DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES. 8 1 



One great difficulty which we labor under in the Toronto Obser- 

 vatory is that in connection with the meteorological service, there is 

 such a vast amount of routine and purely clerical work, as correspon- 

 dence, checking observations, etc., that but little can be done in the 

 way of reducing the observations and endeavoring to deduce results. 

 At present some of our results are being worked up at home by the 

 committee of the Royal Society on Solar Physics, but it would be a 

 great point gained if the Government would so add to the staff that 

 some time might be devoted to the working up of our own results, 

 especially in view of the fact that there is every reason to believe 

 that these results would ultimately prove of great public utility. 



DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES. 



BY R. HINCHLIFFE. 



The subject chosen for this evening's paper is exciting universal 

 interest throughout the civilized world at the present time. Not only 

 is this the case among specialists, but it has become a question of con- 

 siderable commercial importance, and has attracted the attention of all 

 classes. Since the beginning of the present century, light and heat, 

 in their effect upon health, and for industrial purposes, have received 

 a large share of the thought of those who have devoted themselves, 

 not only to the solution of problems specially bearing thereon, but 

 to all questions of scientific interest. They are so closely associated 

 with the immense progress made in manufacturing pursuits, as to be 

 inseparable from them. No industry can be carried on without heat 

 and light, and the finer and more delicate the operations to be done, 

 the greater is the demand for the presence of both. They are a matter 

 of necessity in all processes of manipulation, and perhaps there is 

 nothing that would cause greater consternation amongst men whose 

 capital is employed in industrial operations, than to understand they 

 were to be deprived of them. During the last fifty years, when steam 

 has almost driven all other motors out of the field, heat, and the means 

 whereby it can be raised, has become a question of very great import- 

 ance. No doubt we all remember the consternation that was created 

 a few years ago, by the intelligence that the coal fields of Britain were 

 likely soon to be exhausted. The question was almost immediately 

 taken up by the British Government, which resulted in enquiry showing 



