skill in manipulation a knowledge of the most beautiful work of the kind which has been done, together with a cultivated appreciation of form and color, and a systematic training in drawing, and in the kind of design suited to their special branch. How urgently craftsmen of this sort are needed, architects know well, but every one does not think of the immense social significance of the development of the msthetic sense in the people whose work is now simply that of machines, appealing to the imagination neither of the one who executes it, nor of him who beholds it. As William Morris, who is good authority on the subject, says, the first effect of teaching the workman to love beauty and beautiful work, and of educating him to execute such work, is to banish discontent and envy from his heart. The humblest craftsman, so instructed, can have roses growing over his whitewashed cottage, and train a myrtle around his kitchen window, and with these, and happiness and health in his family, and his work-bench near, covered with objects growing in interest and attractiveness under his skilful hand, he would not change places with a prince. One of the great evils of modern manufacture is the vacuity of mind in which it leaves the workman. His Jacquard loom is set for him by the foreman, and he neither knows nor cares what will be the pattern of the brocade which it will make; or, if he is a house decorator, his stencils, designed by the architect, or the “ boss,” are doled out to him in the morning, and he is told how many times each is to be repeated before night. No room is allowed for the exercise of his own taste, and, although this is reasonable enough, as his taste, under ordinary circumstances, is utterly bad, the result is that he cannot interest himself in what he is about, and drops his work with delight when the clock strikes the hour, to rush off and exercise his almost atrophied brain in socialistic discussions. The evil of this effect of excessive subdivision of labor is so strongly felt that the vast factories of former years are now rapidly giving place abroad to small “house shops,” in which one or two men, or the members of a family, with a single machine, supplied with suitable power, work by the piece, in such way as suits them best. This gives them a certain degree of independence, and an opportunity for showing industry and care ; but it gives little else; and the higher pleasures of design must be reserved for craftsmen properly fitted for them, and it is these, both men and women, whom the New York Institute is now training so successfully. It is fortunate, not only for his pupils, but for the cause, that Mr. Stimson combines so much enthusiasm for his chosen task with his very judicious selection of subjects and instructors. A work of this sort needs to be pursued with immense vigor to make an impression on the world; and zeal and discretion are not always so happily united.
W
E have much pleasure in calling attention to the fact that a Southern Exposition is to be held at Raleigh, N. C., during the months of October and November next, under the auspices of the Southern Interstate Immigration Association, at which the industries of the Southern States will be shown, as they have never been shown before. A special department is to be devoted to exhibits of the work of the colored people, and the gentlemen in charge of the affair, who represent all the Southern States, hope that their efforts may do something, not only to remove the “ preconceived prejudices,” and “distrust engendered by long years of nonintercourse or partisan misrepresentation,” in regard to the white people of the South, but to show the Northerners, by the spectacle of the colored people in friendly industrial rivalry with their white neighbors, the falsity of “ the charges so strenuously urged, of injustice, oppression and cruelty,” practised by the latter upon the former. Independent of the pleasure of a visit to North Carolina during the beautiful Indian summer season, the two exhibitions will have a great interest for all persons who care for the general development of the nation. So far as “ preconceived prejudice,” or “ distrust,” of the North against the South is concerned, we imagine that there is very little to be overcome, except in the imaginations of demagogues on both sides, but it is always rather touching to see how anxious the Southerners are for the good opinion of the North, and the more the harassed and busy Northerners can see of the South, with its soft climate, its interesting reminiscences, and its kind and conscientious people, the better it will be for them, as well as for the country.
THE French School of Archaeology at Athens has gone vigorously to work at its task of exploring the remains of
Delphi. The villagers of Castri have already been in part removed, and many-of the houses demolished, and the ground will be entirely cleared before winter, while actual excavation will begin as soon as weather permits in the spring. According to the Builder, the preliminary excavation of a boundary ditch around the territory to be explored has already brought to light a statue — a female figure, of an archaic type, closely resembling those found on the Acropolis at Athens, and at Eleusis. This is certainly an excellent omen, and the next year bids fair to be an interesting one for the lovers of classical antiquity.
THE September number of the Century contains an interesting not;e by Professor Langley, of the Smithsonian Institution, on “The Possibility of Mechanical Flight,” in which he expresses the opinion that it is possible, and even probable, “ that before the century closes we shall see this universal road of the all-embracing air, which recognizes none of man’s boundaries, travelled in every direction.” As the century has only nine more years, Professor Langley’s idea of the rapidity with which invention will progress in this direction is rather startling; but he is not a man to say such things at random, and the thousands of experiments which he has made within the last four years to determine the amount of force necessary to raise and propel heavy bodies through the air, make him perhaps the best living authority on the subject. As these experiments are described at length in a report published by the Smithsonian Institution, and an abstract of results is given in the Century paper, we will only mention that Professor Langley finds, by what seem to be most accurate and convincing observations, that one horse-power of force is capable, not only of sustaining in the air a weight of two hundred pounds, but of driving it along in a horizontal flight at the rate of fifty miles an hour. Engines are now made, which, with a supply of fuel for a short flight, and all needful accessories, weigh less than twenty pounds per horse-power, and Professor Langley finds that a structure in the form of a system of planes, strong enough to support such an engine, with its accessories, and suitably shaped for a journey through the air, need weigh less than twenty pounds more; so that every forty pounds weight of boat, engine and fuel, will carry more than one hundred and sixty pounds of cargo safely through the air. Certainly, as he says, this is a wide margin for contingencies, so wide, in fact, that there can be no possible doubt that we have within our hands the means of swift and secure aerial navigation, and need only learn to use them. To compare unfamiliar things with familiar ones, a locomotive will rarely pull more than four times its own weight over the grades of ordinary railroads, but, now that we have learned to use a locomotive, it seems to us one of the most reliable of machines. Professor Langley’s light engines will lift more than four times their weight, and drive it at the speed of the swiftest express trains, as soon as we can make up our minds how to apply their power. Perhaps some of our readers may assist in solving the problem. It has been suggested that a structure, with propellers revolving in a horizontal plane at each corner, for lifting, and others revolving in vertical planes for propulsion, would serve the purpose, and this may be the first plan tried.
THE Scientific American says that the story about the iron manufacturer in Germany, who was said to have fabricated false dies for forging the stamp of the Government inspector on his rails, has been thoroughly disproved. The manufacturer in question showed conclusively that all the dies which he had made were ordered by his customers for their own use, and that no forgery was attempted, or even thought of; while the railway companies who have used his rails join in the assertion that no accident has ever been caused by the breaking of one of the rails, nor has any been broken, except in one instance, where a train ran off the track, and the locomotive struck a rail on a neighboring track. The account adds that the originator of the falsehoods, who seems to have invented them to escape punishment for a previous libel against the same parties, is now in jail, where, we should say, he might with advantage remain for some time. It is astonishing that such a slander should have gained such wide circulation, and we sincerely regret having done anything to spread it.
W
E have much pleasure in calling attention to the fact that a Southern Exposition is to be held at Raleigh, N. C., during the months of October and November next, under the auspices of the Southern Interstate Immigration Association, at which the industries of the Southern States will be shown, as they have never been shown before. A special department is to be devoted to exhibits of the work of the colored people, and the gentlemen in charge of the affair, who represent all the Southern States, hope that their efforts may do something, not only to remove the “ preconceived prejudices,” and “distrust engendered by long years of nonintercourse or partisan misrepresentation,” in regard to the white people of the South, but to show the Northerners, by the spectacle of the colored people in friendly industrial rivalry with their white neighbors, the falsity of “ the charges so strenuously urged, of injustice, oppression and cruelty,” practised by the latter upon the former. Independent of the pleasure of a visit to North Carolina during the beautiful Indian summer season, the two exhibitions will have a great interest for all persons who care for the general development of the nation. So far as “ preconceived prejudice,” or “ distrust,” of the North against the South is concerned, we imagine that there is very little to be overcome, except in the imaginations of demagogues on both sides, but it is always rather touching to see how anxious the Southerners are for the good opinion of the North, and the more the harassed and busy Northerners can see of the South, with its soft climate, its interesting reminiscences, and its kind and conscientious people, the better it will be for them, as well as for the country.
THE French School of Archaeology at Athens has gone vigorously to work at its task of exploring the remains of
Delphi. The villagers of Castri have already been in part removed, and many-of the houses demolished, and the ground will be entirely cleared before winter, while actual excavation will begin as soon as weather permits in the spring. According to the Builder, the preliminary excavation of a boundary ditch around the territory to be explored has already brought to light a statue — a female figure, of an archaic type, closely resembling those found on the Acropolis at Athens, and at Eleusis. This is certainly an excellent omen, and the next year bids fair to be an interesting one for the lovers of classical antiquity.
THE September number of the Century contains an interesting not;e by Professor Langley, of the Smithsonian Institution, on “The Possibility of Mechanical Flight,” in which he expresses the opinion that it is possible, and even probable, “ that before the century closes we shall see this universal road of the all-embracing air, which recognizes none of man’s boundaries, travelled in every direction.” As the century has only nine more years, Professor Langley’s idea of the rapidity with which invention will progress in this direction is rather startling; but he is not a man to say such things at random, and the thousands of experiments which he has made within the last four years to determine the amount of force necessary to raise and propel heavy bodies through the air, make him perhaps the best living authority on the subject. As these experiments are described at length in a report published by the Smithsonian Institution, and an abstract of results is given in the Century paper, we will only mention that Professor Langley finds, by what seem to be most accurate and convincing observations, that one horse-power of force is capable, not only of sustaining in the air a weight of two hundred pounds, but of driving it along in a horizontal flight at the rate of fifty miles an hour. Engines are now made, which, with a supply of fuel for a short flight, and all needful accessories, weigh less than twenty pounds per horse-power, and Professor Langley finds that a structure in the form of a system of planes, strong enough to support such an engine, with its accessories, and suitably shaped for a journey through the air, need weigh less than twenty pounds more; so that every forty pounds weight of boat, engine and fuel, will carry more than one hundred and sixty pounds of cargo safely through the air. Certainly, as he says, this is a wide margin for contingencies, so wide, in fact, that there can be no possible doubt that we have within our hands the means of swift and secure aerial navigation, and need only learn to use them. To compare unfamiliar things with familiar ones, a locomotive will rarely pull more than four times its own weight over the grades of ordinary railroads, but, now that we have learned to use a locomotive, it seems to us one of the most reliable of machines. Professor Langley’s light engines will lift more than four times their weight, and drive it at the speed of the swiftest express trains, as soon as we can make up our minds how to apply their power. Perhaps some of our readers may assist in solving the problem. It has been suggested that a structure, with propellers revolving in a horizontal plane at each corner, for lifting, and others revolving in vertical planes for propulsion, would serve the purpose, and this may be the first plan tried.
THE Scientific American says that the story about the iron manufacturer in Germany, who was said to have fabricated false dies for forging the stamp of the Government inspector on his rails, has been thoroughly disproved. The manufacturer in question showed conclusively that all the dies which he had made were ordered by his customers for their own use, and that no forgery was attempted, or even thought of; while the railway companies who have used his rails join in the assertion that no accident has ever been caused by the breaking of one of the rails, nor has any been broken, except in one instance, where a train ran off the track, and the locomotive struck a rail on a neighboring track. The account adds that the originator of the falsehoods, who seems to have invented them to escape punishment for a previous libel against the same parties, is now in jail, where, we should say, he might with advantage remain for some time. It is astonishing that such a slander should have gained such wide circulation, and we sincerely regret having done anything to spread it.