consisted the insufficiency of the plan; the very circumstance of the chain being packed in a box took away a woful percentage of its usefulness. The intention was, that the chain should be kept in the box until a thunder-storm was approaching, when it should be quickly adjusted to its required place. But seamen, as we have before remarked, have a great dislike to think about, or talk about, or provide against dangers at sea; and the chain was very seldom in its proper place in the time of need. Sometimes the box was packed away so effectually, that the thunder-storm had done its work before the protecting chain could be liberated. Besides, it is found that all the masts must be attended to, since the lightning may capriciously fix upon either of those which are unprotected. A plan introduced into the French navy, about thirty years ago, was to twist copper wire into the form of rope, and apply this rope as rigging from the vane-rod to the ship's side, where it was connected with a plate reaching to the water; but these movable conductors were as uncertain as the chains used in British ships.

It is now more than thirty years ago, that Sir W. Snow Harris began to impress on the Admiralty the propriety and duty of providing better lightning-conductors for the royal navy. Himself an accomplished experimenter in electrical science, he was enabled fully to appreciate the scientific bearings of the question; while his residence at Plymouth familiarised him with ships and their requirements. Against all those official obstacles which are so well known to stand in the way of improvements in government matters, he struggled year after year, battling under discouragements which would have defeated a man of less resolute mind. He brought before public notice the startling list of ships struck every year by lightning; and he cleverly made use of the £ s. d. argument, to render John Bull conscious of the magnitude of the loss occasioned by so trifling a neglect as a few bits of copper. His pertinacity met with due reward; he had the satisfaction to receive a knighthood and a pension from government, to see that his improved lightning-conductors were gradually being adopted in the royal navy, and to know that his contrivances have saved to the country many times the amount of the reward which the country has given him. Luckily for Sir William, his own private means were sufficient to back him up during his tough contest with official personages; if he had been a poor man, he would probably have gone to the wall' long before-leaving, as in so many other cases, the nation to be enriched by that which enriched not him.

The plan invented by Sir W. S. Harris, and adopted by the Admiralty, consists in effect in converting the masts themselves into conducting-rods. There are incorporated with the masts a double set of copper plates, so fixed to their surfaces as to form a continuous metallic line, and yet allow the mast that freedom of movement to which it is subject. These plates are connected with bands of copper leading through the side under the deck-beams, and with

large bolts leading through the keels and keelson. All the large metallic masses in the construction of the ship are brought into connection with these copper plates and bands; insomuch that, wherever the lightning may strike, there shall be a path of metal along which it can travel into the sea, leaving the wood-work untouched by its terrible force. The strips of sheet-copper for applying to the masts are about four feet long, varying in width from one and a half to five inches, according to the size of the mast. A shallow groove, equal in depth to twice the thickness of the copper, is formed along the hinder or stern side of each mast, from top to bottom; and in this groove the plates are secured by copper nails. There are two thicknesses of copper plates, so placed as to 'break joint,' and thus render the metallic connection all the more complete. At the lower part of each mast, the copper plates are connected with the copper bands running under the deck-beams, which bands find their way outside the ship into the water. Thus there is no waiting to fix up the apparatus when a storm is approaching; the apparatus is always fixed, always in its place. As the hollow columns in Paxton's Crystal Palace were always ready to carry off rain-water from the roof above to the earth below, so are the copper plates on Harris's masts always ready to carry off the electric fluid from the clouds above to the sea below.

The inventor, in a treatise on this subject, presents the advantages in the following light: The cost of a first-rate, with all her stores, is not less than L.170,000; she carries full 900 men; and she is intended for the defence of one of the greatest maritime nations which has ever existed. Now, the protection of this splendid machine against one of the most fearful calamities to which she is exposed, may be attained at a cost of less than L.100; that is, the expense of labour in fixing the conductors to the ship, and the loss upon the wear of the copper material, which is always reconvertible and of a constant value. Her Majesty's navy once furnished with such conductors, as an integral part of the ship, little or no expense will be requisite, as the hulls will be always ready to receive masts fitted with the same conductors which have been already used in other ships whose services have for the time ceased; it is hence a mere affair of transfer from ship to ship.'

The success of these lightning-conductors has been very complete: it is known that many ships have been attacked by lightning while protected by these copper plates; but the metal has invariably carried off the perilous enemy, leaving the vessel unscathed. The following is one among many narratives corroborative of this success. Captain Sullivan has described what befell Her Majesty's ship Beagle off Monte Video a few years ago:-'Having been on board Her Majesty's ship Thetis, at Rio de Janeiro a few years since, when her foremast was entirely destroyed by lightning, my attention was always very particularly directed to approaching electrical storms, and especially on the occasion now alluded to, as the

storm was unusually severe. The flashes succeeded each other in rapid succession, and were gradually approaching; and as I was watching aloft, the ship became apparently wrapt in a blaze of fire, accompanied by a simultaneous crash, which was equal if not superior to the shock I felt in the Thetis. One of the electrical clouds by which we were surrounded had burst on the vessel, and as the main-mast at the instant appeared to be a mass of fire, I felt certain that the lightning had passed down the conductor on that mast. The vessel shook under the explosion, and an unusual tremulous motion could be distinctly felt. As soon as I had recovered from the surprise of the moment, I ran below to state what had happened, and to see if the conductors had been affected; when just as I entered the gun-room, Mr Rowlett, the purser, ran out of his cabin (along the beam of which a main branch of the conductor passed), and said he was sure the lightning had passed along the conductor, for at the moment of the shock he heard a sound like rushing water along the beam. Not the slightest ill consequence was experienced; and I cannot refrain from expressing my conviction that, but for the conductor, the results would have been serious.'

Among those whose efforts tend towards a humane assistance to their fellow-men in distress, let us gratefully remember the inventors of life-boats, life-rafts, life-buoys, life-garments, life-mortars, life-rockets, lightning-rods-all those who lend a helping-hand to the hardy sailor.

IDWAY between the market-town of Tand the pretty village of Lisbourne, in a large red brick-house with some pretensions to the Elizabethan style of decoration, dwelt a family named Norrys, consisting of a brother and four sisters, the children of an opulent banker deceased, who had carried on business at T with considerable profit and éclat for nearly half a century. A very substantial and pleasantly situated dwelling was Lisbourne House, surrounded with paddocks, orchards, and walled gardens, sloping to the Lis-a clear shallow streamlet, from which the village derived its name, winding through rich pasture-lands, and shadowed by tall old trees, the habitations of ancient cawing colonies. And the oldest authorities said, that Lisbourne was older than the old trees which had been cut down before these grew up; old trees, beneath whose spreading No. 70.

branches strange scenes were enacted, when battlement and tower arose beside the peaceful Lis, and the warder's thrilling voice re-echoed afar on the still evening air. On the site were now only ivy-covered ruins, affording shelter for bats and owls.

These picturesque ruins were the pride of the village and surrounding neighbourhood, the resort of the artist and antiquary, and the shrine at which Mr Norrys worshipped; for besides being on the Lisbourne property, they were regarded by him with a species of veneration on their own account; and the worthy gentleman had written and published a neat little book about them; and being a wonderful collector of rare and antique coins, he had bestowed unexampled labour and patience in exploring underground-boring and burrowing like the native conies. His researches had been rewarded by the discovery of a small iron coffer, containing the gems of his museum; but not contented with this, it had become the passion and sole business of his existence to delve about the ruins; and during whole summer days he would sit beneath the shade of some crumbling archway, absorbed in thought as to where his next efforts ought to be directed-for tradition had handed down many curious legends concerning the treasures buried there by the warriors of by-gone times. It was not for the gold as gold that Mr Norrys yearned; no, he had enough of that and to spare, but it was the rare and ancient coins he coveted, wherewith to enrich his already valuable collection.

The two elder Misses Norrys had attained that age which is pronounced uncertain; and being the seniors of their brother by a year or two, they were always much annoyed if he openly mentioned birthdays and such-like data, that led to disagreeable calculations. They were formal and precise in disposition and manner, plain in person, and with an inflated idea of their own social importance, which is frequently to be found in those who have not had their minds expanded by travel, or association with their superior, in point of acquirement or worldly position. The Misses Norrys had always been the first people in Tconsequently, they never looked beyond T, and still considered themselves of paramount and exclusive importance; and this conceit was fostered by the deference with which they were treated by their neighbours at Lisbourne, from the clergyman to the doctor-the latter, however, being a most worthy and popular personage, whose frequent services were needed at Lisbourne House. There were several medical practitioners at T-, but Mr Medlicott, the village apothecary, had secured the good graces of the Norrys family in preference to them all; and the third Miss Norrys being a confirmed invalid, whose health required constant supervision, Mr Medlicott had become quite necessary to their comfort, and they regarded him more as a friend than as a mere paid attendant. His wife, too, despite her want of pretension and refinement-despite her fat cheeks