrass” read “ knot- 
grass s. cowgrass” ; line 24 from bottom, for “‘furcena” read ‘‘porcina”— 
Page 427, col. 1, line 1, for ‘“‘Bichamp” read ‘‘Béchamp”; line 17 from 
bottom, for ‘‘may come when” read ‘“‘may, when”; col. 2, line 35, for 
““inhalistic” read ‘‘vitalistic” ; line 36, for “useful” read ‘‘ vital” ; line 37, 
for ‘‘ involve” read ‘‘ resolve” ; line 39, for “‘ ordered” read “‘ resolved.” 
