Lectures
“Coal” was the theme on which Mr. J. C. Savery lectured to the Recreation and Improvement Society, on the 10th of January. He explained the formation of coal from wood and other fibrous vegetation, and exhibited numerous fossil specimens in which the originals might be traced. Among these were the marestail plant, the club moss and some specimens of the 150 varieties of ferns. Before concluding, the lecturer exhibited some pictorial representation of coal mines, shewing the manner of working them, and the value of the Sir Humphrey Davy lamp in preventing explosions.
“The Alps and their Slopes” formed the topic of a lecture delivered in the rooms of the St. Leonards Mechanics’ Institution on the 15th of January by F. North, Esq., M.P., who had recently visited those regions, and for that reason had chosen them for a lecture. Definitions and geographical positions were then explained, followed by the geological features and attractive scenery of the glaciers. Mont Blanc, he observed, was 15,000 feet above the level of the sea, or thirty times the height of Fairlight. Mr. North sketched out the physical and pictorial character of the Alps, and entered at some length into cause and effect of the moving rivers of ice.
“Water” was the subject of a lecture delivered at the Mechanics’ Institution by Dr. C. H. Stone, on the 22nd of January. The lecturer remarked that when we looked at the vast extent of water which surrounded the earth, and remembered that the sea in some places was from seven to nine miles deep, we were almost tempted to think that if we had a little less water and a little more land it would be better for us, but assuming that 500,000,000 of human beings on the earth, besides inferior animals and plants, all having to be supplied with that very necessary element, it was not difficult to see the beautiful provision which gave us just sufficient for our needs. The Doctor submitted an analysis of the components parts of water, consisting of oxygen and hydrogen gases, the former as necessary to human life, and the latter as an explosive element often fatal to human life in the coal mines. Many chemical experiments were afterwards performed in a successfully interesting manner, and very hearty applause was accorded to the worthy Doctor at the close.
Pneumatics was the title of a lecture delivered by Mr. Butler on the 24th of January to the Improvement and Recreation Society. It was illustrated with a series of pleasing experiments purposely adapted to the capacity of young and non-philosophic perons(sic), of whom the audience was chiefly composed, and which adaptation could not well fail of the desired impression.
A Second Lecture on the same science was delivered by the same gentleman a week later, and with equal success, the various experiments and explanations resulting in manifestations of pleasure.
A Lecture on “Heat” was ably and instructively delivered, by J. C. Savery, Esq., to the members and friends of the Mechanics’ Institution on the 5th of February. The lecture was illustrated by a series of diagrams and experiments, and the -
