Aug. 3, 1888.I 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



(i 



ducing the light." As a matter of fact, there is a little 

 tip of graphite about the size of half a pea, at the end of 

 the negative carbon cf which an inch or so is left, and is 

 worth about as much as the stump of a cigar. 



We are not aware if Mr. Stent has studied any other 

 branch of science. His ideas of heat are of about the same 

 standard as his light and electricity. " If the poker be 

 left long in the fire, the extreme end will become hotter 

 and hotter ; but if a length of wire or a rod be attached 

 to the rod in the fire, the heat will pass into it, and con- 

 tinue to travel along the wire to almost any distance so 

 long as the one end is hot." 



The last page tells us that electricity " is becoming 

 visibly a real light. Its triumph not only over darkness, 

 but over all other forms of artificial light, is so obvious 

 that," etc. The italics are ours, but that darkness is a 

 " form of artificial light " is a discovery which distinctly 

 belongs to Mr. Stent. 



The Architect's Register, being a publication devoted to Art, 

 Architecture, Engineering, Building, and matters per- 

 taining thereto, established to form the nucleus of a 

 Register of Papers read before Architectural and 

 kindred Societies throughout the United Kingdom. 

 Issued Half-yearly. Vol. III. London : W. 

 Pope. 



This volume comprises papers on " Old House Work " ; 

 on the " Relations of Architect, Surveyor, and Builder " ; 

 " Optical Refinements in Architecture " ; " Horace 

 Walpole, his Life and Times " ; " Notes on some Build- 

 ing Stones " ; Theatres and Public Buildings and their 

 Arrangements for Public Safety " ; and " Theatre Con- 

 struction." To the two last we must call particular 

 attention. The former, by Mr. Walter Emden, M.S. A., 

 gives a very elaborate survey of the entire question. 

 From the statistics given it appears that during the past 

 eleven years 2,056 persons have perished from fires in 

 theatres, being a yearly average of i86'q. Out of 252 

 theatres only three remained for a century without being 

 destroyed. 



The author, not unjustly, denounces the present 

 medley of laws for the prevention of accidents as occa- 

 sioning much hardship to the proprietors without afford- 

 ing the necessary protection to the public. He urges 

 the necessity of legislating for the whole kingdom, and 

 not for London alone, and wishes to place all theatres, 

 music halls, etc., throughout the entire realm in the 

 hands of the Lord Chamberlain, together with funds for 

 carrying out such supervision, on the satisfactory grounds 

 that his office is the only one possessing the knowledge 

 necessary for dealing with the question. 



The author then passes to the construction of safe 

 theatres. Very naturally he deals firstly with the means 

 of cutting off the stage from the auditorium, and that with 

 rapidity and completeness. For this purpose he recom- 

 mends as the best material, asbestos cloth. Iron cur- 

 tains, from their weight, require powerful and compli- 

 cated machinery for raising and lowering, and may very 

 conceivably happen to be out of order just when wanted. 

 Here we may mention that Mr. Gordon Hoskins insists 

 on the necessity of raising and lowering such curtains 

 before every performance, and frequently testing them 

 if the theatre be temporarily closed. 



The next point discussed is the prevention of panics, 

 and, of course, the supply of safe and easy exits. Here 

 the author contends that there should be two exits from i 



every part of the building, conspicuous, always available, 

 and free from all obstruction, distinct from all connec- 

 tion with other parts of the house, and especially kept 

 well apart from each other. He considers that extra exit 

 stair-cases should lead directly into the street, not into 

 courts or narrow passages leading under or between 

 shops and warehouses. 



He advocates the use, in addition to the gas or elec- 

 tricity employed for the general illumination of the 

 house, of a set of lamps fed with vegetable oil to light 

 up the exit doors, corridors, and stair-cases. 



Mr. Emden is scarcely fair to the electric light. He 

 says : — " Unlike gas, electricity gives no warning, there 

 is no smell." But in the majority of fires due to gas 

 there is also no smell, because there is no escape. The 

 mischief is due to the decorations, scenery, etc., being 

 by prolonged exposure to the heat of the gas- 

 flames not merely dried to tinder, but rendered in some 

 cases probably spontaneously combustible. At all events, 

 the whole is in such a state that if brought into the most 

 momentary contact with a spark or a flame — which a 

 current of air may occasion — the material is ignited. 



The case as between electricity and gas seems to us 

 to lie thus : with electricity there is absolutely no danger 

 if the installation be thoroughly good. But with gas no 

 perfection in the system of piping and no absence ot 

 escapes can afford any protection. 



Mr. Emden then discusses the use of certain solutions 

 applied to the wood-work, canvas, etc., for rendering 

 them uninflammable. His views here are very judicious. 

 He admits that such a soaking does for a time give pro- 

 tection against the spread of fire, but he raises the un- 

 solved question : for how long ? It has, indeed, not been 

 experimentally decided in how far light wood-work, tex- 

 tile materials, etc., soaked in tungstate of ammonia would 

 retain their non-inflammability after a year's exposure 

 to the temperature of 140 F., as is the case with the 

 decorations of theatres where gas is the illuminating 

 agent. He concludes, therefore, that such fire-proofing 

 agents may be useful auxiliaries, but that to depend upon 

 them solely would be " rank madness." In concluding 

 this notice of a very useful memoir we cannot help 

 taking exception to the following passage : — " The stage 

 is still, to a large extent, ignored by the State and by 

 science. Science has, of late years, turned industrial. 

 She makes railroads, steam-engines, factories, and mills ; 

 she tins meat and condenses milk ; but she has not 

 troubled herself about the stage, and is only now 

 waking to its necessities." We have here the misuse 

 of the term science against which Herschel, Hum- 

 boldt, Whewell, Grove, Lewes and Crookes have all in 

 turn protested, but, as we see, in vain. Science does not 

 make, tin, or condense anything. She discovers facts, 

 traces out their relations, and reduces them to laws. 

 The utilisation of such facts and such laws she leaves to 

 industrial art, over whose doings and omissions she 

 has no control. 



«-^J^x^5tf-« 



The University of Salerno. — Mr. G. Foy, F.R.C.S., 

 in a retrospect of some famous Italian Universities, 

 mentioned that they medical schools of Salerno were open 

 to women. Const^ntia Calenda graduated there as M.D., 

 Sentia Guerna lectured on medicine, Abella Mercurialis 

 practised medicine and published medical works at 

 Salerno. Trottula held a„ professorial chair in the 

 University. 



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