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Evening Star, Issue 3125, 24 February 1873, Page 2

Although the British Association for the advancement of science met in August Inst, their proceedings have not attracted much attention in the Colonics. We can scarcely assign a reason for this, unless it be that, notwithstanding the leading English papers report what passes very fully, the lectures are only interesting in their details to a very few, and have consequently been comparatively overlooked. There can bo no doubt many of the ideas enunciated arc at present speculative; but the speculation of one century or generation becomes the reality of one that succeeds. An idea is set afloat, listened to by scores, read of by thousands, and allowed to pass into the oblivion of Blue-books, there to lie, perhaps forgotten, until some one peculiarly adapted to work it out happens to he poring over the records. He makes it his own and utilises it, to the great gain and interest of mankind. It is a pity when such delays take place, but thc} r arc less likely to occur now than formerly. If the project can he worked by one man with profit to himself, well and good—he will do it —but it is not likely be will first give it publicity at a scientific meeting. What is to be met with there is, consequently, a something requiring co-opera-tion, to secure which there must be a generally diffused conviction of the value of the plan, and of the pecuniary advantages to bo derived from it. In all matters of that kind, as in every affair of life, wc have to deal with the* known and the unknown ; and it requires more investigation and forethought to estimate that which is probable from that 'which is seen than men in general arc willing to give to a new subject. One of the most interesting discussions on a question of this class took place in the Mechanical Section, Mr Bkamwkll, C.E.,was in the chair, and in opening the session, he commenced with a few observations on Coal, which he happily denominated the “ staff of life do the steam engine,'’ As a matter of course he alluded to the vast consumption, and finite supply; he drew attention to the rate at which it was being used, and showed that while in 1855 only sixty-four millions of tons wore raised, in 1860 the quantity had increased to eighty millions, and in 1869 to 108 millions. He considered coal to be the most precious deposit of which mankind arc the stewards and guardians ; and in prospect of the decreasing quantity consequent upon the enormous consumption, he suggested the advisability of adopting some mode of utilising natural forces by which its use may be economised. He pointed out that the rise and fall of the tide, and currents of rivers, might bo made available for giving motion to machinery, where largo manfactuviug towns were within a few miles of the coast. In order to utilise the force of the tide, he suggested the formation of reservoirs wherever indentations of the coast admitted of dams being constructed, and that the pressure obtained through the difference between high and low water should be used to set io work turbines, of the best kind, for themirpotfe of raising water to the required height, and storing it in Armstrong accumulators at high pressure, and that pipes should be laid down to deliver the power to those requiring it in the neighboring town. As an instance, he calculated that a reservoir containing half a square mile of tidal water collected at Bristol would supply power equal to the requirements of all the standing engines in Bristol —about 5,000-hursc power. It must he remembered, however, that there the tide rises about. 21 feet -an enormous power to* start’ with; but Mr Baui wuim point* out that good turbines afford the means of utilising the power of water under “ various conditions of head,” and that by “ Sir William AinisTJtOft'G s arrangements, (he power may be transferred to an exceedingly small quantity of water under high prepare, and transmitted for many iniles through pipes at low velocities, although tin l pipes need be of no great size.” . , , “ Looking at these facts,” Mr Bhamwi:;/l observed, “I car.not kelp thinking that there is here open to the talent of the inechanhyil engineer a new field of enterprise.” ’Wo ’know of no country where the utilisation of waterpower, whether of the tide or (fie currents of large rivers, would ho more use,ful than in New Zealand. Leaving out of the question the possible advantage to Ihjnediu of ocean power in giving motion to the vast mass of machinery now in daily u.-c, and in its application. to flushing* dmaag® syvt.aaj, many of our

goldfields arc languishing because their high levels preclude the conveyance of water to them, through open races. Encouragement should be held out for the suggestion of the best and most economical means of overcoming these dilficultie.s; and possibly the hints given by Mr Bhamwule may lead some one whose bent lies in that direction, to devise a feasible plan. The hindrances to success arc twofold :—First, when a competent man invents ellicient machinery, somebody is sure to try to rob him of his deserved reward; and, secondly, anything new is sure to be coniemued hj the so-called practical man. A guaranteed bonus might meet the first point; on the last we cannot forbear presenting our readers with Mr Buamw i:ij-’s picture of him. There are too many of the sort; and the number will not diminish so long as men believe that one man’s life experience can equal the knowledge of the accumulated experience and science of ages :

But there is a further and a perpetual bugbear in the way of such improvements, and that bugbear is the so-called “practical man,” and he was in my mind when, in previous parts of this address, I have hinted at the existence of an obstacle to tho adoption of improvement. Ido not wish the Section for one moment to suppose that I, brought up as an apprentice in a workshop, and who a'l my life have practised my profession, intend to say one word against the truly piactical man. On the contrary, he is the man, of all others, that I admire, and by whom I would wish persons to be guided ; because the truly iiractical man is one who knows the reason of that which he practises, who can give an account of the faitli that is in him, and who, while he possesses the readiness of mind and the dexterity of action which arise from the longcontinued and daily intercourse with the subject of his profession, possesses also that necessaiy amount of theoretical and scientific knowledge which justifies him in pursuing any process he ado]its, which in many cases enables him to devise new processes, or which, at all events, if he be not of an inventive quality of mind, will enable him to appreciate and value the new processes devised by others. This is the truly practical man, about whom I have nothing to say except that which is most laudatory But the practical man, as commonly understood, means the man who knows the practice of his trade and knows nothing else concerning it; the man whoso wisdom consists in standing by, seeing, but not investiga' ing. the new discoveries which are being made around him, in decrying those discoveries, in applying to those who invent improvements, even the very greatest, the epithet of “ schemers,” and then, when be finds that beyond all dispute some new matter is good and has come into general practice, taking to it grumblingly, but still taking to it, because, if he did not, he could not compete with Jus co-manufacturers. The aim and object of such a man, indeed, is to insure that he should never make a mistake by embarking his capital or his time in that which has not been proved by men of large hearts and large intelligence. It is such a practical man as this who delays all improvement.