the necessary data: he must wait till Mr. J. I. Hawkins has furnished a report of the experiments made by him with such machinery as would be adopted in actual practice. I can, however, state that the friction peculiar to the apparatus is very inconsiderable, which indeed was to be anticipated from its extreme simplicity; and, as to the application of animal force for the effecting of such a high velocity as is contemplated, every one knows that it is at the slow walking pace adopted in this plan, that the maximun effort is produced. The immense and rapidly increasing waste of animal strength which takes place, as the rate of travelling is urged beyond 24 miles an hour, is therefore avoided. There is nothing, however, in the scheme to prevent stationary steam-engines, with slow movements, being employed, instead of horses or oxen; and any engineer knows that, in this case also, a moderate velocity of the actual force is a very important circumstance in favour of its efficiency, and that the difference of effect between a fixed and locomotive steam-engine, the consumption of fuel being the same, is very great indeed.

If only mechanical considerations be allowed to have place, it may be safely said, confirmed as the opinion is by the result of the experiments that have been made, that a better scheme for locomotion has never been presented to the public; but if certain commercial and practical considerations be admitted, we then enter upon more debateable ground, and the present is not the time to argue the matter. Perhaps I may be disposed to allow that the plan is not so suitable for grand trunk communications, though it is proper to state that Mr. Hawkins, the civil engineer, is of a contrary opinion; but if it could be applied only to subordinate lines, and branch communications, it would fill up an important public desideratum, namely, a cheap description of railway, whose original outlay and current expenses should be commensurate to a second-rate traffic. For other still less important lines of intercourse, steam conveyances on common roads, would suffice. We should thus have a gradation, and a fitness and proportion of means to an end; an object which is too much lost sight of in this country, from our ambition to do things nobly and magnificently.

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Can it be reasonably expected that any of the railways at present projected, if executed on the grand scale that is contemplated, will pay a proper interest on the capital expended, unless at the sacrifice of cheapness of conveyance, which, in a national point of view, is, equally with rapid communication, a principal object in the railway plan? What is to prevent the railway companies, even in the rare case of ample profits, unrestricted as they are in their amount, from making the passengers' fare the same as what the coach proprietors are accustomed to charge, for the superior ease and rate of travelling will always give them the monopoly? The public will be completely at their mercy, unless a wholesome competition should spring up by the introduction of steam coaches; and this may be expected to take place, if this species of conveyance can be brought into ac tion at all, and if relieved, in a great degree, from those other charges unconnected with the mere cost of conveyance, which press so heavily on railway transit. In the Liverpool and Manchester railway these two classes of charges are nearly equal in amount. Now, if a scheme be proposed in which the last description of charges, that of mere locomotive expense, must be considerably less than by any other plan, either that of stage coaches, steam coaches, or rail-way locomotives (and there are other considerations besides the mechanical ones just adverted to which go to prove this point); and if the other description of charges connected with the road should not be greater than exists on the best turnpike roads (and the current expense of keeping such roads in repair, which is very great, as well as the original outlay, must be taken into consideration in establishing this point)-then it is obvious that such a scheme must be superior, in regard to economy, to every other that now exists. Such are the pretensions which are put forth in behalf of Mr. Saxton's plan; but besides, that it would require a pamphlet to substantiate them in detail, it is not as its advocate that I step forward on this occasion, but to justify it from the imputation of being "founded in ignorance of the principles of mechanics."

In regard to ascending hills I would just state, that in the case of such acclivities as would require the force

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P. S.-Though the controversy on Mr. Badnall's undulating railway appears to be dropped for the present, I do not consider myself precluded, with your consent, Mr. Editor, from continuing the discussion with Kinclaven, on those points which were incidentally raised relative to atmospheric resistance at high velocities, the powers of an engine necessary to cope with it, and the ratio of such powers under different velocities. These are matters of curious inquiry, and quite independent of the merits of Mr. Badnall's scheme. Kinclaven is for flying off at a tangent, and is desirous of evading the discussion, by diverting my attention to undulating railway questions;" but this is a stale manœuvre to elude the "grapple" which he himself provoked, and will not be permitted. It concerns his honour and candour, that he should either acknowledge that he was wholly in an error, as he has already done that he was so in part, or else condescend to argue the subject, and bring forward his own views and calculations. Instead of which, he wishes to creep out of the meiée, and instead of combating me, he fights with my effigy-a mere man of straw, to whom he can impute any nonsense, and for the sole purpose, apparently, of relieving himself of a little

banter.

ARCANA OF SCIENCE FOR 1834.

The present volume-the seventh-of our only scientific annual,* bears, in all its features, so close a resemblance to each and all of its elder brethren, that the same remarks which applied to them, will apply quite as well to the new

* Arcana of Science and Art; or, an Annual Register of Useful Inventions, Improvements, Discoveries, and New Facts, in Mechanics, Chemistry, Natural History, and Social Economy; abridged from the Transactions of Public Societies, and from the Scientific Journals, British and Foreign, of the past year. With 45 engravings. London: 1834. Limbird. 12mo. pp. 314.

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comer. We are sorry to record, that, amongst the "inventions and improve ments of the past year, there is not to be found any very notable "invention " of the worthy editor of the Arcana, for the "improvement' of his little periodical; so that the only consolation we have is the hope that it may be one of the most brilliant new facts" of the coming twelvemonth. To the dignity of an annual register, in its present shape, the book is clearly not entitled, any more than a political annual would be, which should consist entirely of unconnected extracts from the newspapers, bound together (if bound it might be called), by a very flimsy packthread of arrangement." In such a work we look for something resembling a regu lar building, rather than a mere heap of uncemented stones; but the "Arcana is far more like the latter than the former.

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After all-not to be too severe-it must be allowed that the volume contains a very considerable number of interesting articles, although, as usual, the editor's leaning towards zoology, gives an undue preponderance to that branch of science -an entertaining one enough, perhaps; but, certainly, not of so much importance as many of the other divisions which figure in the title-page. It does seem a little out-of-the-way to devote no less than seventy-eight pages to "natural history," in a work which can only afford fine under the comprehensive head of "General Science." It would be much better, also, to omit the "Scientific Obituary" altogether, than to cram into a space of less than a page a most brief, incomplete, and unsatisfactory catalogue of a few of the distinguished scientific characters whose deaths have occurred in 1833.

Under the head "Mechanics," as usual, most of the articles are such as have previously appeared in our pages; and we are glad to perceive that the editor has been more punctilious than heretofore, in acknowledging the source from which he has derived his materials. This is a good sign, and we hope the example will be generally followed, although piracy has become so much a matter of course in the "literary world," that it would be idle to expect any very rapid or radical reform in this particu

lar. It is rather singular, that while most of the articles relating to mechanical invention are extracted from English and American periodicals, the great majority of those on chemistry are taken from continental journals. Is this a true indication of the actual state of things? It may be so, although the effect partly arises, we have reason to think, from the overlooking, by the compiler of the "Arcana," of the most important recent experiments of our own native chemists. A piece of news is, apparently, in his opinion, quite the opposite to a joke; i. e. all the better for being farfetched.

As it will not do to reprint, by a way of extract, either the description of Mr. Rutter's process for generating heat, or Messrs. Walker and Burges' report on Blackfriars-bridge, which form the most prominent features of the first division of the volume, we must be content to quote the very first article, which possesses the merit of not having already appeared in the Mech. Mag. It relates to an improvement in Ceylon, where, it may be recollected, Sir Wilmot Horton was some time ago busily engaged in introducing English turnpike-roads and stage-coaches. This improvement seems to be connected with his plans to effect these objects :

"Satin-wood Bridge in Ceylon. - This bridge has recently been thrown over the Mahavillaganga river, at Peradenia, in Ceylon, the richest and most extensive of all the islands appertaining to British India. It was designed and set up under the superintendence of Lieutenant-Colonel Fraser, deputy-quartermaster-general of the forces in Ceylon; and, independently of its interest as a novelty in bridge-building, it must be regarded as a gratifying specimen of British skill in the improvement of our colonial possessions.

"The bridge consists of a single arch (principally of satin-wood) of 225 feet span, or half as wide again as the centre arch of London-bridge. The roadway is 20 feet wide, and its height above the river at lowwater-mark about 67 feet. The arch is composed of 4 treble ribs, transversely distant from each other five feet from centre to

We must except from this general censure our good friends of the "Perth (Swan River) Gazette," who, as far as we are aware, have never quoted from the Mechanics' Magazine without due acknowledgment.

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centre. The sum of the depths of these ribs is 4 feet, which, with two intervals of 2 feet each, make the whole depth of the arch 8 feet.

"The beams of which the arch is built, are, with the exception of those next to the abutments, from 16 to 17 feet in length, and 12 inches thick. They abut against each other with an unbroken section, and are se cured at the joints by the notched pieces which support the roadway-the latter being held in their position by means of crossties both below and above the arch, and immediately under the roadway. These crossties, which are also locked into them, serve to give stability and firmness to the whole

structure.

"According to the original design, no material but timber has been admitted into the construction of the arch. The arch was commenced in the middle of July, 1832. The centering was struck on the 1st of October, and the roadway was completed before the 1st of January, 1833.

"Wooden bridges, generally, are condemned as being composed of a very perishable material; but, on the principle on which this is constructed, the different parts of the arch may be replaced as they decay. The American wedge-bridge is said to be exceedingly flexible; but this has been completely obviated in the bridge at Peradenia." -p. 1.

STEAM-CARRIAGES.

We were glad to observe, from the reception which Mr. Gurney's application met with the other day in Parliament, that the Legislature are disposed to give every encouragement to this valuable modern invention, and have no doubt that an end will speedily be put to the restrictions complained of; we mean the excessive tolls which were a few years ago introduced into several local turnpike-acts for the very purpose of prohibiting the introduction of this mode of conveyance, and which, by discouraging all undertakings of the sort, have retarded the progress of the invention, and materially tended to deprive Mr. Gurney and other steam-carriage projectors of the fair return which they were entitled to look for from their ingenuity, and the enormous capital which they had expended in following out an object by which there can be no question that the nation, as well as individuals, will ultimately be largely benefited.

Although not the inventor of "the steamcarriage," Mr. Gurney has certainly esta

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blished his claim to the distinction of having first shown its practicability to any extent on common roads, and his method of construction has been adopted in many of the English carriages; but we must take the liberty of observing, that the honourable member for Greenock, Mr. Wallace, ought to have known better than to have described our Scotch steam-carriages built at Edinburgh, and at present plying on the Glasgow and Paisley road, as being on Mr. Gurney's principle. They are about as opposite as any two things intended to serve the same purpose can well be, and were constructed by Mr. Russell, the inventor, for the express purpose of avoiding the defects which were attachable to Mr. Gurney's and the other English steam-carriages. These defects are ably pointed out in an article, well known as the production of that gentleman, in the Foreign Quarterly Review of October, 1832; and we may state, with confidence, that the mechanical imperfections therein described have been completely obviated in the carriages which have been lately built under his immediate superintendence and directions, for the SteamCarriage Company of Scotland, and that nothing farther remains to be done but what a little training and experience will speedily superinduce. That we may not be supposed to allude to alterations in mere matters of detail, although in these, and the general arrangements of the mechanism, many important changes have been effected, we may mention, that among the leading features of the machinery, which, we understand, are patented, there is a boiler (the point where all engineers know that the greatest difficulty has hitherto been experienced), which is constructed upon a new and most ingenious principle, by which the inventor, while he avoids the objectionable system of tubes and separate chambers, is enabled to form vessels of almost any magnitude, and capable of sustaining, with the most perfect safety, any given pressure, without increasing the thickness and weight of the material of which the sides are composed-a principle which will be invaluable in its application to the engines of steam-boats, ships' tanks, brewers' vats, and a variety of other economic purposes, as well as locomotive-engines; a cylinder, or steam engine, also, of an entirely new form, and a spring, which we took occasion to describe in a previous article on this subject, by which, for the first time, the important end has been attained of perfectly suspending the whole machinery, so as to protect it from the derangement and injury which would be otherwise consequent on the jolts and agitation of a bad road.-Caledo nian Mercury.

RECENT AMERICAN PATENTS. § (Selected from the Reports in the Franklin Journal, by Dr. Jones, the Superintendent of the Patent Office at Washington.) William Wool

A FRIEZE WINDOW.

ley, New York.-The patentee states, that he some years since invented the frieze window as a substitute for the dormar window, and that it has come into exclusive use in many of the best houses in New York. It receives its name from being inserted in the frieze under the cornice, and the present patent is taken for an improvement in the mode of fitting up, or finishing, such windows. For a house of ordinary size the opening in the frieze may be 3 feet 6 inches in length, by 22 inches in height. This is to be covered with an ornamental fret-work, which may be made of cast-iron; this, when painted white, will appear like an ornament to the frieze, while it will admit sufficient light through the frets, and conceal the sash behind it.

SAW FOR CYLINDRICAL WORK.-Sumner King.—The saw is to be a complete hoop, with teeth upon one of its edges. Its diameter must, of course, depend upon the curvature required in the stuff to be cut. The inside of the saw rests against friction-rollers, placed in a circle at equal distances apart, excepting at the point where the cutting is to be effected, a space being left there equal in width to that of the stuff to be cut. A band is to be placed around the saw, and over a driver by which it is to be turned; and this band is made to embrace the saw around a large portion of its circumference, by means of two frictionpulleys, which, however, leave it free at the cutting part. Two of the frictionrollers are to have a cant to incline the saw, to keep back on its bearing, which is against friction-rollers.

We believe the plan to be new, but are apprehensive that the stiffness in the cutting part will not be sufficient to cause the saw to work well without making it inconveniently thick.

EXPLOSIVE GAS-ENGINE.-Henry Rodgers. The patentee claims, as his invention, the "application of the power produced by the explosion of gunpowder, or any other explosive compound, to machinery in general, whether in the form described, or in any other that may suit better;" and he then informs us,

that he intends to apply the power more especially to locomotive-engines and carriages, to run upon common roads. As regards the machine it may be sufficient to observe, that it contains a piston within a cylinder, which is to be forced up by the explosion of gunpowder, ignited by means of a hammer striking upon percussion powder.

Putting out of the question the schemes for perpetual motion, we could not call to our recollection a patent more essentially deficient, both in form and substance, than the one before us. In the first place, the patent is taken for a naked principle, independently of any practical mode of applying it, which is not in itself patentable. In the next place, the idea of employing this principle has not the shadow of a claim to novelty; many essays have been made to apply the explosive force of gunpowder to the propelling of machinery, and after the expenditure of large sums of money, it has been abandoned as hopeless. As regards other explosive compounds, which are all embraced in the sweeping claims of the patentee, the records of the patent-offices might have admonished the present applicant of the futility of such a claim. Brown's gas engine in England, and Morey's explosive engine in America, are familiar examples.

IMPROVED

THRASHING-MACHINE. Daniel A. Webster.—The rims, or heads, which form the ends of the cylinder, carry four fluted cylinders, extending from one to the other, having their axes on the periphenes of the heads, and the flutes straight, from one end to the other of the rollers. The concave segment is formed of small rollers or reeds extended across it, and corresponding in size with the flutes upon the beaten roller. There is to be a space of about half an inch between the flutes and the reeds on the concave, thus allowing room for the straw to pass: the numerous flexures of which, in its passage will, it is said, thrash or clean out the grain, whilst the motion of the rollers upon their axes, in a direction the reverse of that of the cylinders, will allow the latter to revolve under less obstruction than usual.

The part of the cylinder usually called the beaters, differs essentially from those used in any of the numerous thrashingmachines which have preceded it.

NOTES WORTH NOTICE.

"THE LAST link in the electric chain is as essential to the completeness of the communication as the first."

A Literary Curiosity.-The Rev. Mr. Gutzlaff's Chinese periodical, to which some allusion was made in a recent number of the Mechanics' Magazine, bas now commenced its career, and the opening number has reached England. One of the editor's first difficulties seem to have been to find a Chinese equivalent for our term "Magazine;" and the title adopted, which may be translated "The Universal Magazine," looks, to unsophisticated eyes, rather lengthy

東西羊

a more exalted opinion of fo

reigners than they have hitherto entertained. One of the principal articles in the first number is a Comparison of the History of the East and the West." It also contains an account of the islands of Java, Sumatra, &c., illustrated with a wood-cut map, exhibiting the European degrees of latitude and longitude. Mr. Gutzlaff possesses a happy facility in accommodating himself to Chinese ideas. His preface opens with a maxim from the native sage Confucius. It is to be hoped that his work will be followed by a host of others of the same class; indeed we do not despair of seeing some "Chinese Mechanics' Magazine" flourishing ere long in the very stationary dominions of his Celestial Majesty.

Captain Ross and his Crew.-The Committee appointed by the House of Commons to investigate the claims of Captain Ross to a reward from the nation for his exertions in the late North Polar expedition, have concluded their labours by recommending a grant of five thousand pounds; at the same time regretting that the spirited fitter out of the expedition, Felix Booth, Esq., will ac cept of no other compensation for the expense he incurred, about sixteen thousand pounds, than the well-earned applauses of his countrymen. It appears that the Admiralty, not content with allowing double pay to the officers and seamen engaged, have also provided for them permanently, by placing the latter in situations in the dock yards or the navy, and by granting promotion to the former. Commander Ross is to be made a post-captain at the expiration of a twelvemonth; Mr. Thom, who, as well as the other officers, served without any prospect of pay, and ranked as third in command