mother smiling and saying, "Poor child ! I am afraid she will come back very crestfallen."
This is not the first time that the sharp eyes of a child have made a notable discovery. It was little Mary Anning who discovered a monster in the cliffs near Lyme Regis, and so gave modern man his first sight of the ichthyosaurus.
There is no need to imagine that you have to be old before you can be a discoverer. If you cannot go looking for treasures and ruined cities in Asia, you may look for treasures on a country walk in England, and find it sticking out of a cliff or lying under a hedge
F. E. M. BETTS.
INDUSTRIAL GEOGRAPHY.
The Upper Boys this Term have taken a very practical interest in this subject. So far visits have been paid to the Gas Works, the Electric Power Station, and the Kent Messenger newspaper works. During the visit to the Gas Works, we were shown the old and new types of retorts, in which the coal is roasted. The old type is charged from overhead, the load of coal being shot down from a hole in the top of the retort. In the new type, doors are opened at either end, and a ram pushes the red-hot coke out through the farther door, which is then shut. Fine coal is then blown in through the open door. The red-hot coke drops into water, which rushes it out of the building, and cools it.
Meanwhile, the impure gas from the retorts is allowed to bubble up through water, in order to clear it of tar and ammonia; it is then passed slowly through pipes to reduce the heat, and through scrubbers, which consist of wet revolving brushes; impurities in the gas combine with the drips of water flung off by the brushes.
The gas is then passed over oxide of iron. The sulphur in the gas combines with this to form ferro-sulphate. The gas is then pumped into gasometers, ready for use.
We were shown the power-house, the meter showing the amount of gas in stock, etc. ; the laboratories, the showroom, a chart showing the many by-products of coal-gas; in fact, everything connected with gas was shown to us, and explained very clearly.
At the visit to the Electricity Works, we were shown the coal being automatically deposited on the moving floor of the furnace.
The steam from the boiler heated by these furnaces is fed to turbines, which are coupled direct to dynamos, generating 6,600 volts. A.C. The steam, after passing through these turbines, is condensed by being passed through pipes containing river water. This river water is screened, and chlorine mixed with it in order to kill the organisms, etc., in it.
When the river is low, the water is not pumped back into the Medway, but is passed through the cooling tower, which consists of a series of slats and beams fixed parallel to the ground. At the bottom there is a large fan that forces air up among the slats. The water is released at the top of the tower, is broken into drops by the slats, and cooled by the rush of air. In the main power-room there are two turbines driving four alternators, and a huge switchboard. In the old power-room, there are three triple-expansion engines coupled to huge dynamos, two smaller sets of turbine and alternator, and a rotary converter, consisting of a 6,600-volt. A.C. motor, driving a 230-volt. D.C. dynamo, thus converting 6,600 volts. A.C. to 230 volts. D.C. We were shown the huge switches that control various sections of the town, the meters that show the amount of current being consumed in those sections. Every time a trolleybus starts or stops, the pointer flickers!
The first thing in the production of the Kent Messenger is the setting-up of the type. This is done on the linotype machine, which has a keyboard like a typewriter. The type is taken, and assembled in the "forme," which is a kind of picture-frame. The forme is taken to the foundry, where a proof is taken and sent to the " reader." If it is correct, a sheet of damp tissue and blotting-paper is placed over the forme, and it is pushed through a pair of rollers, the result being an impression on the paper, which is now the mould. The mould is put into the stereotype machine, and type metal (lead, antimony and tin) poured in. This forms a semicircular roll of print, which is mitred and bolted on the rollers of the printing machine. This machine can print 400 papers per minute.
We were shown the hand method of setting-up type, and the printing machines which do bills, posters, etc.
Every boy was given a line of type on which was his name.
These visits have been supplemented by additional notes given in class. We can now appreciate what it means when we learn that the Gas Works utilize Durham coal, while the Electricity consume our own Kentish coal.
Several other interesting points, e.g., the War Debts, Reparations, and kindred subjects, have been dealt with and illustrated by graphs.
We are now anxious for the time when we shall visit the Creamy Toffee Factory!
P. HINTON.