CHORAL HALL: Mil. SEVERN'S LECTURES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 4899, 30 July 1877, Page 2

CHORAL HALL: Mil. SEVERN'S LECTURES.

The first of a series of lectures upon " Physical Science," for the benefit of children, under the auspices of tho Board of Education, was delivered on Saturday evening by Mr. Severn in this hall to nearly 1000 children. The Board of Education deserve credit for entering upon this project of bring ing the knowledge of contemporary scientific achievements to the young children of the schools, for the Board has manifested a very liberal spirit. As tho scheme is likely to have some educational importance and development, a brief explanation of it will be interesting. The Secretary of the Board issued circulars to teachers of all the schools iu and around Auckland —not the schools only which are immediately under their control, but to those conducted by private persons announcing their intention to eir gage Mr. Severn to give this series of lectures, and offering the benefit of the instruction to be derived from them to ail children alike. The ticket of admission to tho course was to be a shilling, that is to Hay at the rate of twopence for each lecture. The response of the teachers and parents of tile children has been worthy of the very liberal offer thus made, and it was certainly ail interesting sight to see the childr. n of tho various school!! marshalled by their teachers, male and female, in the Choral Hall on Saturday evening. The subject of tho lecture was "Galvanism," and Mr. Severn treated it in a manner to make it intelligible to the youngest child present. His faculty for clear exposition, os peeially to the young, is very etleetive. lie had a complete apparatus upon his platform, ami he produced all the results that enter into the explanation of modern discourses beforo the eyes of those assembled, lie explained the distinctive forms and'materials of the batteries employed ; detailed how th" clectrie telegraph was worked, and showed how the " clicks" at one end of the wire could by their correspondence be interpreted at the other, and then showed how easy it was for Smith in Dunedin to tell Jones iu Auckland how many decrees colder it was in the South. Electric currents of all do grees of intensity were passed from one side of the hall to the other. Torpedoes were explained and illustrated by the explosion of a couple of ounces, which work of wonder was followed by vociferous cheering. The wonderfully augmented powers of electric induction —Ilumkorff's coil—were explained, and shown by experiments. Water was decomposed, and the process shown by means of the oxy-hydro-gen light. The electric light was exhibited, and chemicals were burnt ill vacuum tube.-, giving out intensely brilliant colours of great variety. The lecture was perhaps a little too long, for it occupied at least two hours, but there could bo no doubt that it was made most interesting to the youthful auditors and spectators. The second leoturc is a:ni.;unced for this eveniug, at 6.30, upon "The Earth and its Satellite" (the Moon). Old as well a3 young would be profitted by attendance at this lecture.

Mr. Severn r.?;i.d a communication. from the Bo.ird of Elucation, to the effect that the Board had rated £10 for prizes to he given to those children who shall give the best abstract of e:v.;h lecture—two prizes for each lecture, —the first to children from thirteen to sixieen years of age, the second to children not exceeding thirteen.