The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-23 00:00:00

THE ELECTRIC CLOCK AT THE SOUTH-
EASTERN RAILWAY TERMINUS, LON-
DON-BRIDUE.

On the Ist of November, 1852, the system of sending
time signals hour by hour from the Royal Observatory
at Greenwich to various telegraph stations came into
successful operation. Certain hour signals were re-
quired by the South-Eastern Railway Company, and
the remainder were passed on to the Electric Telegraph
Company for distribution along their system. The
interchanges of connexions for thee purposes were ac-
complished by a commutator carried by the great clock
at the London terminus. The next step in the system
wa? to show time to shipping in the Downs by the drop
of a ball at Deal, caused by a telegraph signal sent
from the Greenwich clock at 1 p.m. For the success-
ful carrying out of this it was deemed prudent to
erect a clock in London for the especial purpose of
carrying the commutator. Mr. C. V. Walker, the
telegraph engineer to the South-Eastern Company,
had found by experiment that the pendulum at Green-
wich would keep one' of Shepherd's electric clocks
going on the lecture-table of the London Institution,
and he proposed to the Astronomer Royal that the
commutator should be carried at London by one of
these clocks. On the 3d of March last one clock was
erected over the North Kent platform, facing pas-
sengers as they arrive in London ; and since that date
it has faithfully shown Greenwich time, which is sent to
it, second by second, from the Royal Observatory. The
clock ie the property of the Government, and is under
the charge of Mr. Airey on the part of the Admiralty,
and of Mr. Walker on the part of the South-Eastern
Company, under whose joint care the clock, with the
adjuncts essential for the purposes in question, was con-
structed. In the common state of things the commutator
commutator is out of gear, and the hour signal wire
is continuous from Greenwich to the Electric Tele-
graph Company's system ; but on the approach of any
of the hours when the signal is required on the South-
Ea,tern lines, the ball-drop signal, fnr instance, the
commutator will have arrived at such a position that
at about one minute before the hour the Green-
wich and the Deal wires will have been lifted from
their normal positions, and held together until nearly
a minute 4 the shall have passed ; when the
ball at Deal is nearly down the mast—viz., in about 15
seconds, it returns a signal to Greenwich in proof that
it has dropped. The drop is produced with the utmost
regularity, a failure being extremely rare. Commutators
are carried by local electric clocks at Ashford and Deal,
and the adjustments there and elsewhere are such,
that the connections are made without extraneous aid,
and it is out of the power of the instrument clerks,
through inadvertence, themselves to send a signal and
cause a false drop. Within the London clock are galva-
nometers which show the hourly signals that come from
Greenwich on distinct wires, and afford a means of observ-
ing that the clock is showing true time; by another pro-
cess the time shown by the clock is read off at 8 a.m.
daily at Tunbridge, and its accuracy tested. this clock
promises to be the basis of operations as the system
becomes developed of distributing time to the great pub-
lic buildings of the metropolis. The South-Eastern Com-
pany have cordially co-operated with the Astronomer
Royal in this great work, and have made very liberal
concessions to him both in respect to the Admiralty
wires and those of which he requires the temporary use.

HEALTH OP LONDON DURING THE WEEK.

(From the Report of the Registrar• General. )

In the week that ended last Saturday the deaths of
1,143 persons, namely 620 males and 523 females, were
registered in London. Though the figures show a small
reduction on those of the two previous weeks, they still
imply rather a high rate of mortality. In the 10 corre-
sponding weeks of the years 1845 54 the average number
of deaths was 989, which, if raised in proportion to in-
crease of population, becomes 1,083. The deaths re-
turned last week are 55 in excess of the number obtained
by calculation.

The mortality from zymotic or epidemic diseases in
the aggregate is about the usual amount. Of 220 cases
referred to this class, 161 occurred under 10 years of
age. Small-pox exhibits a sudden increase ; the deaths
from it, which were 15 and 28 in the two previous weeks,
rose last week to 45. Of these, 18 were registered in
the north districts, and 14 in the east districts. The
Small-pox Hospital is situated in the former divisions and
in that institution 11 deaths occurred in six days. The
disease appears to prevail in Shoreditch more than in
any other part of London. On the south side of the
river it was fatal in 3 cases in sub-district of St. John,
Horselydown. 41 deaths were caused by scarlatina, and
four of these occurred in Woolwich. Diseases of the
organs of respiration have become less fatal ; having
numbered 219 and 225 in the two previous weeks, they
fell last week to 185. There died from consumption 159
persons, of whom 27 were loss than 20 years old, 77
were between the ages of 20 and 40 years, 44 were 40-60,
and 11 were above that age and under 80. Three lives
were destroyed by intemperance.
Last week the birth of 820 boys and 836 girls—in all

1,656 children—were registered in London. In the 10
corresponding weeks of the years 1845.54 the average
number was 1,453.

At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height ( f the barometer in the week was 29.659 in. The
mean temperature was 46.0 deg., which is 6.5 deg. be-
low the average of the Fame week in 38 years. The
mean daily temperature was below the average on every
day except Saturday, and on Sunday and Tuesday it was
10 deg. below the average. The amount of rain in the
week was 0.44 in., most of which fell on Sunday. The
wind was generally in the north.