112 [Proc. B. N. F. C, 



cutlery and surgical instruments. The electro-deposition of tin 

 takes the place of ordinary dipping when special articles war- 

 rant the extra work. Even our Jubilee coins have been pro- 

 duced by electrical action, as the dies for them were modelled 

 in plaster, intaglios formed by the electro-deposition of copper, 

 and these again strengthened by the deposition of a layer of 

 iron one-tenth of an inch thick. In the purification of copper, 

 immense quantities of that metal are at Swansea and Widnes 

 obtained by electro-deposition. The principle of electrolysis, 

 upon which electro-metallurgy depends, has recently been ex- 

 perimented upon in many directions — as in the purification of 

 sewage, and that of drinking water, and in the maturing of 

 wines and spirits. Quite recently, it was stated that at the 

 offices of a London journal in the interests of the confectionery 

 trade, the first specimens of sugar said to have been refined by 

 electric action were on exhibition. In our own district, experi- 

 ments have recently been conducted with a view to its utilisa- 

 tion in bleaching processes. 



With the adoption of electric lighting in our railway stations, 

 steamships, and factories, and the introduction of electric bells 

 in our dwelling-houses, you are all familiar. Everywhere we 

 look around us we see the evidences of the utilisation of elec- 

 trical energy. Our fire alarms are sounded by it ; divers work 

 beneath the sea by its light ; submarine mining and destruc- 

 tion of ships and harbours can be accomplished by its aid ; 

 hidden rocks which impede navigation are got rid of by its 

 power ; the same apparatus which forms a portable gas lighter 

 has been applied instead of a percussion lock to rifles ; our doc- 

 tors examine our throats by its light, and use a platinum wire 

 heated by its means instead of a knife ; tiny incandescent 

 lights, controlled by a pocket battery, sparkle instead of 

 diamonds on the head-dresses of ladies, and by a similar one at 

 the tip of his baton, a conductor directs his band when dark- 

 ness sets in. Even the familiar postman's knock i-s being 

 superseded, for letter-boxes have been constructed in which the 

 raising of the flap by the insertion of letters completes the cir- 



