the sorrowful remembrance of the battlefields over which the grass, though enriched with the best blood of England, has not yet grown fully green; and we cannot forget how many aching hearts there are among us which will echo, in their beatings, only the "Dead March," till they cease to beat at all. But to the nation at large the war has been only a great intellectual and moral stimulus. The militant spirit has been in every heart, and each has put forth the full strength of his arm. Painters have painted; poets have sung; clergymen have preached; orators have pleaded: women have laboured; peaceful men have striven for peace as men do only in times of war; and on us, the representatives of the useful arts, the same mighty stimulus has told as upon others. But further, we have not only, like others, been roused to special activity by the infection of the militant spirit, but the machinery of modern warfare has been largely furnished by us; and, now that peace has come, there is a substantial heritage for us.

Think for a moment what an enormous amount of scientific knowledge and practical skill were expended during the war in improving sailing-vessels, steamers, gun boats and floating batteries; on cannons and rifles, pistols, sabres, and bayonets; on gunpowder and Minie bullets, cannon balls, bombshells, and rockets; on tents, and huts, and hospitals, and stables; on food for man and beast; on fuel; on artificial light; even upon medals, to adorn the breasts of nameless heroes.

Of all these things a more or less abiding fruit remains. In the one matter of improved iron-manufacture the Russian war will mark an era. The last war gave us Henry Cort's puddling process for malleable iron. This war, not to speak of Bessemer's process, which is not yet fully before us, is already giving us iron of a quality no one saw on the large scale before. I need not tell you that the iron which makes cannons best makes steam-engines best; that the more excellent the temper of the sabre, the better the scythe-blade which it yields; and that the more careful we are in fashioning swords and spears, the better pruning-hooks will they be beaten into when we learn the art of war no more. All that seemingly cruel machinery which so exquisitely manufactures Colt's deadly revolv

vers, and Enfield unerring rifles, Woolwich Minie bullets, and Lancaster shells, will, with some simple modifications, make us better locks, and grates, anchors, railway carriages, reapingmachines, and other useful things. In truth, the war did not last long enough to reap the reward of these devices; the harvest has been reserved for peace. It seems to me, accordingly, that the mechanical and chemical industrial arts ought now to make a great stride. And, in connection with this happy prospect, I have the pleasure of thinking that the year of my Presidentship has been rendered memorable by the gift to us of a prize from a veteran soldier, who adds to honours won on the battle-field, honours as numerous won on the field of peace. Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, who bears on his coat-of-arms, among other insignia, the token of having commanded a brigade of her Majesty's troops in six general actions; who is honoured wherever science is loved, for his services to astronomy, horology, meteorology, and magnetism, through a lengthened and very costly series of observations, first at New South Wales, where he founded the Observatory of Paramatta, and afterwards in our own country; has bestowed on us a medal, to be called the Brisbane Prize, which, holding forth as it were the olive branch in the ungaunttleted hand of the soldier, encourages us, by more heroic labours, to show practically our thankfulness, that with all our brethren of the world we are again at peace.

May the omen be auspicious!

15

Experiences with a Free-Revolver Stand for a Telescope at Sea, during a voyage to Teneriffe in the Summer of 1856. By Professor C. PIAZZI SMYTH.

Having had the honour of describing before this Society in the course of last spring, certain new forms of apparatus intended to measure, and, in some cases, to eliminate the angular disturbances of ships, the meeting may not be uninterested to learn the results of an actual trial of the instruments at sea; and not only at sea, but in the open ocean, and in so standard a part of it, as that which is swept by the north-east trade wind.

The opportunity of making these experiments was afforded by the voyage that formed part of the astronomical expedition to Teneriffe this last summer, and the vessel in which they were made was the yacht "Titania," placed at my disposal for this purpose by the princely liberality of Robert Stephenson, Esq., M.P.

The first point to get clear ideas upon, was the amount as well as the character of the angular disturbances that the vessel underwent ; to which end continual appeal was made to the "Naval Clinometer," exhibited to and described before this Society last March. The disturbances were at once found to be larger in angular amount, and quicker as to time, than had been expected. The results, therefore, of the new instrument were frequently checked by direct measurement on deck by vision and ordinary angular instruments, and were invariably so well confirmed in all their most characteristic features, that full confidence was felt in the clinometer; and it was found especially useful at those times, as at night, when the direct method was not available.

A table of observations from June 26th to July 7th is subjoined, and represents the voyage from the Channel to the African coast; and from it we gather that the rolls of the yacht varied in number between 16 and 33 per minute, and in mean angular value, from 3° to 20°; the pitches of the vessel being at the same time almost equal in number, but only of about one-fifth the angular amount of the rolls.

Examining the table further, we find that in a calm outside the Channel the rolls were 21 per minute, of 3° each; that on a gale growing up, and having its swell unmixed by others, the number of rolls was lowered to 17 per minute, but their angular extent increased to 20°, returning again to its former characteristics, when after several days the wind died away to the west of the Portuguese coast. In the broken squally weather before making the trades, and in a confessedly cross sea, where two or more swells met, the number of rolls rose as high as 33 per minute with an average extent of 8°; while, when the N.E. trade was once fairly entered, and its own long regular swell ruled supreme along the surface of the water, the number went down to 19 per minute, with an angular extent of about 10°. Day after day as we sailed in the trades, the wind, while it kept one invariable direction, constantly increased in velocity; and so did the rolls, preserving nearly the same number per minute, continually increase in angular magnitude until they had reached to above 20°. How much more they would have grown to it might have been interesting to have ascertained, but we had then, on July the 8th, arrived at the end of our voyage-the island of Teneriffe, situated in the midst of the brunt of the trade wind.

Something more, however, deserves to be considered with regard to the rolls, viz., the angular magnitude of each roll, as distinguished from the quantities already given, which are the average of a large number.

Thus, on July 6th, the following are the angular values, in degrees, of as many rolls observed during two minutes:12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 10, 20, 16, 17, 21, 20, 19, 22, 14, 11, 18, 19, 13, 17, 10, 14, 13, 24, 31, 29, 23, 13, 21, 20, 17, 12, 12, 14.

And, again, on July the 7th, the following series was obtained in seven consecutive minutes :

VOL. V.

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