A NOTED PRIEST-SCIENTIST.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVI, Issue 25, 27 October 1898, Page 20

A NOTED PRIEST-SCIENTIST.

A portrait of this remarkable priest appears in a recent number of tho Sketch. His brother monks of Buckfast Abbey (England) call him 'our Edison.' The extraordinary inventive genius of Father Denys, especially in an electrical groove, is the subject of a most interesting article in the Sketch, which 8a yd that the Rev. Father was educated at Arcuei], near Paris, aud,-very early in life showed a distinct fondness tor mechanics and ebpecia ly for studies in electricity. la 188 1 he took the vows of the Benedictine Order, and soon after invented an automatic signalling apparatus whioh was adopted by the French Government. This mechanism gives warning of the approach of a train to any station, by sounding a loud gong, long bi'tore the train arrives.

Since he has been at Backfast, Father Denys has fitted the Abbey with a chime of tubular bells, rung by electric power. The music of these bells is described by the Sketch as far surpassing in sweetness th<' ordinary chimes. The Rev. Father has also invented an electric clock which not only windu itself automatically, but acts as a distributor of ' the time o' day ' to other clocks or time dials of any size, which, deriving their information from a common source, never contradict each other. Father Denys is said to be now turning his attention in the direction of motor cars.

But the genius of Father Denys is not confined to electricity. He is known as Dr. Denys by the villagers around the Abbey, as his surgical and medicinal skill have often and readily beeu at the service of the poor. He is also extremely popular at Dartmoor prison, where he occasionally acts as Catholic Chaplain.