224 



SCIENCE, 



LYol. IY., No. 84. 



given rise is the successful attempt to photograph the 

 interior of a coal-mine in Pennsylvania. The mine 

 selected for the experiment was the Kohinoor colliery 

 at Shenandoah, operated by the Philadelphia coal and 

 iron company, from whose representatives all neces- 

 sary facilities were obtained. 



The experiment was conceived of, and successfully 

 carried out, by Mr. James Temple Brown, who was 

 sent out from the metallurgical department of the 

 National museum to collect specimens illustrative of 

 the coal industry. An attempt was first made to 

 photograph by the aid of magnesium light, but the 

 results proved unsatisfactory. The Arnoux electric- 

 light company then volunteered to supply an electric 

 plant, and to erect and take charge of it gratuitously. 

 The five negatives obtained by the use of this light 

 were highly satisfactory, and show some features of 

 coal-mines which probably have not hitherto been 

 seen by scientific men, nor, indeed, by miners them- 

 selves, whose feeble lamps give them only a glimpse 

 of the immediate surroundings. 



The photographs will be enlarged, and exhibited at 

 the New Orleans exposition. Whatever credit at- 

 taches to this somewhat novel undertaking is due 

 primarily to the generous encouragement of the di- 

 rector of the museum, and to the thoughtfulness and 

 energy of Mr. Brown. The representatives of the 

 Philadelphia coal and iron company very kindly gave 

 the matter their personal attention, and the photogra- 

 pher employed for the work labored enthusiastically 

 for the results obtained. 



P. W. Tkue. 



U. S. National Museum, Sept. 5. 



ELECTRICAL TESTING ESTABLISH- 

 MENTS. 



The Electrical review seconds the sugges- 

 tion of the Engineer, that an ' electrical testing 

 establishment ' be founded in England, where 

 an} T ambitious inventor may find the apparatus 

 and conveniences which he may need for a 

 proper testing and perfecting of his ideas. 

 The Review calls attention to the impossibility 

 of a poor man, however ingenious he may be, 

 being able to work upon airy improvement in 

 cable telegraphy, as at least an artificial cable 

 must be at his command, — a necessity which 

 would cost him several thousand dollars. In 

 the same way with experiments on electric 

 lamps : the cost of the necessary plant is very 

 considerable, and the amount required for sup- 

 plies to be used in constant trials is by no 

 means to be neglected. 



The founding of such an establishment for 

 the aid of inventors has been suggested by 

 several of the successful members of the class 

 in America, but has not, we believe, been car- 



ried out. There would, at the start, be the dif- 

 ficulty of deciding as to the worthiness of any 

 scheme which might be brought forward for 

 development. The inventor is necessarily an 

 enthusiast, and an extremety fickle being, who 

 would come in one morning all aglow for a new 

 form to be given the carbon filament in an in- 

 candescent lamp, and the next would have 

 nothing of lamps, but would earnestly urge 

 some peculiar construction of telephone-cable 

 to get rid of the ; cross-talk.' This constant 

 jumping, accompanied b}- the necessary amount 

 of perseverance, leads him finally to some goal, 

 but at the same time makes him an obnox- 

 ious companion to the steady-going workman 

 who must needs follow him, nothing being more 

 discouraging to an artificer than to see the 

 results of his one day's work overthrown on 

 the next. 



It may be urged, that the man with capacity 

 for improving the methods of the world's work 

 will sooner or later, but surely, push himself 

 forward into a position where he can help 

 himself through a connection with some rich 

 telegraph, electric-light, or manufacturing corn- 

 pan)', where his powers will have full pla}-, and 

 his suggestions be listened to and put in effect. 

 It should also be considered whether, in estab- 

 lishing any ' helping-hand ' arrangement, the 

 principal or only result would be to assist those 

 for a time who give promise of valuable devel- 

 opment, but who are lacking in the strong fibre 

 necessary for successful accomplishment. Not- 

 withstanding all objections, it ma}^ appear to 

 some that the possibilit} 7 of enabling some one 

 worthy man to bring his work to perfection ten, 

 twenty, or thirty 3-ears before he could if left 

 to his own unaided resources, would justify 

 the expenditure of considerable sums on what 

 would be found to be the chaff of inventions. 

 What the result might be, is very difficult to 

 say. There might be some very successful work 

 done in such a laboratory, properly guarded, 

 and where the applicants were kept as con- 

 stantly as might be to their purpose : there 

 certainly would be a vast number of cranks 

 knocking at the door. 



The editorial in the Electrical revieiv brought 



