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MESSRS. BRIAND AND FELL'S PATENT WATER-FRESHENING APPARATUS.
(Patent dated Feb. 11, 1851. Specification enrolled Aug. 11, 1851.)

Specification.

Our invention has for its object the obtaining of fresh and pure water from salt water, and water containing mineral substances in solution, or containing other impurities which render it unfit for culinary or manufacturing purposes. The apparatus which we employ for this purpose is represented in the annexed engravings, of which fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section, fig. 2 a cross section on the line ab of fig. 1, and fig. 3 a horizontal section on the line cd. A is a cylinder, which is surrounded by or encased in a steam jacket B; CC are caps or covers to the cylinder. C, C, C are a set of partitions, by which A is divided into four compartments or channels D1, De, Do, D2; and each of these partitions is turned up at one end, so as to allow the water to flow along them towards the opposite end only. At one end the cylinder A is connected by a pipe E, with a condensing and aërating vessel F, which is contained within a closed tank Ft. At the other end the cylinder A communicates by a pipe G with a box H, into which the water to be purified is first introduced from some source of supply connected with the tap I. K is a pipe, by which steam from some steam-generator is admitted into the steam jacket B, so as to heat the cylinder A. (For steam, hot air may be substituted.)

While steam is thus being supplied to the steam-jacket, the water to be operated upon (whether salt or other impure water) is allowed to flow from the tap I into the box H, and down the pipe G into the cylinder A, where it falls upon the upper surface of the plate C1, but to prevent any of the water returning in a state of vapour through the pipe G, the upper end of that pipe is sealed by a hood L, by which free communication from the the interior of the cylinder A with the external atmosphere is entirely out off in that direction. The water which falls upon the plate C1, after running along the channel D1, falls down upon the next plate C3, by which it is conveyed back again to the other end of the chamber, where it falls upon the plate Ca, along which it flows in a similar manner till it falls into the compartment D4. While the water is thus conveyed successively from one end of the chamber to the other, it gets heated, and a portion becomes vaporized, and goes off by the pipe E into the condenser F, where it gets mixed with atmospheric air admitted by the pipe M, and is finally condensed by coming in contact with the sides of the condenser, when it is run off by the inverted syphon-pipe N and collected for use. O is another inverted syphon from which the condensed steam which has been employed in heating the cylinder A is collected. The water obtained from this pipe not being aërated may be employed for washing. P is a pipe for supplying cold water to the dondenser, and R another pipe by which the water as it gets heated escapes. Sis att inverted syphon by which the residuum of the impure or salt water operated upon escapes from the cylinder A.

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.

(Concluded from page 66.)

Notwithstanding it has been already advanced in the Mechanier Magazine, that religion should be the basis on which education should be founded, the subject cannot now be silently passed over, seeing the movements that have

of late been made to render education merely secular. The advocates of this projeet profess themselves to be Christians: now it in teknowledged by all Christians that Holy Scripture is the foundation of their faith; that, to speak humanly only - the precepts of our

Saviour are all of them such as the moralist would ardently desire to see observed; then, why should the lecture of Holy Writ be denied to schools? The different views that have been taken of some particular passages, in the New Testament especially, have, it is true, given rise to considerable variations in ceremony, and even as to some doctrines; but Christians of all persuasions refer to Scripture as the foundation of each of their particular ordinances and observances. There is one school, "The

British and Foreign," wherein the Bible is daily read, but without any comment, ading to its application to the peculiar belief or practice of any particular church or sect; the children are very remarkably well-grounded in Scripture in this school, and it is applied therein to the inculcation of morality, but not to the support of any particular doctrine or ceremonies; hence parents of very different religious credence do not hesitate to send their children to this schoolparents of the Established Church of England, no less than Dissenters of all denominations-certain that their offspring will therein be grounded in Christian knowledge as set forth in Scripture; but that at the same time it will rest entirely with themselves (the parents) to direct the application of this knowledge to their own interpretation of it. What is the objection that can be made to biblical instruction when given in this manner?

Algebra, mathematics, carpentry, might, it is true, be taught without reference to Scripture or religion; but there are many branches of purely secular education that can not be imparted without entering into the subject of religious history for example. In that of our own country, to go no further, how uninstructive, how incomplete would it be, if divested of many events, the rise and progress of which have been solely on account of differences in our religion! Modern continental history has been equally influenced by religion, and cannot be detailed without specifying the religious motives that have given rise to remarkable changes in policy, in manners, and in freedom. Should the Crusades be omitted in a secular course of history? If so, how will the great changes they wrought in the habits, the wealth, the industrial progress of the people be accounted for? So in the history of the New World, and in the ancient history of the Old one, Pagan rites and superstitions must of necessity be spoken of, seeing how intimately they influenced the proceedings of states. Voyages and travels could not be divested of their references to religion; nor could the rise and progress of the mundane art-architecture, be well taught without giving examples of temples, both those of the Heathens and those for Christian wor

ship. Astronomy and natural history lead

both the child and the man to reflect on the wonderful harmony and suitableness to purpose that pervade pervade the heavens, and the earth, and all of its productions-is the schoolmaster to be debarred from replying to the child's inquiries of how all these prodigies originated? Impossible! It will indeed be found impossible to confine instruction to that which is purely secular.

Scripture should not, however, be made the spelling-book of schools; the portions of it read should be so with due reverence, consequently no boggler should be permitted in school to read aloud any portion of Holy Writ.

Another point which certainly is not sufficiently considered by advocates for the better education of the people is this, How far should it be gratuitous? We all admit that no one should be left by the nation to die of want-we willingly provide food, lodging, clothing, for the pauper, and education for the pauper child-well that it is so. This provision for the pauper affords, however, no reason for reducing in a mass the industrious classes to pauperism; yet this it is that is attempted by the project of providing education to all children indiscriminately, and gratuitously, by a rate on householders, that is, an additional poors-rate under another name. There seems no more reason for teaching gratuitously the independent honest workman's child either geography, history, or even reading, than there is for finding the father and his whole family in food, clothing, and lodging. If our population has had the effect of reducing the wages of labour below the amount that can provide for a family, it would seem more real benevolence to raise the rate of pay for work done, than to provide gratuitously for any of the necessities of the artificer or labourer, whether clothing, bread, or education for his child. Indeed a similar view of the question seems in some quarters slowly to be gaining ground, in the hope of keeping up the ancient independent spirit and self-respect of the industrious classes. The present Dean of Hereford, whose success in the school of his late parish, King's Somborne, is so well known, made that school nearly self-supporting, though in a very poor parish. The school fee was paid for all the children, even for those of farm-labourers, whose wages in some

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cases were as low as six shillings a week; moreover, all school books were paid for by the parents, remained their property, and were taken home by the children after school. This, the very reverend Dean says in his publication, not only maintained the self-respect of parents; but the taking home of books contributed materially to the home comforts of family evenings, to the good preservation of the books, and to the keeping up of school learning after children were taken away from school, that they might earn a pittance in the field. At King's Somborne, the school fee varied in proportion to the means of parents; at the British and Foreign School, Southwark, it is higher than in the National schools,-being 2d. and 3d. a week; an approximation to the selfsupporting system, though insufficient to cover all expenses.

Here exists proof positive that artificers out of their usual earnings can afford excellent school education for their children; what one such man can do with ease, others might equally well accomplish if similarly circumstanced. Take, for example, an instance that can be vouched for; a sail-maker earning thirty shillings a week-not the highest pay given in his craft, but that for which this steady man has been content for many years to work for the same master. This artisan fearing for his children the contamination frequent in national schools, has all along placed his offspring in a private school, paying sixpence a week for the two eldest, girls, and for some time past, for a little boy, fourpence a week, leaving only a baby without schooling. The girls have acquired good proficiency in reading, writing, arithmetic, needlework, knitting. The eldest girl, at nine years old, knitted in school a set of anti-macassars, for which she was paid enough to purchase materials for a little winter cloak; the two girls do needlework for the family, of the average weekly value of their school fees. These children all attend school with pleasure; so much so, that when now and then they are with an aunt for a week's country air, they entreat as a favour to be allowed to pass the day in the village school. Neither father nor mother abstain from any of the comforts of their station; they and the children are always respectably clad,

their habitation consists of three wellfurnished rooms, the whole family have at least one meal of meat a day, they can afford an occasional country visit to a relative, and have withal money at all times in hand, ready for the purchase of edibles in large quantities when they can be so obtained at a less price than when procured by driblets.

Let it not, then, be credited that the prudent artificer needs to be pauperised by providing gratuitous education for his children.

National schools,—though a penny a week be paid for each child,-are, in fact, pauper establishments, since so little as a penny a piece cannot provide suitable masters, or even books, slates, and paper. Whatever the amount of education afforded, all schools that are not self-supporting are literally pauper schools; and paupers, it may be said, are all persons who forfeit their independence, so far as to accept such pauperising schooling for their children. This, though the true light, is not that in which such schools have been viewed; consequently, very many self-respecting parents avail themselves of the instruction national schools so cheaply afford to children. Far from intending to cast any slur on those who, under present circumstances, avail themselves of these institutions, the object of these observations is to rouse attention to the mischievous effects to be apprehended from a parish rate for general educational purposes.

For simplicity sake, the above has been in general stated as if in relation to boys only, but in every instance the observations and suggestions are equally applicable to girls, and should be considered as in relation to them no less than to boys.

In looking minutely into the actual state and practice of national schools, there seems one particular for which it seems extremely difficult to provide a remedy; namely, abandonment of the decidedly unruly pupils having more contaminating and prejudicial vices. A child that has proved particularly unmanageable or vicious, is usually expelled from school by the monthly committee; yet children, so excluded, are as the lost sheep for whose recovery there would be rejoicing; still the reclamation of an erring individual ought not to out

weigh a probability that his depravity might lead to similar vices in scores of his companions. There does indeed exist an institution where depraved young girls are received, and most of them happily reclaimed, -the "School of Discipline" at Chelsea. This meritorious establishment is partly maintained by voluntary subscriptions, partly by weekly payments for the children: the lowest sum at which a girl is received is half-a-crown a week, for which sum she is boarded, lodged, clothed, and instructed. When not admitted into some such institution, the child turned out of a school becomes a wanderer in the streets, acquiring there additional vices from bad companions, and is usually altogether lost to virtue, whilst the inmate of the school of discipline becomes moral, and so well instructed in domestic duties that the demand upon the school for servants is greater than it can supply.

Humanly speaking, that which at present appears to be the first essential step in giving better education to the rising generation of the industrial classes, is to keep children and youth out of the way of street contamination; and secondly, to inspire them with sentiments of selfrespect, and with a reliance on their own industry and moral conduct for present comfort, future independence, and general estimation in this world. Here, as throughout the whole series of these Hints on Education,* it is left to the care of spiritual pastors to inculcate the importance of religious duties, and their bearing on the hopes of a future glorious immortality. M. S. B.

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aggregate amount of loss of light by the safety-lamp was upwards of three-fourths of the whole, compared to that quantity of light which the same flame gave out without being surrounded by wire gauze. The proportion lost horizontally is no measure of the whole or absolute quantity, and the loss is far greater upwards and downwards than

horizontally, because the rays strike the

gauze obliquely, and cannot so readily pass the meshes of the lamp. The obliquity of the wires in the gauze prevents the rays from passing through; these rays, thus intercepted, falling on a dark unreflecting surface, are lost, and practically so for ever. * *

"The angle of reflection of light, as you know, is always equal to the angle of incidence; and when these angles, on polished surfaces, are so made that all the rays of radiated light; viz., the first or incidental rays, shall be reflected parallel to each other, the loss by reflection is very little. It is scarcely appreciable even at considerable distances. Opaque matter floating in the atmosphere partially interrupts the passage of these rays, otherwise there would be little or no loss.

"The Bude Light, when placed in a true parabola (a reflector made to concentrate all the radiated rays), and converted into a bundle of parallel ones, was seen 94 miles on a clear night, in an experiment on the Pyrennees from a mountain where the curvature of the earth permitted; and the oxyhydrogen lime light, in an experiment made some years since by the Trinity House, placed in a parabola at Purfleet, threw a visibly distinct shadow on a white screen at Blackwall; the distance is 11 miles. I mention these facts, because I mean to show you that it is possible, by taking advantage of some of the laws there in operation, to improve the illuminating power of the safety. lamp. Light which falls on polished bright surfaces, it is found, is reflected back again without much loss-that from a good mirror, for instance; but rays which fall on dark surfaces are absorbed or destroyed.

"It is manifest in your lamp that all the rays of light which fall on the surface of the dark unreflecting wire of which your lamp is made are intercepted, and lost for ever. Now, taking into consideration the known laws of reflection, it is equally equ manifest that if the gauze presented a reflecting instead of an absorbing surface, the rays intercepted by the wires would be reflected back, and turned to account. The first suggestion, therefore, that occurs for the improvement of your lamp, with a view of getting more light, is to substitute a burnished or polished wire, of which to make the gauze, instead of the black iron wire, of which it is now made.

Every wire would then have a reflecting surface; every ray of light falling on and intercepted by it would be reflected back, and find its way through the meshes or openings of the net-work-perhaps not at the first reflection, but on the second or third; for if the reflected ray, in the first reflection, chanced to fall on a wire on the opposite side instead of an aperture, it would be reflected back the second time, and most likely find its way out on the other side. From a series of experiments carefully made with a lamp so constructed, the loss of light does not appear to amount to one-eighth of the whole. Silver-plated wire -plated wire, drawn through a burnisher, is highly reflective, and the increase of its expense over the common wire is so little, that the extra quantity of light gained by it will more than cover the difference of cost in a short time.

"Let us now consider the loss of light at the lower part of the lamp, downwards. This is occasioned by the light falling on, and being intercepted by, the oil-can. This vessel, in your lamp, has a dark absorbing surface, and as the flame is placed low down in the lamp, it cuts off a considerable quantity of light, otherwise available. To avoid this loss we must also take advantage of the laws of reflection. It is evident, if the oil vessel was also made with a reflecting surface, the rays of light which fall on it might be turned to account; its surface might easily be made to reflect the rays at such angles as would be most useful.

***

"We will now proceed to consider whether the quantity of light given out from the flame itself might not be increased. In all burne ing of oil the absolute quantity of light given out from its flame will always be in a direct proportion to the perfect state of its combustion. An open flame without a glass chimney does not give out so much light from the same flame as with one. An Argand lamp is an instance. The reason is that the glass chimney produces a current of air which strikes the flame of the burning wick, and renders the combustion of the oil more perfect. The glass chimney acts, in producing a current of air upwards, like the upcast shaft for ventilation in your mines. You are aware that the upcast shaft occasions a stream, or current of air, at and around to a considerable distance from its base. We may take advantage of this fact to obtain extra light in your lamp. If the flame be surrounded by a glass chimney, it would, possibly, break, and be subject to other objections; but if a small metallic chimney, smaller at its base, be placed a little above the level of the flame, the current produced by it will draw the air in sideways, and strike at the point of greatest intensity of

combustion, and effect as perfect a combustion as if a glass chimney surrounded it. This metallic chimney should be made of very thin iron-plate, 4 inches long, and about threefourths of an inch diameter. It may be secured in its situation, rather above than below the level of the apex, by iron stays. All smoke would be consumed, even if the lamp fell on one side.

"This chimney has no practical objection. It would not break nor be injured by the flame, even if the lamp be turned on one side; and in such case it would pass the flame through its centre, and prevent any smoking or injury of the polished wire-gauze. The obstruction of light by it upwards will not be so much as might at first appear. The side of this cylinder will be in a line with the direct rays of light.

"In confirmation of the action of these upcasts, I may state that I placed metallic chimneys on the burners in lighting the House of Commons ten years ago. They have been used ever since, and are still used there with practical success. They are placed above the apex of the flame, to pull in a strong current across the point of greatest intensity of the flame, in the modification of the Bude Light, with which the House is lighted. It may be observed, in passing, the globes of ground glass, which surround the burners in the House of Commons, to soften the light, have a net-work of wire weaved around them, of large mesh, to prevent any separation of the glass in case of breakage. The meshes are so large that they do not obstruct the light, and the wires so small that they are not visible. This net-work might be similarly used about the glass of the safety-lamp, as modified by Dr. Clanny and others, if you use it to prevent the glass falling out in case of breakage."

THE PATENT LAWS. THE LATE DEFEAT.

The conduct of Government in regard to this measure has been altogether most extraordinary. Lord Granville, as their organ in the House of Lords, succeeded in passing through that House a Bill for the Amendment of the Patent Laws, which was represented to embody as large and complete a measure of reform as circumstances would admit of. The Bill is then taken down to the Commons; where, strange to say, the chief opposition it encounters, is from the Government's principal legal organ in that House, the Attorney-general. Sir Alexander Cockburn takes charge of the Bill; but

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