forward. The deck and gunwale forward are covered with rough rope matting, for the purpose of affording a good foothold in jumping from or into the boat. Each workman is provided with a cork lifebelt, which he is compelled to wear while landing or embarking from the rock; and it was frequently necessary for the safety of the men, that they should wear these belts during the whole of the time that they were engaged upon the rock.

SEASON OF 1865.

The first landing was effected on the 11th April, and the last on the 17th December. Between these dates forty-one landings were effected, and the work on the rock was carried on for two hundred and fifty hours. At the close of the season the 4th course of masonry was completed, and thirty-four stones were set in the 5th course.

In the workyard, the dressing of the 18th course was completed. It was fully expected that the 5th course would have been completed at the rock before the works were closed for the winter; but the state of the weather rendered this impossible, and those stones which were set, thirty-four in number, were carried away, as previously stated, during a severe storm in November.

SEASON OF 1866.

The first landing was effected on the 5th March, and the last on the 13th October. During the summer thirty-one landings were effected, and two hundred and twenty-four hours and a half worked on the rock. At the close of the season, the 9th course of the tower was completed, and two stones were set in the 10th course. In the workyard the dressing of the 26th course was finished. During the season the wrought-iron setting crane was erected on the tower, and used for setting the work. At the close of the season, the bare post of the crane, a wrought-iron cylinder of great strength, was left standing 20 feet above the masonry and 23 feet above high water of spring tides, but during the winter it was broken off flush with the surface of the work.

SEASON OF 1867.

No opportunity occurred for landing on the rock until the 6th May, and the last for the season was on the 5th November. During this time forty landings were effected, and three hundred and thirteen and a half hours worked on the rock.

At the close of the season, the 23rd course was completed and eight stones were set in the 24th course. In the workyard the dressing of the 39th course was completed. At the commencement of this season's operations at the rock, a new mast for the setting crane was fixed, a topmast was also fitted to it, and the hoisting and

setting of this portion of the work was carried out. On the 31st June, the sea being very smooth, all hands were able to remain on the rock for the first time over high water, on the top of the 11th course.

SEASON OF 1868.

Between the first landing on the 31st March, and the last on the 14th October, thirty landings were effected, and two hundred and seventy-six and a third hours worked on the rock. At the close of the season, the 47th course of the tower was completed, and in the workyard the dressing of the masonry was finished. On the 17th and 18th June the steam-winch with its boiler was fixed in the first room of the tower, and on the 29th was used for the first time; this was doubtless the first occasion of the employment of a steam-engine upon a tidal rock. It worked successfully to the completion of the tower, and considerably facilitated the process of construction. The average time occupied in raising each block of stone from the landing platform to the top of the work was only two and a half minutes, while to perform the same duty by manual labour would have required fifteen minutes.

SEASON OF 1869.

The first landing was effected on the 16th March, and on the 19th July the last stone of the tower was laid by Sir Frederick Arrow, the Deputy-master of the Trinity House. To this date there had been twenty-one landings and one hundred and ninety-four and a half hours of work on the rock, making a total for the eight working seasons of two hundred and sixty-six landings, and eight hundred and nine and a half hours, being only one hundred and one working days, of ten hours each, for the erection of the tower.

Lighting-up.-Towards the end of the year, the tower was got ready for the exhibition of the light which was advertised for the 1st of January, 1870; but Christmas approached, and no opportunity had occurred for some time for communicating with the workmen in the tower, except by signal. I was at Penzance waiting for an opportunity to go off with the resident engineer of the work and the three light-keepers appointed to take charge of the tower. On Christmas morning the opportunity so anxiously looked for arrived, when we proceeded in the steam-tender, and succeeded in effecting a landing; but before the effects of the light-keepers were fairly ashore, and my inspection could be made of the works in the tower, the sea had increased so much that the landing boat could no longer approach the rock. We had, therefore, with a cold north-east wind blowing, to be hauled one at a time through the surf to the boat, which we all preferred to the prospect of a lodging for an indefinite period in the lighthouse.

Since the completion of the tower, the heaviest seas that have been experienced were on the 11th September, 1869, during a violent gale from the westward, when large quantities of water went over the tower; but the residents state that although the shock was distinctly felt with each wave-stroke, scarcely any tremor was perceptible.

The light was exhibited on the 1st January, 1870, and has since been continued with regularity every night from sunset to sunrise. Before the light could be shown, the services of my brother, the resident engineer, were required for the erection of a similar work, on the great Basses Rock, off the south-east coast of Ceylon; the charge of the completion of the work was therefore entrusted to Mr. M. Beazeley, the assistant-engineer at the work, who is now proceeding with the erection of a new lighthouse upon the Longships.

It is a source of thankfulness to me to be able to state that this difficult and dangerous work has been brought to a successful termination without loss of life or limb to any person employed. This success is mainly due to the steady perseverance of the resident engineer, his assistants, and their workmen; and I would desire to record the personal interest and willing heartiness exhibited by those employed upon this and similar works that have been carried out by the Trinity House.

As this is a matter of the utmost importance, affecting as it does the success of similar undertakings, a somewhat detailed account of the system under which the workmen are employed may not be considered uninteresting. Each workman is engaged at a daily rate of wages at the commencement of each season, and signs an agreement for one year; the wages are paid monthly, from which is deducted a sum equal to 2d. per day, as a reserve until the end of the season, which reserve is forfeited in the event of the man leaving the employment without giving a month's notice. When at sea an allowance of 25 per cent. is added to the ordinary wages, and as a further encouragement for good conduct and perseverance, a gratuity of 6d. is allowed for every hour worked upon the rock. This gratuity is not payable, however, in the case of misconduct, or in the event of the man leaving the employment during the working season. The sum

of 1d. per day is deducted from the wages of each workman for a sick and accidental insurance fund, which is managed by a committee of four of the workmen, elected by the whole of the subscribers, the resident engineer acting as treasurer.

In case of sickness or accident, each subscriber is paid 28. per day, and is provided with a medical attendant. At the close of the work a balance of 481. 8s. 84d. remained in the hands of the treasurer, which was distributed amongst six persons connected with the works, viz. two who were then on the sick-list, three who had met with accidents on the works, and the widow of a workman who had recently died.

The average number of persons of the various classes employed at the Wolf Lighthouse was :

The total cost of the undertaking, including lantern, illuminating apparatus, cost of workyard, vessels, and all incidental expenses, may be taken at 62,7261. This cost, considering the exceptional difficulties of the work, compares favourably with any similar work yet executed.

WEEKLY EVENING MEETING,

Friday, February 24, 1871.

[J. N. D.]

WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE, Esq. Treasurer R.S. & R.I. and Vice-President, in the Chair.

W. MATTIEU WILLIAMS, F.C.S.

On Rumford's Scientific Discoveries.

THE speaker ventured to assert that it would be difficult, or even impossible, to name any philosopher, statesman, and philanthropist of equal eminence to Benjamin Thompson, Count of Rumford, concerning whom so little is popularly known. This may be explained by the facts that his statesmanship and philanthropic efforts were chiefly exerted abroad, and that his philosophical researches resulted in scarcely anything admitting of attractive lecture-table illustration, while the discoveries of so many of his contemporaries and immediate successors were most brilliant in this respect.

The electrical machine, the voltaic battery, oxygen, hydrogen, chlorine, the metals of the alkalis, &c., by supplying lecture-table experiments of such marvellous and previously unknown brilliancy, developed a new race of teachers-the popular experimental lecturers, to whom we are mainly indebted for the popular diffusion of scientific knowledge during the present century, and the philosophers whose names are connected with the discovery of the materials which supplied these teachers with their favourite illustrations, are naturally the best known to their pupils.

The researches of Rumford are nevertheless especially worthy of general attention, as his subjects literally come home to all of us, the greater part of his life having been devoted to studying and applying the philosophy of common things; he may be, in fact, regarded above all others as the philosopher of common things, the science of feeding, clothing, warming, and sheltering of mankind having been his chief pursuit, as the following list of the subjects of his essays and researches will show.

The Force of Fired Gunpowder.-Improvements in Field Artillery and Guns generally. Naval Architecture. Naval Signals (the essays on these two last-named subjects have not yet been published). -The Transmission of Heat through Solids, Liquids, Gases, and Vacuo. The Relative Warmth of Different Materials used for Clothing. The Quantities of Moisture absorbed from the Atmosphere by Different Materials used for Clothing.-The Production of Air from Water.-Photometry.-Coloured Shadows.-The Harmony of Colours, -The Chemical Properties which have been attributed to Light.— The Weight or Ponderability ascribed to Heat.-The Suppression of Mendicity, and the Economical Clothing, Feeding, Housing, and Industrial Education of the Poor.-The Philosophy and Practice of Cookery. The Nutritive Value of Different Kinds of Food.-The Cultivation and Use of the Potato.-The Construction of Stoves and Open Fireplaces.-The Curing of Smoky Chimneys.-The Organization of Military Academies.-General Military Organization.-The Education and the Civil Utilizing of the Soldier. The Economy of Fuel.-The Construction of Kitchen Furnaces of Boilers—Roasters -Saucepans-Stewpans-Gridirons-Dripping-pans-Ironing Stoves -Cottage Fireplaces-Steam Stoves-Limekilns-Ovens-Teakettles -Steam Cooking Apparatus-Dye-house Vats-Distillers' CoppersDrying-houses-Laundries-Lamps, Safety-valves, &c.-The Preparation of Cheap Soups, Indian Puddings, Macaroni, Potato Salads, Potato Dumplings, &c.-The Internal Movements of the Particles of Heated Fluids.-The Final Cause of the Saltness of the Sea.-The Influence of Water in Equalizing Climate.-The Heating of Buildings by Steam. The Boiling of Water and various Solutions by the Latent Heat of Steam.-The Salubrity of Warm Bathing (an Essay advocating the introduction of the Turkish Bath). The Pleasure of Eating, and the Means that may be employed for Increasing it. The Tensile Strength of Different Substances.-The Suppression of Usury in Bavaria. The Improvement of the Breed of Horses and Horned Cattle in Bavaria-The Relative Heating Power of Coal and Different Kinds of Wood. The Source of Heat excited by Friction.

This list is mainly made up of practical subjects, on which Count Rumford did not merely write suggestive or speculative essays, but which he dealt with practically by carrying out successfully on a practical scale his suggestions and improvements. All his practical succossos were effected by the application of scientific principles, Rumford's method invariably being to set before himself the task to be