Слике страница
PDF
ePub

Dr. CARTER exhibited the nut of Anacardium, which produces a natural indelible marking ink.

The Rev. THOMAS P. KIRKMAN, M.A., F.R.S., then read the second part of his paper "On the Simplest Possible Experiment in Physical Science." *

SIXTH ORDINARY MEETING.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, 12TH JANUARY, 1880. EDWARD R. RUSSELL, PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

Mr. STEARN exhibited an Incandescent Carbon Lamp, upon which he and Mr. Swan had been engaged for the last two years, and which had been in use months before the recent introduction of the Edison Lamp, and upon which he made the following remarks:

INCANDESCENT CARBON ELECTRIC LAMPS.

By C. H. STEARN.

A claim having been recently advanced by Mr. Edison to the invention of an electric lamp in which carbonised paper is rendered incandescent by the current, I cannot, in justice to my friend, Mr. J. W. Swan, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, allow the statement to pass unchallenged.

On Oct. 15th, 1877, Mr. Swan first mentioned to me that he had, at least fourteen years previously, kept strips of carbonised paper incandescent by a battery in the vacuum of an ordinary air pump, and although after some time disruption had occurred, he was satisfied that the subject was worth. re-investigation, and invited my co-operation in a series of experiments on the durability of this carbonised paper in the more perfect vacua produced by the Sprengel pump.

* See page 109

From that time till now we have been engaged in the research, and tried various forms of lamp, using both carbonised paper, also thin carbon pencils, several of which I now exhibit in action.

I also produce a few of the carbonised paper strips that Mr. Swan left with me in 1877.

At a very early stage of our inquiry we found it absolutely essential that the residual gas occluded in the pores of the carbon should be removed by heating with the current before sealing off the lamp from the pump. When the vacuum is thus rendered permanent, and the contacts between the conducting wires and the carbon made perfect, little if any waste of carbon seems to occur; and if a longer experience shows that this absence of waste still continues, then, I think, the advantages of Mr. Swan's system of lighting will be found to be so great, that it must ultimately supersede most other forms of electric lamp, even if, as is asserted by many, there is a slight loss in the total of light obtained.

That Mr. Edison has arrived at his discovery of the advantages of carbonised paper quite independently, there is no reason to doubt; but to Mr. Swan, most unquestionably, belongs the merit of priority.

It seems to me that Mr. Edison has been rather precipitate in publishing his results, for though our experience of this method was long antecedent to his, we still think that further time is needed to test its durability before venturing on the positive statements that have lately appeared in the papers. Our experiments on various forms of the carbon conductor are still in progress.*

*Note added while the volume is going through the press, Aug. 6th, 1880, Since the above communication was made we have found that a carbonised thread, prepared by a new process, gives better results, and is at the same time tough and highly elastic. This carbon wire, for such it may correctly be termed, can be made into spirals, thus increasing the quantity of light and the elasticity of the conductor.

The Rev. H. H. HIGGINS exhibited a small series of sections of Coal Plants recently added to the Free Public Museum, and mounted for examination with the microscope; also male and female examples of the large and beautiful Butterfly, Ornithoptera aruana, from New Guinea, collected and presented by the Rev. W. G. Lawes.

Mr. T. J. MOORE exhibited a specimen of a recentlydescribed Monotreme Mammal, Echidna Lawesi, Ramsay, also presented by the Rev. W. G. Lawes, by whom it was recently discovered in Southern New Guinea, making an important addition to our knowledge of these lowest of Mammalian forms, which were not previously known to exist out of Tasmania and Australia. The species was described and figured by Mr. E. Pierson Ramsay in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, vol. ii., p. 32, pl. 1.

Mr. ISAAC ROBERTS, F.G.S., gave an account of the present condition of Kent's Cavern.

The Rev. J. SEPHTON, M.A., then read a translation, with introduction and commentary, of "Eirik the Red's Saga."

SEVENTH ORDINARY MEETING.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, 26TH JANUARY, 1880.

JOHN BIRKBECK NEVINS, M.D., EX-PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

Mr. JOSEPH BOULT read a paper on "Topographical Traces of Ancient Assemblies and Courts in the British Isles."

* See page 183

EIGHTH ORDINARY MEETING.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, 9TH FEBRUARY, 1880. EDWARD R. RUSSELL, PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

An EXTRAORDINARY MEETING was first held to receive a recommendation from the Council with regard to the proposed new Law, referred back for the Council's consideration on the 17th November. It was now recommended that the law should stand as follows:-" The Society has the right to print in its Proceedings all papers read before it."

This recommendation was unanimously approved and passed for the first time, on the motion of the President, seconded by Mr. Guthrie.

At the Ordinary Meeting which followed, Mr. CHANTRELL exhibited a very rare specimen of a fresh-water Alga (Coccochloris Mooreana, Hassall), which he found floating on one of the lakes in Birkenhead Park. A microscopic examination of the specimen showed it to be densely covered with minute granules or germs, to which its colour is due.

Mr. JAS. T. FOARD then read a paper on the "Life of Mr. Justice Story, Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States."*

NINTH ORDINARY MEETING.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, 23RD FEBRUARY, 1880.

J. CAMPBELL BROWN, D.Sc., VICE-PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

The proposed new Law was again considered and unanimously confirmed, at an Extraordinary Meeting held previous to the Ordinary Meeting.

*See page 213.

At the Ordinary Meeting, Mr. R. C. JOHNSON, F.R.A.S., in answer to a question, communicated the most recent information on Double Stars.

The Rev. H. H. HIGGINS exhibited an extensive series of diagrams illustrative of Floral Defences, and contributed some curious information thereon.

Mr. T. J. MOORE read the following note from Mr. E. Dukinfield Jones, C.E., Corresponding Member, dated São Paulo, Brazil, December 6th, 1879 :

"When I was at Ypanema, in the Province of São Paulo, I made enquiries from the Manager of the Works there about the supposed new underground monster, noticed by the eminent naturalist, Fritz Müller, in Nature, for Feb. 21st, 1878, p. 325.

"Mr. Moore asked me to find out whether there was any foundation for the report. The bicho' was said to be an immense Earthworm, over three feet in diameter, and none knew how long, that ploughed up great furrows and diverted the beds of streams.

"The Manager said he never heard of any such 'bicho,'* or any other bicho' out of the common at Ypanema, and he has been there twelve years."

Dr. DRYSDALE then read a paper on a "Plan of a Selfacting Method of Regulating the Stock of Gold for the Paper Currency." +

TENTH ORDINARY MEETING.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, 8TH MARCH, 1880.

EDWARD R. RUSSELL, PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

Mr. W. H. Tickle was duly elected an Ordinary Member.

* Bicho is a general term for vermin.

+ See page 237.

« ПретходнаНастави »