10 



manufacture of smokelees powder, which, if carried to perfection, 

 will, in Lord Armstrong's words, " work a revolution in modern 

 armament, and render the use of qaick-firing guns not only an 

 advantage but a necessity." The new powder is impervious to 

 damp and absolutely smokeless, thus offering no impediment in 

 aiming or discharging the large guns, at their maximum rate of 10 

 rounds per minute ! Velocities have been also obtained with tbis 

 powder of 2,300, and 2,500 feet per second. 



Turning to the vast subject of electricity, the year 1889 can 

 boast of no specially important application of its power. The 

 electric lighting of the Metropolis is steadily progressing, but until 

 some method is devised of perfecting the insulati' n of the wires, 

 the scheme seems likely to meet with great, and peihaps just 

 opposition. Fo great, however, has been the development of 

 electricity in the last few years, that upwards of five million persons 

 now gain a livelihood by its means. 



The electric lighting of the British Museum which has only 

 recently been accomplisbed, is in every sense of the word, a brilliant 

 success. The antiquities, Roman Mosaics, and Poicelains are 

 superbly illuminated, but the effect is specially fine in the sculpture 

 galleries, where the light and shade are so perfect that every detail 

 is brought out in quite an unprecedented manner, and enables 

 studies to be made with better effect by night than by day. Hence 

 it is hoped that the treasurers of our great National Museum may 

 more be enjoyed by many who have been hitherto precluded from 

 studying them. The electric current is generated by four Siemens 

 Dynamos, and four currents are led round the building, two to the 

 upper, and t'wo to the lower floors. 



An ingenious process for making filaments for incandescent lamps 

 has been devised by Messrs. Swinburne, from ordinary cabbage 

 leaves. Tht y are first soaked in vinegar to neutralize their alkali, 

 then in a solution of mercury bromide, and electrolysed while therein 

 by an electric shellac rod. A heavy current is then passed through 

 the leaf to carbonize its vegetable fibre, after which it is cut into 

 filaments and passed through a draw plate. Lastly a mixture of 

 hydrogen and ammonia gases are passed over the filaments to give 

 them a due resisting force, when they can be bent into horse- shoe 

 shape, and are then ready for use. 



What may be called an abuse of this wondrous force, i.e., elec- 

 tricity, may be seen on the southern shores of France, where wires 

 connected with powerful butteries, are placed along those parts of 

 the coast where the migratory birds usually alight when returning 

 from their winter S")journ in Africa. The wearied birds perch on 

 the wires, and are instantly struck dead. I shall hardly be believed 

 when I say that it is to please the gentle sex, for whose adornment 



