Personal Knowledge.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2063, 26 September 1885, Page 6 (Supplement)

Personal Knowledge.

Hidden or occult knowledge might have been once a part of the mental paraphernalia in which scientists dressed their diuoviriM aa4 inventors concealed their improvement!. Bat occult knowledge is not a thing of the past, even in these days of mechanics*! exactness and experimental demonstration. It is possible for a workman to hold come method or process bo securely that, even if willing, he may find it difficult to impart it to a learner. This statement does not refer to " tricks in the trade" which are mountebank pretensions, but to real knowledge of absolute value that cannot readily be imparted. When a man is found who possesses this knowledge in any department of mechanios, he is a valuable man ; what he knows on his own speciality he knows thoroughly. There oan be no question that Cicero's statement, " Poeta na<ritur, mn fit" ia an absolute truiflm when applied to some workers ia mechanics— they are not made, bat they an born, mechanios. Illustrations of this fact are probably familiar with many experienced and elderly mechanics. There ia a tool maker in an extensive establishment in whioh coiled springs of steel wire are largely nsed. The springs are wound from the Annealed wire, and after being completed are hardened and tempered. Some of them are " open " and some are "okme" springs. Out of 22,000 springs, of whioh an account was kept in oonseoutive workings, only six springg failed the severe trial test. The temperer was unwell and oat for eight working days, and of the springs hardened and tempered by the assistant, who had a year's instruction, less than o»e-half passed tre test. In this cnBe the writer has leayon to know that the temperer bad used hi* bflft endeavor to have his assistant his ultimate successor. Some lack of sensible impression made by heat and oolor on feeling or on sight must have been the cause for the difference between the result of the assistant's work and that of his teacher. There is an old machinist now living, but superannuated, who waa famous in his day for bis superior hand-made edge tools. A pocket knife with a restored blade of his workmanship was doubled in value because he had made it. This was before the manufacture of cntlery had been attempted in this country. Hid two sons succeed him, bnt they have nover been able to equal their father in this direction. At a large manufactory of sword blades for army purposes, masonic and other regalia, one man has tempered them for many years. Although ho has been engaged in other business for yean, he is called whenever a batch of blades are to be tempered. Although he is willing to impart verbal instruction and help a learner, he haa nerer bad a papil to equal him. There is a large soythe manufactory in a New England town, making 14,000 dozen scythes a year, and the president of the company has for years hardened and tampered every soytbe that leaves the works, because no other man in the works can do it bo well.

In the coarse of % disoussion concerning the new method of reckoning time (from 1 to 24 o'clook) at a recent meeting of tbc lioyal Astromical Society, Mr. A. C. lUynard oppo?pd the adoption o! the sjotem lor oivil purposes, and expressed the hope that the Society would not favor it. The dials of clocks would be far more difficult to read than they are now, and much needless oonfusion would re»altfrom the change. The Astronomer-Royal also declared that the proposed mode of reckoning was not expedient at present. Lonrj Riyleigh, writing in reference to the common notion that the vision of savages is more acute than that of civilised men, doubts the ■uperiority of the eye of the savage, considered merely as an optical instrument, but thinks savages surpass all others in the ability to interpret minute indication appealing to the sense of sight. Henoe the idea that they can see further and more accurately than p«ople dwelling in civilization. A new system of sewerage which has been proposed for Paris invoWeß the construction of a great drain about one hundred miles long, leading to a reservoir in the country. If the scheme is carried out a large proportion of the pewage will be used for purposeo of irrif;/itk)n. The projeot will require an expenditure of twelve millions of dollars. A case of lockjaw, caused by a wound to the band, has been ouccessfully treated at the SunderJand Infirmary, in the north of England. The patient was a lad flftetn yonrs of age. Chloral and bromide of potnuHmrn w*3 the principal medicines administered. The patient was abnndantly supported by nourishing food, and the utmost cure was rnkon to maintain an equable temporature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit in his room, while ho was vigorously guarded against draughtb r>{ ah. Jn an abstract from Gomjitrs ltcndw, Professor John Trowbridge, o( Harvard Ool'rq", gives an interesting account of h ncritu ut experiments mado to a'(«rtuin liow far the lijiht of day penetrates into tlio wat'-ra of Lako Geneva. It pot-a down to a dq'th of five hundred and tit j iteb, where ifc i* tihour, < qiml to the bn^hitiftn of a c\pnr night without any moon. TJiu runou* f»ct i« rr cordcri ihftt in cloudy S -pfember weather thft li;;}'.<; fWcmdH further than in the bright day? oE August. An PxpFdition will bo fitted out at the filflbournc ob"prvt»tory to ob«.r"e the total eclip>--( of the eun on the Blh of September m it. The pnity \nll po tn N.'w Z^.Und, v.}tifih in «md to Le thu oily Uud in tho world from wliich the total phase can be apen. Th« duration of totality is bat two minutes and u half.