MASTERTON DEBATING SOCIETY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1049, 15 April 1882, Page 2

MASTERTON DEBATING SOCIETY.

A urgs number of persons attonded at tho Insututo last evening to hear Mr Park's leiture on the telephone, Mi' Gnndy, tho President of the Society, introduced Mr Park, stating that this was thi first lecture given under the auspices oft be Debating Society, but he trusted it wc lid not bo the last. Mf Parkuyon rising said that he proposed iectufhg on electricity and the telephone, Tk e lecturer stated that many theories had bem advanced, but none had as yet clearly lefincd what electricity .was. All we knr.w is that under certain conditions electric'ty obeys certain laws, for instance, when copper and zinc nro joined together with a piece of flannel, when a glass is rnbbtd on the coat sleeve i electricity is generated, when a magnet is plaped i|) a coil pf insdated wire electricity is induced ji]to tlje iqjl. If a piece of iusulatpd wire is wound l'qpd $ piece of soft iron and a galvanic ourrentis sent through tho spiral wire electricity is induced into the soft iron c<> 'e, converting it into a magnet, For the sake of illustration. it is spoken of as bem; composed of two distinct fluids or currems called positive . and negative. The icturer then went on to explain tho co nposition of tho battery as used in pvaclical talegrapliy the elements or poles being c mposed of zinc ant] copper saturated wi h salt between them, and a galvanic cut ,'ent is set up. The electricity is supposed to set out from the zinc to the copper, thonce to tho line and back again to the; inc. By dosing tho circuit with the key an electric current is sent along is line, which is recojyod at the other »nd by. au electro-magnet, thereby yecoi iling a signal, Thelootipr then explain id the duplex system by which two messages are sent along the line at once, Mr Pa k explained that duplex telegraphy had been discovered in Great Britain by a nuuber of gentlemen at tho same time. T, is called tho Wheatstone balance' sysl im. That which was introduced by Dr Leu on into New Zealand is called the potont : al system, and is totally different from thit used in Great Britain, Dr Lemon d\ r J not discover- duplex telegraphy, only an improved syßtem of working it, Praiw has been accorded him in circles more for his properly giving the rc suits of experiments with the dlectrio current. The paper was written about the time thpt Professor F.ptera was ih Now Zealand, and he, reppgpising tjip pae'rit tff the paper, took it with him to AmewiSfP and caused it to be read before tho Philosophical Society there. The paper was so highly appreciated that tin degree of Doctor of Philosophy pa conferred on Dr Lemon. The lecturer then went on to explain the elect io light, and by illustrations on the black board, made it thoroughly understood by his audience. The telephone was then introduced, but through what was discovered afterwards to be an intermittent disconnection in the telephone wires, .The instrument did not work satisfactorily, and. consequently an apology had to be tendered to. the public that thiß part of the lecture wafl not successful, : : The president proposed a hearty vote of thanks to the lecturer and the audience' dispersed. Mr Park will have a telephone fitted up this evening from 6 o 10,