496 Official Correspondence on the attaching of 



case of the Fort William Magazine, or the others through- 

 out the country, we cannot too strongly urge upon those 

 with whom the decision rests, to have nothing to do with 

 it in its present state. We cannot pronounce " a priori" that 

 it can do no harm, for although theoretically we may not be 

 able to detect any source of danger from its employment, yet 

 this is a very questionable ground for adopting it in prefer- 

 ence to another plan, to whose efficiency every master in 

 electrical science bears willing and decided testimony, and 

 which has a century of European, and many years of Indian 

 experience to plead in its favour. The latter is estimated as 

 of small value by Dr. O'Shaughnessy, and without dispu- 

 ting the point, we may simply state, that small as it is, it 

 would be sufficient, were there not other considerations, to 

 turn the balance against his plan, unsupported as that is 

 by even the experience of an hour. Our recommendation 

 (if we may venture to make one) would be^ that no time 

 should be lost in erecting over every Magazine in the Bri- 

 tish dominions a conductor, or when the extent requires it, 

 conductors, of the material, the dimensions, and underground 

 arrangements specified by Messrs. Faraday and Daniell in 

 their respective reports; and in the event of any accident 

 occurring subsequently, Government would have the satis- 

 faction of knowing that the very highest authorities in the 

 whole scientific world would justify the course it had 

 adopted, as being that most consonant to the extent of our 

 knowledge on a still mysterious subject, most conformable 

 to the opinions of those best qualified to decide, and analo- 

 gous to that which every other government, under similar 

 circumstances, has followed. No government, however in- 

 tense its anxiety for the welfare of its subjects, could do 

 more ; and we must say we conceive that none would be 

 justified in doing less, or doing differently. 



Having now noticed all that appears to us to require 

 notice in Dr. O'Shaughnessy's reply to our papers, we trust 



