Crayons

Are made of bone-ash powder mixed with spermaceti, adding thereto the colouring matters. The proper proportion is, three ounces. of spermaceti to one pound of the powder. The spermaceti to be first dissolved in a pint of boiling water, then the white bone-ash added, and the whole to be well ground together, with as much of the colouringmatter as may be necessary for the shade of colour wanted. They are then to be rolled up in the proper form, and gradually dried upon a board.

White Chalk,

If required to work soft, is made by adding a quarter of a pound of whitening to one pound of the boneash powder; otherwise the boneash powder will answer alone. The coloured chalks are made by grinding the colouring-matter with boneashes.

universally to be found at hand in all cases, which could be converted into a floating apparatus, either for the use of the person in danger, or those who might venture, to his assistance. What seemed to Mr. Lawson in a great measure to answer all those conditions, is the buoyancy afforded by a common hat reversal on the water, which will thus admit of being loaded nearly with ten pounds weight be fore it will sink, and will bear seven pounds with safety; and as the body of a man is about the same weight as the water, a buoyancy equal to seven pounds will effectually prevent his sinking. To render the hat more manageable for this purpose, and less liable to fill with water from accidents, Mr. Lawson recommends that it should be covered with a pocket-handkerchief laid over its aperture, and tied frmly on the crown: Mr. Lawson asserts that with a single hat prepared in this manner, held by the tied part, a man, who even does not know how to swim, might venture safely to assist one in danger.

When two hats can be had, Mr. Lawson recommends that a stick be run through the tied parts of the handkerchiefs which cover them: and if more hats could be got it would be still better; four hats may thus be fastened to a common walking-stick, which will thus snstain at least 28 pounds.

When a stick is not at hand, another pocket-handkerchief tied to the lower parts of those which covered two hats, would thus unite them like a pair of swimming corks and make them equally convenient. If a man happens to fall out of a ship or boat, he may support him.

self till he can get assistance, by turning his hat on its crown, and holding by its brim with both hands, so as to keep the hat level on the water.

Mr. Lawson recommends that the Humane Society should have at their receiving-houses large fontballs, furnished each with a string and small weight, to throw out to those in danger, (if the expence of swimming spencers for the same purpose should be thought too great) by which they might support them. selves till better assistance could be procured.

Observations.-The number d accidents that happen every year both to swimmers and skaiters (the more melancholy, as the sufferers are generally in full health and vigour, and often in the midst of gaiety and frolic) make Mr Law. son's contrivances for affording isstant relief in all cases, very valusble; and should therefore obtain them notice in every publication | where they can be admitted.

Large foot balls also which Mt. Lawson recommends for assisting persons in danger, might be res dered more serviceable by uniting them in pairs like swimming corks; and would be thus nearly equal to swimming spencers, which latter differ somewhat from a cork jacket. and consist of a cork girdle, which is made by stringing a number of old bottle-corks (which may be pro cured at a small expence) on pack thread, and uniting as many those strings of corks as will form: belt of six inches diameter, which is inclosed in oil-cloth, and furnishes with bands for girding it over the shoulders and between the legs. It is strongly recommended, in

the Esprit des Journaux, to carry a number of those cork spencers in every ship, for the use of the seamen; and an instance is mentioned in it where the lives of hundreds might have been saved by some such contrivance, in the fate of an English vessel of war, which was burned within view of the shore, off Leghorn.

A Mr. Mallison has invented a simple apparatus for similar purposes, of cork, which he sells under the name of the seaman's friend, and is one of the most convenient articles of the kind. Those commanders of ships who would not think it worth while to attend to these minute matters for the sake of the sailors, may perhaps do so for the sake of the ship. The inaction and insubordination which total despair produces among the crew, has often caused the loss of valuable ships; and such a contrivance as this mentioned, though it might only keep those who used it afloat for a few hours, would prevent this despair, and make them stick to the ship to the last. In case of a ship taking ûre, which often happens near other ships or the shore, their use would be indisputable.

In addition to the methods before-mentioned for giving assistance in case of accidents, the following means of preventing their frequency in the neighbourhood of this and other large cities, is earnestly recommended to the attention of the Humane Society, and other benevolent gentlemen; which would not only have this effect, but greatly contribute also to the health, cleanliness, and activity, of that valuable class of men, to whose labours the rest are indebted for most of the necessaries and comforts of life.

All those advantages would arise from having large ponds prepared near the city, of about four feet deep, well supplied with fresh wa ter, in which any one might be permitted to bathe or swim, for a penny paid at the entrance; within some feet of the bank, these ponds should be surrounded with walls or hedges, and might be planted, in the interval between these and the water, with shrubs, so as to form an agree able walk all round. There is no doubt but ground might be procured in Hyde Park for this purpose, if properly applied for. The excavation to so small a depth would cost very little comparatively, and the trifle paid at the entrance would assist in paying interest for this cost. Baths for the use of the lower classes of people, furnished at the expence of the benevolent and rich, are universal in most parts of Asia, in Russia, and in several other countries. That there are none yet in England, unless some few for the actual sick, can only proceed from no one having suggested their use to the public.

As a farther inducement to gen tlemen to subscribe to form such swimming places, it should be con-" sidered, that they will form excellent situations in winter for skaiting, where this fashionable and manly amusement may be practised in per fect safety, which will be an argument in their favour, even to those gentlemen who do not skait them. selves, as there are very few of those who have not some friends or relations who use this exercise.

For both swimming and skaiting the ponds should be made of considerable extent: if formed on a too confined scale, the cost would be thrown away, as in this case few or 3 R3

none

none would frequent them; and it is evident, that to make them serviceable in preventing accidents, they should be formed as much as possible, so as to induce people to prefer them to any other situation for the above purposes.

It need scarcely be mentioned, that the circumstances which would constitute the safety of those ponds for the above uses, would be their small depth.

Easy Method of purifying Water.

Bib. Phys. Econ.

A member of the Society of Sciences and Belles-Lettres at Douay, has published this method, which

consists in forming a filter, by plac ing in an empty flower pot a wicker frame horizontally, over which four or five inches thick of pounded charcoal are to be laid, and on that a bed of sand, and over all a pare pierced with holes, to prevent the water, on being poured in, free forming pits in the sand. The filter is to be renewed at the end of some time.

This simple, and cheap me thod will enable even the poorst man to procure pure and wholesome water, which is a circumstance ef great consequence in many foreig countries, and even in some part of England.

ANTIQUITIES

: An Essay towards an History of Temples and Round Churches, from the Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain," by John Britton, F. S. A.

Na state of savage nature, the

rior to brutal instinct; yet, even in that degraded condition, there appears a consciousness of some supe. rior and awful power. That man, in every state of society and civilized life, is inspired with, or possesses, some peculiar notions of a deity, is the general opinion of philosophers; and according to the advancement of civilization and refinement, so is the proportionate rationality of their modes of worship. The early annals of every country furnish evidences of this, and further inform us, that either some manufactured idol, or other more impressive object, was worshipped with servile veneration. As the eye of the ignorant is more susceptible than the ear, and as impressions on that organ are more powerful than those conveyed to the

According to many writers, this denoted eternity, infinity, &c. and by the Hindoos it was formed by a coiled snake, which, with the addition of wings, was regarded with profound veneration. The Egyptians also used a globe with, wings, and a snake attached, as a symbol of the deity; and on Chinese gates are found the figures of coiled snakes, applied to similar purposes.*

Among the most ancient (if not really the very first) species of cir. cular temples, were those rude piles of stones, which are usually denominated druidical. These are almost uniformly disposed in a circle, and consist of one, two, or four concentric rows of upright un. wrought stones. Several of these, of various dimensions and figures, 3 R 4

are