526 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[June I, iS 



connected to the negative pole of an electric generator, 

 and the stirrers to the positive. On passing the cur- 

 rent an amalgam is formed ; when this operation is 

 completed, the mass is discharged through a cock into a 

 trough, in which grooved wooden rollers rotate. These 

 rollers carry longitudinal carbon rods, connected with the 

 positive pole of an electric generator, which cause the 

 small globules of amalgam to unite together. 



Navigation of Aerial Vessels. — An improvement 

 in the propulsion and navigation of aerial vessels has 

 been patented by Mr. W. N. Hutchinson, of Eastbourne. 

 The invention has for its object to propel and steer 

 navigable aerial vessels by centrifugal rotary blowing 

 engines, and to enable aeronauts to change their altitude 

 at will without loss of gas or ballast. From any form of 

 balloon a long car is suspended carrying the steam 

 engine and several of the air-blowing engines. Each of 

 the latter is furnished with one two-channel pipe, one 

 channel for aiding progress, the other channel at right 

 angles for steering and changing altitude. It has one or 

 two, as the case may be, single-channel pipes for the in- 

 coming air. The number of blowing engines employed 

 varies with different balloons. 



Mechanical Musical Instrument. — A mechanical 

 musical instrument has been patented by Mr. F. E. P. 

 Ehrlich, of Leipsic, Saxony. The invention relates to a 

 combined string and reed instrument, in which the 

 strings and reeds are simultaneously sounded. Levers 

 are pressed upwards by springs, and are governed by a 

 perforated tune-sheet in the usual way. The hammer 

 rises vi'ith the lever under the influence of a spring, and 

 strikes a string ; at the same time a rod is raised by the 

 lever, and allows a spring to open one of the pallets, 

 thus causing its reed to sound. The pallets and reeds 

 are arranged in rows and oblique columns to economise 

 space. Rods bear against springs in the pallet levers to 

 ensure an air-tight closure. The wind is drawn through 

 the reeds by a bellows. 



Vapour Bath. — Mr. A. N. Mezzetti has patented a 

 vapour bath. The case is composed of a box on castors 

 with a hinged wooden top which forms the surface on 

 which the patient sits on a chair. The box may be of 

 any suitable size. Connected to the ends of the case 

 are sockets to support tubular standards of any desired 

 length. The standards support a covering, quadrangular 

 in shape and having an aperture of the top surface for 

 the head of the user to pass through. The covering is 

 secured round the box by buttons and loops, and the 

 frame carrying this cover can slide up and down the 

 standards and be fixed at any height. When not in 

 use it fits over the cover of the case, and can readily be 

 adjusted when required. Leading into the case is a 

 pipe provided with a tap, attached to which is another 

 flexible pipe leading to the source of steam. 



An Electric Sentinel. — We learn that Mr. D. Draw- 

 baugh has devised a piece of electric apparatus which is 

 to play the part of a self-acting sentinel. It is to be 

 buried in the earth at outposts, and to be connected by 

 wires with head-quarters. Military men question the 

 practical value of an apparatus which may be set in 

 action by a passing hare or rabbit. 



TECHNICAL EDUCATION NOTES. 



The People's Palace. — At the opening of the Work- 

 men's Industrial Exhibition at this institution Sir E. H. 

 Currie, in presenting an address to the Duke of Westminster, 

 said that during the past winter about 200 day and 4,000 

 evening students had attended the various practical, techni- 

 cal, general science, and art classes in the adapted buildings 

 on the site. With the new technical schools now rising up, 

 and to be opened by September 30th, at a cost of building 

 and fitting of ^20,000, the gift of the Drapers' Company, the 

 trustees hoped to provide for 500 boys in the day technical 

 schools and 6,000 evening students. Already 4,000 young 

 men and women, between the ages of fifteen and twenty- 

 five, had joined the People's Palace Institute, and these 

 numbers would be largely increased when the additional 

 accommodation was provided for social purposes. This 

 short statement, the trustee considered, would not be com- 

 plete if he did not also mention the fact that the beautiful 

 library, which would seat a very large number of readers and 

 would be capable of holding a quarter of a million of books, 

 would be opened for use on the i6th of June by the Duchess 

 of Albany. (Hear, hear.) The Duke of Westminster, in 

 response, remarked that the exhibition which they had 

 seen naturally brought to mind the interesting subject of 

 technical education, which had now happily attained a 

 position which was creating great interest not only in 

 London but throughout \the whole country. The report of 

 the Commissioners on Technical Instruction was very 

 encouraging. After inquiry into the subject in France, Ger- 

 many, and Switzerland, and other parts of Europe, the Com- 

 missioners report that great as had been the progress of 

 foreign countries, keen as was the rivalry with us in many 

 important branches, as a whole the English people were 

 well maintaining their position at the head of the industrial 

 world. Nothing could be more encouraging or satisfactory 

 than that, for it was perfectly true. Further than that, he 

 he had received a letter from Mr. Arnold Morley with refer- 

 ence to the lace trade in Nottingham, and the writer stated 

 that the art school at Nottingham had been of immense 

 advantage, and that the great artistic progress made in the 

 designs and patterns of late years was distinctly traceable 

 to the school training. Speaking generally of the work pro- 

 duced by British workmen, he said that he had himself 

 reason to know how^ good it was. In the case of his own 

 house — Eaton Hall, which he had been compelled to rebuild 

 — with the exception of Belgian girders, Italian mosaics, and 

 some foreign woodwork, the whole of the work had been 

 done by British workmen, and it was his opinion, and that 

 of others perhaps^better qualified to judge, that for solidity 

 and good art-workmanship it could not be surpassed. There 

 was still, however, a great deal to be done in this country 

 in the matter of technical education, and therefore it was 

 that the gift of ^20,000 of the Drapers' Company for the 

 building and fitting of the new technical schools was most 

 important. Foreign nations devoted great attention to the 

 instruction of their people from an early age. He therefore 

 coincided with the Commissioners in their recommendation 

 that greater encouragement should be given in the elemen- 

 tary schools to technical education. The children in foreign 

 schools were kept in the schools much longer than the chil- 

 dren in this country, and the sacrifice was greater to the 

 parents abroad than to those here. In England children 

 were taken away from school at too early an age, and he 

 thought they should be kept there until they were fourteen. 

 Something more, too, should be done in the matter of 

 secondary schools, and he thought there should be greater 

 encouragement given to the maintenance of secondary 

 schools both for young men and women. He then drew 

 attention to the funds at the disposal of the Charity Com- 

 missioners, and said that there was every prospect that that 

 body would out of those funds materially assist the move- 

 ments in the north and south of London to have People's 

 Palaces somewhat after the excellent example set at the 

 East-end. 



