Welsh Gazette and West Wales Advertiser

Humour and Gossip Mr. and Mrs. Waddingham. of Hafod. are spending the winter at Boiidghera. Italy. General Baden-Powell was the guest of Mr and Mrs R M Greaves of Wern, Port madoc, last week. His many friends will regret to learn than Alderman J. Hughes-Jones, J.P., of A berdovev is indisposed. Mr Osmond Williams, M.P., contradicts a report that he intends shortly to resign his seat for Merionethshire. At the London metal market on Tuesday lend remained steady at Plg 12s. 6d. to £ 19 Ins. for English; and £19 10s. for foreign. Spelter was quoted at. £28 to R28 5s. per ton l?1? report that Mr J Glvn Davies, the rtelsh librarian of the University College of Wales, has been appointed Celtic tutor at Liverpool University College is not correct. The new Doctor of Music. Mr. Albert William*, is a Welshman hailing from. New- port. Mon.. and is conductor of the fine band of the Grenadier Guards. He was the i(-Iiiid;ca,tot- of the band competitions at [ the -Carnarvon National Eisteddfod last summer. Mr Samuel Smith and Mr William Jones, M.P.. left London on Thursday for India. Among tlio-c- who were at the station to. see them off were Mr Herbert Lewis. M.P., and Mr Herbert Roberts, M.P. As presi- dent of the Anglo-Indian Temperance As. Rociation, Mr Smith will preside at the All Imlia. Temperance Conference to be held at Calcutta on December 29th. Mr. Jones has paired with Colonel Robert Williams for the remainder of the session. Before he returns, which he anticipates will he about the end of February. Mr Jones hopes to find time to visit the Welsh Mission in the Khassia Hills. During his stay in India he has promised to address students at Bom- bay and Calcutta Universities.

Church Defence Campaign. Meeting at Llanbadain. Nonconformists and Liberationists Attacked. Endowments and Their Origin. A lecture was delivered at the Penyfron Schoolroom, Llanbadarn Fawr, on Tuesday evening by Mr W J. Waterhouse. M.A., B.Sc.. B.C.L.. Tregaron, on the subject of "Church Endowments: their nature, when, by whom, and to whom given." The meet- ing, which was not largely attended, was presided over by Mr H Bonsall, Cwmpadarn, the vicar and rural dean, the Rev Nathaniel Thomas being also present. The Chaiiman, in introducing the lectur- er, said the subject was one that needed light at present. There was a great deal of misconception, not to say ignorance, as to the state of the Church in its relation to the Kingdom, and he was sure that any- one who could give light to Nonconformists as well as Churchmen upon this subject would help to pacify the relationshlip be- tween the various bodies that composed the Kingdom, and also it would bring a great deal of useful information before the elect- ors as to the way the funds of the Church had been derived in time past. For ins- tance, as regards their own parish of Llan- badarn Fawr, there were very few, he be- lieved, who knew whence the revenue of the parish was derived. Some of them who Fad studied the question knew that the revenues of the parish were sequestrated years ago by the King, and the CHURCH HAD BEEN ROBBED of its rightful dues which were devoted by pious men of old and dedicated to the uses of the Church. It had been robbed by King Henry for one, and they had been granted to lay improprietaries, as they were called. At present the income, which would pro- bably be TSOO, was paid to a Roman Cath- olic family, by whom no doubt they were paid over to the revenues of the Roman Catholic Church, when they should really be paid to the revenues of Llanbadarn Church and the various small churches that constituted what was originally the great parish of Llanbadarn Fawr. The Church of Ca.pel Bangor should have a revenue, instead of the miserable stipend that it had at present, and the Church of Penrhyncoch and the other small churches should have a revenue out of this £ 800. Mr. Waterhouse, in his opening remarks, said there was a cry nowadays that the Church was in danger. There never was a greater delusion. There never was a time when thie Church was more fit for her work, more ready to do it. or more efficient in its performance. No combination of Popes, Kings, or Parliaments could kill the Church. The Empire of Home exerted all its strength against her, and the result was that she took her triumphant seat on the vacant THRONE OF THE CiESARS. Every weapon of sophistry, calumny, and infidelity, every mean trick that malice could devise and rascality execute had been tried upon her in vain. Her character was eternal; her energy was ageless. As these words might astonish some af them, he hoped they would allow him to justify them; in no boastful spirit, but rather ii serene confidence. The easiest test was a financial one. A prominent officer oif the Liberation Society had told them that the income of the Free Churches was at least six millions annually, and that their pit- perty could not be worth less than 50 mil- lions. He said that the income of the Church of England is not less than 6 mil- lions, and of this 4 millions comes from titlie." Mr Fisher further expressed a desire to give his Church friends a chance to put their hands in their pockets. Now, he (the speaker) was delighted when a Li- berationist could bo pinned down to figures; he could no longer dodge and wriggle as was his natural instinct and his never-fail- ing delight. The voluntary contributions of the Church for 1905 amounted to £8,029.713, not one penny of which came from tithe, glebe, or grant of any descrip- tion. This did not include Hospital Sun- day, nor gifts to institutions, which both Church and Nonconformists supported. The tithe paid to the clergy in 1905 amounted to £ 3,092.112, so that Mr Fisher was only out in his reckoning by a little matter of £ 900.000 or so. Hospital Sunday for the last 32 years in London had yielded the charity £ 1,1 ">0.942, of which the Church gave £ 899,297, or very nearly JE4 out cf every ;t;-). In Wales alone they raised £ 300.000 annually, without help of any description, solely by FREE WILL OFFERINGS. And if money was any test of growth they would be interested to hear than the volun- ,1 tary contributions in the Diocese of St. Davids were in 1896 £ 68,365; in 1900, £ /4,44/, and in 1905 £ 102,570. In face of these facts, to each and all of which he challenged and defied contradiction, he thought they would admit that. Mr Fisher's statements were not only gravely misleading but amazingly impudent. Mr. Water- house went on to refute the statement that they were the Church of the rich and not of the poor. Of the 7,266,215 Church sit- tings only 1,284,449 were appropriated, or, roughly, only one seat out of six was rented in Church. Where did the poor man get' the best treatment? At, Church, where his seat was free, or in the chapel where he had to pay ? Who got the best seat in chapel? 'lhe man with the long purse. Who did not know that the man who gave most to the cause absorbed the power? If they ■wanted ocular demonstration as to which was the church of the poor, they should take a trip to one of their laige towns, go into the poorer parts, enter a church, and look round the congregation, than look round at the building and its adornment, and they would speedily see what the poor could do for the Church they loved. They would also see that tht) poor had the Gospel preached unto them, which was quite another thing from havi.ug the right to hear thej GOSPEL SOLD TO THEM. Mr Fisher had also cast doubt upon their truthfulness in the matter of communi- cants. He said the Church of England claimed 2,123.000 communicants, and the Free Churches 2,045,000. No records. he said, were kept in the Church of England, but on the other hand the Free Churches had careful records of the number of mem- bers, Mr Fisher was so careful to let his hearers get a good idea of Nonconformity that he carefully omitted to sav that the roll of Church commuhieants was going up at the rate of 50,000 a year. They could tell him now that last year their Bishops confirmed 230,339 persons, as against 218,219 in the previous year, an increase of 12,120. And what he (the speaker) expected would astonish and alarm him even more would be to discover thtat little Wales, where the Church was labelled as alien and said to be. despised by the people, gallant little Wales was responsible for no less than 5,441 of that increase of 12,120. Mr Waterhouse also gave figures lor the Diocese of St David's, showing that while the population 01 the diocese increased by 2.6 per cent., their confirmees increased by 80 per cent and their communicants by 25 per cent. He was quite satisfied himself that their figures for communicants were much lower than they ought to be; but, as they stood they were practically keeping pace with the natural increase of the population. Thifs; was a significant fact, and among other things it explained the eagerness of their opponents for immediate disestablishment and dicsen- dowment. They saw it was their last chance. It also explained why they were in such deadly fear of a religious census to which they had been repeatedly challenged. When it was a ease of disestablishing, the Irish Church, they welcomed a census. Why? Because they were absolutely certain of an overwhelming majoritv. Why then lltd thoy dread it for Wales? Because its im- partial and thorough methods would teil a tale fo- them. Continuing. the speaker said he was not. there to score a victory over any one, but to tell a plain tale like a plain man, and to face the facts. Let them have the truth, and let it hit whom it might. They required no SUSPICIOUS MEETING IN CHAPELS, with closed doors. They were not ashamed of what they were doing. They were rot breaking the law by holding meetings which I were not public, and not for warship, in religious buildings which paid no lates. They wanted everything dragged out wtù the light of day. That was why they ( welcomed the Welsh Church Commission — because they had nothing to hide and noth- ing to ask but justice. Continuing, he said the endowments of the Church of England consisted of (1) glebe, (2) tithes, (i) modern augmentations, the latter including Queen Anne's bounty grants and grants of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Mr. Waterhouse explained that most Cardigan- shire parish/es had mkxle) n glebe bought out of funds supplied by Queen Anne's Bounty, which demonstrated the fallacy of what Mr Willis Bund had asserted that the present Church lands were the residual of the former extensive landed possessions of the Church in Wales. There was very little gleibe in Cardiganshire which could po&- sibly have that character. Of the ancient endowment of Llanbadarn Fawr, which was one of the vastest parishes in the w hole country, there was only a sum of £ 12 per annum left to the present Vicar. (Mr. Thomas corrected the speaker, and said the amount was now £ 20.) Continuing, 1111": Waterhouse controverted Mr Willis Lund's statement in his book on "The Celtic Church in Wales" that the Celtic Church never possessed tithe. Mr. Bund, of whom he desired to speak with all respect as a con- scientious and high-minded man, based his assertion on the fact that the extents, or the accounts of certain lordships, snowed no records of PAYMENT OF TITHE as such accounts would to-day. The answer to that was that in former times, tithe was paid by the occupier direct; that this state of things was altered by Act of Parliament within recent times, and that now the land- lord paid the tithe to the clergy, of course, recovering them from the tenant. So> that it naturally followed that payment of tithe did not appear in a landlord's accounts for- merly and did appear in them now. On the other hand, there was plenty of evidence that tithes were paid in early times. He deprecated attempts to' raise artificial dis- tinctions on this point as being both foo'ash and mischievous. They reminded one of the silly cry "Wales for the Welsh," a motto that was only acted en once, .vhen Off a of Mercia BOTTLED UP THE WELSH behind his famous dyke. They fanned the embers of ancestral feuds, and brought in prejudice and spite where their blessed Lord Himself prayed for unity. Dealing with what lie described as current fallacies con- cerning tithe, the speaker said there lIas one wnich he must deal with fully, for it had been adopted by many who ought to know better, including Mr y Lloyd George. This was the famous railacy that the poor had a right to a portion of the tithe. Hav- ing adduced the grounds on which the claim was made, he asserted that if this supposed light had been lost, as Liberationists as- serted, they were compelled to believe that a legal ciaini which could not be barred in any possible way, disappeared completely by universal oversight all over England and Waies, without record, and without pro- test from any public body or any private person. Tins was more than even a Lib- 1 erationist, ought to be able to swallow. As Lord Selborne remarked: "That nobody should knowi how or when, that was lost which never existed is intelligible enough." The ingenuity of the Liberation Society in this matter was only equalled by their dis- ingenioiusness. Dealing with election cries, the speaker said tithe was not national property and never w as. From first to last it had been in private hands. Tithe was not a tax. It was a burden on land imposed by the owner of land. Tithe was itself both rated and taxed. The Noncon- formist did not PAY THE PARSON. He paid his own rent. If the tithe were abolished the landlord would increase the rent, and would be the only person to pro- fit, except where a man farmed his own land. He might tell them that tithes were paid to chapel as well as to, church. There was a farm at Llanwrda which had to pay £ 5 a year to Capel Tabor. Miss Griffiths, Pencnycau, a Churchwoman, had to pay a charge on her farm of Ll every Sunday to the Methodist Capel y Drmdod, and prompt- ly every Sunday, they might be sure they would find the Methodist "blaenor" going for his £ 1. (Laughter.) There were oti'ier cases at Bettws If an and elsewhere. As to the statement that the tithe and other en- dowments of the Church, before the, Heform- ation were given to the Church of Rome, the Roman authorities denied all claim to them. It thus speared that Roman Cath- olics could give .Liberationists lessons, boili in straight dealing and in telling the truth. What was more Mr Asquith agreed with them. Dealing with Queen Anne's Bounty. Mr W aterhou.se said he- must in common, fair- ness say that Parliament from 1809 to 1820 made an annual grant to the governors of I £ 100,090, amounting in all to £ 1,100,000. This was a true case of State endowment; it was in no sense a loan but a free gift. It could only be demanded back by Parlia- ment on principles which would ROB A NIGGER BABY of a chance penny or a stick of tofiee. (Laughter.) Dealing with the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the speaker asserted that every penny administered by them was Church money from start to finish. J he Parliamentary grants to the Church am- j ounted to £ li.886,511. Libei-atioilists ii ei-e fond of clamouring for religious equality. What had the State done for Nonconform- ists? It had given the Irish Presbyterians t2,672,783, and it had given the English Nonconformists as "Regium doman £ 210,660, of a total of t2,889,443, which left a balance of L2931 in favour of tiie Nonconformists. Mr. Waterhouse went on to deal with some of their opponents' grievances. The first was that salaries were not proportioned ta congregations. This he described as another piece of cheek, for what had None, nformists to do with that. A Church was not a shop to be kept open by customers, but a meahs of grace and a centre of missionary etfõrL If their churches were not endowed then those people who needed religion most would stand a good chance of not getting it at all. A Nonconformist Chapel must be made to pay just as much as a shop, and it could not he kept open when it did not pay. As to religious equality, when Nonconformists dis- endowed the Church, Churchmen might equally DISENDOW THE CHAPELS. Nonconformists were worth about zeoo,ooo, 000, and what was wrong in Church cuuld not be right in Chapel. Disendowment would not strengthen the Church. If Disendow- ment came about town parishes would not, perhaps, sufler much, but they would re- duce villages which had no resident Noncon- formist minister to having no resident clergymen of the Church of England. Would any thinking Nonconformist tell him that that would strengthen the Church or help religion ? Disendowment would not break down the barrier between Church and Dis- sent. Ireland was more embittened than ever since the disendowmenrt. of her chureii It was said that the Church was lawless If lawlessness was a plea for the disendow- ment the claim came with very bad grace from men who were conspicuously disloyal to their trust deeds, and yet retained their trust property. The advantages of en- dowment were these: (1) Independence of the ministry: no man was placed in the awkward position of cloaking the truth or running the risk of losing his bread and cheese (2), a regular clergyman in practical- ly every parish at the service of every per- son day or night (3), freedom, for tha clergy to tell the people that it is men, women and children they want—and not pew rcncs; (4), charitable and missionary work were largely supported. This support would fail had the money to be applied to re-endowing the home church. Why then all this clamour a.bout Disendowment? He, for one, be- lieved that if most Nonconformists were to ANALYSE THEIR. OWN SOULS and search out their motives as before Christ for attacking the Church the camp- aign would collapse in a month. The real offence of the Church was her age and supremacy. The prestige of nineteen cen- turies of ceaseless work for man was not lightly gained, nor, he might add, should it bo lightly attacked. (Applause.) A vote of thanks to thie lecturer was un- animously passed on the proposition of the Vicar, seconded by Mr. Pateman.

Peers Warned. LORDS TO BE FOUGHT. .— THE WISHES OF THE COUNTRY TO PREVAIL. The Liberal Party has declared was defin- itely against the House of Lords. Caxton Hall, Westminster, has never been the scene of more impressive unanimity than that of the great gathering of delegates to an emergency meeting of the National Li- beral Federation on Tuesday. They had been calied to deal with the legislative crisis that has arisen out 01 the Upper Chamber's persistent attitude of antagonism tcjj the Education Hill, and they dealt with it as decisively as it was possible for a public meeting to do. The Government was urged to i eject the Lords' amendments, and resolutely to determine that "this Par- liament shall not come to an end until steps have been talien to bring to a final arbitra- ment the question of whether a House of hereditary peers is any longer to pos?>ess a veto on the will of the people as declared bv their representative in the poupuiarly- elected House of Commons. In the words of Mr William Angus, of the Newcastle on Tyne Liberal Association, who seconded the resolution, which Mr A. H. D. Adand, President of the Federation, pro- posed: This afternoon wo are making history. For the first time organised Li- beralism is advised by its officers to accept the challenge of the House of Lords. If you take up the gage which is thrown at your feet, then to-day a battle has begun which shall not cease till every obstructor, s removed "rom the path of progress." In the wid ioutburst of cheering which greeted this defiant utterance there was no dissenti- ent voice. lhe Prime Minister was not present, hut- he gave his countenance to the Federation's purpose in a way which) enhanced its importance, if that were possible. He wrote ati iollows to the President, who read the letter amidst tumultuous applause: "My dear Acland,—I have heard vith great interest of the special meeting of the General Committee of the Nat,lonalli,lbei-al federation, which has been summoned to meet under your presidency to-day, and I am not surprised to learn that it promises to be the most representative and largely attended meeting of the kind that has assembled at any timie during the past twenty years. l'he crisis that has. brought together representatives from every consti- tuency in England and Wales was indeed foreseen. Every Liberal in the country f, has been well aware that the House or Lords would not be satisfied with the quiescent part which it has played during the long period of I nionist Government—(laughter and "Hear, hear'')—but that, on the con- trary, it woud hasten to assert itself as an instrument of Unionism, so soon as the country had given its verdict against the Unionist Government and the Unionist policy. Still, wo may plead guilty to a certain sense of surprise at the violence of the lvani- festateion now that it has. come. The Education- Bill, as it passed the House of Commons, was the Bill which the ci.uatry demanded in unmistakable terms at the General Election. It now seems to have been turned into a travesty of its original form. As amended, it perpetuates, if it does not extend, the very grievances and wrongs that were fixed upon the country by the Act of 1902. In a word, it provides no settlement of the education question. Such a Bill, as Mr. Birrell has said, is no use to us--(applause)-and no use to the country. (Hear, hear.) ■ I can only suppose that the Chamber which has so reversed the terms of the national verdict presumes to know the mind of the country-slaughter)— better than the country does itself—(laugh- ter—and to interpret that mind more cor- rectly than the House of Commons. 'Of one thing you may rest assured: we can have no tampering with the main prin- ciples on which our Bill is founded. (Loud applause.) If, within those limits, without prejudice to the cause of education, arrange- ments can be come to, well and good. (No.) If not, it will be for us to see that on this question of education and on other—(hear, hear)-a way is found by which the wishes of the country may be made to prevail (Cheers.)—Yours very truly, "H. Campbell-Banner man. The resolution was carried with acclama- tion.

SCIENCE NOTES AND NEWS. FIREPROOF CELLULOID. A process has been invented for rendering cel- luloid non-inflammable. In its broad principles the process may be said to consist of introducing into the mass of celluloid, when it has reached tho highest degree of fluidity during its manu- facture, a certain quantity of a salt, such as phosphate, bicarbonate of ammonia, or magnes- ium, or still others. These salts possess the pro- perty of Óying off under the influence of heat a great quantity of gas. which stops the progress of the combustion. It is claimed that quantities of uninflammable celluloid can be manufactured by the new process into any form and size desired- TOWARDS THE ABSOLUTE ZERO. Various considerations have led physicists to fix upon 273deg. below zero on the Centigrade I thermometer as absolute zero, the absence of all heat. This means 491deg. below freezing-point on the more familiar Fahrenheit. Recent re- searches with liquid air and liquid hydrogen are leading physicists nearer and nearer to this nadir of temperature. Thus, Professor Dewar has been able to record an absolute temperature of 13deg. that is 13deg. above absolute zero, or 260deg. below zero Centigrade. Is there any prospect ot a still lower temperature being at- tained Y Helium has not yet been liquified, hav- ing resisted all the devices by which even such refractory gases as nitrogen and hydrogen have been reduced. The inference, tiie Globe thinks, is that helium has a lower boiling-point than hydrogen. Hence, if it ever is reduced, then liquid helium will furnish us with an even lower temperature than the lowest yet registered by means of liquid hydrogen. I MALLEABLE IRON DIRECT FROM ORE. A new process for directly converting iron ore into malleable iron or steel by a continuous svs- tem has been made by two Australians, Messrs. Heskett and Moore. It is claimed that the new discovery will effect a saving of 25 per cent. in the manufacture. The ore is simply concentrated by ordinary methods, or, if it is -magnetic, it is separated electrically until the pure oxide of iron is obtained. The oxide of iron is passed through à. revolving cylinder heated by waste gases from subsequent operations, and brought in that cylin- der to a dull red heat. It drops from the cylin- der to a second similar cylinder, and in the latter it is brought into contact with the deoxidising gas, which is forced through and brought into contact with tho heated ore. The heated ore is thus converted into a pure iron. Accompanied by and protected by the deoxidising gas, it is passed into a third chamber or melting hearth, where it falls into a bath of molten iron, and is converted directly into steel or balled up as mal- leable iron. WIND POWER AND ELECTRICITY. The Engineering News gives particulars of what is stated to be a successful utilisation of wind in the generation of electrical energy. The plant, which is installed at Noble&ville, Indiana, appears to be of a somewhat complicated de- scription, and consists in part of a 14ft. wind- mill on a 50ft. tower. This drives a plunger pump which delivers water to a reservoir in which a constant pressure of 751b. per square inch is maintained by weights mounted on a plunger in the reservoir. This water, under pressure, ie used when necessary to drive a ih.-p. turbine wheel which is direct-connected to a ih.-p. 25-volt dynamo, for charging the storage battery. The battery consists of eleven cells, and lights twenty 8c.-p. lamps for three houre or five 8c.-p. lamps for six hours. Ordinarily, the windmill should run five hours per day to gene- rate sufficient current for winter use, and two hours per day for summer use. Automatic hydraulic devices, however, enable the pump to store any amount of energy the windmill may produce. I, INSECTS AND THEIR ODOURS. Butterflies have colours, so the evolutionists say, in order to attract attention; it is believed by some entomologists that they possess perfume in order to attract one another. Such perfumes are called epigamic, because they are usually characteristic of the male butterflies, and are held to attract the female. Mr. F. A. Dixey, of Wadham College, detected some years ago an exhalation from certain butterflies resembling in odour lemon verbena. The odour is characteristic of a well-known white butterfly; and some Indian species and European forms have lately been added to the list. Mr. Dixey now an- nounces the discovery of similar odours, resem- bling aromatic vegetable products like chocolate or vanilla, and in some cases flower scents, in a large number of South African species. In addi- tion to these agreeable perfumes are others, of- fensive in character, and common to both sexes, which are presumably designed to repel the at- tentions of birds which prey on butterflies. The attractive scents are distributed by special scales, and the exudations seem to be partially under the control of the butterflies. The offensive scents are stronger auii seem to characterise ine wnoi« body. SUGGESTIONS FOR THE DEAF. In the apartment of Mrs. A. M. Town, of Utica. New York, is an arrangement of electrical "c lights that is of practical service to those who cannot hear the ringing of the door-bell and telephone-bell. When the telephone-bell rings in the rear of the apartment, a brilliant light flashes up in the front-room, and remains lighted until turned off. This light is so arranged that it flashes into the looking-glasses of three rooms. A light can be placed in every room if desired. The electric door-bell is arranged in a similar way, the light being of another colour. The ar- rangement has, according to the Scientific American, proved satisfactory and inexpensive. Most deaf people can hear over a telephone. By adopting this plan, a telephone is quite as useful to a dfaf person as to one who can hear. In case of illness, when the ringing of bells is to be avoided, this arrangement seems an admirable one. When the lights are used, the bell is also retained. A movable bulb that can be taken to any part of the house is a great convenience. The door-bell in that case is silent. WITCHES' BROOMS. Witches' Brooms are of frequent occurrence where birch trees are found, and are seen most frequently on these trees. They consist of densely-massed clusters of small twigs, and look something like birds' nests in the branches. They are considered to be of the nature of galls, and to be caused by the growth in the tree of itpecies of fungi. The exact method of forma- tion, however, seems a little obscure and uncer- tain. Witches' Brooms may occur also on other trees, as the pear tree, and in a German scien- tific journal Emil Ileinricher describe-, some ex- periments with these growths as occurring on the cherry tree. He finds, for example, that by grafting a twig from the broom on to another tree this latter is infected with the disease, and becomes a broom-bearer. Heinricher also finds that spontaneous infection by the transference of the fungus spores from one tree to another is of rare occurrence. The fungus causing the growth of the brooms of the cherry is a species of Exoascus. It is another specie's of Exoascus which produces the curl disease in the almond tree, causing the leaves to crumple up in a curi- ous way, and assume a brilliant scarlet colour. THE SHAPE OF THE SUN. That there is a variation in the figure of the sun has long been suspected. Observations ap- parently confirming this variation have been published by Ambronn embodying heliometer measures made with the Gottingen heliometer during 1890-1902. Schur determined a series of measures of the solar diameter throughout the whole of a sun-spot cycle of eleven voars or thereabout, and. to obviate errors as far as pos- sible, two complete and independent series of ob- servations were made by himself and Ambronn. In their discussion Ambronn found the mean solar diameter for the whole series: then the residual for each observation by subtracting the mean. From these residuals he obtained the mean residual for each year. and thus the yearly variation in diameter. The table of theso varia- tions shews a periodicity with a time of between six and eiirht years. C. L. Poor, in an article appearing in the 'Astrophysienl Journal, considers that this method could not lead to the detection of any changes in the diameters, and ;-n]i".cW',c5 the whole series of values. He detects a decided periodicity. the polar diameter beincr larger in 1890-1, while the equatorial diameter was greatest during 18G2, 1893, and 1894. The exact length of the period is uncertain, but it appears to be nearly the same a« the sun-spot period. The amplitude of the variation is 0"2sec., the dif- ference between the largest positive and nega- tive values being about 0-5,Pc. These heliometer measures thus corroborate the conclusions pre- viously determined from Rutherford's photo- graphy but the amplitude of the varia rio:i is much lese in the case of the visual obsorrations. LIGHTNING & LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS. Vajor Cooper-Kev's report on the Sedgwick Gunpowder Mill explosion contains some in- teresting remarks on the protection of build- ings, and especially of explosive factories, from lightning. The report shewed that three build- ings were exploded simultaneously bv three separate strokes from the same flash of light- ning. Commenting on this, the inspector says a flash of lightning may pass between the clouds and the earth owing to two distinct causes, or rather to two essentially different methods of re- establishing electrical equilibrium. There is the ordinary case in which an electrified cloud in- duces so great a change of opposite sign on the surface of the eanh that the intervening resist- ance is overcome by the tension a.nd a snark passes, and there is the case where a second cloud is situated between the original cloud and the earth in such a manner that when a, spark passes bciveen the two clouos. tho repelled charge on the underside of the lower cloud is at once set free, and overflows to earth. ,<*> to speak, in an overwhelming and comparatively uncontrollable tonvnt, which often splits up and .twCs to earth by several different paths simultaneously. The first class is best dealt with by the principle of silent discharge—and it is considerably more satisfactory to restore elec- trical equilibrium without violence as much as possible. The second kind of discharge is much more difficult to deal with, for there is no time for preparation. Nothing short of complete en- casement in metal seems to PROVIDE ABSOLUTE SAFETY for any building. Major Cardew, the late electrical adviser of the Board of Trade, elaborated a scheme for the protection of nitro-rjycerine factories in the 1 ransvaal. He proposed to place hollow iron pillars at intervals all round the buikiimrs to a height of 40ft., and their lower ends buried about 10ft. deep in t)10 ground. Inside these pillars were to be perforated water-pipes to- drench the pillars and the ground underneath. He advised that all buildines -ho iM he made of galvanised iron, but, failing that. (hey should have suspended over them iron neViitvr fastened iO the pillars, and having good clt'c/iic contact therewith. All wster-pipcs and ma-ses of metal within the buildings should be connected with the outside system, L so that in these masses of metal no charge may be produced inductively. Everything should be well "earthed." Major Cardew's system, with a Ii(-'r> modifica- tion. has been in use at (be Vodderfontein Dynamite Factory for some time Twice has LIGHTNING GOT PAST the out defences, and discharged i- i I n the building, but on both occasions the liuhtning seems to have struck a pipe outside the protec- ted area, and followed it into the building, thus shewing the importance of insulating all the pipes thoroughly from the actual walls and machinery. Two or more well-earthed conduc- tors should be raised, as high as practicable. a- yard or two away from the actual building, or on the screening mounds if these be provided. These should be connected near their upper ter- minals by means of barked-wire cables. If the conductors are actually in contact with the build- ing there is an increased risk of a portion of the flash seeking an alternative path. The above principles are accepted, says Major Cooper-Key, by most modern authorities, but the question has arisen lately as to whether copper or iron is THE BETTER METAL for use as a conductor. To the uninitiated the high conductivity of copper would seem to de- fend its superiority; but Sir Oliver Lodge main- tains that that very conductivity is a defect in that the electric energy is thus dissipated so sud- denly. Iron, on the other hand, from its higher self-inductive properties and consequent loss of conductivity, absorbs the energy gradually, and .ro, dissipates it with far less tendency to "surging" and "side-flash." On the other hand, the cables of copper and iron necessary to carry a lightning charge must have respectively a weight of 603. and 2ilb. per foot. IODINE BLUE. 5 The blue colour produced by the action of iodine on starch is so familiar to all students of elementary chemistry that it is somewhat surprising to learn that the exact nature of the phenomenon has not yet been determined by chemists. According to Iviisten it is not a definite chemical compound, but a result of the absorption of the iodine by the starch. Messrs. Padosa and Savare, however, attacking the pro- blem in a different way, have come to a some- what different conclusion. Adding some starch to a solution of iodme in potassium iodide, they investigated the resulting changes in the electri- cal conductivity of the liquid. They conclude from their observations that the blue substance is a compound of srarch, potassium iodide, and iodine, the iodine and starch being in the ratio of one to four. Mr Lloyd George, M.P.. has appointed Mr Eii.is Owen, manager of the "Brecon and Radnorshire Express," Brecon, to the post of Official Receiver for the North Glamor- gan District. Tho marriage of Mr Robert H Gretn- Pricc, eldest son of Sir Richard Green- Price, Bart., and Lucile, eldest daughter of Mr Frederick G Potter, took place on Sat- urday at 303, West Eighty Sixth Street. XU": York. After the ceremony Mr and -tits G,eeii-Pi-i-ec, left for a. short tour in America- before returning to England. The marriage of Miss Hilda. Lloyd Gatacre eldest daughter of Mr Edward Lloyd Gatacre of Gatacre, Shropshire, to Mr. Charles Yaughaii iU-ece Thomas, A.S.C., eldest son of the late Mr Tudor Howell Thomas, of Lampeter House. Pembrokeshire, a nephew of Field Mai shall Earl Roberts, K.G., took place at Holy Trinity Church, Cheltenham. Tho bnde, who was given away by her father, wore a robe of ivory satin trimmed witlr gold embriodery and lace, full skirt and train, and tulle veil over a tiara of orange bl^ssorof-. Phc wore an antique ornament of enamelled gold, which has been worn by the. daughters of the house since the fiftconth century. Miss Agnes Gataüre youngest sHter of the bride, was the only br;.desin-i.]:' rnnUu .iblishftri by the rroprif»*o». Geokht T?vv;s, a' be IINVELEii GAZFTTE" Offic- s- Aberystwyth, in the County o' rani-. ursday, Novemhct 29tb. 1906. f