ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OP SCIENCE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7067, 20 January 1891, Page 3

ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OP SCIENCE.

Chairman of the City of Sydney Improv* merit Board, was read. It dealt with th sewerage question, and urged the desirabl< ness of introducing the pneumatic syetei invented by Captain Liernur. Dr Hacon read a paper advocating th appointment of a Minister of Public Healti for New Zealand, and pointed out tha the prevention of disease was a matter 0 as much importance as that of guardini against foreign invasion. He also referrei to the great importance of a proper syeteu of physical education being given a plac< in the schools of the Colony. SKCTION I. — LITERATURE. In Section I. — Literature, there was 1 good attendance. Mr A. Wilson occupied the chair in the absence of the President Mr E. H. Roe. A discussion took place or the address given by Mr Eoe, in which ht advocated the teaching of modern instead of classical literature, and contended that Latin could with advantage be almost eliminated from the educational course. Mr G. Hogben and Dr Lomax-Smith supported tho views of Mr Eoe, and Mi Wilson of Wellington, Professor Gibbona of Dunedin, Messrs Harkness, BevanBrown and the Chairman opposed them. On the motion of Mr Bevan-Brown, seconded by Mr Justice Denniston, a vote of thank 3 was passed to Mr Eoe for his address, and to Mr Jack for reading it. SECTION J. — KNQINKEtIING.

There was a good attendance in the Engineering Section. Mr E. Wilson, F.K.S.E., of the New Zealand Midland Railway, read a paper on steep grade inclines on mountain railways. The paper first points out that tbe loading features of most mouutainous districts are

the plains or which penetrate into the wildest hill country ; these having a more or less gradual rise from the sea

coast to within a few miles of the water-

shed, when, as a rule, the ground rises abruptly to the aummits of the saddles. It

is on these low grounds that it is always desirable to locate a railway line, as it is less costly to construct and maintain in such a position. Ib is, however, generally found necessary to carry the location on to the hill sides overlooking these valleys, in order to obtain a grade suitable to an adhesion railway from the low ground to the summit of the saddle— the disadvant-

ages of this course are graphically pointed out. The use of steep inclines is to avoid this hill-side location, and adhere as long as possible to the sound ground of the valleys, and to concentrate the difficulties of construction and haulage into special eections of short length, with auxiliary power to overcome the steeper grades. An instance is given of the San Paulo railway, with a gradient of 1 in 975 worked by rope traction, which surmounts a height of 2650 ft in five miles. This line has been at work for the last twenty years, and without the loss of a single life during that time 2,600,000 passengers and 4,000,000 tons of goods have been carried up and down the incline. The paper shows the objection to rope haulage, as necessitating curves of large radius, and thus increasing coat of construction, and also being of limited carrying capacity. It is further pointed out that the Fell system is an improvement on rope traction, and that it has been worked in New Zealand with very satisfactory resulte. The, greatest improvement which has yet been introduced in working steep-grade inclines has been the

Abt system of rack and pinion, the invention of Mr Roman Abt, of Switzerland, the leading featnres being the simplicity of the rack, and the fact of rolling contact with the teeth, and also an ingenious arrangement by which the trains are run on and off these rack sections without stopping. The system of brake, employed renders the transport of goods and | passengers safer on the steep inclines fitted with the rack than on the ordinary adhesion grade. The cost of working is shown to be, if anything, cheaper than the same height surmounted by adhesion grades. The Abt system is employed on . the Hartz Mountain railway, with a gradient of 1 in 1667, on the Oertelsbruch and Libesten line 1 in 12|, Oertelsbruch Quarry line 1 in 7-3, on the line from Eisenrz to Vordenburg, in Styria, lin 133, on the Viap-Germatt railway in Switzerland 1 in 833, on the Ymerto Cabello and Valencia railway in Venezuela 1 in 12£, on the Transandine railway in South America, where there are about eighteen miles of rack divided into several sections. The Japanese Government have decided to i

To-day's Proceedings.

SECTION A— ASRTONOMY AND PHYSICS,

In this section there was a good attendance. Professor Lyle presided and read a number of notes on several subjects by Professor Threlfall, of Sydney University. He exhibited an enlargement of a photograph of defraction fringes, taken by Professor Threlfall, which can be used for calculating the wave lengths of light. Two interesting photographs, taken by Lord Raleigh, were also shown. One of tbese was an "instantaneous" picture of a breaking jet of water, and the other of a portion of the solar spectrum. A note was read from Mr H. B. Fulton, of London, on his specific gravity tube. Mr J. T. Meeson read two interesting papers on the origin and development of the North-west winds of New Zealand, and ;be characteristics of the North-westers of Canterbury. SECTION B.— CHEMISTRY. In the chemistry section, papers were read by Professor Bickerton on "The Specific Heats of Gaßes of Equal Volume," "Three Modes of Estimating Molecular Attraction," "Some Possible Causes of Low Temperatures," " Disposing 1 Affinity, and the Constitution of Double Cyanides," "The Classification of Organic Compounds," " Description of Apparatus for the Continuous Generation of gases." SECTION C— GEOLOGY. In the Geological Section, Professor Hutton read a paper on ice-marks and their counterfeits, pointing out that evidence of the former presence of glaciers in a country was not sufficient to prove a former glacial epoch, if unaccompanied by evidence of an ice-sheet or floe ice. If there was no evidence of a change in the flora, or fauna, there was good reason for concluding that no glacial epoch had occurred. Evidence for a glacial epoch in past tertiary times should be abundant and general. Professor Hutton also exhibited apatite bearing andesites from New Zealand. SECTION D. — BIOLOGY. There was a large attendance in this section. Mr G. M. Thomson read a very interesting paper on some aspects of acclimatisation in New Zealand. SECTION E.— GEOGBAPHY. At the meeting of this section a paper by Captain Crutchley, on the meteorology and routes of the Southern Ocean, was read. The paper mainly dealt with the direction of the currents, and referred to the latitudes in which ico was met with between New Zealand and Capo Horn. Mr G. S. Percy Smith read a paper on the geographical knowledge of the Polynesians. Reference was made to the voyages undertaken by the Polynesians previous to their intercourse with the Europeans. The extent of their geographical knowledge was shown, and tbe writer endeavoured to fix the periods during which many of the groups of islands were settled. In his opinion the Polynesians hadaknowledgeof the whole of the temperate zone of the Pacific from Easter Island to the coast of Australia. Mr Smith expressed his conviction that the Hawaiki of the Maoris was identical with the island of Raiatea in the Pacific, and gave a number of reasons for his opinion. SECTION G.— ANTHROPOLOGY. The business in this section consisted in the reading of papers prepared by the late Mr John "White and by the Rev W. Wyatt j Gill. Mr White's paper, which was entitled " A Chapter from Maori Mythology on the Soul of Man," dealt with the conceptions of the Maori, of the immortality of the soul and their ideaß of its various stages in the three worlds through which it passed, viz., the celestial world, the terrestrial world and the world of shades.

The Rev Mr Gill forwarded a song composed by a Native chief of Mangaia, one of tbe islands of the Hervey Group, on the occasion of the accidental death by drowning of his eldest daughter, a girl of fifteen years.

SECTION H.— SANITABT SCIENCE. Apapec by Mr B.Baekhouß9,H. A .8.1.8.A.,

use the Abt system for five miles on the Warm Togoe railway, and it has been decided to build the Nilgherry railway in India on the same system with a grade of X - iU It Ti? 6 > ktter Pa l ° f }** pa ?u r gives the author 8 reasons for advising the use of the Abt incline over Arthur's Pass on the Midland Railway of New Zealand in place of the Summit tunnel, and shows that the advantages in cost of construction, in maintenance and cost of working are all largely in favour of adopting the Abt system instead of the tunnel, and that the change is sound and rational, and not a "make-shift" as some have suggested. By the new location of the line it is estimated that over .£400,000 will be saved in the cost of construction, consequently a saving of something like £20,000 a year in interest charges will be effected, which must ultimately benefit the Colony as much as it can the Midland Railway Company. It is shown that the incline as laid out will have a carrying capacity sumeiently great to transport no les3 than 2,854,000 tons of paying load per annum, These figures will be appreciated by the public when it is considered that, according to the Government returns of 1890, the total traffic, of all sorts over the whole of the Government railways in New Zealand during the year was 2,112,734 tone. It is therefore clearly proved that the adoption of the Abt incline over Arthur's Pass will not be the factor to limit the traffic between the East and West Coasts. With the incline, a muchimproved line is obtained from Brannerton to Arthur's Pass, the ruling gradient being reduced from 1 in 40 to 1 in 60, and the increased spend practicable on the reduced gradient of 1 in 60 will make up for the reduced speed on the short incline of six miles, so that the introduction of the incline will not in any way delay the transport of goods or passengers between Canterbury and the West Coast. A carefully-prepared estimate of tbe cost of working, per annum, the whole section, including the incline, compares most favourably with the cost of working the same section of line with the tunnel, being within a few hundreds of pounds of the same figure. It is shown that, when reduced to the same basis of calculation, the figure obtained is probably the same aa Mr Maxwell's estimate of coat of working, as laid before the House in Parliamentary Paper DB, 1888, although both figures were obtained by separate and independent reasoning. In conclusion, the author gives quotations showing that it is not only his personal opinion, but also the opinion of well-known English and American engineers, that the use of steep grade inclines, worked by auxiliary power, such as the Abt system amply providea, is the Bolutionof the problem to render railway construction in the future through mountainous districts possible, as well as financially Buccessful. Messrs E. Dobaon, C. Napier Bell, G. P. Williams, R. J. Scott, J. P. Maxwell and Professor Kernot expressed thanks to Mr Wilson for his admirable paper. There was a general consensus of opinion that the Arthur's Pass route was the only practicable one for a railway from the Canterbury Plains to the West Coast. A paper by Mr Chapman on a graphic method for the design of reservoir walls was also read.