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Engineering Vol 56 18th August 1893
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7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-08-18
1/33
AuG. 18, 1893.)
AMERICAN
UNIVERSITIES
AT
COLUl\IBIAN EXPOSITION.
IV . - THE 1\l
cGILL,
lVloNTREA.L
THE
I N 1881 the
Ame rican ~ o c i e t y
of Civil
Engineers
m a d ~ a departure from
It
s u sual methods, and in
place
of holding its
c
onvent
ion
in the
U
nited
States, it was
decided to visit Canada
, and
see what
we could ]earn from our neighbour3,
quite
anum
ber of the prominent Canadian engineers
beina
members of
the
society.
b
We received th at hospitable entertainment
always to be found among th e Canadians, and
r e t u r ~ e d h
ome not
o
nly
delighted
but
very
much
surpr1sed at t
he
ener
gy of
ou r n
ef\
r
est
neiahbour
and only Englis
h-speakin
g province,
except
u r ~
se
lves,
on this
con t
in
ent.
At
that time
Mc
Gill College was a corn
parati
vely
sma.ll
institution,
and the
present
D ean, to whose
energies much
of its
success is
due,
h
ad been there
but a
few
years,
ha
ving
come
from En al
and
to
teach mechanics. o
Visitin
g
Montreal after
a
lapse of
t we
lve years,
on the occasion
of
the meeting
of
th e An 1erican
In s titu of ~ f i n :ng
Engineers last
winter, and find-
E N G I N E E R I N
G.
195
The gener
al
view of the bu il
dings
and grounds is j th e
year
1865. The first gradu1.te was Olher
very
imposing,
and the building
which
attracts
Gooding, who
in
1858 received
the diploma
of (ivil
the
m
ost
attention, not o
nly from its
appearance,
engineer, and
the
tota
l
numb
er of graduates up
to
but from
th
e fact
that
it is the
gift
of one patriotic 1865,
when
the
department la
psed, was fifteen.
citizen of
l\1
o
ntreal,
is
the
l\1cDonald
Engineering
In 1871,
the department
was re-establis
hed
in
Building, shown
in Fig. 1. This ie pr
obab
ly
the connection
with the faculty of
Arts, the
special
most
comp
l
ete
building of
its
kind in
th
e world, course of study required extending over
three
years,
and
is m
ost thoroughly equipped
for
the purp
ose
and
leading
to the
degree of
Bachelor of pplid
of
engineering instruction. Mr. McDonald
be- Sc ience.
came greatly interested in the success of McGill
The
professors and le0turers appointed were
l.Jniversity, whose
ne
eds
were
most eloque
ntly
pre- G.
F. Armstrong, C.E
., now
Pr
ofessor of
En
gi
neer
sented
to him by
Professor Bovey,
and
believing
he
ing in the
University
of Edinburgh,
Dr. Harringt
on,
should
show his faith
by
his
works, donated
this
Dr. Girdwood, and the
late
Dr. T. Sterry Hunt.
bu ilding and its equipment at a
cost
of nearly Two y
ears
later, in 1873, C. H .
McLeod,
:B.A. Se.,
1,000
,000
dols. H e stipulated
in general
that the was
added
to
the staff
. In 1876
Profess
ur
Arm
building should be carefully built, and the apparatus strong
re
sig
ned,
and was succeeded temp01ariJy by
put in
it
should be the best
obtainable.
In addition
C. A.
H ~ r r i s .
In
the December
of
the
same
year,
t o
the
ab ove,
this sa
me
gentleman has made the
H enry
T.
Bovey,
~ J . A .
Fellow Queen's College,
following donations : H e gave one-half t
he
sum Cambridge, was elected to fill the chair of Civil
required for the erection and equipment of the Engineering and
Applied
Mechan ics, and assum ed
Wo
rkm
an
Building; he
erected
and equipped the
duties of
hi
s ofrice
in September,
1877.
the
Ph y
sics Building ;
he
endowed the chair
In
1878 the department was separated from the
of
Electri
ca l
Engineering and the
chair
of Ex -
facu
lty
of
Arts, and
was
constituted
a faculty of
pe r
imental Ph ysics ;
he gave
a l
arge endowment
Appl i
ed ~ c i e n c e with
Professor Bovey as
Dean.
to meet the
running
expenses of the two build- 1'he teaching staff, consisting of Professor Bovey,
Dr.
H a
rrington, Dr.
Girdwood,
and Professor
\
McLe
od, was now further st
rengthened
by the
add
i
ti on of G. H. Chandler,
l\1.A.,
as
Le
cturer (now
Pr
ofessor)
in Mathematics
.
The
co
ur
se was also
l
engthened by adding to
it
a
pre
l
iminary optiona
l
year, the complete course thud extending over four
years,
and
l
eading
firs t
t the
degree of
Bachelor
of
Applied
Science,
and subsequently to
the
degree
of Master of Engineering,
or
Master of Applied
Science.
At this time twenty-eight students were
attending the various courses,
and the
number
steadily increased to seventy-five in 1890. In
that
year
a
new career
was ope
ned up
for
the
faculty
by
the
se ries
of
munificent
endowments of W. C
McDonald and the late
fh
omas Workman, eupple
mented
by the
liberal
gifts
of other
citizens, and
the
numb
er of
students
suddenly rose
to
125 in
1891,
and to
175
in
1892.
Meanwhile, th e efficiency of the
university
teaching staff
was considerably incre
ased by
the
appointment of J. Cox, M. A. (McDonald Professor
of
Experimental Physi
cs) ; C. A. Carus-Wilson,
M.A.
(McDonald
Profess0r of El e
ct
rical Engineer
in
g) ;
J.
T. Nicolson,
B.
Se.
(Workman
Pr
ofessor
of
Mechanical Engineering);
vV.
A. Car lyle, Ma.
E.
(
Lecturer
in Mining and Metallurgy) ;
R.
S. Lea,
Ma.
E.
(Lecturer
in Mathematics and
Drawing) ;
and N. N.
Evans,
l\1.A. Se. (Lectur
er
in Chemistry).
FIG 1.
THE M cDoNALD ENGINEERING B
n
ING; 1\ I
c
GrLL UN I VERSITY,
MoNTREAL.
The work of the faculty was thus p1aced
on
a
much
broader basis. \Vith well-furnis
hed
wo
rk
shops and
laboratories, equipped with
the best and
most modern apparatus for ~ c i e n t i f i c investigations
in
all
kinds of
engineering, as pro
jecte
d, it was fe
lt
that it would be possible
to train
men who
should
acquire, by the carrying out of careful experiments,
that confidence
in their own
powers
which
is a
necess
ity of
success. The engineer of
the past had
ina that
the
small
college
had de,
eloped
into
a
fio
0
urishing
univer
si ty ,
with various well-equipped
d
eoartments,
each headed by a
competent and
distinguished i n ~ t r u c t o r that the one small build
ing had grown to
a
number
of hands
ome struc
tures and the
st
u
1ents
in
attendance had
increased
to o ~ e r 1100,
we
felt sure that all English-speak
ing people mu
st
take
a
pride in k n o w i n ~ about
this institution,
w
hieh seems to
be d
es tmed
to
ac
hi
eve greater successes in future.
England
1nay
well be proud
of
such a u . n i v i t y .in
one
o.f
h
er
provinces
Cambrid
ge U niversity In
particular
should b;
equally
proud of the
of
her
tinguis
hed g raduate a l ~ e a d y n ~ w n e ~ wh11,e
Americans
are
not
envwus of their
neighbours
prosperity
, but vish her God speed, a n ~ t rust that
McGill
University
may hold her
phce
In the fore
m
ost rank
s
of Am
erican
institu
t i
ons
of
l e a r n i n ~ .
The
various
buildings are located in a
most
beauti
ful park on
the
side of M ount Royal, just ~ a r
enough rem
ove
d fr om .the
city
to be a w ~ y from Its
noise
and
yet
conv
enient to all the
bustness parts.
~ r e are five b 1ildings connected
with
the
University:
1.
Main
Building, occupied by
the Arts
u l t y
2.
~ I e d i c a l Building.
3. Mc Donald Engineering Building.
4. McDonald Physics Building.
5.
Redpath Museum.
6. Redpath
Library.
In addition to the above, there are also several
other
buildings
for the various
theological
denomi-
nations,
&c.
ings
;
he endowed the
f
acult
y
of Law
1
50,0
00 d ols .
with been largely
trained
by the
tr ial
and error sys
tem,
as it may
be
called, and a
very
costly
system
it had proved. In fact,
he had been
ob1iged
to
make fr ials for himself
under
all
the disadva
ntag
es
of iso
lation and the lack
of scientific guidance.
The kn
o
wl
edge
of
differe
nt
fo
rms
of
energy
had
greatly
increased;
new materials of construction
w
ere being
introduced,
and the demand for new
effects was
making the
old
tules i n s u f f i c i ~ : n t or
useless . Th eory and practice had become so
interdepend
ent
that an absolute
connection
between
them
was neces
sary for their advancement.
In
th ese new laboratories it would be possible
to
s
upply
a
remedy for this state of
affairs. In
the
work shops, also, the student would
learn what
good work was, how it should be done, and how
lo
ng
it
should take to
do it . He would,
therefore,
be fitted
to di
rect
and
s
upervise with intellig
ence
the
work
of the mechanic . B ere, too, the
stude
nt
would become familiarised
with machinery
of
the
most
modern
and
b
est
types .
In addition
to
all the above, he has at sundry
times and in divers manners given large sums to
specific objects
in the university. The
other
most
notable
recent
bequests
are
: 100,000 dols from
Sir
Do
nald
Smith to found
two
chairs in the
Medical
faculty ; GO,OOO dols from Mr. J. H .
R.
Mo
lson to
he used for building purpos
es
.
Mr. Pe ter Redpath s special donations are
as
follows :
He
er
ected
a
nd
furni
shed
the
Redpath
Muse
um
of
Na tural Histo
ry
; he is now
erecting, and
also proposes
to
endow with a
la r
ge sum of money,
a university
library
;
he founded the origina
l
chair
of
Natura
l Philosophy, a.nd
has
given
other la r
ge
sums to the university.
Having thus described the
exterior
of these
fine
buildings and their
surroundin
gs,
the
reader is
in vited
to
step in and examine the interiors, but
perhaps a
brief
s
ketch
of
the history of the
fac
ulty
of Applied
Scie
nce might
not be inappropriate at
this
point.
In
an inaugural address delivered iu 1885, Sir
William
Da.wson pointed o
ut the
importance
to the
uni
versity of a
department of
Practical Science.
In the following ye
ar
1
1
C. Keefer, C.E., was
appointed
Profe
ssor
of
Hydraulic
Engineering,
but
was called away
from
Montreal
without having
en tered upon the duties of his office. At the same
time, Robert Crawford, B.A.,
was
made P r
ofessor
of Road and Rail
way Engineering, which
position he
held
until
the year 1857, when he was succeeded by
Mark
J.
Hamilton
,
C.
E., who
held the post until
On October 25, 1890, the corner-stone of the
Engineering Buildings was laid by His Excellency
Lord Stanley
of
Pr
es
ton ,
Governor-Genera
l
of
Canada. From that
time
the work was rapidly
pu shed forward. The faculty took possession of
each
pa
rt as completed,
and the Engineering
and Physics
Buildings were
formally opened
by Lord Stanley on
February
24, 1893. On
that
occasion a
la rge number of distinguished
g
uests
were present from
all parts
of
the continent;
many
interesting
addresses were made at the
tim
e,
and afterwards an in
sp
er-ti
on was
made of
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-08-18
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196
the
~ u i ~ d i n g s Time
will not permit a
detailed
descnptwn of these great sources of instruction,
but
a few
hav
e been sele
cted
as
illust
ratio
ns
and
the reader may
ge
neralise fr om them. '
. As
practical ideas
h
ave
prevailed
very
largely
1n
the
arran
gement of
these buildin
gs, we n
at
u
rally turn our steps first to the so
urce
of power ,
and
proceed
at once t o
the
thermo
dynamic lab
ora
t o
ry.
h e ~ m o d
J ttam
.icLaborato y .- This
aboratory,
wh1?h 1s 1n
conn
ec tion
with
the
subject of heat
engines,
has
a
very notable equipment. The great
feature
of inte rest is the fo
ur-cylinder
steam
engine
arranged
double-ta
nd em fashion, and intended for
use
in a
large number
of
totally
different ways.
This
magnifice
nt
machine, designed by Messrs.
Schonheyder and
Druitt H a
lpin, of
Lo
nd
on,
under
the
genera
l
dire
ct ion
of
Professor Carus-
Wil
son of
McGill College, was manufactured by Messrs. Y t e a
and Th
orn, B l
ack
burn, and
is
extremely creditab
le
in
th
e
results it
has g
iven to
all conce
rn ed
.
Th e
engine
may be desc
ribed
as a double
tandem invert
ed
direct-acting
qu
adruple
-
expansion
engin e, t o
work at
200-lb.
pressure on
the
ga
uge,
The cylinders of each engine are 6i in., 9 in.,
13
in., and
18 in. in
diameter respec t
ively, a
nd the
st r
oke of all 15 in.
The
two engines
may be
unco
upled
fr om each other, and
run
at different
rates
of
speed,
on th
e
plan pr
oposed
by Mr.
John
I. Th o
rn
ycroft, and
already
carried out
on
the
triple-expansion
eng
in
es
at
Owens Co
ll
ege, Man
ch
ester ;
and in this
way
the
advantages of
variat
ion
of relativ
e
cylinder
-volume are
to
some
extent
obtained.
The measurement
of
the
power
de
livered
to the
brakes
is
mad
e by
means
of
hydraulic
brakes of the
type designed by the late 1\fr. R. E. Froude, and
improved by Pr
ofessor Osborne Reynolds.
One
of
these brakes
is, in view of the
di
sco
nnecti
on spoken
of above, fitted to each
crankshaft;
while an
alternative
m
ethod ia
supplied by an excellent rope
brake, kept cool by a stream of
wat
er on the inner
side
of t
he
wheel
rim
,
on the plan
fir
st su
ggested
by
Mr.
Ha.lpin.
Th e
steam
pipes about the cy
linders,
which are of
copper,
a
re
so
arranged that th
e engine
may run
either q ua
drupl
e, t riple, double, or single expansion,
and as the
pipes
are led
bot
h
to
condenser and
atmo
s
phere,
all
these types
may be t ried eit
her
condensing
or
non-co
nd
ensing.
Th
e
method
of
exhausting
in to the condenser on all occasions,
whet
her w
orkin
g with a vacuum
or not,
will, ho
w-
ever, be
adopted,
so
that
a doub
le
measur
ement
of
th
e
water
used by the engine
may
be made.
The c
ylinders
are all
jacketed on the
sides, top,
and
bottom,
and Willans' coils are a lso fitted
to
the
compressive cylinders.
Variation
of the clearance
volume is made on
the
low-pressure cy
linder
by
por ts h
aving
movable pistonl
therein.
1'he system
of measurement adopted is as follows :
Having
been weighed
before entering
the boiler,
the s
tea
m u
sed
by the eng
ine
is tested just
bef
ore
entering the
low-pressure
cylinder
for
it
s
dryness
by b
ot
h a
Pe
abody
and
a
Barrus
calorimeter.
Indicator card s
may be
taken not
on
ly from the
cylinders,
but fr
om
th
e s
team
ches ts
an
d in ter
m
ediate
receivers, and abo
ut
two dozen of the b
est
indicat
or
s have been supplied f
or this
pu
rp
ose.
Th
e
steam
is
di
s
charge
d from
the
low-pressure
cylinder
in
to
a surface condenser,
from
which, when
condensed, it is pumped by an air
pump,
worked
ei ther
independently
or fr om the
main
s
tea
m
pipe
into
th
e
measuring tanks, where it
is carefully
weighed and its temperat
ure taken.
t then re
t
urns to
the feed suction tank for use in
the
boiler
a
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-08-18
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AuG.
18 1893.]
would then be strengthened
by
issuing orders more
intelligently framed. Reference had been made
to
boiler power
in
ships.
In
cargo steamers it was a
good thing
to
have full boiler power and a minimum
number of men, but in
hi
gh-speed steamers it was
b
ette
r
to
cut the boiler down
and
have a bigger
boiler-room staff.
That
fact accounted for the
larger proportion of boiler power there was in
the
vessels
built on the east
coast; whilst
on
the
Clyde the opposite prevailed. He agreed that logs
at
sea we
re
not.
kept
as
they
should
be
;
the
chief
rea
son was
that the sh
ipowner did
not put
in
to
the
hands of his engineering staff
bette
r
methods.
For
inst
ance,
he
wo uld take the
meth
od
of registering
the
engine power. I t was usual
to
take cards at in tervals
and
refer them to the highest
piston speed made
by the
engines. Captain
Hod
g
kinson, of
the
British India Company, as repre
senting
the
shipowner, said that if
the
shipbuilders
would give more info
rmati
on
to
the shipowners
th
e
re
would be a
better
chance of t
he
ship being
constructed in accordance with t
he
wo rk
she
had to
perform. Mr. T. C.
Read,
of Leeds,
on the other
hand, said that if the owner would give all particu
lars he required,
he
would
get the right
ship for his
work- that is
to
say, if
the
builder were a naval
archi
tect and not
a
'box-mak
er. Some cargo
ships he had seen could
ne
ver have been designed
by
naval architects. Mr.
Denny went
too far
in
saying the law was such that all ships now had
to
be classed. Being classed
meant that the
vessel
was fit to carry dry and perishable cargo,
and
some
ships to which
they
gave
the
load line did n
ot
m
eet
these conditions, although
they
might
be
perfectly
seaworthy.
Mr. Roylance said
he
was glad
to hear
a good
word for
the
registration societ ies. They were
generally looked
on
as a nuisance; but when
in
tr
oub
le
ow
ne
rs
were g
lad
to fall back on
th
em, and
get
help from their
very
experienced officers.
Mr. Saunders did not agree with Mr . Biles
that
the
shipbuilder should
be
an engineer.
He thought
it was better that he should trust special points to
specialists. I t was a
great thing
for
this
co
untry
that
there
were so many professional naval archi
t ec
ts
who were
not
builders, and it would
be
a good
thing
for his country- Germany-if the
re
were
more there.
Mr. Denny, in replying
to
the discussion, said
there
seemed to be some misapprehension in regard
to the
views
put forth in
his paper.
He
did
not
wish
to
end,
but to
amend,
the
Board of Trade.
That Government
department had
been in the
habit
of appointing small committees on various
technical subjects. These were not satisfactory ;
they
should be
permanent and
executive.
He
did
not agree with Mr.
Read
that all vessels were not
practically to be classed
at
Lloyd's - a
remark
which
called fo
rth
a reply from the latter gentleman, and
a
sh
o
rt
discussion between
the
two
spe
akers
followed, in which we ra ther
gathered
that
Mr.
Read had the
advantage.
Dr.
White,
in
summingup
the
discussion, sa
id
that
if the paper
broug
ht
t ogether
th
e owner,
the nava
l
archit
ect,
the constructing
engineer, the captain,
and the
chief engineer co
nnected
with
any
ves
se
l, it
would have achieved a
notable
result. He did not
think kn
owledge
in
all directions could be combined
in
any one man. I t was, he continued, for the
builder
to
put
the results
of
hi
s investigations
in
the
hands of
the
ships' officers. These
re
sults need
not,
and
should not,
be exhaust
ive, but should
be
such that
they
would convey the broad deductions
resulting from scientific investigation.
The
proceedings
in
Section I ll . were then
brought
to
a conclusion
by
a few complimentary
remarks
from Dr. vVhite,
and by
a vote of
thanks
proposed
by
M. Daymard as representing }'ranee,
and
seconded
Mr. ~ a u n d e r s who re
presented Germany;
the
1nternat10nal character of the Congress thus beina
maintained. b
CoN
CRETE N
SEA
WORKS.
Section I concluded their meetings on Friday
afternoon, the 21st
ult.,
when
Sir
Andrew Clarke
presided. Two papers were read by Mr. A. E.
Carey, one on
La
Guaira Harbour 'Vorks, Vene
zuela,
and
the other
on
Harbours and
Ferry
System of Denmark.
We
hope
to
print both
m o i : s
in
f u l ~
and
may
th
erefore proceed
to the
d1scuss1on,
wh1eh
was large
ly taken up with
a con
sideration of the use of concrete in sea
works
breakwaters, &c.
A representative from France s
aid
that there
they
ado
pted
the system of depositing bags of
E N G I N E E R I N
G.
concrete, but
they had never
used such large bags
as
in La
Guaira
Harbour,
where bags of 160 tons
were used
in
courses
in the
breakwater ; and
he
would
like
to
have some inform ation as
to
how long
these bags of
cement
would
la
st . Mr. Conrad said
they
had
employed bags of concrete in Holland for
pr otecting
and
making more solid some break
wa ters.
Mr
. Mack
inn
on as
ked
for
inf
ormation as to t
he bed
n which the bags of co
ncrete
were placed. There
had been,
he
said,
an
en tire absence in all the papers
read by
the
foreign re
pr
ese
nta
tives of
inf
o
rmation
as to the qualities of cement employed.
There
were
great
varieties,
and
he felt that Portland cement
was often employed when it was
entirely
out of
place; for ins
ta
nce, between high and low water,
whe
re
the cement was often entirely washed out.
Thi
s
had been his experience in
co
nn ection with works
he
had carried out for
theGovernment
of Uruguay,
in
forming a breakwater across a
harb
our. There was
nothing but
sand
below for a considerable d
ept
h,
and
it was moved by
currents
of
wat
er.
In
con
st
ruc ting
the
works he em
pl
oyed
qu
ick-setting
cement,
and
the whole
len
gth of the breakwater thus
became practically a monolith of great len
gth,
so
that t
he
local
currents
could pass
underneath
it
without injurin
g t
he structu
re.
Th
e works, he
said, were fully described in the Proceedings of
the In
stit
ut i
on of Civil Engineers.
The
French gentleman who first spoke
sa
id that
they
o
nly
used quick-setting cement
in France
for
facing the works, believing th:i.t it
did
not last so
well as th e slow-setting ceme
nt.
Mr.
Vernon
Harcourt said it was generally s
up
posed
that
quick-setting cement did not get
to
the
sa
me
point
of perfecti
on in hardn
ess as th e slower
se
ttin
g cements.
Prior
to his going to Alderney
in
1870,
they had
been using Medina ceme
nt,
and
it
was supposed that
the injury
done
to
the brea
k
water was
partly du
e t o this cement.
The
repairs
were executed
in Portland cement, except
that
Medina
cement
was used for pointing. There were
many other cases where the quick-setting cement
had not proved sa tisfac
tory.
H e should li
ke
to
know whether the dep osit or used
had
n
ot
injured
the bags,
and whether
Mr
.
Carey
had any further
experience as
to whether
the oozing of the concrete
out of the
ba
gs t e
nded
to form a large solid
ma
ss.
He was quite
sa
t isfied that the la rger the
bag
of
concrete the more satisfactory the wo
rk,
but it was
largely a
questi
on of cost of
plant in
depositing t
he
heavy bags. One did not always
have
such oxten
sive works
to carry
out. H e
thought
that all the
papers read
on
the sub
ject
proved
what
Mr. Conrad
had pointed out, that it was better
to
lay the
concrete blocks
in
courses
rather
than laying
them
pell-mell.
Mr. Wolff Ba
rry
said too
little
was
told
in
paper
s
as to the specific gravity of the concrete bags, which
depended
on the mat
e
rial
used, whe
ther the
gravel
was g
ranite
or lig
ht
stone. He had seen at the
mouth
of
the Tyne
cement concrete blocks made
with t
he
refuse of cinder slag, and
he
believed the
engineer was satisfied
to
pay
the extra
c
ost to
increase t
he
specific gravity.
Mr
.
W.
R .
Kinniple
described briefly his ce
ment
grout
system of construction, now well known, and
already fully illustr
ate
d
in
E NG
INEERING
.
Mr. W. Dicey Kay explained, by a section drawn
on the
blackboard,
the
method
of
constructina
a
commercial
harbour
at Lerwick,
in
the Shetl:nd
Islands. .
The
site
was
not
much exposed,
and
the
foundatiOn of the front and back wall consisted of
two layers of bags of concrete,
the
contractor 's
price being 25s. per cubic yard. Above were con
c r ~ t e blocks
to
.Iowwater ~ a r k the upper
part
bemg
concrete 1n mass, wh1eh cost
2ls.
per cubic
yard.
The
space between
the
two walls was filled
in with rubble.
Mr. F. N Th?rowgood asked if the temperature
affected the
settmg
of t
he
concrete
very
materially.
At Madras break water, where he was for
nearly
thirteen
years, the high
temperature
added to the
difficulties. He found that they could not set a
block. unless it was two m o ~ t h s ol.d,
and during
that t1me
they had to
prevent
1t
gettmg dry before
it
set
chemically.
Mr.
Carey,
in
replying, said th
at
the life of a
sack was
very great; the
sacking became
permeat
ed
by the
concrete, and the effect was that t
he
sack
blocks became
united and
formed pr a
ct
ically
one
mass.
As
to th e nature of the foundation th e
shore portion was
to
some
extent on
sand:
and
underneath there
were boulders and large
rock
masses.
The
sand
was
the
cau
se
of difficulties
197
in con
structing
the first part of the break
water.
Mr.
Sawyer suggested
that
it
might
have
been
expedient
to
have used set
bl
ocks
in
pr eference
to the small
canvas sacks used.
He was not personally responsible for the
shore portion
of
the wo rk. Reference had
been
made
to
the
quality
of
cement
used. Of course
it
was easy to
make
quick-set.
ting c e m e I t
was merely a question of the r
elat
1ve proportiOns of
the
clay a
nd
lime, but excepting f
or
special purposes
the use of quick-setting cement was not commend
able because
with the
slow-setting
cement the
re
was 'less likelihood of the work
disintegrat
i
ng
in the
lapse of t ime. He was pleased that the e m e ~ t
question
had been
ra ised , because
to
the eng1n
ee
r
was of the gr
eatest
importance. The harbour engl
neer
had to depend
upon Po r
tla
nd
cement
a
lmost
as
much as a soldier carrying out a campaign had to
depend
on
gunpowder. Mr.
Ve
rn on Harcourt
had
raised the
quest
ion of the size of the bags. The
limit of size was
the quantity and
weight
that
could
be deposited without undue setting prior i
ts
deposition,
and the
160-ton bags were conven1ently
worked, being deposited with wo
nd
erful ac?uracy
and
with very li t
tle
loss of concrete. H e d1d not
admit
that the cost of plant was necessarily
hi
gh
for
lar
ge
bl
ocks, because with
the
set block system
they
required cranes t o lift heavy weights.
Proceed
ing, Mr. Carey referred
to
a
point
raised
by Mr.
Bar
court as
to
the wave recoil, and as
to
its effect
on
a
vertical wall, a
nd
on
one protected
by blocks in
front.
The
point was suggested
by
a photo
ex
hibi
ted,
and
which we hope
to
reproduce along
with the
paper.
This
photograph
showed that the waves of
rec
oil
meet on-coming rollers a
nd to
a large
extent
neu tralise their force, t
he
res
ult
being a cascade of
water
many feet away from
the
wall.
Mr. Carey
doubted
whether
the oscillat
ing
waves were con
verted in t
o waves of tr ans
lati
on
without
causing
a severe blow upon the works itse
lf
. Mr.
Stev
enson,
from experimen ts made at Dunbar, found
that
the
oscillating wave
prod
uced
very
little mo
re
than the
hydrostati
c pressure, and made o
ut
t hat the effect
of t
he
conversion of the one in
to
the other was to
increase the destructive force on
the
structure by
about
s
ix tim
es.
In
reply
to
Mr .
Barry
as
to
the
specific gravity, he stated that the material used
was rock. I t was extremely
hea
vy concrete, 127 lb.
to 130 lb. to
th
e cubic foot. H e had
not,
he said ,
become a convert to
Mr. Kinipple's
system,
although
th
e resul
ts
produced were
extremely
good.
Mr. Thurow
good
had
raised the question of tem
perature, and he might say that no special precau
tions we
re
needed
to
prevent the chemical
ac t
ion
se
tting in too rapidly in the case of the mass
concrete.
A paper
on
Rock Dredging Works
in
some
Italian Harbours
(Legho
rn,
Genoa,
Palermo
, by
Gius Cimino
and
C. Verdinois, was held as
read.
Thi
s
we
shall
prin
t in full.
Mr
.
Andrew Brown,
of
Me
ssrs . Simons and Co., Renfrew, who h
ad
con
stru
c
ted the plant,
gave some d
et a
ils of the
dredgers.
Sir
Robert
Rawlinson, who h
ad ente
r
ed
the
m
ee t
ing
during
th e discussion, was congratulated
on
hi
s r ecove
ry
from a r
ecent
accident,
and other
complim
ents
having
been
paid
to
the chairman,
t
he
se
cretari
es, &c.,
the pr
ocee
din
gs te
rminate
d.
Frida
y's
proceedings in Section IV . open
ed,
under th
e presidency of
Sir
R obe
rt
Ball,
F.R
S.,
with th e reading of
Mr.
D. A. Stevenson's
paper
on
RECENT IMPROVEMENT IN LIGHTHOUSES.
This paper,
of
the
form of an
hi
storical 1esnme
which we shall p
re
sent to our readers, was couched
in unmistakably pro omo rhetoric, which Mr.
K en ward
and
Mr.
Wigham
could not but regr
et.
Mr.
Stevenson
was
not
presen t
to defend himself
against
the imputation
of
havin
g, in a paper which
is
undoubtedly
a
va
luable
contribution to
our
lit
e
rature on the
deve
lopment
of li
ght
houses and
their outfit,
done
but scanty
justice to
Fresnel and
to
Sir
J ~ m e . s
Doug
la
ss, who devised gas-b
urners,
the gas 1ssu1ng from surface holes as in the o
rd
in ary
Argand, and
who improved
and enlarged the
lan
tern s of the
Trinity House
lig
ht
ships.
If the
hyp
e
r-radiant
suggested by Messrs.
Stevenso
n
in
1869 is the
most
n
otab
le im provement of recent
times,
asked Mr.
'Vi
g
ham,
what
s
hall
we
sa
y of
Mr.
Barbier's st
ill larger le
ns
of 2
me
t res focal
length
?
At
the t ime of the
South
F orela
nd
ex
periments our
perf
ect
lenses
were
practically
unknown; yet oil and gas prove
d,
under certain
circumstances,
superior to
electricity,
and
with
these
new lenses
the
illuminating
power of oil
and
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-08-18
4/33
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7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-08-18
6/33
200
gas increased by 100 per cent. The time, he
thou
ght, had come for fresh practical comparative
te
sts
; he was willing t o do his share, and had made
an offer to t
hat
effect. That th e elect ric beam had
no rival
in
ordinary clear weather he did not doubt ;
ab out the
beha
vio
ur
of the illuminants
in
fog a
nd
haze, however, authori ties differed widely.
Sir
R obe
rt
Ball,
in
concluding
the deb
at e, did
n
ot
see any necessity for renewed experiments at
all.
He
could testify
to
the excellence of
Mr
.
Wigham's lights. But scientists had,
in
the South
Fore
la
nd and in
th e
Frenc
h expe
rim
ents, all the
da t
a n eeded,
and must be
pe
rmitted to dr
aw
thei
r
conclusions, wh ich would satisfy them.
.Mr. Kenward
had
previously expressed a dif
fe
ren
t opinion. We did requi re further results.
If the Sy
dn
ey electric light, with 15 and 25 milli
metre carbons, perfected by Dr.
Hopkinson,
was
visible at 10 n1iles
in
foggy weathe r, a second o
rder
lig
ht
at Spezzia was
useful
at 24: miles. Small com
pr e
ssed lights
pr
oduced very remarkable effects.
The Eddystone Lighthouse'' at Earl's Court, with
a lamp 18 in. high, 250 millime
tr
e radius, 65 milli
metre carbons, gave a beam of almost three million
candles, fifteen times as powe
rful
as
that
of the
real Eddystone.
Professor Gry
ll
s Adams quoted figures from
the
South Foreland
repor
ts
which ought to rend
er
experts
cautious as rega
rd
s slight gains in
penetrat
ing power. Mr Harold Dixon and himself found
the electric light
st
ronger one
night
at eleven
miles'
distanc
es
than
t he o
il and
gas lig
ht
, l
ost
sight
of it
last and picked it up
again
first,
the
re being
perhaps a mile and a half
in
favour of the arc.
But, if
a light of 100 candles is visible at 1000 ft. ,
then 1000 candles would, by the laws of abso
rp
ti on , under ordinary atmospheric
co
nditions, be
visible at 1300 ft. only. Again, the 108 Wigham
gas jets
di
stributed
over
a circle of 18 in. in dia
me
ter could be seen at a distance of 80 ft . ; but a
single one of
these
jets was visible at 70 ft.
Mr. Thomas
Burt
inquired
whether
t
he
o
rder
of
th r
ee lights in a line would not affect t he results ;
the
cent
ral
one would a
pp
ear st ronger, he
tho
ught .
Professor Adams hardly believed that .
The next paper,
by
Mr. Domenico Lo Gatto,
COMPARI
SON OF GAS AND
ELE
CTRIC L IGHT
IN
L IGHTHOUSES WITH OP TI CAL A PP
ARATuS
OF
LARGE DI M
ENS l ONS,
which we also
intend
to
publi
sh
in
full, winds
up in favour of gas illumination as affording
the most easy working conditions.
Practi
cally
the
paper confines itse lf to t he Wigham
lights
of
1891 on To
ry
Island. This circum
sta
nce called
forth the pr esident ial query, whether the au thor
h
ad
visited Tory I sland,
and
on th is question being
negated, the advice from t he chair was to pay a visit
and to
present
another
paper. The
di
scussion
turned mainly on the adaptability of the electric
arc to
flashing lights, whose wonderful efficacy is
un iversally
gr a
nted now. Mr. Lo Gatto himself
remark
ed that his
paper
was
written
before t he
publication of the new
French
e x p e
on t he
je lX eclairs and
that he
had modified hiS VIeWS. .
Mr. Wigham dwelt
up
on the great ease w1th
which gaslight could complete
ly
be
exti
nguished
a
nd
relighted
by
a sma
ll
standing
jet,
to burst out
at once to full brilliancy. S
ir
George
Stokes
had
pointed out to
him t
hat
when
the
gas was
re
.a
ll
y
extinguished,
and not only turned down, ht t.le
ex
plosion ensued, whose energy caused this bril
liancy. The naphthalene gas was perfectly safe.
He was pleased
to
find a fri
en
d
in
Mr. Lo
Gat
o,
and once more urged the necessity of official tests
at
Howth
Bailey with a Ba.rbier lens .
Professor .Adams drew attention to the remark
able
powers which Bourdelles b t a i n .by
means of his f ux eclcvws-23 and even 40 milhon
candles. In real fog-he wished
to
classify fogs-
we shou
ld
probably have to rely upon the siren.
Mr. W. T. Douglass thoug
ht the
electric light
the
only one possible for very J O w e r f u ~ effects, taking
in accoun t also t he services whiCh lenses can
r
ender
.
The
power of the .T?ry I sl
an
d light had
b
een est
im
ated
at seven milhons,
and
by
Mr.
Lo
Gatto
at over one million ;
in
reality it was most
lik ely considerably under one million.
In
the
third paper,
THE T
URKIS
H AND E GYPTI AN
LIGHTING
AND
LIGHT D uEs
IN
THE RED SEA,
Comma
nder
George Hodgkinson,
R.N.,
regretted
th
at the improvement
in
the light ing of the
Red Sea
h
aq
n
ot
k
ept
pace
with the
enormous
E N G I N E E R I N G.
increase of the Suez Canal traffic. The revenu es
from t he light dues being r etained
in
the general
funds of the Egyptian Government,
it
was difficult
to arrive at an estimate.
In
1891, however, the
receipts and expenditure of the Light house Depart
ment
amo
un
ted
to
E123,000 and
E26,
000, leaving
a surplus of no less than E97 000. These figures
included th e Med iterran
ean
por
ts
;
but
as
the
light
du es at Alexandria, and also the tonn age, were
much lower than those on
the
Red Sea,
that
sur
plus might be attributed to the R ed Sea light
dues. In 1892 the
pr
ofits fe
ll
to
E82,000
.
The
gross
tonn
age of
the
Suez Canal increased
from 1.4 million tons in 1872 to 12 millions
in
1892. Since 1875 the dues c
har
ged
in
t he Red
Sea were 2 piast res a ton on vessels of 800 t ons
and
under, and 1 piastre for vessels of over 800
tons.
As
t he number of lig
hts,
at present costing
6 0l. did n
ot
increase, th e
du
es would leave
20,000l. net annually. The late Kh edive pr omised
t o ha
nd
these profits over to
the
Lighthouse Depart
me
nt,
if the new
ta
riff agreed to by Great Britain
in 1889 should be accepted by t he other P owers.
The tariff has n
ot
been accepted. With the light
ing of th e
Egypt
ian portion of the .Red Sea Com
mander
Ho
dgkinson has no fault to find. Not so
with the
Tu r
kish portion. Lighthouses are
ur
ge
ntly
required at the south end, at J ebel Tier, Zebayr,
Abu Ail,
and
a lightship
on
Moc
ha
F lats, all
un der
Turkish jurisdiction. That shipwrecks are terribly
common
th
ere, was confirmed by Mr. Douglass.
Perim
Is l
a
nd
(B
ritish
), with
its
very
danger
ous
cur re
nt
s,
has
on
ly
five lights of
the
sixth order.
Mr. K enward almost launched the discussion
in t
o
dangerous waters by inquiring whether political
complications had anything to do with the absence
of progress. Commander R odgkinson warded this
off
by
repeating
that
the territories nam ed were
all claimed by Turkey. Turkey, however, does
not make any indirect profit from
the
canal traffic,
whilst Egypt does so. Yet something must be
done, and the author proposes a small permanent
international commission to purchase both Turkish
and
Egyptian rights, a
nd
to acquire from Egypt
all li
gh t
houses and maintain the same, with power
to levy dues a
nd
to
en
force payments. Abso
lu t
e
unanimity of all the P owers wou
ld
be required.
The Suez Canal Company,
he
thought, would give its
cordial support to some such scheme. 'l'he author
was present,
and
added a few remarks to h is able,
businesslike
pap
er.
Before
the
Congress adj ourned finally,
Mr.
Kenward announced that Mr. G. Be lleville had
submitted a very interesting paper, Balisage et
Eclairage de l 'Estuaire de la Seine, too lat.e, un
fortunately , to be formally accepted.
THE NE XT
ME E
TING OF THE
CONGRE
SS.
The date
of the n
ext
meeting of the
Co
ngress s
not fixed. vVe refer those interested
in
this
matt
er
to the letter from Mr . L. F . Vernon Ha rcou
rt,
Brit ish member of th e
Pari
s P ermanent Com
mission, which
appear
ed on page 186 of our last
lSSUe
BRITISH COLONIES AT CHICAGO.
I
THE C AP E OF Goon HoPE.
As might have been expected, America impresses
the eye at every
point
by th e very
pr
ofusion and
variety of h
er
exhibits, t hese testifying in the most
eloquent
mann
er possible to the boundless natural
resources of the g reat republic, to t he indomitable
courage, the inv
en t
ive enterprise,
and the
vigorous
mental ac tivity of her people. France excels in
everything in
which
the
artistic element pre
po
nd
era tes. Germany is unrivalled
in
her effects,
an
d especially in
the
d
epa
rtments of manuf
actur
es,
machinery, mining, and elec tric
it
.y gives marvellous
proofs of her industrial vigour. Amongst the
various countries, t he British Empire
un
ques tion
ably holds her own, but as unquestionably she
s
enabled t o do so only by the aid of her co lo
ni
es,
mor
e especially by the Cape of Good H ope, New
South
Wa
les, and
the
Canadi
an
Dominion, each of
which makes a magnificent sh
ow
of raw materials.
Canada proves herself rich in cereals, fru its,
mineral s, fishery and dairy
pr
oducts. New South
Wales gives evidence of
the
vast natural
re
sources
of
the
Austra
lians
by her
fine
ex
hibi
ts
of wool,
wheat, a
nd
mai
ze;
of gold, silver, t in, copper, and
antimony ores; of coal, building sto ne, and timbers
of fine grain and great durability. Cape Colony
makes a perfectly marvellous revelation of
her
actual and
potent i
al wealth in
woo
l and mohair,
[AuG
18
1893.
wheat and other cereals, diamonds and ostrich
plumes,
in
the marketing of which she enjoys
practically an undisturbed monopoly. Victoria
and New Zealand he
lp
t he co lonial display with
small but choice exhibits of wool ; India and
Ceylon wi th grains, seeds, fibres, timbers, teas,
and spices ; J amaica and Trinidad with sugar and
coffee,
and
British Guiana with sugar and timber ;
each and all of t hese co lonies
in
dicate, ra ther than
illustrate,
their
resources,
and
con1bine
in
making
t he exhibition of raw products of the British E mpire
absolute
ly
incomparable.
The
Cape of Good H o
pe
Co
u
rt
pr
es
ents
a
mo
st
attrac
t ive
di
splay in
the
vast
A
gricultural Build
ing , as is testified
by
the crowds of visitors
that are
constantly
wedged within the all too
limited boundaries. With the restricted space
at his disposal, Mr.
Lud
wig Wiener, the Cape
Commissioner, has succeeded
in
setting forth
th e
vari
ed resources of Ca
pe
Colony in a most
stri
king and charming manner. Wh ile here practical
utilitariani
sm
is t he ruling motive of the display,
a
nd
while there is no straining af ter mere decora
ra tive achievement, as is the case in many of the
United States courts
in
the same building, the
effects attained are highly art is tic, both in the
aggregate and
in
respe
ct to
details. The extremely
vari ed nature of the mate rials at hand has largely
conduced
to
this satisfacto
ry
result . The co
ur
t is
inclosed by a light framework of t imber, provided
with large
pa
nels of plate glass, t
hr
ough which a
glimp
se
of
the
trea
s
ur
es within is obtained.
In
the
cen tre space stands a
trophy
that at once attracts
attention, two spl
en
did specimens of th e ostrich
tribe, male and female) with chicks, eggs,
and
the
nat
ur
al bush upon which the birds feed. The
large birds are finely plumaged,
and
were especi
ally selected at a show at Grahamstown by Mr.
Douglass, whose book on Ostrich Farming at t
he
Cape has ma de his name well known in England,
America, Australia, and, indeed, all the world
over. As an appropriate background is arranged a
copy of an oil painting by R olando, a group of
ostriches upon one of
the
Cape farms,
and
thereby
giving a further idea of the appearance, th e
habits,
and
the surro
un
dings of th e birds. Close
by is a great pyramid of ostrich eggs, some of
them in
th
e
natural state,
and others tastefully
painted with characteristic bi ts of Cape scenery,
flowers, or ethnological types. Along the glass
walls of
the
cou
rt
st
rings of
painted
eggs are
similarly used for decorative purposes. But, finest
display of all, are eight t rophies of ostrich plumea,
constituting no doubt th e most magnifice
nt
exhibit
of fea
ther
s ever made at any
pr
ev ious internat ional
show. The plumes are simply cleaned, being un
touched by dye, and t he white, black, drab, and
fancy feathers are all displayed, the beautiful snow
white a
nd
clean black plumes predomina ting.
At
the foot of each of the lofty stands lie bundles of the
feathers as made up for
the
market, a num
ber
of
these being supplied for exhibition purposes by Mr.
Hilt
on
Barb
er, the well-known and en terprising
ostrich farmer of Cradock.
Th e whole back part of
the
cour t is occupied by
fleeces of wool, shown under glass and attractively
tied with blue ribbon. Th e two characteristic
kinds of Cape wool,
the
Karoo and the Grass Veldt,
are both on exhibition, there being no fewer than
500
fl
eeces in all. Among the ex
hibit
o
rs
are Mr.
R . W. Southey,
Mr
. Rubidge, Mr. P . V. Van der
Byl, Mr. J . C. T. Musto, Dr. Sma
rtt,
Mr.
C.
H .
Hutton, Mr. George Blaine, and Mr. John Fros t
Miniature bales of snow-white washed wool are
shown by M essrs. Turnbull and Gay, Co res
Road;
Messrs . Frater and
lVlossop
of the Paarl Wool
Washery, and the Springfield Wool Washery,
Uite
nhage. Some of the
ba
les are opened, a
nd
woo l-men from various parts of the world handle
th e fibre with evident in terest and appreciation.
In addition to th e wool
ar
e some 220 fleeces of
mohair, the silvery texture of which is much ad
mired. The principal mohair exhibitors are Mr.
P. G. Gericke, Mr. J. McDonald, Mr. R. Feather
stone, and
Mr
.
R.
Cawson. The object lesson as
regards the Cape pastoral industry is completed by
st
uffed specimens of t ha Angora goats, both kids
and beautiful full-grown animals, the fat-tail sheep
and the
Boer goat, together with a fine di
sp
lay of
skins of these animals,
and
also of the Cape merino.
The skins are the
exh
ibit of Messrs. Van der Byl
and Co ., of Cape Town.
It
should also be mentioned
that all
the
animnls in the
court
were stuffed by
Mr
. Fred
Sa
ut er, New York, who by his work has
afforded ample proof of his skill as a t a x i d e r m i s t ~
7/17/2019 Engineering Vol 56 1893-08-18
7/33
AuG. 18, 1893.]
enerally it may be sa
id
of
th
e wool and mohair
exhibits
that
they are ex t
rem
e
ly
efl'ective, and prove
at
an exceedingly opportune moment, when the
nited
States wool dut ies are on th e ove of being
abolished, that th e Cape can
pr
oduce la rge supplies
of the two fib res a.dmi rably
adapted
to the r
eq
uire
ment s of American manufacturers.
Th
e excell
entl
y arranged display of Cape wines is
an object lesson which may n
ot
improbably open up
a wine expo
rt
indu
stry
in the U
ni ted States,
and well
illustrates tbe viticultural reso
ur
ces of outh Africa.
The selection made is judicious
and
illustrative, in
clud ing
Ste
lle
nb
osch, Old Brown She
rry
, Wellington
Cape Hock,
Co
nstantia
weet
Frontigna.c, Paarl
Sweet Pontac, F.
C.
She rry,
Co
n
sta
nt ia Red Musca
del, Hermitage, La.chrym< e Christi, and four
brands
of fine O
ld
Dop Brandy, name
ly
: Worcester, Robe
rt
son,
1\l
l o
nta
gue,
and
udtshoorn ; also an other
kind
of brandy made
by
the
Hon.
T. T. Heatlie.
The
exhi bits were supplied
by
Messrs. Sedgwick
and Co., Messrs. V an Ryn and Co
.,
Messr
s.
E. K .
Green and Co .
and the
Government experim ental
farm.
Th
ey are
arrang
ed
in
a fine trophy of
miniature
barr
el
s,
flank
ed and
crowned by bottles
va
ryin
g from B robdignagian
pr
oport ions to tiny Lili
putian dimensions, with co
nt
ents less than a win
e
glassful.
Th e agricultural resources of th e colo
ny are
indi
cated by choice and goodly-sized samples of
wheat, oats, barley, mea ies, beans, peas, and lentils.
Some of the wheat shown cannot be beaten
in
the
whole Exhibition, the sample of bearded wheat
supp
li
ed
by Messrs.
Ryan
and Rood, of Ma
lm
es
bury, running 68 lb. to the bushel.
Th
e gr
ain
growing capabili ties of
Ba
sutoland and Bec
huan
a
l
an
d have
not been
forgotten
in arran
ging
the
dis
play. Th e So uth African Milling Company are to
the front with some barrels of choice flour, the
quali ty of which is visible to the eye t
hr
ough glass
lids.
Other
exhibits of a characteristic Cape type
are Kaffi.r corn, Tecka bulbs, aloes,
bu
c
hu
leaves,
and bush tea. Tobacco is shown in the n
atura
l
leaf
and in the
manufactu
red
state, the exhibitors
of the latter articles being
the
Congo Tobacco Com
pany.
Ther
e are also tu be seen several varieties
of
bark
used for
ta
nning
purp
oses. Timbers are
well represented, slabs in the rough on one side
an
d
polished on
th
e other affording effective represen
tation. Amoug the varieties thus shown are olive
wood, camelthorn, stink wood, assegai wood,
kamassi, red milkwood, korsewood, salie, bla
ck
bark,
umzimbiti, uprigh t yellowsw ood, Ka.ffir plum
wood, Clanwilliam cedar, white and red elms, Cape
beech, black iron wood, ter blas -saffron wood,
karoo,
and underbu
sh. A few logs, both
in
the
rough
and
with polished tops or faces, supplement
the
timber
slabs . Among forest produ
ct
s should
also
be
mentioned the samples of Cape gum,
co
l
lected from the ca
c
ia
Harrida
and presented fo r
exhib
it ion by Messrs. B. G. Lennon and
Co
.,
Cape
Town. Ever last ing flowers and the silver leaves
are
largely and effectively used for ornamental pur
poses t hroughout the court, and as both of these are
already expor ted
in
considerable quantities
fr
om the
Cape, this illustration of their adaptation to beau
tiful deco
ra
tions is va
lu
able. Nat
urd
Cape grasses
are also used for
the
same purposes, and a fur
the
r
glimpse in t he
co
lony 's flora is afforded
by
a collec
tion of pressed grasses
and plants
in an a
lbum and
a set of very beautiful paintings
by
Mr. Mor
sta
dt
placed conveniently on a revolving s
ta
nd , and
repr
oducing every va
riety
of
th
e Cape flora.
Still
another collection of floral studies, in water
co lours, is bound
in
a
lbum
form, these being the
work of Miss En.ton and a gen
bl
eman from Ri vers
dale, a p ~ Colony.
Not t he l
east
popular fea t
ure
of the
court
is the
fine display of el
epha
nt s' liusks. Besidesan assort
ment
of billiard ball ivo
ry,
A re four magnificent
tusks, two ft.
in
l
engt
h, one 7 ft.
in
l
engt
h, and
the fourth
7l
ft. in length, weighing respectively
109
lb.,
137 lb . ,
and
158 lb. Skins of the lion,
springbok, leopard, silver jackal, go
ld
jackal,
and
other varieties of wild beasts, and heads
and horns
of many kinds of deer, adorn the walls and the
stands, one of which
latt
er bears the name of
Messrs. Lawrence and Co., Kimberley. The
karosses, or
skin
rugs, are greatly admired, one in
plr ticular
attracting attention,
insomuch as it is
composed of 320 tails of the
musk
cat. Th ese are
so neatly sewn
toget
her that the skill of the native
furri
ers who
did
the work is praised
by
every one
who exa
min
es it. A fine collection of Cape birdEJ,
of all sizes
and
of wonderful brilliancy of plumage,
is shown in a la rge case. Among them
are
specimens
E N G I N E E R I N G.
of penguins, and close by are b
ot t
les of guano from
the I cha.bod I sla
nd
s, indicating yet ano ther source
of wealth
at
the Cape. South African fishes are
shown
by
life-coloured pictures collected
in
album
form. Ethnology is not forgotten in the display .
There is
quite
a large collection of assegais,
both
stabbing
and
th rowing, oxhide shie
ld
s,
trumpets,
daggers, knives, clubs. belts, head-dresses, snuff
boxes, dishes,
and
other impleme
nts
a
nd
utensils of
many kinds, as used
by
the nat ives of , o
uth
Africa. A
lar
gt-
number
of curios a
re
presented
by Sir Marshall Clarke, K.C.M.G., British Com
missio
ner in
Basutoland, a
nd ot
he
rs
are loaned
by the 1\1i. ses Shippard, sisters of 'ir ~ y d n e y
Shippard, the Q u e e re
pr
esentative in Bechuana
land. Photographs of Zulu, Kaflir, and ot
her
types,
are
exhibited. The Malays are represented
by
a
picture of 1\1a1ays at
the
Cape in full dress, and
by
Malay shoes,
hat
s, head-dre sses and
handke
rchiefs.
Among
other
ob
jects
that attract attent ion, and
are
of et
hn
og
raphi
cal va
lu
e as
exhi
bits,
are
a col
lection of bus hmen stone implements,
and
a num
ber
of curious
rude
engravings of ice-scratched
stone made
by bu
shmen, and representing such un
mistakable objects as elephants, giraffes,
rhin
oceros,
ostriches, a
nd
t rees. Scatte red about upon the
walls are num erous photographs of characteristic
Cape scenery, and scenes of everyday life. There
are
also
portraits
of leading
men in
the Cape
Co lony, Natal, th e Orange Free
State
Republic,
and other South African territories. The se include
Sir Henry and Lady Loch,
Sir
Marahall Clarke,
Sir ydney
Shippa
rd. Bishop
J
ones,
Mr.
Cecil
Rhodes, the Prime Minister, and Mr. T. E.
Fuller
.
Cetewayo a
nd
his wives are also figures of
in te
rest.
Yet another feature of the co
urt
is an immense
map of South Africa, showing the country as far
nor th as the Za.mbesi, and
indi
cating at a. glance
the
districts of wool, mohair, cattle, wheat, gold,
copper, and diamond
pr
oduction. Statistics are
also displayed showing the va
lu
e of the chief Cape
products : wool, mohair,
hid
es
and
sk ins, ostrich
fea the
rs
,
copp
er, and diamonds,
in
the
out-turn
of
several of which
South
Africa ho
ld
s a virtual
monopo
ly
.
The fig
ures also give
the b ~ r
of
sheep, horses, pigs, a
nd
ostriches
in the
colony ;
th
e
total
mileage of railways ; and
the
shipping
tonnage, inwards and outward: .
I t
may further
be mentioned that handb ooks are free
ly
dist ributed
among visitors, dealing with such sub jects as " The
Diamond Industry of South Africa, " ' 'The Viti
culture of
the
Cape Co l
ony,"
"Ostrich
Farmin
g
in
the
Cape Colony,"
and
Wool
and
Moha
ir Pr
o
du
ctio
ns
of the Cape Co lony. " In
additi
on to
the
information t
hus
prov
id
ed, every single
object in
the
cour
t is labelled,
and most
of
the
se labels carry
terse exp
lanat
o
ry
notes.
Fr
om what has been written
it
will
be
seen that
the Cape
Co
urt in the Agricul tural Building of the
World's Fair admirably fulfils its object of giving to
visitors from all corners of the globo a vivid idea of
the immense resources of South Africa, and of
supplying definite information
in
deta il to those
who are
interested
in any particular line of pro
du
ctive enterprise.
Th
e f
or
mal opening 0f the Cape of Good H ope
Court, in
the
Mining Building of the Wo
rld
's
Columbian
Exposit
io
n,
took
pla
ce on June 5, when
the first sieve-full of Kimberley diamoncl ifero
us
blue
11
ever
wa
shed upon
Amer
ican soil was
examin
ed
upon the so
rtin
g
tab
le in the presence of
a n
Eces
sarily small
but
keenly
inte
rested g
ath
erin
g.
Around the inclosure a dense cr
ow
d ten deep
pr
essed aga
in
st
th
e plate-glass panels, and eagerly
watched every ope
rati
on conducted within. When
the pebbly contents of the sieve were
thrown
with
a rattle upon the table, Mr . Ludwig Wiener, the
Cape Commissioner, accompanied
by
his secretary,
Mr. S. Ber
lin
er, son of
the
assistant commissioner,
stepped forward, and add ressing Mr. Frederick
J.
V. Skiff, the highly popular chief of the Mines,
Mining,
and Metallur
gical
Department,
formally
pr
esented th e court,
in
the name of
th
e Cape
Government, to the Administ ration of t
he
Wo
rld's
Fair. Mr. Wiener proceeded to announce
that
he
had y
et
another and equally pleasant duty to per
form . Through him the di rectors of the De Beers
Consolidated Mines
Co
mpany invited Mr. Skiff to
sort out th e contents of the first sieve, and to accept
as a meme
nto
of the occasion the first South
African sto ne washed from its
matrix in
th e
United States
of America. Mr. Skiff
thereupon
n.dvanced to the table, and in regular
lGmberley
style commenced going over the pebbles. Almost
immediately a goodly-sized stone, weighing from
2 1
4 to 5 carats, was discovered, and five o
thers
of l esser size were picked
fr
om th e heap. When
the search was end ed, Mr. Wiener
hand
ed the
gift
of the
De
Beers Company to its recipient .
Mr.
Skiff
returned thanks
on behalf
bot
h of the Ad
ministration and of him self personally. He
co
n
sidered that
the
De
Beers
Company, who vir
tually cont rolled
the
diamond market,
and
had
therefo
re littl
e or nothing
to
gai n
by
advertis
ing
th
emselves, h
ad
performed a most public
spirited act in coming to Chicago with such a
splendid and complete exhibit. They had at great
cost t ransported
fr
om
Kimberley
to
Illin
ois a life
like r
ep
resentation of the
va
rious processes con
nected
with
the diamond-finding
indu
st ry, a
nd
had
thereby provided a . cene of entrancing in terest for
the visit o
rs
t o the Co lumbian
fr
om
every corner of
the
world. H e sincere
ly
hoped
that
there
would be some return, even if not an
adequate one, for t
hi
s
act
of generosity
and
public
F
pirit. His
o
ne
regret was that it
had
been pos
sible to give on
ly
such a circumscribed space to
the
Cape exhibits in the Mining Building. Looking
around him, he felt that four times the area would
have been necessary to do justice to the unique
and varied display.
He
would have the stone pre
sen ted to him cut and polished, and would always
value it as a souveni r of a most
in
teresting occasion.
After
this ceremony Mr .
and
Mrs.
Wiener
wel
comed visitors in a small but pret t ily decorated
reception-room of the court,
and
prosperity
to
t he
Cape of Good H ope was
drunk in
the wines of the
colony.
Th
ose
pr
esent
then
di
st
ributed
them
se ves over the inclosure, and in pected t
he many
objects of
interest
on exhibition. To
experts
the
most valuable of t hese is a fine collection of speci
mens indicating the varied mineral resources of
South Africa, fr om the Cape to the Zambesi. The
co llection
numb
ers 245 specimens, and was made
by
the Cape Commissioners' instructio
ns
by Pro
fessor Ha.hn, of the South African College.
Around
the
show cases
are
stacked piles of rich
copper ore, yielding 33 per cent . of
pure
metal,
fr
om Oo
kl
op Mines, Namaqualand, and
py
ramids
of blue gro
und in the
hard
state
from
the Kimber
l
ey
diamo
nd fi
elds. Among
the othe
r objects of
in terest are diamondiferous gravel
fr
om the Vaal
River, Cyphergat coal, white and
blue
asbestos,
and croc idoli te. The last-named substance is
shown b
ot
h
in
the natural state, and al
so
polished
and fashioned
into
a g
reat
variety of beauti
ful
and
useful art icles-in laid
tabl
e-tops, lrnife
handles, umbrella knobs,
pictur
e frames, desk
weights, cigar holders, paper knives, studs, sleeve
links, necklaces,
and ot
her forms of jewellery. A
set
of cameos carved in Germany, and presenting
t
he
profiles of four famous American
Pr e
sidents,
\Vashin gton, Lincoln, Gra
nt, and
Garfield, espe
cially elicits
ad
miring comments from visitors who
for the first time see the artistic possibilities of this
beautiful substance. Th e walls of the room are
decorated
wi
th a large collection of mining photo
graphs.
There
are also facsimile r
ep
resentations
of two famous Cape diamo
nd
s, the De
Beers
dia
mond, the largest ever found
in
South Africa
weig
hin
g 420 carats, and the
Litkie
diamond;
205 carats, th e second finest, but
the
finest for
size ever
got
from the
river
diggings.
Th
e
adj
o
in
ing section of
the court
is
the
reception-room
above-me
nt i
oned, where works of reference bear
ing on
South
Africa
and
files of the leading Cape
papers
are
kept.
Here
han gs a po
rtrait
of M.r.
Craven, secretary of the De Beers Company, and
on t he partition just outside is a large picture of
the directors, with Mr. Cecil
Rhodes
seated in the
cent re.
The
remaining space is devoted to diamond wash
ing,
cuttin
g,
and
polishing. Large
plate
-glass
panels permit every o
perati
on
to
be watched fron1
the outside;
and
all through the day, but especially
when the washing machin e
ry
is in
operat
ion
densely packed crowcs
surr
o
und
the inclosure.
staircase pe
rmits
of the washin g processes being
watched
fr
om above,
and
each afternoon,
durin
g the
t
wo
hours devoted
to
the wo
rk,
a
constant stream
of
observers p a s ~ e s up and down the
steps
,
a spec1al staff of Columbtan Guards being necessary
to keep
th
e crowd circulating.
Th r
ee sta
Recommended