THE body of the railway is a cast-iron cylinder, with horizontal rails diametrically opposite to each other, and forming ledges on the sides of the cylinder. The quantity of iron in a given length, and the consequent cost of the cylinders, are ascertainable to a fraction, and the cylinders may be cast in substance as light as possible, since any required degree of strength may be given to the construction by ribs or rings upon the lower semi-circumference at long intervals. A padded cord, formed upon an iron-linked core, and made flexible, elastic, impervious to the atmosphere under a considerable pressure, and little liable to be acted upon by meteoric changes, is laid down in a trough over the extended longitudinal perforation or chase, through which the communication is effected from the internal apparatus called the dynamic traveller, upon which the power is obtained, to the external car called the governor, to which is attached the train of carriages to be drawn, in the place of the locomotive engine in the common system. The cord, being laid down in the chase, renders the tube or cylindrical body of the railway close, and as nearly air-tight as possible, or certainly as can be necessary; for if the atmosphere be admitted to an extent which shall almost reach the capacity of the air-pumps to withdraw it, still the action of the pumps would, in a few strokes,

make the valve perfectly air-tight, by inducing such a pressure of the atmosphere upon the upper quadrants of the cylinder, and upon the back of the cord itself, as to bring them into perfectly close contact, The lifting and laying down again of the valvular cord by the travelling apparatus, to allow of the communication from the internal to the external parts, and to permit, also, the access of the atmosphere to play upon the rear of the travelling piston and give the required impulse, are effected in a manner which is simple and certain.

To obviate the necessity of bringing the cylinders together with any great degree of accuracy, and that common castings may be sufficient for the purpose without the necessity of boring, the travelling piston is allowed to move freely and without packing, and the waste of air is very small; but, if necessary, an expanding piston may be found convenient in practice.

It is proposed to divide the line of pneumatic railway into sections of from three to five miles in length, according to the acclivities to be worked, since the steeper acclivity will require a higher degree of rarefaction to be obtained within the same time. High-pressure steam-engines, of sufficient power, at each of the stations which limit the sections, will work air-pumps of sufficient capacity to produce the required degree of rarefaction to overcome the resistance of the

load to be drawn within a given time; and the resistance being overcome, the train will proceed with a velocity equal to that with which ths pistons of the air-pumps are worked.

It is necessary to state, that the cylinder of the railway is intercepted internally at the stations, and so divided into sections, by a vertical valve. The presence of this directs the action of the engines upon that section over which a train has to be brought, whilst the engines at the station next in advance are preparing the following section to receive and bear it along. Hence the withdrawal of the vertical or station-valve allows the on-coming train to pass at once, and without losing its momentum, into the next section, and within the action of the next station of engines, whilst its return leaves the passed section free to be operated upon again for another train; since, as before intimated, the impelling column of air is admitted by the opening of the pneumatic valve immediately in the rear of the travelling piston, and has not to follow along through the cylinder from the extreme end behind it. Besides the great economy with which tractive power can be obtained through this system by the agency of fixed steam-engines, and the certainty and safety with which it is applied, the system possesses the means, also, of increasing the power as it may be required, if the ordinary working be not at a high degree of rarefaction. But rarefaction to the extent of one inch of mercury only, or about a thirtieth of an atmosphere, will give upon the piston of a cylinder thirty-six inches in diameter, an amount of tractive power equal to that of an ordinary locomotive en

gine. Let another inch of mercury be allowed for waste, friction, and other contingencies, and the rarefaction will then amount to only about a fifteenth of an atmo sphere; so that there is a range at command, only limited by the economical consideration, whether it be better to maintain, permanently, engines of sufficient power to obtain the higher degree of rarefaction, and the consequent large amount of tractive power,-or to limit the acclivities.

Chemical Observations. — Professor Dobereiner, at Jena, has discovered another most remarkable property in platina and iridium. He found that either of these metals in its extreme state of fine division (such as may be obtained by its solution in sulphuric acid being mixed with certain organic matters, and excluded from the influence of light) on drying in the air, absorbed from 200 to 250 times its volume of oxygen gas, without combining with it chemically, and compresses it with a power which is equal to the pressure of from 800 to 1,000 atmospheres. Such a great me chanical attraction in a metal for oxygen gas is hitherto without any example, and at once explain all the previous discoveries made by Dobereiner, of the extraordinary chemical effect of those two metals in connexion with various oxidated substances and atmos pheric air. Another discovery made by Dobereiner is that either, at the temperature of ninety of Réaumur, burns gradually and with a pale blue flame, which is only perceptible in the dark, and which will not set anything on fire, but which is itself so inflammable, that, on being approached by a lighted taper, it instantly

changes into a high-spreading brilliant flame.

Junction of the Rhine with the Danube.-TheGovernment of Bavaria is now anxiously occupied with the consideration of a plan for uniting the Rhine with the Danube by means of a canal. The canal will have its source in the Danube, near Kelheim. Its course will follow the valley of the small river d'Altmuhl and the Sulz, as far as Neumarkt; from thence the canal will pass in the direction of Nuremberg, and pass the river Regnitz, by Furth and Bamberg. Its length will be 592,534 Bavarian feet, or 23 German miles. Its breadth will be fifty-four Bavarian feet, and its depth thirty-four. The highest elevation of the canal will be 273 feet above the surface of the Danube, near Kelheim, and 630 feet above the surface of the Regnitz, near Bamberg. This elevation will be attained by means of ninety-four locks. It appears, from an official calculation, that the conveyance of a quintal of goods throughout the whole length of the canal will not cost above a kreutzer and a half, including the expenses of navigation.

Shower of fish.-A correspondent of the "Asiatic Journal," at Bengal gives the following particulars of a fall of fish, which happened on the 17th of May, 1834, in the neighbourhood of Allahabad. The Zemindars of the village have furnished the following particulars, which are confirmed by other accounts. About noon, the wind being from the west, and a few distant clouds visible, a blast of high wind, accompanied with much dust, which changed the atmosphere to a reddish yellow hue, came on; the blast appeared to extend in breadth VOL. LXXVII.

about 400 yards, chappers were carried off, and trees blown down. When the storm had passed over, they found the ground south of the village to the extent of two bigahs strewed with fish, in number no less than 3,000 or 4,000. The fish were all of the Chalwa species (Clopea Cultrata, Shakspeare's Dictionary), a span or less in length, and from one and a half to half a seer in weight. When found they were all dead and dry. Chalwa fish are found in the tanks and rivers in the neighbourhood. The nearest tank in which there is water is about half a mile south of the village. The Jumna runs about three miles south of the village, the Ganges fourteen miles N. by E. The fish were not eaten; it is said that in the pan they turned into blood!"

Enumeration made by M. Arago of all the Severe Winters during the last ten Centuries. In 806, the Rhone was frozen over; the cold was from eighteen to twenty centigrade degrees below Zero. In 1133 the Po was frozen from Cremona to the sea. In 1234 loaded waggons crossed the Adriatic in front of Venice. In 1305, all the rivers of France were frozen over. In 1324, it was possible to travel from Denmark to Lubec and Dantzic on the ice. In 1334, all the rivers of Provence and Italy were frozen ; at Paris the frost lasted two months and twenty days. In 1468 it was necessary to break up the wine in Flanders with hatchets, in order to serve it out to the soldiers. In 1544, the same became requisite in France. In 1594, the sea was frozen from Marseilles to Venice. In 1657, the Seine was entirely frozen over. In 1767, the Seine was frozen for thirty-five succesᏃ

sive days. In 1709, the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, from Marseilles to Genoa, were frozen. In 1716 shops were established on the Thames; and finally, the Seine was entirely frozen over in 1742, 1744, 1766, 1767, 1776, 1788, and 1829.-Paris Advertiser.

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Shower of Meteorolites. The little village of Raffhaten, the frontiers of Wallachia, was visited early in the morning of the 29th January by this singular phenomenon. About six o'clock in the evening of that day the inhabitants were aroused from their sleep by a noise as of a heavy shower of hail, which was immediately succeeded by a violent crashing of windows. Great was their astonishment, however, to find that the earth for the space of nearly two leagues in circumference was covered with a multitude of small stones, the smallest being about one quarter of an inch in diameter, and the largest about the size of a marble. These stones were of a light slate colour, and very heavy, and when put in the fire burnt like coal, emitting, however, a considerable quantity of gas. A French naturalist, M. Fouchard, who was at the time on a visit to the Hettman of Krunow, collected an immense quantity of these meteorolites.

The Degeneracy of the Potatoe. -We take the following extract from an article in the last "Quarterly Journal of Agriculture," written by Mr. William Paton, of the Isle of Man.

Having stated, that the sort of potatoes most affected by the taint, are those which have been culti vated for the greatest length of time, on account of their superior qualities, from the potatoe alone, without resorting to the seed in

the berry, which is produced annually on the stalks, as if to preserve them from decay or degene. racy, he says,-"We now come to what I consider as the very root of the evil, namely, as predisposition in the potatoe itself to receive the disease in question. This predisposition I conceive to result from its having degene rated in consequence of having been subjected to a long course of artificial cultivation; and, therefore, that our attention must be directed mainly to the means of preventing this degeneracy, while we endeavour to remove all such external causes of the disease as may be under our control. That the potatoe, in common with all other cultivated productions of the vegetable world, has a tendency to degenerate when the laws of nature are deviated from must be granted; and, considering that it is not a native of this country, it is reasonable to expect that it will degenerate in proportion as means are neglected to prevent it from doing so.

"This tendency to degenerate is well known to exist even in trees which are cultivated by grafting; and to such an extent, that many of the first sorts of apple trees which were formerly cultivated with the greatest care, have long since become entirely worthless.

"With respect to the potatoe, nature clearly seems to have made provision for the permanent health, as well as for the productiveness, of her own offspring, in the seed contained in the berry, which the plant produces from its stalks; and, consequently, by our deavouring to perpetuate any particular sort of potatoe by continually cutting and planting its

tubers, it is reasonably to be expected that we shall injure its general properties and powers, and thus gradually render it less fit for food, and more liable to disease. As I have already observed, extensive observation has fully satisfied me, that the taint by far more frequently attacks the long-cultivated, and more delicate sort of potatoes, than any others; the former, I conceive, because the vegetative powers have become enfeebled, and disordered by a long course of treatment opposed to nature; and the latter, because the very delicacy of their constitution renders them more liable, than the hardier sorts, to disease.

"If the foregoing observations should be deemed correct, it will follow, that in order to be as certain of obtaining as good a crop of potatoes as it is possible to be, the ground, before being planted, should be thoroughly pulverized; the manure should be well fermented; the sets should be whole potatoes, and never deprived of their first shoots, nor allowed to ferment; and, lastly, that a constant succession of new sorts should be raised from the berries of the old one. The newly-raised sorts would, doubtless, admit of being cut with safety for several years, and would be but little affected by other external injuries, unless peculiarly delicate, as they would possess all the health and vigour of a plant propagated according to nature's laws. By attending to these few suggestions, the experience of several years of extensive observation warrants me in saying that a full crop of potatoes may, under all circumstances of the weather, at all times be secured. I would, however,

particularly recommend the raising of a succession of new sorts from the seed contained in the berry of the most approved old ones, as I firmly believe that the disease complained of is mainly to be attributed to this having been too generally neglected. In 1833, I raised from the berry a great variety of new sorts. In 1834 the best of them were selected, and planted separately. At the present time, although planted late and cut, they are displaying an extraordinary degree of health and vigour; while, in the same field, and almost by the same side of them, some of the old sorts are not only feeble, but both tainted and curled; thus unanswerably proving the necessity of having recourse to the assistance of nature to counteract the evils arising from a long course of artificial, and, in some respects, injudicious cultivation.

The Rot in Sheep.-A writer in the "Quarterly Journal of Agriculture" expresses his opinion that the buttercup, or crowfoot, is the cause of rot in sheep. The acrid qualities of the plant are well known; and the writer observes that whilst horses, cattle, and even pigs, refuse it, it is eaten by sheep and geese which are more liable to diseased livers than any any other graminivorous animals. Salt, in the quantity of an ounce and a half in a pint of water, for three mornings successively, on an empty stomach, is recommended as a decided cure; and the writer states that on killing a sheep which had taken. two doses, 160 flukes were taken out of its liver, most of which were dead. But, as a preventive of the disease, he considers that earth, in the shape of worm-casts or mole-hills, is necessary for the