The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-12-26 00:00:00

Natal anb

LECruRE AT THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

A lecture was delivered in the Gratumar School,
on Tuesday evening last, by the Rev. W. J. J.
Welch, MA., "On the Pleasures and Advantages
to be derived from the Study of Science." The
Queen's Prizes and Certificates which had been
gained by the boys in the last examination held by
the Science and Art Department of the Committee
of Council on Education. The lion. and Rev. W,'
H. Lyttelton presided; and there were also present
on the platform the Rev. J. S. Boldero and Mr. R.
J. Freer.

The Chairman, in opening the proceedings, said
he would not make a kin, address, as he did not
wish to occupy too much" of their time. He was
very glad they were about to have the pleasure of
listening to Mr. Welch in the lecture which he had
to deliver on that occasion. It was, however, cus-
tomary for the chairman to make a few introduc-
tory remarks. There was one characteristic of
the proceedings there that evening which was
very interesting, combining, as they did, the old
and the new. Grammar Schools were part of the
old institutions of England. They might be said
I to be rocks that had sprung up which had been sub- I
merged, and this Grammar School showed no signs
of age, but had adapted itself to the ideas of the
present day to the education of the young. The
proceedings that day might remind them more of
modern times. In former times education confined
itself principally to literature, or a knowledge of
I words; but the teaching in this school was not of
literature, or of words only, but of science and
art, which were rather things than words. Instead
of the science of words they now taught the
; science of things, and that was is very important
I feature of education in modern times. The result
of teaching formerly was that the mind was
a thing to be hung up, like a college cap, in the
period occupied by the vacation, as a thing that
was useless until they came back to school, but
he believed they were more an more beginning to
see and feel that no one was really educated until
he evinced a profound interest in both words and
things; and the people of Stourbridge owed thanks
to Mr. Welch for the care he had evinced in im-
parting to the pupils that portion of education of
which science and art formed a part. The poet,
Wordsworth, said of Peter Bell, that—

" A primrose on a river's brim.
A yellow primrose was to him—
And nothing more.
That was becauce he knew nothing of the beauti-
ful structure of the flower, and saw nothing in the
primrose beneath the surface, and consequently
there was nothing further to interest him. He
looped that would not be the case with the boys of
that Grammar School. He hoped that when they
left that school tliZik would find many things to
interest them in tibl great book of God's work
which was spread out' before them in this wonder-
ful world. He thought that the result of the
education given in 'that school would be to draw
out the powers of the mind, and cause them to
observe with a wakeful intellect the different
phenomena there was in nature, and to enable them
to read in that work that nothing in this world was
useless or unimportant.
The Rev. W. J. J. Welch then rose and said the
object of their assembling there that evening was
to distribute the prizes and certificates which had
been given by the Science and Art Department in
the Committee of Council on Education. Similar
prizes had been given to the boys in previous
years, but Wu was the first occasion on which they
had been given publicly; and he thought it would
add to the interest which the boys would feel in a
public distribution, and it would also enable him
(Mr. Welch) to impress upon the minds of those
parents who were present the importance of and
benefits to be derived from a knowledge of science.
It was now about ten or twelve years since the
tide ot education had received a powerful stimulus
from the introduction to our schools of science as
an object of great interest, and he (the lecturer)
had introduced it into the Grammar School in
Stourbridg,e. No school could keep up to the re-
quiremeats of the:time, which left science out if
its curriculum. They decided to test the acquire-
ments of the boys in this particular, by causing
them to compete for the prizes offered by the Com-
mittee connected with the Science and Art Depart-
ment of South Kensington. Since that time they
had been in communication with the Science and
Art Department, and he could say it with truth
their boys had been moresuccessful in carrying off
the prizes than the boys of any other schools con-
nected with that Department. There 1% ere those
who alleged it was better for boys not to take up
the study of science until they had left school, so
that it might not interfere with the other studies
of the boys at school. But he thought these ideas
were being already exploded, and in a few years
a knowledge of science and art would be looked
upon as a necessary part of a boy's education. In
fact, unless England took up the subject of science
in earnest, we should not be able to hold our place
with other nations in the world. He did not wish
'

science to be put on a false gr7u-iidTHe only
wanted its legitimate claims to be recognised. He
intended in his lecture that evening totreat of the
advantages of science. He proposed to select
three or four of the leading branches of science,
and he would illustrate them by experiments and
by diagrams, and deduce from these the opinions
he haf set forth in the title of his lecture. The
first branch lie should speak of was electricity.
Here there was a difficulty at the outset, as there
was such a profusion of subjects to choose from,
that he did not know which to select from. He
might speak of the electric telegraph, or of the
many other ways in which commercial enterprise
had utilised electricity, but he would leave that
portion of the subject, and refer to that portion
of lightning which was called the "flash." It was
not a flash, but it had received that name some
time ago as a concession to our ignorance. It was
the result of the state of the matter upon which
the electricity was acting. He then took up a
stick of sealing wax, and showed that on being
subjected to friction, it had the power of attract-
ing to itself small pieces of paper. That was due
to electricity, which had been evolved by friction.
He then went through various chemical experie
ments illustrating the three different kinds of
lightning—sheet, forked or zigzag, and ball light-
ning. The latter was by far the most destructive
of the three in its character. He also showed
that when two states of electricity—positive and
negative—combined, sparke had resulted which
were neither more or less than the lightning flash
in miniature. Franklin first discovered this. He
noticed that the fibres of the string to which his
kite was attached stood out from the string, and
after a time he found by fastening an iron spike to
the end, that he could:draw a spark from it. With
reference to the ball lightning, he said it seemed
to come down from the heavens in the shape of
globes of fire, and it sometimes descended from
the heavens so slowly that it might occupy as
much as ten seconds before it reached the earth.
It frequently bursts with fearful violence, destroy-
ing everything within its reach. Now, as to some
of the effects of electricity. They all knew how
a flash of lightning passing down a tree would
char the branches and cut down the trunk; and
that when it passed through a building it reduced
it to atoms. They also knew that when the flash
ent through any inflammable substance it would
set it on fire, and that when it passed through the
human frame the shock would, be fatal. It was
Franklin who discovered the value of the light.
'ling conductor. It was by means of that conduc-
tor that many buildings and ships were saved
from destruction. There was no doubt whatever
that when it was properly'placed in connection
with a building, it often saved the building from
destruction. With reference to the objects of the
lecture, if he only mentioned the lightning con-
ductor, it was sufficient to show the advantages
which might be derived from the study of elec-
tricity. He now passed on to his second subject
—physiology- This subject was also so wide that
he hardly knew to what effect or phenomena to
direct their attention to; but he thought it would
be better to speak to them on the subject of res-
piration. In order that they might more clearly
understand the subject he would speak to them of
the organs of respiration; the object of respira-
tion; and the changes which respired air under-
went in the lungs. (A diagram of the human
lungs and heart was here radioed). The human
lungs consisted of two strangely shaped bodies,
which almost filled the bronchial cavity, and which
were placed on each side of the heart. A passage
divided it into two bodies called bronchii, and it
finally terminated in what was called air cells.
These were very minute, and the wall of an air
cell was so fine that the finest tissue paper ever
seen was vulgarly coarse by comparison. The pul-
monary capillaries were placed on the outside of
the air cells. It was said that in the two lungs
there were no less than 600,000,000 millione of
those air cells, and they are so arranged that they
cover many hundred square feet. The object of
respiration was to aerate or exchange the blood.
When the blood returned into the heart afterhav-
ing performed the office of re-invigorating the
body, the blood was rendared impure, and it was
the action of the respiratory organs which purified
it. It was easy to see that the object of respira-
tion was to remove the waste products which gets
into it from various parts of the body, and then
to endue these waste bodies with some elements
of the air, and so get rid of it entirely. The air
which we breathe consists of two gases—nitrogen
and oxygen., four parts of the former and one of
latter. The hit which we respire, alter it leave*

the lungs, becomes warm, and rcaches a tempera- I
ture of 98 degrees. This heat arose from chemi-
cal action which took place in the lungs and other '
parts of the body. Wherever two chemical ele-
moats were in union, there combustion took place,
and wherever there was chemical union heat was
given out. It was found that air, after it left the
lungs was not only raised in temposture,but that ;
it had lost some of its oxygen. What became of !
it It must have become united with some other i
element in the lungs, and so got rid of. It not
only lost oxygen, but gained 5 per cent. of ear-
bonic acid. This must have come from the union
of the two gases—oxygen and nitrogen—in the
air. The lecturer then ignited a piece of charcoal
and placed it in a jar of oxygen, where it burned
brightly. He then showed that in the process of
combustion the oxygen had united with the car-
bon, and hail resulted in carbonic acid. This was
what took place in the blood. The lecturer here
showed to the audience a piece of carbon which he
said weighed about four ounces. Eight ounces of
this was given off the lungs of an average sized
man in the course of 24 hours. It was given off
in the shape of carbonic acid. About half an
ounce of water was also given off from a pair of
human lungs in the course of 24 hours. Any sen-
sible man who was aware of the effects of carbonic
acid upon the human system, would do his best to
free the atmosphere from this poisonous substance.
He would not shut himself up in a small room,
with closed doors, and no adequate means of ven-
tilation. He would use as little artificial light as
possible, economising it by means of reflectors
wherever such aids were available, and then they
could dispense with half the amount of carbonic
acid. It was not safe for any human being to live
in a room of less thau nine squ...re feet. It had
been frequently shown that close, ill-ventilated
rooms had not only impaired life, but destroyed it. !
In France, where charcoal was commonly burnt,
death frequently resulted to the people who were
in the room where it was burnt, from insufficient
ventilation. If a man felt languid after having
been shut up in a close office for hours, he would
know the cause, if he studied this subject. The
lecturer nextdeseribed the composition of ordinary
lump sugar. Holding a piece of carbon in one
hand and a lump of sugar in the other, he (Mr.
Welch) said that when he told them the two sub-
stances were very much alike they would hardly
believe him. Such was the fact, nevertheless.
Sugar consisted of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
lie then removed the hydrogen and oxygen from
very strong solution of sugar by means of sul-
phuric acid, which, as he explained, combined with
the oxygen and hydrogen, and left the carbon (a
black, spongy mass) to itself. He then produced
a piece of common salt. This, he said, consisted
of two substances—a gas and a metal. The gas
was chlorine, and it was of such a nature, that if
he opened a jar of it which stood near him on the
table, every person in the room would suffer great
pain, as it hada very powerful, irritant action upon
the mucuous membranes of the throat. The other
component of salt was sodium, a bright metallic
substance, resembling silver in appearance. When
placed in cold water it ran about in an extraordi-
nary way, making a slight fizzing noise. When
put into hot water it burst into a bright flame,
and remained in that state until it was consmued.
The whole of the experiments were successful, and
the lecture was listened to throughout with evi-
dent pleasure, by all present.
The lion. and Rev. W. H. Lyttelton expressed
the pleasure he felt whilst listening to Mr. Welch,
and coug,rutulated all connected with the school on
having such an able preceptor presiding over it.
He then proceeded to distribute the prizes, as fol-
low—

Ma themotka.—Plant, Ist stage, second class; Terry
Ist stage, first class ; IW. R. Penn, Ist stage, second
class; Chettoe and Stuart, do,, do.

, . ,
Cheinistry.—Elenseutary : Plant, Terry, and W.
R. Pun, firsts; and Walcott, second.

Mogrieiisin a it'd Electricity.--W. R. Penn, advanced,
second class ; Chettoe, elementary, first class ; Stuart,
G. F. Matthews, Bloomer, Coldicott, and Mainwar-
iug, do., do.—Terry was placed first on this list, but
was disqualified on account of having won the prize
at the previous examination.
. .

Phystcal Geogruphy.—Elementary : Terry, second
class; W. It. Penn, Cliettoe, Stuart, Bloomer, Main-
waring, and Coldicott, du.
_ _

Geology—Elementary Terry, lot class; W. R.
Penn, Chettoe, Cr. F. Matthews, Bloomer, Maiuwar-
hm, and Pardoe, do.; and Coldicott, second class.
The scholars competing had gained 18 first classes,
and 14 second classes ; there being only 4 failures.
Votes of thanks were accorded to the lecturer and
the chairman, and the boys having snug " Duke
Daintily," and the National Anthem, the proccedime
terminated.

THE ME&T SHOW.—The annual meat show took
place on Tuesday arming last, and, as tyunil large
numbers of people paraded the streets to view the
different shops. There were excellent displays at
Messrs. Hazledine's, Brooks's, Parkes's, North's,
The cattle, although not so large or so fat as we have
seen on former occasions, was excellent in quality.
The palm must, however, be given to a magnificent
heifer exhibited at Mr. North's, and which had been
fed by Mr. Millinchip, of Hagley, and purchased
by Mr. North at Mr. Wooldridge's stock sale, at
Hag,ley. It was very much admired by all who saw
it. Mr. Headoes, of Oldswinford, had also a very
nice show of meat. The display of poultry, game,
dc., at Mr. Mudd's, we.; such as quite sustained the
prestige of this well-known establishment. The pork
butchers also afforded abundant proof that the lair-
, cine element would not be wanting ; whilst the gro.
! cers'and other shops were decked out in their brightest
array to do honour to the festive season.