Jan., 1892. 
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT CARDIFF. 
13 
advantage of lessening the wear of the type and of allowing 
the multiplication of presses. It also renders practical 
the immense advantage of adapting what was a flat 
form of type to the cylindrical rollers of the continuous 
printing press. The method adopted is to press the type 
upon a series of damp layers of paper and wadding, and 
which is dried by steam in about ten minutes whilst still 
in contact with the type. The pasteboard matrix is then 
bent around a half cylinder and the stereo metal poured in. 
In about a minute the cast is taken out, trimmed, and then 
placed on the printing cylinders. A roll of paper, weighing 
about 5cwt., has been previously placed on the machine, and, 
with a roar that makes you think that demons have broken 
loose instead of a beneficent genius, the machinery is 
set in motion. It is impossible, whilst the apparatus is 
at work, to trace all its actions, but enough is seen 
to excite the highest admiration and wonder. The con¬ 
tinuous web of paper, as it is printed, is cut up, folded, 
counted, and deposited in fifties, at a rate which makes 
one think of flakes in a snow storm. I have never seen, 
to my mind, a more impressive sight than that of a 
modern newspaper printing machine in full activity. 
The public museum at Cardiff contains a miscellaneous 
collection of curiosities, but its Natural History depart¬ 
ment is at least better than any of which we can boast in 
Birmingham. It contains a very fine set of models, 
constructed in glass, of invertebrate animals, many of 
them on an enlarged scale. 
In consequence of the continuously bad weather, I did not 
get far away from the town. A visit to Llandaff Cathedral, 
two miles out, was interesting, as it is considered the finest 
in Wales. In the fields below was growing abundantly 
Sapunaria officinalis , which is usually considered to be an 
escape, but which was here certainly growing quite wild. 
A visit to Penarth headland, the same distance away, was 
very interesting from a geological point of view. The section 
is 100ft. in height, and displays at the base Triassic marls, 
with large nodular masses of gypsum. This is followed by 
70ft. of Bhaetic or Penarth beds, and these are capped by 
Lias. The whole series is perfectly conformable, and the 
colour changes so gradually from the red of the Triassic to 
the grey of the Lias that the observer cannot, at first sight, 
distinguish where the one leaves off and the other begins. 
The cliff is continually showering down small particles of 
rock, and though I did not see any large blocks come down, 
yet they evidently do so at times, and this induces caution 
in approaching too near. 
