JANUARY 16, 1891.]

stoutly vindicated his selection, declined to be dictated to, and, indeed, made but slight efforts to hide the hostility of "higher officialism." Since then, whatever tension may have existed has been removed, and cordial relations appear strongly in evidence, at the present time cemented, it is not unlikely by the well-advertised, if somewhat tawdry, loyalty which marked the Postal Jubilee of 1890. In the present state of affairs, it may be advisable not to overlook this forerunner of so much subsequent trouble, for it is not altogether impossible that in this direction may lie some of the factors which have contributed to the recent unprecedented course of post office turmoil and disaffection. After the friction mentioned above, and the example being to some extent set by superior officials, in quick succession followed the letter sorters' movement, the great upheaval in the Telegraph Service, afterwards the ill-managed postmen's agitation and strike, and completing the sequence there is now the so-called "Lock-out" in the Savings Bank Department. Thus the Postmaster-General has had no less than five phases of official and departmental warfare to encounter and obviate.

Whether he has been successful or not is a matter on which there is a great difference of opinion, and it may be that his tactics, as well as those of his colleagues, have at the most been but partially successful in restoring order and subordinate harmony to his gigantic and, it may be, overgrown departments.

Commercial men, following these outbreaks with a business mind, may be disposed to come to the conclusion that there is something radically wrong in the administration of business connected with the Post Office.

When men enjoying the fairly comfortable social and professional position of-to use an expression culled from the conciliatory speech of Sir Arthur Blackwood to the Savings Bank clerks last Thursday week-the "gallant English gentlemen of the Savings Bank," find it necessary to vindicate their position and privileges in the way they have done, there is certainly some ground for looking upon their action as confirming, and in a measure substantiating, the causes of recent disaffection in other departments.

We need not recapitulate the circumstances attending the so-called "dispute in the Post Office," nor need we traverse ground already broken by contemporaries; but there are a number of points on which nothing has been said. It has been said, and it is no doubt true, that employers of skilled and unskilled labour must on certain and sometimes unexpected occasions demand extra exertions and sacrifices of time from their employés. Going a step further, we may say that it would be folly to question the absolute dependence of commercial success on the prompt overcoming of such crises. Much, of course, depends on the way in which special services are solicited and exacted, and though it is not for a moment to be supposed that we are anxious to uphold or commend the action of the Savings Bank clerks, it appears to us that the framing of the order, intimating the infliction of compulsory extra duty or overtime, was a shade worse than injudicious. It seems practically to have courted the reception with which it was met.

Much as has been said against the Savings Bank clerks, we have to remember that Sir Arthur Blackwood himself speaks of them as even more than respected colleagues, and, under the circumstances, the effect of his arbitrary and despotic injunction requires little imagining. Overtime is positively abhorred by many members of the Civil Service, and this dislike extends well into the higher grades. It surely seems an unfair thing to tell people, who, though in no way lacking in official zeal, yet have, for the whole term of their service, politely declined to accept overtime, that their abstention from it on a particular occasion, especially under short notice, will be regarded as a case of glaring insubordination, and treated accordingly.

We suppose most of our readers have made themselves acquainted with the order we speak of. It is not unreasonable to suppose that such a method would hardly be the one adopted or recommended by the principals of independent corporations, whether banking or mercantile. May it not be supposed that even savings bank clerks are amenable to the instincts of courtesy and kindness. We find it so, at all events, much lower in the labour scale. The display of tact which might naturally have been expected from such a galaxy of well-bred and well-paid officials as those by whom

93

the Postmaster-General is surrounded was, on this occasion, conspicuous by its absence; at all events we, in common with many others, have failed to discover it.

In the course of his speech on Thursday week, Sir Arthur Blackwood subscribed, in no uncertain terms, almost a fresh article to the Civil Servants' confession of Faith. Obedience was the first duty of the servant of the State." This is no doubt a remodelling of the "Queen's Military Regulations," by one of which military men are reminded that "The first duty of a soldier is obedience."

Now, though such rules and regulations define the duty of a soldier, and prescribe all kinds of consequences in the event of their being breached, yet it does not prevent their being occasionally disregarded and overridden by discontented and sometimes badly-treated sons of Mars and Neptune. Speaking in a collective sense, tact and kindness have prevented more breaches of military and naval regulations than have retributive and exemplary punishments, if we may believe those best qualified to know. In this direction it may not be uninteresting to our readers parenthetically to mention one case, that of the English war ship Theseus, which, manned by a disaffected and refractory crew, joined Nelson's squadron just about the time of the blockade of Cadiz in 1797. The brave little rear-admiral shifted his flag from the Captain to the Theseus, and his kindly personal influence and command were so possessed of that magnetic charm which becomes contagious that not only did discontent quickly disappear but, as was usual with Nelson's crews, feelings of affection sprung up, and the men of the Theseus proved themselves the equals of Nelson's famous "Agamemnons."

As if to pledge themselves to good works, a note from the crew of the Theseus reached Nelson mysteriously one night, containing the following moving sentences: "Success attend Admiral Nelson! God bless him and Captain Miller! We thank them for the officers they have placed over us. We are happy and comfortable, and will shed every drop of blood in our veins to support them, and the name of the Theseus shall be immortalised as high as the Captain's.-Signed Ship's Company." Nelson felt nearly as proud of this as he did of the Order of the Bath, which he received about the same time.

Harking back, however, to the postal struggles of the last few years, it is likely enough that the nation does not wish its civil servants to be governed by rules similar to those which control recalcitrant marines and disorderly militia

men.

For one thing, the soldier and the sailor are under service every minute of the twenty-four hours, but this is not the case, it is almost needless to say, with our Civil Departments. The Savings Bank clerks have properly expressed regret for their conduct; no doubt, as they urge, they did not think so serious a view would have been taken of their conduct. It

is also a matter for regret that an appeal couched in the conciliatory terms of Sir Arthur Blackwood's speech on the Thursday following the contretemps was not delivered on the Thursday preceding it.

Its object wonld have been fully attained, and its moral effect would have been at once satisfactory and permanent. Placed in juxtaposition to each other, the autocratic secretarial mandate, and the semi-socialistic secretarial oration, display, in a most striking way, the extremes of administrative resource, the positive and negative of departmental control. One of the conclusions to be drawn from the episode is that possibly an increase of the staff in the Post Office Savings Bank Department would prove beneficial to the public service.

TESTING ARC LAMPS.

BY FRED. H. COLVIN.

THERE is in use at the main Brush Electric Light Station, Philadelphia, an ingenious and praiseworthy arrangement for testing the arc lamps before they are sent out, or on repair work. It is praiseworthy because it saves the eyes of the workman, and ingenious because of its novelty.

The testing rack is of the usual form, but in front of each lamp is placed a lens which is provided with a rack and

pinion focussing arrangement, and fitted in a horizontal sliding way or frame so as to be readily adapted to each carbon.

The lamps to be tested are switched on as usual, but the operator, instead of watching the carbon points themselves, adjusts the lens to focus on the white wall several feet away, and there watches the enlarged and inverted image of the carbons in all their processes of burning, and sees much

H

SIMPLE METHOD OF TESTING ARC LAMPS.

more accurately than if he watched the carbons themselves. This does not injure the sight to any perceptible degree, and is not only humanitarian, but gives a clearer idea of the action of the carbons.

The accompanying figure, from the New York Electrical Engineer, will illustrate the plan quite clearly.

ABSTRACTS

OF PUBLISHED SPECIFICATIONS, 1889.

13,389. "Improvements in electro-magnets and in their application to arc lamps." H. HARPER. Dated August 24th. 8d. The outer or" series" coil, composed of coarse wire, consists, by preference, of several coils arranged in series and wound upon a lining tube, which may be of brass. The inner or parallel" coil is composed of fine wire, and is also wound upon a brass lining tube. The lower end of each tube is formed or furnished with a collar for carrying the weight of the wire. The upper extremity of the inner tube is fastened direct to a metal carrying plate; the upper extremity of the outer tube being secured, by means of a flange and through the intervention of a vulcanite disc, to the same carrying plate. 5 claims.

19,450. "An electro-motor worked by alternating currents." M. LEBLANC. Dated December 3rd. 8d. Claims:-1. In an alternating current electromotor the combination of an armature and a coiled ring provided with collector and brushes revolving synchronously with the generator of the alternating currents, substantially as described. 2. The described method of transmitting by the same conductor the continuous currents for exciting the inductors of the machines and the alternating currents for their armatures, and of separating these currents at the place of their application into two branches, the one for the inductors including a coil of small resistance but high selfinduction, the other for the armatures including suitable condensers. 19,813. Improvements in the methods and apparatus employed in the heating, melting, and working ef metals, alloys and metalloids by the application of electric currents." J. C. WERNDLEY and H. FOSTER. Dated December 10th. d. The inventors make use of a dynamo or other suitable electrical generator for the formation of a voltaic arc where required, and further introduce into the electrical circuit the metal, alloy, or other article to be heated, melted, or otherwise operated upon in such a manner that a voltaic arc can be formed at any desired point on the article, either by the approach to each other of two or more carbons or other suitable bodies forming the positive and negative pole of the circuit respectively, or the metal or other article to be heated, melted, or otherwise operated upon, may itself form one pole of the circuit, while one or more carbons or other suitable body forms the other pole. In the union of metals or alloys, either in layers or otherwise, to themselves separately or to each other, they connect a cable or other suitable conductor to the article to be operated upon, and also to the negative pole of the dynamo or other electrical generator used. They then connect one end of a similar cable or other conductor to the positive pole of the dynamo or other electrical generator, and to the ether end of this cable they fix a carbon or other suitable body having an insulated handle attached, and by which it can be moved about as desired, without danger to the operator. 4 claims.

20,022. "A bi-planar electric switch." E. WILSON. Dated December 12th. 8d. The inventor pivots a semi-circular ring at the ends of its diameter, so that it can oscillate up or down on a horizontal axis, and he pivots in like manner another semi-circular ring, so that it can oscillate to right or left on a vertical axis. One of the

[JANUARY 16, 1891.

semi-circles is smaller than the other, so that it is free to move within the other. To both semi-circular rings he attaches a switch handle, by guides, so that the handle can be slid along either ring carrying the other ring with it. On each side of the middle point of each ring (that is to say, the extremity of a radius perpendicular to the vertical plane of the four pivots) at some distance from that middle point there is a contact. The switch handle can be moved to any one of these contacts, so as to close any one of the four circuits with which they are connected. 2 claims.

20,082. "A method of and apparatus for signalling numerals, letters, and other symbols by electric light." R. T. TURNBULL. Dated December 13th. 4d. At the receiving station the inventor fixes a frame, in which are mounted a number of incandescent electric lamps arranged in rows in different directions, such that by illuminating several of these rows in combination or succession, groups of lights are presented, having approximately the shapes of the symbols that are to be signalled. At the sending station he provides a suitable electric generator and commutator connected by conductors with the receiving apparatus, and by means of this commutator he transmits currents in such combinations or successions that only the lamps of the particular rows forming the desired symbol become lighted. 2 claims.

20,582. Improvements in electric meters and indicators." J. EINSTEIN and S. KORNPROBST. Dated December 21st. 8d. A revolving body communicates motion through the intervention of an intermediate piece, to a registering device the ratio of the effective diameter of the revolving body to that of the intermediate piece being varied according to the strength of the electric current, the speed of rotation being correspondingly varied either directly through the current to be measured by means of a solenoid, or indirectly through a branch current, in which are interposed two oppositely acting electro-maghets. 4 claims.

20,645. "New or improved means for protecting the metallic coating of telegraph cables from corrosion." J. A. L. DEARLOVE. Dated December 23rd. 4d. The inventor coats the metallic strip with what is known as anti-sulphuric enamel, or other suitable enamel, varnish, or adhesive protecting material, by passing the said strip through a bath of the material, removing the surplus by means of suitable brushes or "doctors," and he then drys the protecting material on the strip by passing the latter, when coated, as above described, through a steam jacketed cylinder or other heated chamber. 2 claims.

20,646. "A new or improved printing telegraphic apparatus." G. A. CASSAGNES. Dated December 23rd. 18. 1d. The object of the apparatus is to receive the electrical signals transmitted from a distance and to translate them into typographic characters printed upon a paper tape, as fast as the transmission proceeds. The principle of the method consists in placing at the receiving station a number of electro-magnets equal to the number of keys which are to be combined together at the transmitting station, and in arranging these electro-magnets in such a manner that the attraction of their armatures will produce by means of proper mechanism, such angular displacements of a type wheel as are determined by the number of electro-magnets in action; so that the depression of any key, or that of any combination of keys, will bring immediately, under the printing pad, the division of the type wheel whieh bears the letter or the group of letters, to be printed on the tape. 8 claims.

CORRESPONDENCE.

Electric Light on Shipboard.

Mr. Rankin Kennedy's letter published in your issue of the 19th ult., seems to me to be somewhat beside the mark. In his previous letter he stated that lead covered wire without continuous vulcanised rubber insulation was a failure on board ship, and in reply I pointed out that this was not the experience of the English Admiralty or of Messrs. Sir. W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co.

All questions of insulation must in practice be reduced to a compromise between cost and absolute excellence, and it is obvious that materials which from an absolute point of view may be the best, may for financial reasons be practically precluded. The true question to be decided is what form of insulation and protection is good enough to give really satisfactory results at a minimun cost, and I can only reiterate my opinion that lead sheathed cable insulated with yarn and bitumen meets these requirements very well, so far as the lighting of ships of war are concerned.

No doubt mercantile boats present different conditions, but to these I have not alluded.

I cannot agree with Mr. Kennedy when he states that well braided vulcanised rubber insulation is as waterproof as, and does not require more protection than the lead covered wire ; but even if this were so, I would point out that the latter would still be preferable, as the smooth, even surface of the lead and the way in which it allows the cable to be bent to fit any position, and causes it to remain in that position when once bent, give the lead covered cable a great advantage

JANUARY 16, 1891.]

Being experimenting with some 100 volt incandescent lamps, I noticed some rather curious phenomena which I have never heard described before.

One terminal of the lamps was connected to the terminal of a shunt wound dynamo, the other terminal of the lamp was lying on and in contact with the field magnets of the machine, the brushes were raised off the commutator (the machine was not running) and 56 accumulators were connected with the terminals of the machine and were consequently sending a current round the field magnets.

On suddenly breaking the field magnet circuit the lamp lit up and went out again instantaneously; but on examining the lamp afterwards I found that the filament had opened out so that it was within inch of the glass thus :

I can understand the lamp lighting up on breaking circuit; it was no doubt due to the induced current, as there was a slight earth on both mains leading to the battery, but I cannot understand why the filament should have been drawn to the glass.

I also find that if you connect a lamp to some accumulators, holding the lamp close to the field magnets whilst they are excited and then open and close the lamp circuit so rapidly that the filament never gets more than red hot, the filament will commence to vibrate so violently as to touch the glass, and a bright blue spark will appear at the point of contact wherever the filament does touch the glass. The higher the field magnets are excited the more violent are the vibrations, and the greater the brilliancy of, the spark.

If the field magnet is opened neither spark nor vibration. can be obtained.

If these are well-known facts, I shall be much obliged if you can give me any explanation of them.

Force, Energy, Power, &c.

H. Hewlett.

M. Hospitalier has justly criticised" Foot-pound's " method of showing power and work done as a volume alongside energy as a surface. It struck me, however, on reading the latter's letter, that he perhaps did not mean his representation to be taken in diagrammatic literalness, but that having shown energy as a surface, he had reverted to the volume not as a volume, but merely as something different from a surface to illustrate the next idea. The method, nevertheless, is an unsafe and misleading one, for it makes time a factor of work. No doubt when the work done per second (or the power) is known, the work done in a given time is got by

95

multiplying the second's work by the seconds in this given. time; but the time idea is merely accidental here, and not essential; it is used simply as a means of arriving at the total work done, the notion of which as pure work does not involve the idea of time at all.

Similarly, the Board of Trade unit is rightly spoken of as a fixed quantity of work or energy, for 1,000 watt-hours = coulomb 1,000 × volt x second × 60 × 60 × second, the seconds cancel, and we have volt-coulombs or joules.

It would have been more consistent had " Foot-pound" taken the lb. (weight or force), gramme (of water), or coulomb as a unit, shown by an upright line of fixed length, and the feet, degrees Centigrade, or volts, by a horizontal line of indefinite length. The completion of the rectangle at the point marking a given number of feet, degrees, or volts would then show the work done therein. Underneath could be drawn another horizontal line for time, the unit being indicated by the point where a perpendicular, dividing off work done in unit time, cut this line. M. Hospitalier says that power is not the work produced in the unit of time, but this is exactly what it is, being, in fact, work divided by time, i.e. work per unit of time, whatever may be fixed on as such. "Foot-pound" also makes E t (energy x 1 second = power, energy The numerical result in the seconds

whereas it should be

case of one second (as he takes it), is, of course, the same either way, but it would not be so if time exceeded units. Thus the rectangle cut off to the left by the time-unit perpendicular referred to, would show power, and the whole rectangle would stand for work done, apart from connection with the time line underneath.

Jas. McLachlan.

I fully admit the accuracy of Mr. Hospitalier's criticism of my diagram considered as a scientific exposition. Energy and work being really the Dr. and Cr. sides of the same account, should of course, strictly speaking, be represented by the same means (i.e., both as solids or both as superficies). It was not, however, a scientific exposition that I intended; the hybrid diagram being merely meant as a visible peg whereon to hang remembrance, in which respect I still think it suitable and convenient.

A desire not to tresspass on your space unduly, and a somewhat hasty writing of my letter have, I see, caused me to be hardly sufficiently explicit, and with your permission I will now add a word or two to my previous description.

=

To anyone at all acquainted with the subject, it is of course evident that power is not energy x unit time the mumerical expression of power, however, is the numerical expression of energy developed per unit time. Thus, taking the pound, foot, and minute as units of force, distance and time, respectively, if force 330 and distance 100, then energy 33,000 foot-pounds, and, if this amount of energy is developed evenly in the course of one minute, then a power of 33,000 foot-pounds per minute (for convenience only called one H.P.) is at work. The continued exercise of this power for n minutes (t") does "solid work" to the amount of 33,000 x " foot-pounds.

=

In the equations printed under the diagram "E t'power' should have been written "E ť per = power."

January 12th, 1891.

The Foot-Pound.

The City and South London Railway. With reference to your editorial note at the foot of the article regarding the commercial prospects of the above undertaking, I have endeavoured to ascertain how much of the 50 per cent. on other railways is taken up in motive power expenses only. In the Board of Trade Railway returns figures are given regarding the total expenditure for locomotive power, but no distinction is made between the expenses incurred in the haulage of goods trains and those involved in passenger train traction. Moreover, I am informed,on good authority, that even the railway companies themselves are not aware of the exact ratio which the one bears to the other. You will therefore see that it is impossible to obtain the information you desire.

96

The complaints made by Mr. Mackenzie-Ledlie, reproduced in the last issue of the REVIEW, are mostly well founded; but I must take exception to the statement that the "ventilation at best is excessively poor." I found when travelling on the trains the other day that instead of the ventilation being poor there was too much of it; but this and other defects will doubtless be remedied in due course.

The number of passengers on the train when leaving King William Street Station on Saturday last at 11.30 a.m.-a busy time-was 27, and two additional passengers entered the train at the Elephant and Castle. On my return journey from Stockwell, at 12.15 p.m., there were 33 passengers on board, whilst four others were picked up at other stations. On both occasions there were about 15 persons who from their behaviour I concluded were travelling for the sake of curiosity.

London, January 12th, 1891.

A. Willbond.

THE CITY AND SOUTH LONDON RAILWAY.

To the Editor of the Electrician.

Sir, In the last issue of your journal you state: "During the first 14 days, ending on Saturday last, the receipts amounted to £1,947, showing that 233,640 passengers had been carried during that period, or on an average 16,688 per day; that is to say, nearly 40 per cent. more than was estimated by the pessimistic Mr. A. Willbond." This is all very well in its way, and might have passed muster amongst your readers were it not for the extraordinary fact-which seems to have escaped your attention in making up-that you have yourself discounted your own figures by stating that it must "be borne in mind that novelty is only a temporary attraction, and that comfort and regularity will alone secure permanent patronage."

The figures given by me in the ELECTRICAL REVIEW were based upon permanent traffic, and I have found when travelling on the railway that the actual number of passengers carried was, on several occasions, only a very small percentage higher than given in my estimate. "It is, moreover, to be borne in mind that novelty," which "is only a temporary attraction," was at that time still temporarily attracting.

I hope that your readers who have read the two leaderettes in question will find my letter at last a "temporary attrac

tion."

Is Science Disciplined Knowledge, or is it Something Else? I find that I omitted in the foot note to my last communication certain matters I desired to emphasise. In the extract which was given, Sir William Thomson refers to what he has termed "the known laws of diffusion of electric currents through non-magnetic conductors." What I wanted to direct attention more especially to was, that it seems to me that there can be no absolute law, and consequently no "known laws," each conductor through which transient currents are being transmitted having its own specific capacity. The specific capacity of soft iron to occlude energy is greater than that of tempered steel, and very much greater than that of copper; but no two samples of iron have precisely the same capacity, and similarly different samples of copper do not have exactly alike. Soft pure iron not only occludes more very when it forms part of an electric circuit than tempered

[JANUARY 16, 1891.

steel does, but it parts with a greater percentage of such occluded energy at the time the circuit is opened, and copper conductors would seem only to have the power to occlude energy so long as an electric circuit is closed through them. The shape of a conductor also affects its capacity to occlude energy, the specific capacity of a conductor in the shape of a ribbon being less than that of the same amount of material in the form of a cylinder, and the capacity which a straight cylindrical conductor possesses to occlude energy is very much less than that of the same conductor when in the form of a helix or a solenoid.

An excited electrophorus may be regarded as the electrical analogue of a tempered steel magnet, and a Leyden jar, constructed of pure flint glass. may be considered to be the electrical analogue of very pure soft iron rendered temporarily magnetic.

It is almost impossible to completely discharge an electrophorus, and it is very difficult to completely demagnetise a tempered steel magnet. A Leyden jar made of flint glass, however, discharges very completely, but at the same time not absolutely, and soft pure iron parts with magnetism very completely, but also not absolutely.

Magnets and charged Leyden jars resemble one another in the fact that they are both of them examples of a statical occlusion of energy, and it may be said of them that they comport themselves alike, and also differently; place a piece of iron in the lines of force connecting the north and south poles of a magnet, and it becomes magnetically polarised; and, similarly, if matter be placed within the lines of induction of a charged Leyden jar, it becomes electrically polarised; but electrical polarisation occurs only through a path of matter, whereas magnetisation can take place through absolute space. Now, the occluded energy of a Leyden arrangement, and also that of a magnet, cannot perform work, but it can form a fulcrum for mechanical force to act upon (in one case in matter and in the other in space), and by the expenditure of mechanical force, work can be done-influence machines and dynamos are cases in point.

Physicists talk of the rate at which electricity travels; my contention is that electricity does not travel. In a closed circuit, such as that of a dynamo, it may be argued that the electricity forming part of the matter of the dynamo circulates round and round, but not so in the case of a lightning discharge or that of a Leyden jar, where there is no circuit, but only a path.

I think I am now in a position to point out a source of error which our physicists, it appears to me, have fallen into, and possibly Maxwell himself also, they seem to have confused both electricity and light with energy; neither light nor electricity is energy; light, it is contended, does not travel from the stars through space, but simply energy, and such transmitted energy develops light when it comes in contact with matter; energy is also concerned in all electrical phenomena, and it is energy, not light, that travels at the rate of 192,000 miles per second.*

It may be said I am coming round to the newer theoryin a sense, but only in a sense, this is true. I have arrived at my present position by correcting what I conceive to be the errors of our physicists, and I am pleased to arrive at some common ground of argument.

My criticism throughout has been almost exclusively confined to the elucidations of Maxwell's theory by Prof. Lodge and Sir William Thomson, so far as their elucidations relate to such practical questions as the laws which govern the transmission of energy through the medium of transient electrical currents, be these currents lightning discharges, or be they alternations developed by a transformer, and I have nothing to retract from what I have said.

In the course of my communications which have appeared in these columns during the last three years, I think it will have to be admitted that I have thrown some new light on inertia and energy, and also on certain of the more elementary physical phenomena. Time will show whether I am right or wrong in what I have been contending for, but I myself am firmly persuaded that my contentions having reference to the electrical transmission of energy will be found to be in the main correct.

S. Alfred Varley.

Physicists talk of the rate at which light and electricity travel, on reflection it will be seen that it cannot be correct to do so.

THE ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY IN

FRANCE.

OUR Parisian contemporary the Bulletin Internationale de l'Electricité, recently published, in articles extending through seven numbers, a report on the projected French tariff in relation to the electrical trades of that country. The report is addressed to the Association of Electrical Industries by M. Sciama, manager of the "Ancienne Maison Breguet." The conclusion reached by M. Sciama is, that in nearly all the departments of electrical manufacturing the Frenchman is no longer able to hold the home market against the foreigner. Ergo, he must be protected by heavy duties or he will be crowded out and foreigners will monopolise the supply of electrical manufactures in France. We fear that M. Sciama's confreres will hardly thank him for this frank avowal that their rivals in other countries are getting ahead of them. If French manufacturers cannot hold their own market, the bearing of the circumstance on the export trade is so obvious as scarcely to need remark. It is a notification to all the world that Paris cannot compete with London, Berlin, and Vienna, for the electrical orders of South America, Australia, and the other markets whose supplies are drawn from Europe. To be sure France does not now occupy one of the foremost places in foreign electrical markets. The creation of an artificial dearness has already been so highly developed that French manufacturers have fallen behind English and even German ones in the race for the "Colonial" trade. But in spite of all the disadvantages to which they are subjected by legislative interference with the natural course of trade, the ingenuity and taste of French inventors and the industry of French artisans have hitherto obtained a certain proportion of the electrical trade of the world. The tendency of the legislation now sought for must be of course. to sacrifice the export business for the sake of monopolising the home trade. The arguments used by M. Sciama to prove that the French manufacturer requires legislative aid in his struggles are of the usual protectionist order. He marshals his statements, however, so baldly as to render the absurdity

of the argument only the more evident. His main reliance is in figures purporting to give the prices of labour and materials in France as compared with Germany, Belgium and Switzerland. The great electrical manufacturing nations of the world-Great Britain and the United States-are omitted. It would be uncharitable to suppose that they were left out because their inclusion would not have served the desired purpose. His statement is that both materials and labour are dearer in France than in the other countries mentioned. Assuming that the only elements entering into the cost of an electrical instrument are the value of the materials and the price of labour by the day, the conclusion is that French manufacturers will be extinguished unless the legislature comes to the rescue. It seems very singular that M. Sciama should helplessly assume the higher prices in France to be in the nature of things, instead of enquiring into their origin, and that he should propose to make the manufactured article still dearer by still more artificial means, instead of endeavouring to place his country on an equality with its neighbours by utilising all the means in its power to bring prices down. Taking one consideration with another it seems to us that English manufacturers may look on with equanimity while our neighbours are putting on tariffs which serve to keep them out of prosperous markets.

ELECTRICITY FOR NOTHING.

SOME months ago, at a meeting of the City Commissioners of Sewers, one of the members of that body moved that the report of the Electric Lighting Committee be "referred back" to the Committee, on the ground that he had been told that a new process of generating electricity without the aid of steam engines and dynamos, and at an exceedingly small cost, would shortly be introduced into London. Our readers will remember that the Perreur-Lloyd system, which we had previously shown to be based on erroneous ideas, was the process which had dazzled for the moment the City Commissioner. The principal feature in M, Perreur-Lloyd's system