The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-10-10 00:00:00

CONVALESCENT HOMES.

Owing to the fact that in many towns hospital
accommodation does not equal public requirements,
it is often necessary to discharge patients who,
although cured of their complaints, are nevertheless
unfit BB yet to enter into the struggle for existence.
This evil having been recognised at Glasgow, led some
years ago, to the establishment of a Convalescent
Home, where hospital patients might find refuge
until their strength was re-established. In addressing
Lord Shaftesbury last Friday, the chairman of this
laudable institution pointed out some of the benefits
already worked by its means. During last year 033
patients were admitted, a large proportion f whom
eventually left completely cured, while the health of a
still larger number was greatly improved by resideace
in the Honie. As yet, accommodation exists for only
sixty-two patients at a time, thirty-two beds being re-
served for the Royal Infirmary, and the remainder
thrown open to khe general public. Although still in its
infancy the institution appears remarkably prosperous
from a financial point of view, since the chainnan
was able to state—" All our accounts are paid, and I
think I may add we owe no man anything." The farm
on which the buildiag stands belongs to the Home,
and seems likely to turn out a profitable invest-
ment. With an area of eighty-three acres, and costing
nearly £5,000 it ratans] about 4 per sent. on the rental
to a farmer who holds it on lease. Another proof o
prosperity consists in the steady growth of the sub-
scription list. In 1872 the amount was only 1:553, but
In the succeeding year it rose to £836, or 3.5 per cent.
in excess. But the most satisfactory evidence of the
hold already obtained by this admirable institution on
public favour is found in the increase of subscriptions
from the working classes. In one year the amount of
these rose from £l9 10s. to £l2O 15s. Bd., or 500 per
cent., showing the intelligent interest taken by the
workmen of Glasgow in the undertaking, and their recog-
nition of the fact that the Home is chiefly intended for
their benefit, Since there is no question that, as Lord
Shaftesbury stated, "the most important part of the
cure was that, after leaving hospital, patients should
get three or four weeks of good air and food," it is to
be hoped other towns will follow the example set by
Glasgow in establishing a Home for Convalescents.-
614,e,

A "POCKET" TELEGRAPH.
(From Mondays Times. 1
1
It is probably known to most people that the system 1
of telegraphy mostly in use in America is that called
the "Morse sounder. ' The Morse system proper is
that whereby marks of long or short duration
" dashes and dots," as they are technically called) are
impressed on a narrow band of paper, technically
called the " slip," which is unwound from the apparatus ;
by means of clock-work. The "Morse sounder" is
practically the electro-magnet and armature only of the
recording instrument; and the long and short beats
of the armature are to the ear what the " dashes " and
" dots " are to the eye. The Americans take a con-
siderable pride in their sound system, and its acquisi-
tion by others than mere telegraphists would appear
to have become pretty general over there, if we may Judge
by a little invention called the "snapper sounder,"
which has just reached this country. The "snapper
sounder" can hardly be called au instrument, for it
is merely a piece of bright metal about an inch and a !
half long and half an inch wide, with shallow sides
extending about one-half of its length, and a steel
spring ffised above the little chamber formed by the
subs. What may be considered both the ingenuity
and the simplicity of the inventicn consists in the
flattening out in the centre, apparently by one
or two smart blows of a small hammer or "punch,"
of the steel spring at the point where, when
depressed by the finger, it hinges on the chamber;
so that every time the spring is depressed a
Mem metallic sound is produced. The sound
may be varied, too, in different ways. Place the
fingers along the sides so as to extend the little chamber,
and you get a hoarse or creaking sound; or place the
" snapper " on a box or table, and you get a hollow
and reverberating sound. It is not difficult, after what
has been said about the "Morse sounder," to under-
stand how a conversation may be kept up between two
persons by means of the little invention thus briefly
described. The sharp sound is the " dot" ef the
Morse alphabet, the longer sound is the "dash," and
the two following each other are the letter " a." In
America it is said that persons hold conversations on
Chomp and in railway carriaves and omitibuses by means