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Article MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES. ← Page 2 of 2 Article NOTES ON LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART. Page 1 of 2 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Notes And Queries.
TRACING E 0 ABD . What are tracing boards meant to represent ?¦—T . C . — [ They are paintings representing the emblems peculiar to a degree . Each degree of symbolic Masonry has its Tracing Board , and they are distinguished as Tracing Boards of the first , second , or third . ]
CAUTIOX . What is the meaning of caution , as a name applied to an 1 S . A . P . ?—TYEO . —[ Tyro may take this as a caution , to remember the day of his initiation . ] PBINCE CAMBACEKES . Wanted , a biography of Prince Cambaceres , formerly Grand Chancellor of the Grand Orient of France . —H . LEVY .
Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.
NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .
A writer in Blackwood ' s Magazine , in an able article on the Iceland route for the Atlantic telegraph , thus explains some of the difficulties of laying a cable in the deep sea soundings : — "We think the supposed strength given hy the exterior coating of iron led to the fatal error of attempting to lay clown these cables with considerable strain and tensionand induced companies or individuals to
eco-, nomise material by the application of brakes , when the line ought to have been allowed to run very freely from vessels of great power and speed ; and , moreover , we think our naval surveyors on both sides of the Atlantic , anil especially the great American authority , Captain Maury , have jumped too hastil y to a conclusion , whicli appears to have been accepted by our telegraph companies , that the bottom of the sea is so much more level than the rest of the crust of our
earth , and have treated these cables as if they were always running down upon plateaus , instead of their spanning submarine valleys , ridges , dykes , and ravines , such as we meet everywhere upon the earth we inhabit . To try and convey an idea of what has been done , ancl what we mean , let us suppose ' that , upon the exterior surface of the atmosphere of our globe , there were certain people who dwelt in aerial ships or balloons , and that , desirous of knowing what was
beneath their keels , they dropped down fine lines with heavy weights attached , and succeeded , spite of currents of air , winds , and suchlike , in striking the earth in about ei ght places between Edinburgh and the Land ' s End , thereby measuring the depth of the superincumbent element , but never getting a vertical measurement nearer than within perhaps half a mile , —about the height of our Derbyshire hills . How unlikely that the plummet would light exactl
y upon the summit of Snowdon , or the culminating peak oi the Yorkshire hills , or strike the centre of the bed of the Thames or the Bedford level , to detect in a measurement whose constant error was so very great , that there were variations in depths of 160 fathoms between the Devonian and Cumbrian bills—that there was a break in the Pennine range through which our Liverpool ancl Leeds canal is conducted ; or that the plummet , striking in the valley of the Severnwould indicate perceptible difference be
, any - tween the depth of air above Worcestershire and that over the Lincolnshire fens . How we , who are really in the secret of the inequalities of the British empire , ivould smile if we heard those aerial navigators theorising upon their few soundings , and roundly asserting that ive were a mere mound or shoal rising from the greater depths of the Atlantic about Cornwall , preserving a uniform surface for the curve of five hundred miles over ivhich they had sounded
. Fancy what valleys , hollows , rivers , ridges , ancl hills their telegraphic cable would have to span , if those individuals tried to run one from that same Land ' s End throughout Cornwall , Devon , Somerset , Glo ' ster , Warwick , Leicester , Nottingham , York , Northumberland , and across the Cheviots to Arthur ' s Seat ! How the engineers would put on the break , when , to their horror , they found the ten cent . of stray line running oufc too fast ! How tlie aerial
per ship would press on to insure carrying the end from one terminus to the other ! and the consequence ivould be , that instead of the cable finding its place fairly along the surface of England , resting everywhere , it would span many an inequality , hang cutting and fretting over many a cliff , ancl only require a few short days to strain and give way . "
The following clear and intelligible account of the Lime-light lately appeared in Recreative Science .- — "This brilliant light was the invention of Lieutenant Drummoncl , and applied by him in conducting the Ordnance Survey in Ireland and Scotland in 1820 . Its intensity was such that it , was proved by him to be distinctly visible at a distance of ninety-five miles . It is so purely white that the most delicate shades of colour mav be distinguished by i ' t as correctly as by daylight : while for photographic purposes it is
invaluable , as it enables the photographer to work by night as easily as by day . To what extent this light is possessed of actinic properties , or whether this apparent power is due to the total absence of colour in its composition , I will leave others to decide . I shall here only attempt to describe the best form of lime-light apparatus which is yet known to tho scientific world . The lime-light gives out but little heat , and does not in any manner vitiate or consume the oxygen of the surrounding atmospherehence it is just the kind of light required for crowded
; rooms , factories , mines , tunnels— -in short , wherever it is an object to limit the natural consumption of oxygen . As a proof of this , I may state that a five-jet lamp , belonging to the "Universal Lime-Light Company , which was exhibited in the Society of Arts Lecture Room , consumed thirty-six cubic feet of the combined gases in an hour , and did not increase the temperature of the room during that length of time . It gave a more pure and powerful light than their large chandelier , ivhich was subsequently lighted , and which consumed five thousand cubic feet
in the hour ; the temperature of the room kept increasing , and the atmosphere was vitiated to an unbearable degree afc the end of that period . It is hardly necessary to observe that , in common with all other lights of great intensity , it may be used for signal lights , its peculiar steadiness and continuity giving it the advantage over its rival , the electric light . For use at sea , or by the coast-guard in case of wreck , and in cases where life and property are at stake , cheapness is a matter of no consideration for a light of this naturestillwhere cheapness is
; , combined with utility , the lime-light has precedence over all lights , its cost being in pence ivhere others cost pounds . Owing to the total absence of colpnr , it is not only applicable to photographic purposes , but also for picture galleries , shops , & c . It is found to separate the most delicate shades of colour , and , what is of more importance , it does not in the sli g htest degree injure the most delicate fabrics . A single jet of the medium size is equivalent to forty argaiul , or ei ghty fish-tail gaslights , or four hundred wax -candles ; while its cost
is from a halfpenny to rivepence an hour , according to the quantity of combined gases consumed , the augmentation of which increases the power of the light . For instance , twice the quantity of gas consumed per hour will give , not twice , biitjfaiw times the amount of light . Comparing it with the illuminating power of common gas , a single jet ,, consuming four cubic feet of the combined , gases per hour ; equals that obtained from four hundred feet of coal-gas . " The statue of General Sir Henry Havelock , by Behnes , ivhich has just been erected at Sunderland , is cast in bronze from
thecannon taken from the Indian rebels , ancl weighs two tons and a quarter . Its height , from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head , is ten feet ; the metal plinth , six inches high ; the granite pedestal , twelve feet ; and the freestone basement , two feet six inches ; making a total elevation of twenty-five feet . Sir Henry is represented with a sword in his right hand , ancl a telescope in the
left ; the former emblematic of valour , the latter of forethought . Mr . W . Sebastian Okely , M . A ., in his recent Development of Christian Architecture in Ital y , says -. — "A person accustomed only to that special and beautiful Gothic , of which this country possesses so many noble examples , would at first feel disappointment on beholding S . Petvonio , S . Antonio , or any other Italian church . In them he would in vain look for that picturesque multiplicity of
parts , and strong contrasts of light and shade , produced by the congeries of mouldings and profusion of tracery with which the northern Gothic abounds . He would , perhaps , consider as bald the large uncut planes , ornamented by surface decorations only , such as mosaics or irescoes . _ Then , again , the immense span of the pier-arches , and also their height relatively to that of the partition walls , leaving no room for a triforium , or even a , proper clerestory ; the great breadth of the aisles themselves compared with their length ; the absence of large windows for the display of tracery , and the stiff foliage of the capitals , too vividly calling to remembrance the Classical types ; all these features ,
which are characteristic of Italian architecture , can hardly fail to create disappointment at first . But what seems most extraordinary is , that English architects should so hastily criticise these buildings , forgetful that their own conceptions of the beautiful are thereby exposed to the danger of censure ; and it is still more strange that some should even assert ^ of Italian Gothic , that it is an imitation , but a most contemptible one , of the northern Gothic . Surely we cannot suppose that men of undoubtedly great minds , many of them universally
acknowledged as having excelled in painting and sculpture , coulcl have produced buildings , and these , too , almost unmatched in size , differing so entirely and so systematically in many respects from those of the northern Gothic , if they were all the while attempting to imitate them . Is it not more reasonable to conclude that those peculiarities , which have been by some so readily styled faults , were , iu fact , the results of a perception of beauty in the architects different from ours , but not the less true ? Can we not conceive that architectural excellence may lie
equally in the boldness produced by simplicity of ornament , as in the variedness consequent upon the multiplicity of parts ? Is the mystery of the northern Gothic , by which the mind is kept in a state of unsatisfied curiositj-, alone to be sought after , while the repose resulting from a comprehension of the design is to have no claim upon our regard P " An American paper ( The Detroit Tribune ) thus notices the smut in wheat : — " There are two kinds of smut . The first is called vredo segetum , and appears in the shape of black ears . This difi'ase is found in nearly all
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Notes And Queries.
TRACING E 0 ABD . What are tracing boards meant to represent ?¦—T . C . — [ They are paintings representing the emblems peculiar to a degree . Each degree of symbolic Masonry has its Tracing Board , and they are distinguished as Tracing Boards of the first , second , or third . ]
CAUTIOX . What is the meaning of caution , as a name applied to an 1 S . A . P . ?—TYEO . —[ Tyro may take this as a caution , to remember the day of his initiation . ] PBINCE CAMBACEKES . Wanted , a biography of Prince Cambaceres , formerly Grand Chancellor of the Grand Orient of France . —H . LEVY .
Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.
NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .
A writer in Blackwood ' s Magazine , in an able article on the Iceland route for the Atlantic telegraph , thus explains some of the difficulties of laying a cable in the deep sea soundings : — "We think the supposed strength given hy the exterior coating of iron led to the fatal error of attempting to lay clown these cables with considerable strain and tensionand induced companies or individuals to
eco-, nomise material by the application of brakes , when the line ought to have been allowed to run very freely from vessels of great power and speed ; and , moreover , we think our naval surveyors on both sides of the Atlantic , anil especially the great American authority , Captain Maury , have jumped too hastil y to a conclusion , whicli appears to have been accepted by our telegraph companies , that the bottom of the sea is so much more level than the rest of the crust of our
earth , and have treated these cables as if they were always running down upon plateaus , instead of their spanning submarine valleys , ridges , dykes , and ravines , such as we meet everywhere upon the earth we inhabit . To try and convey an idea of what has been done , ancl what we mean , let us suppose ' that , upon the exterior surface of the atmosphere of our globe , there were certain people who dwelt in aerial ships or balloons , and that , desirous of knowing what was
beneath their keels , they dropped down fine lines with heavy weights attached , and succeeded , spite of currents of air , winds , and suchlike , in striking the earth in about ei ght places between Edinburgh and the Land ' s End , thereby measuring the depth of the superincumbent element , but never getting a vertical measurement nearer than within perhaps half a mile , —about the height of our Derbyshire hills . How unlikely that the plummet would light exactl
y upon the summit of Snowdon , or the culminating peak oi the Yorkshire hills , or strike the centre of the bed of the Thames or the Bedford level , to detect in a measurement whose constant error was so very great , that there were variations in depths of 160 fathoms between the Devonian and Cumbrian bills—that there was a break in the Pennine range through which our Liverpool ancl Leeds canal is conducted ; or that the plummet , striking in the valley of the Severnwould indicate perceptible difference be
, any - tween the depth of air above Worcestershire and that over the Lincolnshire fens . How we , who are really in the secret of the inequalities of the British empire , ivould smile if we heard those aerial navigators theorising upon their few soundings , and roundly asserting that ive were a mere mound or shoal rising from the greater depths of the Atlantic about Cornwall , preserving a uniform surface for the curve of five hundred miles over ivhich they had sounded
. Fancy what valleys , hollows , rivers , ridges , ancl hills their telegraphic cable would have to span , if those individuals tried to run one from that same Land ' s End throughout Cornwall , Devon , Somerset , Glo ' ster , Warwick , Leicester , Nottingham , York , Northumberland , and across the Cheviots to Arthur ' s Seat ! How the engineers would put on the break , when , to their horror , they found the ten cent . of stray line running oufc too fast ! How tlie aerial
per ship would press on to insure carrying the end from one terminus to the other ! and the consequence ivould be , that instead of the cable finding its place fairly along the surface of England , resting everywhere , it would span many an inequality , hang cutting and fretting over many a cliff , ancl only require a few short days to strain and give way . "
The following clear and intelligible account of the Lime-light lately appeared in Recreative Science .- — "This brilliant light was the invention of Lieutenant Drummoncl , and applied by him in conducting the Ordnance Survey in Ireland and Scotland in 1820 . Its intensity was such that it , was proved by him to be distinctly visible at a distance of ninety-five miles . It is so purely white that the most delicate shades of colour mav be distinguished by i ' t as correctly as by daylight : while for photographic purposes it is
invaluable , as it enables the photographer to work by night as easily as by day . To what extent this light is possessed of actinic properties , or whether this apparent power is due to the total absence of colour in its composition , I will leave others to decide . I shall here only attempt to describe the best form of lime-light apparatus which is yet known to tho scientific world . The lime-light gives out but little heat , and does not in any manner vitiate or consume the oxygen of the surrounding atmospherehence it is just the kind of light required for crowded
; rooms , factories , mines , tunnels— -in short , wherever it is an object to limit the natural consumption of oxygen . As a proof of this , I may state that a five-jet lamp , belonging to the "Universal Lime-Light Company , which was exhibited in the Society of Arts Lecture Room , consumed thirty-six cubic feet of the combined gases in an hour , and did not increase the temperature of the room during that length of time . It gave a more pure and powerful light than their large chandelier , ivhich was subsequently lighted , and which consumed five thousand cubic feet
in the hour ; the temperature of the room kept increasing , and the atmosphere was vitiated to an unbearable degree afc the end of that period . It is hardly necessary to observe that , in common with all other lights of great intensity , it may be used for signal lights , its peculiar steadiness and continuity giving it the advantage over its rival , the electric light . For use at sea , or by the coast-guard in case of wreck , and in cases where life and property are at stake , cheapness is a matter of no consideration for a light of this naturestillwhere cheapness is
; , combined with utility , the lime-light has precedence over all lights , its cost being in pence ivhere others cost pounds . Owing to the total absence of colpnr , it is not only applicable to photographic purposes , but also for picture galleries , shops , & c . It is found to separate the most delicate shades of colour , and , what is of more importance , it does not in the sli g htest degree injure the most delicate fabrics . A single jet of the medium size is equivalent to forty argaiul , or ei ghty fish-tail gaslights , or four hundred wax -candles ; while its cost
is from a halfpenny to rivepence an hour , according to the quantity of combined gases consumed , the augmentation of which increases the power of the light . For instance , twice the quantity of gas consumed per hour will give , not twice , biitjfaiw times the amount of light . Comparing it with the illuminating power of common gas , a single jet ,, consuming four cubic feet of the combined , gases per hour ; equals that obtained from four hundred feet of coal-gas . " The statue of General Sir Henry Havelock , by Behnes , ivhich has just been erected at Sunderland , is cast in bronze from
thecannon taken from the Indian rebels , ancl weighs two tons and a quarter . Its height , from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head , is ten feet ; the metal plinth , six inches high ; the granite pedestal , twelve feet ; and the freestone basement , two feet six inches ; making a total elevation of twenty-five feet . Sir Henry is represented with a sword in his right hand , ancl a telescope in the
left ; the former emblematic of valour , the latter of forethought . Mr . W . Sebastian Okely , M . A ., in his recent Development of Christian Architecture in Ital y , says -. — "A person accustomed only to that special and beautiful Gothic , of which this country possesses so many noble examples , would at first feel disappointment on beholding S . Petvonio , S . Antonio , or any other Italian church . In them he would in vain look for that picturesque multiplicity of
parts , and strong contrasts of light and shade , produced by the congeries of mouldings and profusion of tracery with which the northern Gothic abounds . He would , perhaps , consider as bald the large uncut planes , ornamented by surface decorations only , such as mosaics or irescoes . _ Then , again , the immense span of the pier-arches , and also their height relatively to that of the partition walls , leaving no room for a triforium , or even a , proper clerestory ; the great breadth of the aisles themselves compared with their length ; the absence of large windows for the display of tracery , and the stiff foliage of the capitals , too vividly calling to remembrance the Classical types ; all these features ,
which are characteristic of Italian architecture , can hardly fail to create disappointment at first . But what seems most extraordinary is , that English architects should so hastily criticise these buildings , forgetful that their own conceptions of the beautiful are thereby exposed to the danger of censure ; and it is still more strange that some should even assert ^ of Italian Gothic , that it is an imitation , but a most contemptible one , of the northern Gothic . Surely we cannot suppose that men of undoubtedly great minds , many of them universally
acknowledged as having excelled in painting and sculpture , coulcl have produced buildings , and these , too , almost unmatched in size , differing so entirely and so systematically in many respects from those of the northern Gothic , if they were all the while attempting to imitate them . Is it not more reasonable to conclude that those peculiarities , which have been by some so readily styled faults , were , iu fact , the results of a perception of beauty in the architects different from ours , but not the less true ? Can we not conceive that architectural excellence may lie
equally in the boldness produced by simplicity of ornament , as in the variedness consequent upon the multiplicity of parts ? Is the mystery of the northern Gothic , by which the mind is kept in a state of unsatisfied curiositj-, alone to be sought after , while the repose resulting from a comprehension of the design is to have no claim upon our regard P " An American paper ( The Detroit Tribune ) thus notices the smut in wheat : — " There are two kinds of smut . The first is called vredo segetum , and appears in the shape of black ears . This difi'ase is found in nearly all