to compound a turnip manure that shall be at once effective and economical in different soils. With out going beyond our own parish, it would be very surprising indeed if the mixture that proved most remunerative on Clinterty should also prove most remunerative on Oldmill. And it is gratifying to learn on reliable evidence that a moderate dose of a fertiliser may in some circumstances be more profitable than a heavy dose; for in the experiinents of the Cirencester Chamber of Agriculture, as just reported upon by Professor Wrightson, 3cwt. superphosphate per acre for swedes was found more profitable than 60wt., a result which is the more remarkable that soluble phosphate is the specific for the turnip crop.

"ARGENTO" PICTURES.

THE following description of the manipulations

it. I then got out of my buggy, and in doing so
struck the bridge of my nose across the wheel and
cut it severely. I then went to the head of the
horse, took hold of the bit and attempted to pull him
I then commenced
around, but he would not move.
to anharness him, with the expectation of pulling
the buggy off the rocks myself, feeling all the time
very sleepy. When I had almost completed the
task of unhitching the horse from the buggy, the
desire for sleep became so great that I could bear it
no longer, and I laid down upon the rocks by the
side of the horse and went to sleep. I must have
lain there some fifteen or thirty minutes, when I
was aroused by a coloured boy who found me. Upon
his asking me where he should take me, I told him
to Paris, still not being aware of my critical condi-
tion. Upon arriving in Paris, my feet were put
into cold water, which entirely, I think, cured them,
as they do not hurt me. My left hand does not give
and 1 think will be all right in a few

of guttapercha and sand; the outside of the wood sheathing thus cut off from all electric communication from the iron plates and frames can be coppered, and thus the transport will sail better by far than before, but the copper should be kept at least 3in. distant from all ironwork, such as the screw propeller. If this wood sheathing be caulked with oakum, made from hew tar rope (not oakum picked in gaols from old rope taken from the marine-store dealer), the ship may be safely sent out for a five years' cruise, without fear of her leaking, and if the attachment of the screws be inspected and made good, the sheathing will remain good for fifteen years, with merely re-caulking, the ship thus sailing at small cost.

T for obtaining ** Argento" pictures are given me much pain, ight hand was badly frozen; nothing the Edinburgh courant, which must be responsible

by Mr. Wenderoth, of Philadelphia :—

A carbon print is made by exposing a piece of carbon tissue, sensitised by bichromate of potash, under an ordinary negative, in the usual way of A metal plate with a printing carbon prints. silvered surface is taken and ribbed by rubbing it with a sanded brush, to deaden the polish and to give effect to the picture. The plate is then cleansed with spittle (nothing else answers the pupose so well), and then laid upon a sheet of paper on a table flowed with diluted alcohol. The carbon print is now laid face down upon the print, paper laid upon it, and a squeegee (made of a piece of wood and several thickneses of ordinary bed ticking wrapped over one end) used to force out the superfluous alcohol between the picture and the plate, and to make the one adhere to the other. The alcohol also serves to prevent the occurrence of air-bubbles. The whole is now immersed in a pan of water of about 100° temperature, and developed in the usual way, leaving on the plate a picture, the shades of which consist of the coloured gelatine and the lights, or rather, the highest lights of the surface of the plate exposed under colourless gelatine. This part of the operation, as all carbon printers know, is most fascinating and beautiful-more like the developing of a collodion plate than anything else. As soon as the superfluous colour is all washed away, the pictures (now on the metal plates) are removed from the water, and hung upon a line by clips to dry.

seemed to do it any good, and I am afraid I shall
lose three, if not four, of my fingers. Last night.
when I arrived in Paris, I could give no account of
myself, but this morning I remember every
incident."

SUGGESTIONS FOR MAKING HALF-WORN

IRON

PERFECTLY
OUT
SHIPS
WORTHY AT A SMALL COST.*

SEA

HERE can be no doubt that the half-worn-out
THE
plates of iron ships may be much strengthened
by the application of the cements in ordinary use,
composed of silicate of lime and alumina. The
plates are found covered with scales of oxide of iron,
and when the cement is applied in a wet state, an
imperfect chemical union is formed, consisting of
silicate of iron, lime, and alumina, which hardens
into an artificial stone of some strength; the plates
are firmly backed up, and the ship is much strength-
ened throughout her structure; as long as there is
little cargo in the ship, she makes but little water,
and seemingly is in perfect order for the longest

sea-voyages.

This, however, is delusive, for when the ship is loaded, say 20ft. deep, and her plates are a little strained by the motion of the ship, she begins to leak; for although the scales of iron, strengthened by the artificial stone, may easily resist the pressure of water where it is only 2ft. or 3ft. deep, with a To render them more lasting still (though a carbon pressure of 1lb. or 14lb. on the square inch, yet they print on a metal plate seems to be as permanent generally yield to a pressure of 101b. on the square as anything can be) they are, when dry, herme-inch, or 1,400lb. on the square foot, in 20ft. of water. tically sealed to glass in the following manner: At that depth a little water oozes through some A little stand should be provided, made of a plate small orifice on the outside of the plate, and collects of cast iron, say one quarter of an inch thick and behind a strengthened scale; it gradually accumutwelve by twenty inches in size, smooth on the lates, and, as surely as in a Bramah press, acts with This a 10lb. per inch pressure on the scale, and forces it upper surface, riveted to a leg at each corner. plate is heated with gas, or a coal oil stove, the heat from its place; an inward current of water is then being applied at one end, so that the end of the established, which is sure to enlarge the leak. plate furthest from the heat will be considerably Sometimes the scales are of sufficient strength to cooler than the other. Now lay the picture upon resist this pressure, but the risk is great. It is inthe iron plate at the warmest end. When it be- structive to remember that the scale of cement was comes warm, drop upon it a small piece of white found to be gone off from the lowest part of the wax, which will soon melt, and naturally spread bottom of the Megara near the keel, and several over the whole surface of the picture. Now, hav. bottom shales of iron andplaster were detached in the ing first heated the glass, place it upon the surface of that unfortunate ship. of the picture, place them under a weight on the cooler end of your iron plate, where they will gradually cool and become effectually sealed together. They are then cleaned and mounted in a case or frame, as desired.

The results are very beautiful, and are made more brilliant by the metal plate on which they are mounted. The prints are made by "cut outs," so that, when finished, the white metal plate forms the margin, which adds greatly to the effect.

HOW A MAN FEELS WHEN FREEZING.

URING the recent cold weather, Dr. McMillan, D a young dentist, while travelling from North Middletown, Ohio, to the adjoining town of Paris, was overcome by the intense cold, and came near being frozen to death. He narrates his experience, in the Cincinnati Enquirer, as follows:

"After having proceeded about three miles on

By affixing cement upon the inside plates of an iron ship, a most deceptive trap is laid. In dock, under survey, the ship appears abundantly strong, and resists the strenuous and honest strokes of a wood mallet; borings may be taken which seem compact-the ship may not even leak till a small hole occurs deep in the outward surface from working in rough water; when the ship labours, the trap falls, and lucky are the sailors if they escape.

In cementing vessels it would be well to fill in solid between the frames, and flush with the lining or ceiling about the bottoms of coal bunkers, leaving a course for water in the centre of each bay by inserting a piece of iron piping; the bottom parts of the vessel, fore and aft, should be filled in to nearly the top of the floor plates, and such other parts as it is difficult to gain access to.

MORE PSYCHIC" MANIFESTATIONS. THE following account of some curious psychical or spiritualistic phenomena are published by for the truth of the statements contained therein. It appears that in the shop of a Mr. Nicol, Edinburgh, there are at present on view several paintings which have a peculiar interest attached to them, not so much on account of their intrinsic value as works of art as from the fact that they The in an entranced or somnolent condition. have been produced in the dark by a person while circumstances which have lead to the production of these pictures may be briefly stated. During the last visit to Edinburgh by Mr. Home, the spiritualist, his séances were attended by several gentlemen who were sceptical as to the power attributed to spiritualism, and they formed themselves into a club, which held meetings twice a week for the purpose of investigating the subject. After a number of experiments they succeeded in producing some of the so-called phenomena, but nothing that could not have been explained by natural laws. In the course of their inquiries the members of the club sought information in spiritualistic literature and from other sources; and they soon learned that a the person of a Mr. D, a journeyman cabinet wonderful "painting medium" was to be found in maker in Glasgow. It was stated that this man, In order to satisfy themin his normal state, had no knowledge of painting, but that when he fell into a trance he painted excellent pictures in oil. selves on the point a meeting was held in a house in Edinburgh, at which the "medium" was present, a temporary easel was erected, and a piece of millboard, prepared for oil painting, was nailed on it. The "medium" then sat down on a chair, and said that the company need not refrain from conversation, as it would not hinder the manifestations. In the course of ten minutes he fell to all appearance into a deep sleep, and immediately started to his feet, his countenance being entirely changed, and bearing a more intellectual aspect than before. He shook hands with a number of imaginary persons in the room. His eyes were shut during the greater part of the time, except when visible. In a minute or two he opened a parcel, he spoke to them, and the balls of the eyes appeared to be turned round, and nothing but the whites number of paint brushes, a tin case with oil colours made up in a newspaper, which contained a large in tubes, and a pallet. He first of all selected the brushes with which he was to work, trying their painter would do. He then selected colours from Having points on his tongue and on his thumb nail, as a the tins, and put them on the pallet. changed the position of the easel from what it was While he was drawing, the gas was ouce or twice when he was awake, he took a pencil and outlined a picture with great rapidity and no little skill. put down, and when it was put up it was found that he had made as much progress in the dark as in the light. Some of the gentlemen present stood close to the easel, and they afterwards stated that the eyes of the medium were shut all the time. After the picture had been outlined, Mr. D took slow careful manner, but in slapdash style, and the up the pallet, and commenced to paint, not in a result was that in 32 minutes a picture of Loch Achray was completed. The spiritualists say that

Should it be desirable to preserve an iron ship for future use, whose framework is of adequate strength, but where the state of the plates is precarious-this may be accomplished by lifting all platforms, and everything that covers over the inside of the plates my journey, my feet became very cold. By in the hold; a sheathing then can be fixed all over stamping my feet upon the floor of the buggy imagined I was perfectly warm, as my feet troubled the plates outside from keel to deck, of say 4in. thick, of pitch pine above and American elm under me no longer, and the cold sensations through my the deep water secured by means of metal screws 3in. attended a specimen was given. The medium took body ceased. I, however, felt dull and sleepy, like a man who is drunk. I didn't care for anything. long, turned from the inside of the plates into the At this point, I believe, I began to freeze, and ought to have known it, but felt so comfortable that I did hole through its middle for the screw would be not reach them without the company being aware

more wonderful manifestations can be obtained in
Mr. D's presence, namely, the production of
'spirit paintings," in which the medium's haud is
not called into exercise at all. The production of
these spirit paintings takes place (of course) in total
darkness, and at the meeting which Mr. D-
sat between him and the colours, so that he could
his seat at one end of a table, and the colour box
was placed at the opposite end. Several gentlemen
as if feeling for a card suitable for the operation.
of the circumstance. He took from his pocket a
number of cards and rubbed them with his hands,
He appeared from his manner to be asleep, but was
visite, prepared for oil painting. It was marked on
able to answer questions and carry on a conversa-
tion. He at last chose a card the size of a carte de

not examine my situation. After I had driven about three miles further my hat was blown off, but, being in a hurry to reach Paris, I did not stop to hunt for it. When I had proceeded perhaps a mile further, letting the reins lie in the bottom of the buggy and paying no attention to my driving, my horse shied off the side of the road and ran upon a rock pile. I then attempted to get the lines and pull stem, keel, and such like parts, can be sheathed, the back, so that it could be checked, and laid on the

him off, when I discovered I had lost the entire use of my right, and could barely use the left hand; with this one I attempted to pull him off the rocks, but the buggy wheels being locked, I could not do

wood. Where the plates happen still to be of sufficient
strength, the application of an iron washer with a
found enough; but where the plate is weak, a butt
plate secured between the frames may be advanta
geously employed. I should recommend a screw,
cast in Prince's metal, in. in utmost diameter, with
six turns in three inches. This screw will sup-
port 1,2001b. without drawing, and cost 2d. The
and fastened by means of metal screws and nuts,
countersunk in the wood, and covered with stoppers
*Read by WILLIAM POOLE KING, Esq., before the Insti-
tute of Naval Architects.

company were told that they would probably retop of the colour box opposite the brushes. The would be shown. The light was then put out, and quire to wait some time before any manifestations

1

in a few minutes there was a sharp sound, as if a wire was being drawn over a piece of paper, and a noise was made as if a brush was thrown on the table. That was the signal for the lighting of the gas, and the company then saw the card close to the place where it had been laid. On turning it up it was found that a picture had been painted on the under side, and was still wet. As some of the company had doubts as to the experiment, a request was made that it should be repeated. The light was again put out; and in a short time a pencil was dashed on the table. On the cards being examined, it was found that there were two subjects very cleverly drawn-a faithful portrait of Hugh Miller and a sketch of a girl! Mr. D was in the trance about three hours; and when he awoke he appeared to take great interest in the pictures

heat also affects them injuriously, and, of necessity,
oily dusters or greasy fingers will soil them. With
care, however, they may be kept, even in London
houses, without the hideous covering of a glass
shade. This process of paraffining casts appears to
be admirably suited for works intended for public
exhibition, which are necessarily subjected to the
influence of many atmospheric impurities. It not
only enables them to be preserved in a compara-
tively clean state, but it substitutes for the dull,
cold, and ghastly whiteness of the raw plaster an
agreeable hue, substance, and surface. The sugges-
tion of this use of paraffin was made by Professor
Marshall, and it has been practically tested by Mr.
Thornycroft and his son."

OF SMOKE.*

In each tube of an ordinary tubular boiler is inserted another of much smaller diameter, perforated at its end nearest the fire in such manner as to cause an induced draught when required, by a current of air flowing through the said tube, or being forced through by a blower or steam jet, this being under perfect control by opening or closing a valve. Each of the boiler tubes is in this manner filled by a smokeless flame of great intensity-the deposit of soot and dust is reduced to a minimum, there not being any smoke except on first lighting the fires. No obstruction is offered to cleansing the tubes, and the inner ones can be separately unscrewed, or removed in sets, when it is required to prick out the perforations or to renew the ends.

The expense is small, the air pipes costing not more than a few pence per foot, and no alteration most trifling nature.

an interest which could not be simulated. He said ON ECONOMY OF FUEL AND PREVENTION for their introduction being required except of a that he had seen in a shop window somewhere the original of one of the pictures he had drawn. We state the above facts simply as we have ascertained

them.

Our contemporary says that the greatest pains were taken to test the truth of the statements made, and that the reporters whose evidence is given are by no means to be regarded as spiritualists. Still, it is a remarkable thing that the "spirits" must have "darkness" before they can exhibit their talents, and few sensible people will believe in these supernatural paintings unless they are permitted to furnish the cards and see them painted in broad daylight, the handmaid of Truth

result required, there is still in all furnaces, HE heating surface being in proportion to the and particularly in those of marine engines, a loss amounting to at least 25 per cent., arising from imperfect combustion. Indeed, it has recently been stated, on the authority of a Royal Commission, that our best Cornish engines only utilise one-eighth of the coals burnt, and the majority of engines not more than one-thirteenth.

In order that I may explain the object that I have in view, and the principle of my system, by which I seek to prevent this loss, it is necessary to consider the nature of those effects which we find in operation in the furnaces of our engines.

The same system is applicable to locomotives and other engines.

WANT OF OBSERVATION IN THE FARMER." PERHAPS the best way of testing whether the farmer acts justly by his workman is to seek an answer to the question whether the latter does or does not generally receive a full equivalent for the value of the labour he is able to supply. Of course this point is not so easy and simple to solve as in the case of many manufacturing matters, but reasonable conclusions might be drawn by any one thoughtfully estimating the value of crops and the When coal is burnt in the open or in the ordinary proportion of cost which labour represented in their house grate, the principal products of combustion production. Probably little difficulty would be found finely-divided carbon escapes combustion and-fire. of the work he did. This being so, no rise of wages are carbonic acid and water; a certain portion of in showing that the labourer's pay, taking all the and con- year, came fully up to, or exceeded, a fair valuation When the decomposition of coal is effected in re- could take place under existing circumstances withtorts or vessels from which the air is excluded, the ont a dead loss to the employer. How, then, could products are much more numerous and complicated, effort be made to improve the status and raise the in the form of hydrocarbon gases, and partly in the plain and inevitable-increase the value of his work. a large amount of volatile matter is expelled, partly income of the labouring man? The answer seems form of hydrocarbons in the state of vapour, solid But how, again, can this be done? By making him coke remaining in the retort.

THE STEAM JACKET. Tjacket to which we have not yet referred. THERE is a practical objection to the use of the High-pressure steam, especially if quite dry, appears to exert a peculiar solvent effect on cast iron. Already we hear rumours in numerous directions of the rapid wear of the high pressure cylinders of compound engines, an evil which grows in proportion with each augumentation of the weight of the casting. It appears to be fortunate that the remedy for this evil affords the best possible method of applying the true theory of the jacket in practice. present the conditions of the open fire and retort, Now, different parts of the furnace frequently reIn certain cases the jacket is made by putting also constantly varying in place and temperature. thin steel tube into a cast-iron cylinder bored out In the laboratory, if we want a smokeless gas flame, to receive it. The Reading Works Company have brought this system of construction to great perfec-burner, in which a mixture of air and gas takes we adopt some contrivance similar to the Bunsen tion, for example, with excellent results. How far place (as in some varieties) through wire ganze, the the scheme is applicable to marine engines we are particles of air and gas being thoroughly disunable to say. We suggest that, especially in tributed through the entire volume; the molecules marine engines, instead of steel-notably an uncertain material-hard brass, or more strictly speak-dition that is essential, and the result is a smoke-depth, that five times the man's daily pay was thrown of each gas coming into individual contact, a coning gun-metal, liners should be used for the high less flame, in which glass tubes and white porcelain pressure cylinders. Properly made, the material is much harder than cast iron, and will take a beauti- capsules may be heated without becoming blackened. ful surface; while the material, being an excellent This would not be the case with the ordinary conductor, would comply with one of the fundamen- gas-jet burning in the open; the supply of air in tal conditions of eminent success in using the this is abundant, but it is not commingled with jacket. The idea is a mere extension of the system outer shell, producing a flame that deposits a thick the flame, only coming into contact with the of lining air pumps. We do not claim it as origi- soot on any other object placed in it, pointing out nal, but we believe this is the first time the scheme the absolute necessity of maintaining the conditions has been mentioned in any journal; and it appears of combustion that we possess in the Bunsen's to us to be well worth the consideration of engineers engaged in the construction of large steam engines working with considerable pressure.-Engineer.

burner.

a better workman in the matter of individual tasks. dexterous at sowing a field, ploughing a farrow, Seize systematically every method for making men mending a harness, sharpening a hoppole, foddering a bullock, and managing a yard of dung. This fact. He (Dr. Monckton) had seen with his own eyes, was not a matter of vague generality, but of hard within twelve months, important tasks so badly done that double the wages might have been paid for good work with profit to the farmer. He had seen wurtzel seed so unevenly drilled in point of away, because he had never been taught that mere holding straight was not drilling, but that regular and shallow deposit of the seed was even more essential. He knew a hop-garden of favourable clays, and not of running sand, that had been imperfect fall secured on the earlier occasions. He drained three times in nine years, because of the had seen last season gangs engaged in hop syringing; the work accomplished by one gang would be more cheaply paid for at £1 a day than that by the others at a crown. Again, why should not every farm of reasonable extent see that some of its hands could thatch, or stack, or build a pig-sty, or paint a waggon, or shear a sheep, or mend a fence? it had been too much the custom for a whole parish to depend on one thatcher and sheep shearer, who often earned 30s. in three days, and was drank for analogy week. Surely own

It would be simply ridiculous to attempt to make
gunpowder by the haphazard throwing together
of saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal. The pro-
portions of the gun and projectile might be the
best, but what result should we have from an ex-
It is doubtful whether it
would ever burn. Is there not a close der land
plosive so prepared?
furnace, and the condition of the combustible
material represented in the latter by the imperfect
mixture of air and flame?

object to save by the proper admixture of the atmo-
spheric oxygen

PRESERVING PLASTER CASTS. ACORI view of the approaching Royal AcaCORRESPONDENT of the Athenrum writes: demy and International Exhibitions, it may be worth while to draw the attention of sculptors to the use of paraffin for saturating the surface of plaster of Paris casts, instead of employing stearine, or clogging them with coats of paint. Paraffin, carbon pass off in a dense smoke, but also volumes Not only may vast quantities of unconsumed from its comparatively unchangeable nature, its few of invisible and inflammable gases escape ignition, chemical affinities (parum affinis), the variety obtained from peat or mineral tar, indeed, having at a low temperature the furnace may actually be as they would from the retort of a gas factory, and been tried for ages by exposure to all sorts of cos- distilling hydrocarbon oils, as in one specially mical vicissitudes, seems, à prior, more likely to built for that purpose. be durable in colour and other qualities than stearine. It softens at 110°, melts at 130°, and is then It is this visible loss in smoke, and visible loss in easily applied, in one or more dressings, to casts anconsumed gases and vapours, which it is our made previously warm in an oven or on a covered stove. It imparts to the plaster an agreeable appearance of subdued transparency, combined with Various contrivances have been proposed for this solidity, far preferable to the effects produced by Improvements at the bottom of the furnace, as in purpose, and adopted with more or less success. stearine. The casts soon acquire an ivory-like the ventilating fire bars, which make a better distone, and their surface is destitute of any greasy tribution of the air, at the lower part of the fuel. In feel or any unpleasant glare; unlike those dipped others the air has been admitted at the fire-door, in stearine, they do not appear, after a trial of many and at the back of the bridge; but the volume of air months, to turn yellow-moreover, paraffin is very cheap. Of course the casts to be treated with it must be clean to begin with, and any seams should be neatly finished off. When properly saturated for half an inch or less in depth from the surface, the paraffined casts are smooth and dry to the touch, so that dust, if it gathers upon them, does not adhere to them, but may be removed by a fine brush, or may be washed off with a soft sponge and cold water, either with, or better, without soap. Warm is the subject of this paper. or hot water makes them adhesive, melts the paraffin, exposes the pores of the plaster, and causes dirt to sink into the surface in patches or Streaks. Any exposure to undue fire heat or solar

has generally been greater than necessary, chilling
the gases below the point of ignition, the stream of
cold air only coming into surface contact with the
heated gases, as some ocean currents of hot and
cold water are said to flow side by side without
mingling with each other.

heated gases with air, as in the Bunsen's burner,
It is, therefore, the thorough admixture of the
which is the essential feature of the system which

The object in view I seek to attain as follows:

* By Captain J. GORDON MCDAKIN, late 42nd Highlanders. Read before the Institution of Naval Architects.

the rest of thed to benefit by these rather better
paying jobs. A great industry had sprung up in the
country in the use of creosote. How many of
those now listening had ever so studied the matter
method for
as to know the very best time, temperature, and
seen professors of the art, men who let out tanks,
the process? He had himself
did not even know what a thermometer was, and
and took contracts for their neighbours, and who
yet pole-dipping could never be done to the best
advantage without its aid. Many workpeople in
charge of those tanks now receiving 2s. 6d. a day,
would be better worth 4s. if rendered more ob-
servant, more painstaking, and better instructed.

THE DIRECTION OF LABOUR.

augmenting the value of the workman's toil-viz..
a more skilled and studied direction of his tasks,
Of course it was clear in connection with what had
already been said that the master must instruct
himself, and exercise increasingly his own wits as
well as those of his workman, and this feature
must never be blinked. Not only morally, but in
business aptitude, the man will be what the master
makes him. Take a clutch of pointer puppies and
give four away to four different people; the value
of their labour in two years will depend almost
respective masters have set and kept them to their
entirely upon the pains and skill with which their
work. An army of soldiers may be of exemplary
skill and courage, and yet see their efforts nulli
by unwise or insufficient planning and direc

But this leads us to the second method of

Maidstone Farmers' Club.
From a paper read by Dr. MONCKTON, bef

In the matter of labour a farmer must be exercising a perpetual foresight to make his operations dovetail and harmonise. The job of to-day must be habitually so done as to render more cheap and effective the work of to-morrow. Labour so

SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

HACKNEY SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION.

directed will yield value and show a result. With-AT the usual fortnightly meeting, held on March 12, Mr. W. R. Birt, F.R.A.S., Vice-President, read an able paper on

out such management, men, though industrious and well enough master of each particular task, will inevitably muddle away time, and waste money -laboriose nihil agendo.

ORNAMENTATION OF SILVER PLATE.

The Rewards of Science.

vated by the society will be recommended to fill the offices.

There can be no question that in our larger scientific societies the appointment of a fellow as

ORNAMENTATION of silver plate is at the pre-in whatever departments Olympic games the bue- and as the society should be presided over by a

sent day quite a work of art compared with the specimens handed down to us from the last century; but, by the aid of steam, a more intelligent class of workmen, and a better class of tools, added to a purer taste for the elegant, have worked wonders in this respect, and now even the commonest articles of silver plate bear the impress of beauty. One of the most striking inventions of a recent date for such ornamentation is that by Mr. J. A. Rhodes, of Sheffield, a description of which cannot fail to be interesting, and we quote the following from a recent article in Nature:"A thin plate of metal perforated by punching, shows a depression of the edges of the perforations, while the surface of a plate cut by saw piercing preserves its even uniformity. It may be supposed that the figures so cut out would at times be remarkable for beauty of form, and, indeed, they are so more or less, but still it seems to have Leen left for Mr. Rhodes to utilise these, so as apply them to relief ornaments. It must be remarked that Mr. Rhodes is not only his own designer, but for nearly twenty years has been the designer and piercer to the principal firms in Sheffield, and his ability and taste are, therefore, well known in the trade. The idea is very simple, but, like all other ideas of value, might have remained a long while dormant, had not Mr. Rhodes, Columbus-like, put it to practical application. To give our readers a clear idea of the new method of ornamentation, we will take the tea and coffee service for example, and suppose the panels complete and ready to become the design. A plate of gold having been provided of a suitable substance, the intending design is drawn on it, and so prepared and applied that the design or ornament becomes solidified with the metal of the vessel, with an appearance of having been adapted by some curious and singularly precise method of casting, and quite excluding all supposition of parcel-gilding." After referring in detail to some engravings of spoons and a salt-cellar, which appear along with the articles, the writer adds:"With respect to the cost of these table requisites, they are brought generally within the means of householders, unless the ornament be unusually rich. The low relief ornaments, on the less expensive products, are worked in aluminium; and for objects yet less costly it is not necessary that they be of silver. We all know the infirmity of gilding, or parcel-gilding; its existence is only a question of a few years, while, on the other hand, the substance of the superimposed gold or aluminium will, with fair treatment, last half a century, without any very conspicuous show of wear and tear. This invention, being only in its infancy, is open to amelioration in perhaps many directions. One advantage which strikes us most forcibly and directly, would be the picking out, or clearing with a sharp point those bas-relief forms which may not be sufficiently definite; and thus the invention would be raised more nearly to the level of fine art. The process, as we understand, does not limit designs to the flat bas-relief, but is susceptible of the adaptation of compositions even approaching high relief, and the latter manner of treatment would raise well. considered products into competition with the most beautiful and valuable metal works of the most celebrated producers of any time. There is nothing repoussé that could equal what may be conceived of the prominence of detail and delicacy of finish of such works. Their effect would resemble that of inserted ivory-carving, with, if necessary, sharper cutting. This is only an idea of the perfection to which the invention may be carried, for nothing of this kind has yet been produced. Mr. Rhodes has patented as well a method of ornamenting metals with enamel or of embellishing with enamel a superimposed metal design."

member of council carries with it a prestige equivalent to a reward for services rendered to science, and to give an opportunity for rewarding a labourer in the field which it is the province of any particular society to cultivate, provisions exist in some Mr. Birt said: The similes of running a race, by which no fellow can serve in any office for a climbing a ladder, or striving to attain the summit longer period than two years, at the expiration of of a steep and rugged ascent, have very frequently which a member of council may be advanced to a been employed to indicate the earnestness of men higher post, as secretary or vice-president, and a in seeking to obtain a recognition of their labours successor recommended from among the fellows, exerted. In the ancient Olympic games the suc-gentleman well versed in the branch of science cessful competitor received a laurel crown, perish- cultivated by it, the greatest care is generally exerable in itself; yet the fact of the successful termi-cised by the retiring council in recommending a nation to him of the conflict in which he had been gentleman qualified in every respect for filling the engaged, opened up rewards of a much higher and chair at the expiration of the then president's enduring character. The chariot of the warlike period of office. The rewards, therefore, in the conqueror was prepared for him, and in it he was gift of a society are-publication of papers, apseated, to be conveyed by four horses to his own pointments to the various offices, the highest being city. On his passage homewards he was received the presidency; beyond this is the medal. in every city with the greatest acclamations, but he was not permitted to pass through the gates of his own. He had been a conqueror in athletic games. or in the horse and chariot race, or he had excelled in poetry, in eloquence, or the Fine Arts, and his own citizens would not receive him as an ordinary citizen. He had won the crown, the symbol of the friend to humanity; he appeared before them as a conqueror, and he must enter the city as such through a breach in the walls. The painters and sculptors of his country perpetuated the game he had won. A statue commemorative of his victory was erected in the sacred wood of Jupiter, at Olympia, and his name was celebrated by poets and thus handed down to posterity.

The cultivation of science may be likened to a race, or still more to the climbing of a hill, from the summit of which, to speak hyperbolically, we obtain an unbounded prospect. Methinks I see a number of hard-working students running this race-climbing this hill. Every portion of the natural world is ransacked by them to obtain materials with which to construct their theories, or by which they hope to enlarge the boundaries of knowledge. Here and there they separate into little groups, with the object of thoroughly exploring portions of the hill in the course of their toilsome journey to the top, others give their attention to the natural productions of the hillside-the trees, the flowers, the grasses which adorn it; others, again, not content with earthly things, turn their attention to the heavenly, as night after night the earth is enveloped in darkness and the spangled sky showeth unto them knowledge. By the aid of their instruments they sound the depths of the illimitable space above them, and they put such questions as these to themselves:-How are these mighty orbs distri buted in the illimitable space? What is the physical constitution of the sun shining above us? What was that wonderful shower of stars which fell a few years ago from the sky ?-with others of a like nature. A partial solution of these questions urges them onwards in their researches.

Now and then I behold some little commotion among the groups; I am desirous of ascertaining to what it is due, and upon attentive consideration I find that an advance in knowledge has been made by a successful investigator, and his fellows are about to reward him by a mark of their approbation, which he receives at their hands. The award is made by a few who have themselves been rewarded by their fellows by being elevated from the mass of workers to the positions which they occupy, some having already received a similar mark of approbation, while others are still striving for it. This mark is considered as the impress of the sovereign upon the genuine coin: it gives currency to philosophical thought, the ideas worked out by the recipients are generally received as exponents of truth: they are, in fact, rendered current among philosophers.

A consideration of the rewards given by the Universities and the State will not occupy us long: a mention of them will be sufficient for our present purpose. Honorary degrees, appointments in the gift of the Government, honours conferred upon the most distinguished cultivators of science, and pensions granted to those who have made remarkable discoveries, are the principal. As may be readily imagined, the attainment of these rewards depends more or less upon the recommendations to the Government of the recipients by influential men who are personally acquainted with them.

The "Rewards of Science," as we have thus sketched them, are emphatically external. They are marks of the estimates which men make of the labours of their fellows. They are by no means to be despised, yet it is exceedingly important that they should not be overvalued. From the very nature of things, especially when every field of inquiry is literally crowded with labourers, a small minority can only hope to succeed in obtaining the

crowns" of the various societies, and a still smaller the more substantial rewards of the State. And are no other rewards within the reach of the student? Must he depend entirely upon his fellow-man for the recognition of his labours? Most assuredly, if he undertake the cultivation of science only with the hope of one day becoming great and eminent, the probability is that he will fail in the attainment of his object. There are rewards superior to any that man can bestow. We know that ability for scientific research is not confined to the rich and great, and many a student who has occupied his leisure in the acquirement of knowledge has also contributed to its extension without even attaining a position beyond a worker; also many a student has undervalued the results which he has obtained, and for want of sufficient energy in making them known, they have slumbered, until some one, having obtained similar results and remarked their bearing on our present knowledge, has given them to the public, who has reaped the advantage. The real source of satisfaction to the student is a love of science for its own sake, or rather, for the sake of the Bestower of every good and perfect gift. We have heard of "Nature's Aristocracy," a better expression would be, "God's Aristocracy" consisting of men on whom such gifts are bestowed. In the employment of his gift, each step the student takes is accompanied with its own reward. For there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his portion." The pleasure experienced in every advance which to a student is really a discovery, is the highest, the greatest the purest reward, because he regards it as the result of a gift bestowed upon him.

There is another source of pleasure to the scientific worker, which consists in the publication of the results of his labours. While deriving satisfaction from these labours, he would not add to the stock Dropping the figure, it may not be uninteresting of knowledge unless he were to communicate the if we offer a few impartial remarks on the "rewards results to his fellows. From the very birth of of science" given in this country. The groups of science a communication of the results of the ardent workers, our scientific societies, give rewards labours of its votaries, either orally or in writing, of a minor character-the publication of papers, has been the means of increasing and perpetuating appointment as office bearers and members of knowledge. In the present day the channels are councils, the highest reward in the gift of a society numerous through which information may be com being the "medal," or in some cases" medals." In municated to mankind. Publication in the transthe distribution of these rewards the greatest care actions of societies implies a supervision on the should be, and generally is, exercised in the ap- part of councils or editors, and must be regarded pointment of officers and members of councils, for on in the light of a reward. There are, however, chan. An Important Discovery.-An important dis- them depends the award of the medal which is to nels of a different kind through which students covery bearing on the antiquity of man has just taken stamp in the eyes of the general public the philo- may communicate their views to their fellow place, Mr. Edward Charlesworth, F.G.S., one of the sophical value of the work of the medallist. In workers, and in which such views are freely and correspondents of the ENGLISH MECHANIC, having dis- most societies the appointment of office bearers and impartially discussed. Other channels are also covered in the Suffolk crag, or older Pliocene beds, members of council is by ballot, a list having been open which need not be specified here. It is the teeth of the extinct shark (Carcharodon), apparently presented by the retiring council of fellows recompress that gives stability to works of science.. A perforated by human agency, as well as many concretionary nodules with longitudinal perforations unlike mended by it as suitable for the various offices to thought embodying a fact brought for the first time those produced by the action of boring mollusca. The be filled. To the vote by ballot or the recom- to light is committed by its author to this general specimens will be exhibited and described at the meet-mendation of the retiring council there cannot be repository of all knowledge; it may, from a variety ing of the Anthropological Institute on the 8th of April. the least objection, for it is presumed that a body of circumstances-its non-acceptance by those If this discovery is verified, it will carry back the ex- of gentlemen forming the élite of the society are who are looked up to as the leaders of tence of man in England to a period coeval with the above prejudice, and, besides, it is a guarantee the scientific thought-its being in advance of stodon arvernensis, and far more ancient than the that none but gentlemen duly qualified by a prac- the age, and the general body of scientific men iammoth age." tical acquaintance with the branch of science culti-being unable to appreciate it-lay dormant and

The members of this association are cultivators of true science in a true scientific spirit, and seeking "I would have every one write what he knows, and as their reward only in their work. Such need not be much as he knows, but no more; and that not in this disheartened if their labours are not readily appre-only, but in all other subjects: For such a person may have some particular knowledge and experience of the ciated. In the great majority of instances in which real knowledge has been communicated to mankind other things, knows no more than what everybody does, nature of such a person or such a fountain, that as to it has always been so, the first announcement of a and yet to keep a clutter with this little pittance of his, fact is received with caution, often with distrust, will undertake to write the whole body of physicks: & the general recognition of it may be long deferred, vice from whence great inconveniences derive their but truth can never alter, and the highest reward original"-Montaigne's Essays. a man can have is the satisfaction of knowing that in communicating to his fellow man a new truth he is a benefactor to his race.