Freemasonry In Natal.

District Board of General Purposes , ancl illustrated the necessit y there was for organising such a Fund by the case referred to by the Board in the first paragraph of their report as to the aid granted " to a lady , whose husband ( a Past Master in the Craft )

died as far back as a quarter of a century ago , and who at that time was in as good circumstances" as any of them assembled there that day . The course thus recommended was adopted , and the Scheme having been thus referred to thc lodges , was again

brought forward at the next meeting , when , we regret to say , the Board recommended that , having regard to the smallness of the response which had been made for funds and the consequent inability of the promoters to formulate any plan for granting

annuities , the Scheme should be held over for the present and until a more favourable opportunity for its organisation should present itself . District Grand Lodge , however ,

as we think very wisely , resolved that the matter should be again considered at thc next half-vcarly communication , which will be held in the course of next month . Another subject that was referred to at both the nicotines had reference to thc

territorial limits of the District , the District Board of General Purposes being desirous that thc District Grand Master should consult the Grand Secretary with a view to having them more clearly defined , " more especially having regard to the fact that

Zululand will probably , at an early date , be incorporated with the Colony of Natal , and that at the present lime an anomalous condition of affairs prevails in thc existence , unattached to this District , of a lodge Co miles within the

limits to which the jurisdiction of thc District Grand Master already extends . " At thc second meeting thc District Grand Master reported that he had so referred the subject to the Grand Secretary , but up to that time had not received any reply ,

owing , no doubt , as hc suggested , to the Grand Secretary being in communication with the lodges to whose anomalous position he ( the District Grand Master ) had had occasion lo refer . As forthe reports that were submitted at thc second or Pielermaritzburg

meeting , they werc , on Die whole , of a satisfactory character , especially as regards the funds of the District Grand Lodge , while the lodges appear to have become somewhat stronger in point of numbers as compared with the previous year . There

are one or two matters , however , as to which the District Grand Master felt it to be his duty to speak somewhat strongly . In the one case pointed reference was made to the non-attendance of brethren proposed to be appointed to office in Dist . G . Lodge , and the Dist . G . Master remarked ( hat it would be for him

very seriously to consider whether in such absence the proposed appointment should be made . In the other case , the District Grand Master drew attention to the fact of his having inaugurated the custom of having the roll of Masters

and Wardens of the private lodges called over with a view to seeing to what extent those officers complied with tlie obligations they were under to attend the meetings of District Grand Lodge . As regards the latter , wc have little doubt that the

scheme , if persevered in , will be attended witli favourable results , while , as regards the non-attendance of those upon whom the District Grand Master has it in contemplation to confer District Grand Lodge honours , we think lhat Bro . Wl-LSLEY

FRANCIS is fully justified in exaclirg attendance in order to receive thc appointment . The absence of a brolher in such a case is a slight to the District Grand Master , and if he

does not consider it worth his while to attend , we hold that the District Grand Master is fully justified in cancelling ( he proposed appointment .

Hidden Mystery , No.4.

HIDDEN MYSTERY , No . 4 .

Bv SYDNEY T . KLEIN , F . L . S ., F . R . A . S ., Wcmsiiii'ii x MASTER OF THE OrATi'OR CORONATI LODGE , No . 2076 . LIGHT .

It may seem paradoxical to call IJght a Hidden Mystery , but it is , perhaps , the most marvellous subject I could lay before you , and one that is least understood by lhe / . verage man . We are so accustomed in our everyday life to lake things for granted that we overlook the Mysteries contained in many ihings around us . The framers cf our Riltial , however , evidently look'd b'reath lhe surface of things , and hence the great importance they attribu ' . ed to the subject of my to-night's demonstration ,

Hidden Mystery , No.4.

In my installation address , I showed that our senses of Hearing and Sight are alike based on the appreciation of vibrations of different rapidity . Loudness and pitch in Music are equivalent to brightness and colour in Light , but , in the sense of Sight we get a new and wonderful appreciation beyond what is possible in the organ of hearing . Our sense of Sight enables us to appreciate "form " and " situation " in space ; we are able to know thereby that an object exists even when situated at enormous distances ,

and we can follow its movements without having any material contact with that object , as is necessary in the case of sound . This wonderful acquisition which we possess in our sense of Sight is not fully appreciated by us because we have never felt the want of it , but let us think for one moment of the utter ignorance we should be plunged into as to our surroundings if the eye received its

impressions of vibrations in the same manner as the ear does . Our eyes would then receive the Light Rays from surrounding objects without being able to place them side by side . All the minutiru which compose a landscape could only be understood in the same way as the ear takes in all the different sounds of a concert , without attributing them to a different part of space ; in fact , no image could be formed , and , although all the Light would still

strike the retina , vision would be impossible . This is remedied in our eyes by the power of certain transparent substances to refractor bend the rays of light out of the straight , bringing them thereby to a focus . This is performed , as you all know , by a lens situated in front of the Retina , and upon that Retina images are thus formed of all scenes passing in front of the eye , and from thence they are transmitted to the brain by means of the optic

nerve . This lens has not , however , the power to separate white light into its simplest component colours—namely , to place them side by side . This we can accomplish in a certain fashion by means of a prism , as in the spectroscope , but this separation is not perfect , because we find that certain of the colours thus laid out are caused by the overlapping of three primal colours , and I have brought you here to-night an instrument only lately invented , by means of which you can understand what is the true explanation of colour

vision . As the whole of music is based on the triad , and a great musician can pick out by his ear and distinguish the first , third , and fifth when a chord is struck , so we can by this instrument see that all pictures are formed of three primary colours , and , although our sense of sight will not b 3 able to divide and distinguish these three colours separately , we can at once do this on the screen by means of the ingenious mechanism of the instrument I am to show you to-night .

The Lecturer here exhibited by means of a very powerful Oxy-Hydrogen Lantern the Photo-chromascope lately devised by Prof . Ives . A number of Coloured . Pictures of vases of Flowers , Boxes of different coloured Sweetmeats , ike , were thrown on the Screen , and then by means of three

condensing lenses in connection with a special rackwork , each picture was split up into three separate pictures , arranged side by side , each picture now being seen by means of its special monochromatic light , showing that all the different shades of colours in a landscape are formed by the mingling and overlapping of three colours only .

Let us now carry our investigation a little further concerning the wonderful sense by which we appreciate Light ; those of you who were present when I gave my Installation Address will remember that I showed that the onl y reason why we could not see objects at a great distance was that the eye could only apprehend anything which subtended a certain angle , in fact the eye had not the power of appreciating parallel rays ; if it had , an object

would always appear the same size however far it was removed from the eye . The appreciation of size depends upon the angle subtended by that object , and , conversely , the appreciation of distance depends , on what is called Parallax or the apparent displacement or projectment of an object when seen by our two eyes separately . Many of you have no doubt tried the well-known experiment of attempting to

place an extinguisher on a candle by the use of one eye only , and proved that sight with one stationary eye gives no idea of distance . Parallax then is the angle subtended by the distance separating our eyes when viewed from the distant object . For short distances the interval between our eyes is sufficient to give us a good idea of how far off an object is , but when we wish to calculate the distance of the moon ( 240 . 030 miles ) we find this is not

sufficient ; we have then to measure a base line of several miles on some level plain and placing a telescope at each end of that known line wc can mark the inclination of those two telescopes to each other , when focussed on a particular spot on the moon . We then know the angle of Parallax ( 1 So' less the sum of the two angles of inclination ) which gives us the distance required . When , however , we go a step furtharand try to calculate

thedistance ofthe sun ( 0 , 3 million miles ) we find our last base line altogether too short , we are now obliged to separate our two telescopic eyes by the whole diameter of lhe earth , which is accomplished by taking an observation of the sun at its rising and again at its setting ; once more we attempt a longer distance and find that this huge base line is altogether unequal to help us to appreciate the enormous distance of the stars ; how can we get a longer base line than the whole diameter of the earth ? The Astronomer

provides it for us ; the earth takes one year to complete its vast orbi . round the sun , and the diameter of that path is 1 S 6 000 , 000 miles ; an observation of a star is therefore taken say to-day , and , after waiting six months to enable the earth to reach the other extremity of its vast orbit , another observation is taken , and yet it is found tint the distance of the nearest fixed stars is so enormous that even this base line of i . Sfl , 000 , 000 miles gives absolutely no result except in a few isolated instances and even in those theangle of parallax is so minute that no reliable distance can be calculated .

Let us now come back to my first demonstration where you heard bars of iron giving out a loud musical note . This note was caused by vibrations at the rate of 500 times in a second , and I think the best method I can adopt to give you a practical idea of what Light really consists , is to ask you to consider how long one of those bars would have to continue v , brating at the almost inconceivable rate ol 500 times per second before it has accomplished

the full nu Tiber of vibrations which affect the eye as Light . That bir would not only have Io continue its vibrations without diminution for seconds , minutes , hours , weeks , months , years or hundred * of years , but for 20 , 000 j ears before it has accomplished the number of pulsations which Lig ht gives out in one of those beats , namely in one five-hundredth part of a sec ; nd .

These 20 , o 3 oyears must , therefore , be multiplied by 5011 , giving 1 o , oco , oooyears as the time required by a tuning fork , vibrating 50 j times per ' second , to complete the lull number of pulsations whicii strike the eye , and give the impression of Light in one second of time . What a marvellous sense then is Sight , when we find that not only can it grasp these innumerable vibrations , but can actually differentiate colours , appreciating as a different colour