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From the report just issued of the Danish telegraphs in 1888, it appears that the trunk lines were increased with 14 and the branch lines with 61 miles, making the total at the end of the year respectively 582 and 1,577 miles. The personnel consisted of 730 operators, &c. A total of 1,525,268 telegrams were transmitted, yielding £34,700, which is an increase upon 1887 of 19 per cent. The greatest correspondence took place with this country.

Although Sweden is far in advance of her Scandinavian sister countries in respect of the development of electrical inventions, Norway is making fair progress, considering the smallness of her population and resources. It is particularly the telephone which is extended in Norway. For instance, in Christiania there are now over 2,000 subscribers and 2,325 apparatus, the daily conversations numbering about 10,000. The telephone company here has obtained permission to extend the net to all districts round the city, as well as to the town of Moss, the charge thither being 6d. per message. A number of tourist resorts in various parts of the country are also being connected by telephone. It may, by the way, be of interest to state that excellent telephone and telegraph apparatus is now being produced by the Electrical Bureau of Christiania, reported to be quite equal to that formerly imported.

Important negotiations are in progress between the German and Norwegian Governments for the purchase by the former of the direct German-Norwegian telegraph cable from Höyer, in Schleswig, to Arendal. By the terms of the concession, the German Government has the right of purchasing this cable at three months notice.

Finally, the returns of the Norwegian telegraphs are of interest just now, on account of the great reduction in rates which took place at the beginning of the year. The returns for the first three-quarters of the year show an increase all round. The number of inland messages despatched was 105,282, against 91,135 in 1888, and the foreign ones, respectively, 54,575 and 53,387. The receipts were £15,000, against £12,800 in 1888. The number of inland and foreign messages received was, respectively, 118,687 and 61,455, against 102,535 and 60,097 in 1888.

[NOVEMBER 8, 1889.

the mere separation of two springs kept together by the door or window when closed, there are points of detail, or the arrangement of the same, which practical electricians will recognise as requiring to be dealt with. The method, of which we give an illustration, devised by Mr. Cox, is a very practical form of contact, and is as good a model as could well be designed for the purpose. The general pattern is what may be called of the "door furniture" description, i.e., it is similar in appearance and make to the lock fittings for ordinary doors.

The fig. shows the arrangement; g is a brass box (one side being removed to show the internal fittings); the front part of this box, h, forms the fastening plate, as in an ordinary lock. This box is let into the door jamb to which the hinges are secured, or into the lower jamb of the window sash if the contact is to be used for a window alarm; b is a projecting piece forming part of the lever, d, which is hinged at c; the end of this lever is flexible, and is kept pressed against the insulated contact, a, by the action of the spring, e. The working of the apparatus is obvious; when the door or window is closed, the piece, b, is pressed back and moves the flexible end of the lever, d, away from the contact, a, breaking the circuit and causing the alarm to sound in the ordinary manner. The whole of the fittings being boxed in and the contact being a rubbing one, certainty of action is practically assured.

ELECTRIC TRAIN LIGHTING.

By CHARLES SELDEN.

SOME months since your committee on papers to be read at this meeting assigned to me the subject of "Train Electric Lighting," since which time I have been availing myself of every opportunity, when coming into contact with either system in use, or parties exploiting them, to glean all the information possible, and I have therefore put myself in the way of meeting a number of electrical people.

I have found it a much greater task than I had expected, not only on account of the systems involved, but particularly on account of the claims of the various parties in regard to the system in which they were interested, and especially in dynamo schemes, one of which are so numerous.

The storage battery companies give the impression in their circular that it is their system which is being used upon the Pullman limited trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and their agent stated to me at their principal office that their battery in connection with the "Barrett System" was being used entirely by the Pullman Company, and that the Pennsylvania Railroad Company was using their storage batteries to the exclusion of all others. Upon investigation, however, I found that the Pennsylvania Railroad Company is using some of the "Julien " cells, but a majority of their cells are from the New York Accumulator Company, and upon investigation with the Pullman Company I found that they are not using the "Barrett System," and that while they are using a number of "Julien" cells, it is also true that they are using a number of the Accumulator Company's cells.

Whenever I attempted to get down to figures with any of these exploiters or promoters, I was always met with a general answer which was of no use whatever to us in contemplating the introduction of such a system upon our roads. By travelling first and carefully noting the devices employed, and then conferring with manufacturers, I became conversant with what ordinarily would be the worst of such things as were in sight, and I am now able to offer you, for probably the first time that it has been done, the maximum

* Read before the Association of Railway Telegraph Superintendents of America.

figures upon at least one system (this is the system employed by the Pullinan Company, and which I designate as system No. 1), and from this we can deduce the cost of one other (system No. 2).

I made several trips on their trains, and observed the working of this system in all its particulars, spending the better part of three nights run in watching, both in the baggage car as well as others, and it was very satisfactory indeed, the light being brilliant and everything that could be desired.

On a recent trip to Chicago I called upon the chief electrician of the Pullman Company, who very kindly accompanied me to Pullman, showed me through their plant, and gave me valuable information. There are some points in this system, however, which were not explained to me, for the reason that there are pending patents; but this does not enter into the matter of cost, and I was told that it was only in protection to their company that many matters were not at this time made public.

I have examined the Boston and Albany system partially, but as that is purely storage battery affair, I cannot report results in figures until facts are obtainable upon which I can stand and feel assured that the figures which I give will at least not represent a cost less than we would find if put into practice; the figures I herewith give you are therefore maximum.

In practice this subject can well be considered under the head of three systems :—

1. Lighting cars by the joint use of dynamo and storage battery.

2. Lighting cars by means of direct current from the dynamo.

3. Lighting cars by means of charged storage battery. System No. 1 is in use by the Pullman Palace Car Company upon its limited New York and Chicago trains, the vestibuled trains of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company and others.

To explain system No. 1 (and it has more or less bearing upon all of the systems), I think it best to commence upon the car.

By experience it has been deemed best to place the wire on top of the cars. For this purpose there is a moulding run along from end to end upon the roof of the car, and branch mouldings extend to points over the panels between the ventilators of the car. The latter arrangement is used for day, smoking or other coaches, where it is desirable to have the lamps suspended from the bracket on the side of the car, instead of forming part of the lamp fixture which is in the centre. The main wires or leads are covered in this moulding, along the top of the car, and branches therefrom are either dropped down through the air tube of the ordinary lamp (where centre suspension is desired) or led through the panel noted above, where it is desirable to have a bracket. On top of this moulding is placed another, and then all of this moulding is tinned over and securely soldered, so that there is no leakage into the car, and the wires are fully protected. They are also free, in a great measure, from any movement by reason of oscillation or jarring, and hence the chances for abrasion of the insulation are reduced to a minimum, while at the same time they can be gotten at much more easily than though they were placed between the roof and the head lining.

While it is true that the wiring of a sleeper (on account of the greater number of lights employed) is greater than that of a day coach, the average cost per car, fitted with the best wire, is about $100. This includes labour.

A "Brotherhood" engine directly connected with an "Eickemeyer" dynamo, both of them being upon the same cast iron bedplate, is placed within a lattice work enclosure at the forward end of the baggage car, occupying a corner between the end door and the side door. Ordinarily this space is 3 feet by 5 feet. This engine is fed by steam from the locomotive, the steam gauge within the baggage car usually showing a pressure of 60 lbs., of which 15 is exhausted through the pipe for heating the train. The dynamo has an electromotive force of 68 volts, and has 60 ampères at 800

revolutions per minute. It should be understood that at 900 revolutions the same machine would give you 80 volts and 80 ampères. A good dynamo of this capacity will give plenty of light for 120 lamps throughout the train, and is considered an economical one, for the reason that it has margin enough to serve a longer train than usually carried, so as to meet emergencies, should they arise. The Eickemeyer dynamo, while first class in all respects, is especially so for train service. The lattice work has a door, and is also open at the dynamo end, so as to admit of placing a tachometer belt upon it, and arranging for the adjustment of brushes, should it become necessary; but upon the runs I made, it was not necessary to adjust the brushes, and there was no sparking at the brushes, even under full load--a most desirable point in favour of this type of machine.

Both the engine and the dynamo are fed by an automatic lubricator, which is placed against the side end of the car, and carries sufficient oil for one or two round trips, and having small service pipes extending to the oil cups, feeding them regularly, without the attention of an engineer, other than to see that they are properly started at the beginning of the run.

Against the side of the car is placed a steam gauge, showing the pressure received from the engine, another steam gauge showing the amount of steam going into the heating pipe through exhaust, an ammeter, a voltmeter, a test lamp and a tachometer, the practical use of which will be shown later on.

There is a connection device for connecting the cars together, so arranged that should they part it will be released, as is now the case with the air brake pipe. I have thus been full in the explanation regarding the baggage car, because it is, of course, the key to the whole situation.

Each car carries in a box, securely fastened to the bottom of the car, 32 cells of storage battery, and under the system of distribution this storage battery is partly in use at all times, furnishing, when the dynamo is running, 30 per cent. of the power given to the lamps, and when the dynamo is not running, furnishing all the power. Thirty-two cells are used for the reason that the lamps used in this system are all of a high voltage, namely, 63, the weight complete of the battery and its boxes being 1,300 lbs. per car.

During the day, or at other times when the lights are not in use, the dynamo is run a number of hours charging these storage batteries, so it is unnecessary to remove them from their location under the cars for a long term, dependent, ordinarily, upon whether or not they have been in a wreck, or by long use the plates have become buckled, when, of course, it is necessary to remove such plates and put the battery in good condition.

It is claimed that with this system the storage batteries last longer than where they are subject to removal for recharging at the end of each trip. Whether this is true or not is a question which experience alone would determine; but I am inclined to the opinion that the statement is correct.

This system, as in vogue, has an attendant ($90 per month and board while on the train), who is more or less experienced in electric lighting, and at terminal stations-that is to say, Chicago and New York-an expert ordinarily inspects the condition of the electric service prior to the train leaving, and at the station at Pullman they have also an electric light plant, which is utilised for storing electricity for their cars placed in the shop and which are about to start out on the road. The above will, I think, give you a clear idea of the general method employed.

The arrangement of the engine is so concise that I do not see why the baggage master should not be able to run it, after a little coaching, without any other attendant. For instance, if we have a gauge for steam from the engine with a notice under it that "This gauge should stand 65," and under the ammeter, "This gauge should stand at 63," and under the tachometer, "This gauge should stand at 800," it seems to me that any one with the least bit of common sense and a little bit of drilling would surely be able to run the plant, for (as

can be explained to him) if with the cock fully open steam should get below the point which you mark and call his attention to, he is to call on the engineer for more steam. If the revolutions should fall below 800 it would at once call his attention to the steam gauge, and if the voltmeter or the ammeter should show out of proportion, the test lamp in the baggage car, or the other lamps in the baggage car, would become dim, thus calling his attention even though he were otherwise engaged. If the engine men cannot give him more steam, there is but one thing for him to do, namely, cut off the dynamo entirely and fall back upon the storage battery for the light for the train. This, I think, would complete all I have to say at present upon System No. 1, the expense of which I show in full later on in this paper.

The system of lighting direct from a dynamo upon a train, without the auxiliary help of a storage battery, is not in use, but I confess that I do not see why it would not be a good thing to do and save the expense both in plant and the depreciation of the storage battery. There is an objection, of course, that in case of any failure, either in connections, engine or dynamo, the lights would go out, leaving the train in darkness. This, however, could be obviated, I think, by keeping one coach candle in each car lit, or one lamp in each car lit; it is necessary to carry lamps or candles anyhow for emergencies. It is also necessary when the steam heat fails to employ as before the Baker or other heater for your cars, so that whether your lamps are lit or not, as a matter of fact there are many times when you have oil in your cars and you have fire in them.

The efficiency of dynamos in this day, and especially the one noted, is such that I do not think there will be a failure on account of either the dynamo or the engine amounting to one per cent. of the time of its use, while should a derailment occur, I cannot but believe that the storage battery will be just as apt to be rendered useless by breakage as well as would the other mechanism.

System No. 3 is employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the Boston and Albany, and some others. I have been unable, as yet, to get any figures as to the cost. This system consists in merely placing upon each car a number of cells of storage battery (the cost of each cell ranging from $9.00 to $12.00) which are usually charged at the terminal points, the batteries then being trucked to the cars and placed therein, running one trip and then being trucked out for recharge.

The Pennsylvania Company uses a small number of cells (12 to the car), and a low voltage lamp, namely, 23 volts. They claim to get 16 candle-power to each lamp, but I hardly think they do this. The lamps that I have seen seem to be of less candle-power, and they seem to use a smaller number than are necessary to properly light the car for reading. Ordinarily they carry seven lights in the body of the car of 23 volts, one in the smoking room of 22, and one in each hallway or approach of 24 volts, making in all 10 lights to the car. With the Pennsylvania Company, at the time of my examination, these lights were employed only in their parlour cars. The best report I could get from that company was to the effect that they really do not know what the lights cost them, that it had never been figured down in a fine way. They have power and electric light stations at Jersey City, and they use a portion of that power for storing currents during the daytime, while at the same time the same power was employed at night in lighting their yards, &c., &c., so that it was a hard matter to get at, but they had determined that while the light was a little more expensive than oil, at the same time it was cheaper than gas as used formerly, which was placed in retorts underneath the car.

What I here say as to the cost of this system (ie., lack of absolute knowledge) is true of all roads using it so far as I could learn from those questioned.

The author then gave some observations and remarks in tabulated form upon the cost of lighting various types of car, but as English railway practice is so essentially different to that in the States, the data would not be of much service to our readers.

[NOVEMBER 8, 1889

SIR WILLIAM THOMSON'S CHAIN OF ELECTROSTATIC VOLTMETERS.

By ANDREW W. MEIKLE, M.A.

IN this paper it is proposed to give a description of a chain of electrostatic voltmeters invented by Sir William Thomson, and also to give an account of the methods employed in standardising them. These voltmeters have the great advantage of being available as accurate measurers of potential on direct and alternating systems, and, being electrostatic, they use no current, and consequently require no temperature correction. They are therefore free from the causes of error so prevalent in instruments of the electro-magnetic type, whose accuracy is impaired by variations of temperature, and which when used on alternating systems are affected by errors due to self-induction varying with the period of alternation. The chain of electrostatic voltmeters measures from 20 to 50,000 volts, and is composed of three distinct types-viz., the multicellular electrostatic voltmeters, the vertical scale electrostatic voltmeters, and the electrostatic balance.

The ranges of the separate instruments, as usually made, are :

The vertical scale voltmeter has been in use for about three years, but as the demand for it has lately increased since high potential systems have become so numerous, a few words of explanation about its construction and standardising may not be out of place here. It has therefore been included along with the later types in the present description.

Before describing the instruments separately, it may be well to notice some points which concern them all. The instruments are made on the principle of an air condenser, having one of its parts movable about an axis, so as to increase or diminish the capacity. The condenser is enclosed in a metal case, for the double purpose of protecting the movable part from air currents, and from the disturbing influence of any electrified body, other than the fixed portion, differing from it in potential. In all the instruments, except the electrostatic balance, the fixed portions consist of two sets of quadrant-shaped cells in metallic connection with each other, and formed by a number of parallel brass plates. These cells are fixed by an insulating support to the case of the instrument, and a terminal passes from them to an insulated binding screw on the outside of the case.

The movable portion in all the instruments is in metallic connection with the surrounding case. In the multicellular voltmeters this connection is made through the suspending wire, and in the vertical scale voltmeter and electrostatic balance through the knife edges which support the movable part. The movable portion carries the pointer which indicates by direct readings the difference of potential between the two parts of the condenser.

The action of the instrument, shortly stated, is as follows:-When the fixed and movable plates are connected respectively to two points of an electric circuit, between which there exists a difference of potential, the movable part tends to move so as to augment the electrostatic capacity of the instrument, and the magnitude of the force concerned in any case is proportional to the square of the difference of potential by which it is produced. In the case of the vertical scale and electrostatic balance instruments this force of attraction

NOVEMBER 8, 1889.]

is balanced by the horizontal component of a weight of any convenient amount hung on a knife edge in connection with the movable part, while, in the case of the multicellular voltmeter it is balanced by the torsion of the suspending wire.

The Multicellular Electrostatic Voltmeter.

The arrangement of the parts of this instrument is shown in figs. 1 and 2. These figures apply to an early form of the instrument, and differ in two matters of detail from the voltmeter as now made. For sim

525

other. Two sets of these cells, C, are fixed relatively to each other, as shown in fig. 2, by a vulcanite support to the sole plate, so that their plates are horizontal, and are completely enclosed within the brass cylindrical case of the instrument.

On the top of this cylinder is a shallow horizontal circular scale-box containing the scale of the instrument, and having a glass cover, which serves to protect from currents of air the movable indicator, I, and the scale and interior parts from dust. For the movable part a number of vanes, V, similar in form to those of the quadrant electrometer are used. These vanes are placed parallel to each other on a spindle with distance pieces between them. The top end of this spindle passes through a small hole in the sole-plate of the instrument, which forms the bottom of the scale-box, and is attached to a small coach-spring, which in turn is secured

plicity in manufacture the cells are now made with straight backs, and the plates looked at in plan are, therefore, triangular instead of square, as shown in fig. 2. A coach spring has now been interposed between the suspending wire and the spindle carrying the vanes, as explained below.

FIG. 2.

The insulated cells are formed of triangular brass plates fixed into saw cuts in a brass back piece so as to be equal distances apart and accurately parallel to each

FIG. 3.

to one end of a fine irridio-platinum wire suspended from a torsion head at the top of a vertical brass tube. The torsion head may be turned by means of a forked key provided for the purpose, and is clamped, to protect it from accidental displacement, by a cap which screws on to the end of the tube. The coach spring has sufficient resilience to allow the spindle to touch a guard stop, and so saves the suspension from injury in the event of the instrument being roughly set down. Two vertical brass repelling plates, which also act as guard plates to prevent the movable part from turning beyond its prescribed limits, are fixed to the bottom of the sole plate. These two plates carry a guide plate, G, with a circular opening in it, through which the lower end of the spindle passes. A little brass disc, D, or head, is attached to the end of the spindle, sufficiently large to prevent its passing back through the hole in the guide plate. Thus the movable part is effectually secured from swinging about so as to be injured, and by no possi bility can it come into contact with the insulated quadrants. When the instrument is level the spindle hangs free by the suspending wire, so that the vanes are horizontal, and each is in a plane exactly midway between those of two contiguous condenser plates. To facilitate the use of the multicellular as a portable voltmeter a small thumbscrew is placed in the centre of the base plate below the instrument, which can be screwed in so as to lift the weight of the spindle and vanes from the suspending wire, and clamp the disc on the end of the spindle against the guide plate. An aluminium needle, I, attached to the top of the spindle indicates, on the horizontal circular scale fixed to the upper side of the sole plate, the difference of potential between the movable and fixed portions of the condenser by direct readings in volts. To enable this multicellular to be used as an inspectional instrument capable of being read from a distance, as across an engine room, a

526

mirror, supported in a frame which passes over the vertical brass tube, and rests upon the glass cover of the instrument, is supplied. When this mirror is in position, it is at an angle of 45° with the plane of the sole plate, and by reflecting the scale and pointer, gives the instrument all the advantages of a vertical scale. The instrument is shown in fig. 3, with its mirror in position. (To be continued.)

THE INSTITUTION OF ELECTRICAL
ENGINEERS.

LAST Monday evening the first annual dinner of this institution took place at the Criterion Restaurant, Sir W. Thomson, the President, occupying the chair. Among those present were the Marquis of Salisbury, Sir G. Gabriel Stokes, M.P. (President of the Royal Society), Mr. Latimer Clark, Sir Frederick Bramwell, Prof. G. Carey Foster, Mr. Justice Stirling, Prof. W. Grylls Adams, Sir James Kitson (President of the Iron and Steel Institute), Mr. C. E. Spagnoletti, Sir Robert Rawlinson, K.C.B., Sir James N. Douglass, Mr. Courtenay Boyle, C.B. (Assistant-Secretary to the Board of Trade), Prof. George Forbes, Staff Commander E. W. Creak, R.N., Prof. J. A. Fleming, Dr. W. Pole, Major P. Cardew, R.E., Mr. Harrison Hayter, Mr. James Forrest, Sir David Salomons, Mr. Alfred Giles, M.P., Prof. J. Perry, Major F. A. Marindin, R.E. (Inspector of Railways, Board of Trade), Sir Douglas Galton, K C.B., Dr. W. Anderson (Director-General of Ordnance Factories), Mr. Edward Graves, Captain W. J. L. Wharton, R.N. (Hydrographer to the Admiralty), Prof. D. E. Hughes, Prof. A. W. Reinold (President of the Physical Society), Major-General Webber, C.B., Mr. W. H. M. Christie (Astronomer Royal), Mr. W. H. Preece, Sir John Coode, K.C.M.G. (President of the Institution of Civil Engineers), and Sir Frederick A. Abel, C.B., Mr. R. E. Crompton (Member of Council), Mr. Alexander Siemens (Vice-President), Dr. John Hopkinson (VicePresident), Mr. Gisbert Kapp (Member of Council), Captain A. E. Wrottesley, R.E. (Associate-Member of Council).

The CHAIRMAN, in proposing the toast of "The Queen," said that the Institution of Electrical Engineers had every reason to appreciate to the full the reign of Queen Victoria. During the lifetime of Her Majesty electricity had become a science. Ersted's discoveries took place very nearly at the time when Her Majesty was born, and electricity became a branch of engineering almost at the same time that the Queen came to the throne. The prosperity which had attended her reign had been shared, of all professions, most notably by those whose development had led to the existence of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.

After the toast of "The Prince and Princess of Wales" had been duly honoured,

The CHAIRMAN proposed "The Army, Navy, and Reserve Forces." He said that it seemed as if the Army and Navy were to become year by year more and more electrical. The telegraph department attached to the Army had long connected the land forces with electricity, and 30 years ago the laying of the great submarine cables seemed to indicate that an electrician, unless he were a sailor too, was almost useless. Electrical science formed the foundation of the knowledge of scientific officers of both services, and now no less than 70 members of the institution belonged either to the Army or the Navy. The Navy, at a very early period, was connected with the branch of engineering which had led up to the foundation of the society, hydrography, one of the foundations of submarine cables; he was proud to think that the electrical departments had done something towards promoting hydrography. The great use this has been put to was the investigation of the bed of the ocean; in fact, to such an extent, that it enabled the engineer to choose where to lay his submarine cables. The very exigencies of submarine telegraphy had added to the usefulness of the investigations of the department of hydrography in all the governments.

Major-General WEBBER, in responding for the Army, said the application of electric science to the art of war formed an interesting subject of study. What, for instance, would have been the effect upon the tactics adopted at Waterloo if the armies of Wellington and Blucher had been in telegraphic communication. The benefits of the measure of 1870, by which two companies of Royal Engineers were sent to be trained in telegraphy at the Post Office, had been evident in every small war that this country had since undertaken.

Captain WHARTON, in responding for the Navy, said that electrical science had played a large part in the development of the British Navy. The most important contribution of the science was to be found in the electric search lights, without which no ironclad would be safe against the attacks of torpedo boats. In ships, of all things else, the electric light was especially valuable, and it had long been adopted in the Navy. Sir William Thomson himself had done good work for the Navy, not only in regard to the laying of telegraph cables, but also in regard to his compass and sounding apparatus.

The CHAIRMAN then proposed "Her Majesty's Ministers," the toast being received with loud cheers. He said that it was due to the action of Her Majesty's Government alone that men were able to live in peace, practise their professions, and cultivate their sciences. Through the prosperity which the Government brought to the country those investigations and good works could be carried on, the pursuit of which was the object of the institution's

[NOVEMBER 8, 1889.

existence. The country ought to be obliged sufficiently to those who were willing to conduct for them the business of legislative; but how much more gratitude should the nation feel to those who undertook the actual burden of the State? The excessive labour and responsibility they underwent was appalling. Every member of the Government had some private occupation which he would like to pursue; and what must electricians think of the man who forsook electricity for government, who might be working in all the beauties of electrical science, following them, investigating them, and making discoveries in them, were it not for the higha duty which called him to take up the government of the State the interests of the nation? Lord Salisbury was one of themselves in the sense of being a scientific electrician and an electrical engi neer. All must appreciate profoundly the honour which the Prime Minister had done the institution in being present at its first dinner at the end of the first year of its existence.

The Marquis of SALISBURY, who was received with prolonged cheering, said, in response :-Sir William Thomson and Gentle men,-I have to thank you on behalf of my colleagues in the Government and myself for the exceedingly kind reception yes have given to the kind words in which Sir William Thomson has proposed this toast. I do not feel that I can accept the guise in which he put my name forward. On the contrary, though recognising, as every individual must do, and as I have especial reason to do, the enormous benefits which electrical science confers up mankind, I feel that I have reason rather to apologise for my sp pearance in this assembly. When I look round on so many learned and distinguished men, I feel rather in the position of a profane person who has got inside the Eleusinian mysteries. (Laughter.) But I have an excuse. The gallant gentlemen who replied for the Army and Navy were able to show many particulars in which their special professional vocation was sustained and pushed forward by the discoveries of electrical science. But I will venture to say that there is no department under the Government so profoundly indebted to the discoveries of those who have made this science se the Foreign Office, with which I have the honour to be connected I may say that we positively exist by virtue of the electric tele graph. The whole work of all the chanceries in Europe is now practically conducted by the light of that great science, which is not so old as the century in which we live. And there is a strange feeling that you have in communicating constantly and frequently day by day with men whose inmost thoughts you know by the telegraph, but whose faces you have never seen. It is something more than a mere departmental effect which these great discoveries have had upon the government of the world. I have often thought that if history were more philosophically written, instead of being divided according to the domination of particular dynasties or the supremacy of particular races, it would te cut off into the compartments indicated by the influence of particular discoveries upon the destinies of mankind. Speak. ing only of these modern times, you would have the epoch marked by the discovery of gunpowder, the epoch marked by the discovery of the printing press, and you would have the epoch marked by the discovery of the steam engine. And those dicoveries have had an influence infinitely more powerful, not only upon the large collective destinies, but upon the daily life and experience of multitudes of human beings than even the careers of the greatest conquerors or the devices of the greatest statesmen. In that list which our ignorance of ancient history in its essential character forbids us to make as long as no doubt it might be made, the last competitor for notice and not the least would be the science of electricity. I think the historian of the future when he looks back will recognise that there has been a larger influence upon the destinies of mankind exercised by this strange and fascinating discovery than even in the discovery of the steam engine itself, because it is a discovery which operates so immedi ately upon the moral and intellectual nature and action of mankind. The electric telegraph has achieved this great and paradoxical result, that it has, as it were, assembled all mankind upon one great plane where they can see everything that is done, and hear everything that is said, and judge of every policy that is pursued at the very moment when those events take place, and you have by the action of the electric telegraph, combined together almost at one moment, and acting at one moment upon the agencies which govern mankind, the influences of the whole intelligent world with respect to everything that is passing at that time on the face of the globe. It is a phenomenon to which nothing in the history of our planet up to this time presents anything which is equal or similar, and it is an effect and operation of which the intensity and power increases year by year. When you ask what is the effect of the electric telegraph upon the condition of mankind, I would ask you to think of what the most conspicuous feature in the politics of our time, the one which occupies the thoughts of every statesman, and which places the whole future of the whole civilised world in a condition of doubt and question. It is the existence of those gigantic armies held in leash by the various Governments of the world, whose tremendous power may be a guarantee for the happiness of mankind and the maintenance of civilisation, but who, on the other hand, hold in their hands powers of destruction which are almost equal to the task of levelling civilisation to the ground. What gives these armies their power? What enables them to exist? By what power is it that one single will can control these vast millions of men and direct their destructive engines at one moment on one point? What is the condition of simultaneous direction and action which alone gives to these vast armies this tremendous power? It is nothing less than the electric telegraph. And it is from that small discovery, worked