The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-11-07 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL

at
rH E monthly meeting of this society was held last nif bt
the
Royal Institution, Colquitt-street, Mr. Grantham 111

chair.
filW
Captain NORTON read a paper on his ir.vention 0
_ rlO
_il,/
signals, which he described to be a missile to be disc..oees
from a cross-bow, pistol barrel, or any similar contTeere it
and to fall some distance in front of the engine, where
would explode by friction or percussion. He then Pre,.ol
specimens of several signals, including an explodin.g.7e or
to lie on the rails, a bolt to be discharged with a synTht be
coloured fire, and a kind of hand grenade, which nil iana'
thrown into the air, where its explosion would giye a l
to
to the engine driver. He also exhibited a small arrow, o'
used as a missile from a rifle in warlike operations.dvantageigr
Mr. J. T. TowsoN then read a paper on " The a
to be derived from elevating the compasses of iron steants.7,,o,
He said that all compasses, whether of iron or wooden /To' r,
were subject to deviations, notwithstanding the means,°card-
rection by magnets, by tables of errors, or a distorten,..abie
He felt obliged to the Rev. Dr. Scoresby for the value of
information which he had afforded, and the correotpigr•
which was fully borne out by the experience which
• in
an
Towson) had had the opportunity of consulting. „ spiv,
instance to which he referred, the captain of a wooden the
whilst in the Mediterranean, discovered a change '„ dif-
variation of the compass to the extent of four degrees, *head
ference sufficient to account for the wreck of the Birke4'wed
and other wrecks which he named. Mr. Towson then show of
by experiment the effect upon a magnet by the proxin.t_4is.
iron, according as it was in the northern or southern hem s
phere. There was also a difference according as the iron ass
in a vertical or horizontal position, and thisaffected acorn'nt
by thebeeling of a ship, and altered the position. A tilts of
showed the conflicting influences caused by the various partied
an iron ship, and explained how some of these counter I°,
others ; but that some were more likely to preponderatetion
duly when a ship heeled over, and that no compensa Dy
would more than partially overcome this difficulty the
another experiment he showed the compass affected J'Yost
heeling of an iron ship when placed low down, but afire,
obviated by elevating it above the iron sides, and, thereto
iron
partially accomplished by having wooden bulwarks to arle ss
ship. He felt convinced that iron ships might be triad was
sate as wooden ships by elevating the compass;
bound to confess that he did not believeproperprecautions% s
taken in the port of Liverpool. He was sorry to make tcsses
charge; but with the sad instance of the Tayleur, theconly'cos-
of which varied as much as sixty degrees originally, be
card as
vinced that compensation by magnets, or distortingthe
depend.,
pursued at Southampton, were inefficient for securing isy
ence on the compass. It was not, however, so much tlnt of
tern
.pursued, as the commencing with too great an arn°;lirly•
original error, which was not carryinc, out the system i'decX
He contended that a compass elevatedb high above the decd a
would ensure safety from variation, and that, if it werelisPa
practice generally adopted, we should hear of no !nig o-
n Pr s
arising from defects in the compasses. Mr. Towson to.
ceeded to show the oscillation of compasses, and the effect
the proportion of vibrations, and concluded by some real...est.
on the effect of iron masts, which he said was not very IP ore
but be
,ere
Mr. GRAY followed, with some remarks showing that loit•
than a year since be recommended elevated compasses, to
they were not to be depended upon, from their liability

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