FIC .6

and adjudication on patent rights, and insisted that a patentee ought not of his own judgment or will to be allowed to subject a manufacturer or trader to harrassing and expensive litigation until he had satisfied some competent authority that there was prima facie a well-founded ground of complaint. The author pointed out several notorious cases in which a great practical grievance would thus have been avoided, especially if the admirable suggestion of Lord Westbury, in the sewing-machine cases, that the true construction of the specification and the invention should be ascertained before the expense of a trial for infringement was incurred-often most fruitlessly, as illustrated by cited cases. The judgment of such competent authority, if subject to appeal to a judge or court of law or equity, would soon work

into a satisfactory system.

split. The immediate effects of the Chassepot were
more fatal; but the ulterior effects less severe and
fatal in wounds produced by the Chassepot than in
those of the round ball or Minie. To no other cause,
says Dr. Gason, can he attribute the greater fatality
and more numerous amputations that occurred in the
Military Hospital at Rome among the Papal troops
than among the Garibaldians. The former were
naturally supplied with better accommodation, and
had as good medical attendance as it was possible;
whereas the Garibaldians were lodged in a much in-
ferior building, and were overcrowded, and the
attendance was supplied by surgeons not accustomed
This was occasioned by the
to gunshot wounds.
exceptional state of affairs, and the authorities not
being prepared for so severe an engagement. The
expense was borne by the Civil Hospital of Santo
Spirito, with the exception of a comparatively small
hospital, where the expenses were met by private
subscriptions. Both parties might have been lodged
in a more healthy situation than Rome-close to the
field of battle. The external hemorrhage was greater
in wounds produced by the Chassepot ball than by
any other form of projectile; and in those places
where the Italians fell when struck by it there were
large pools of blood. The Chassepot bullet is one
inch long, blunt pointed; its base, the broadest part
in circumference, is half an inch in its diameter. Its
weight is six drachms and a-half.

miles upwards the Paraguayans abandoned the
Inside a twisting
banks at the sight of the vessels.
were seen, and the
lake called Recodo, many men
great encampment of San Fernando, with two small
steamers, whose masts were adorned with branches
in honour of the day of St. Solano. The lake could
not be entered, but the vessels shelled the Para-
guayan steamers until they were taken out of sight,
and then the bombs were directed on the camp,
making the enemy abandon huts near the lake and
run within an extensive entrenchment, which seemed
to circle and defend the present centre of Lopez's
The bombardment was kept up for four
forces.
hours, and the vessels then returned down stream.
In passing the batteries again the fire was very
A ball entered the wheel turret of the
heavy.
Bahia," took half the head off the pilot, killed a
seaman, and wounded another severely. The three
bodies falling at once upon the wheel in the little
turret rendered it immovable at the most perilous
part of the descent, and she would have run into
the bluff a few yards off but for the guidance effected
Alagoas"
with the twin screws, the pilot of the "
jumping on board and giving the necessary direc-
tions for the proper signals to the engineers. In
twenty minutes occupied in repassing, very serious
damages were experienced by the "Bahia," for, of
the sixteen shots which then struck her on the port
side, four smashed and traversed the plating almost
at the water-line, so that after anchoring it was
necessary to stop the breaches with pitch. Not-
withstanding the numberless times the plating of
had been tried under fire, it was the
first time any loss of life had occurred on board, and
also the first time Paraguayan shot had passed her
plates can resist 68-pounders at a distance of so few
plating, but the experience then showed that no

Mr. Spence read a paper on patents as channels of industry. The author insisted that the true construction of the words of the statute the working or making of any manner of new manufactures -was that the true subject of a patent was a process, and not a result or product. The object of a patent law was the opening up of a new channel of industry. The author referred to several well-known inventions, as Young's paraffin oil and Penn's shaft for screw propellors. This view of the subject-matter of patents had an important bearing on the construction of specifications, SEPARATING ANIMAL FROM VEGETABLE the Bahia by which the limits of the invention or property created was to be defined. In conclusion, the

in support of the view that the object of property in inventions was the progress of the useful arts and the recognition of patents as channels of industry.

SUBSTANCES.

yards.

The

The

author referred to the French and American law M has invented a process for separating animal R. E. ZINSSMANN, a chemist, of New York, from vegetable substances, which has lately been patented in England. The object of this process is The commander, Captain Hoonholtz, thinks the to utilize the influence of the gases and vapours of little monitors would not have withstood so close a acids generally on vegetable fibre, and to employ fire, and that the casemate of the "Barroso" would Mr. Webster, Q.C., said that, although exception their action upon rags composed by juxtaposition of not have protected the men inside. As is more or might be taken to the full distinction between pro- cotton, hemp or flax, and wool, and sometimes silk. less the case in most, if not in all, the Brazilian war cess and product, he was prepared to admit the This operation consists (using chlorhydric acid vessels, an Englishman, Joseph Nicholson, was one value of the distinction as a test-that was to say, Second, in placing them in an oven chamber suitably vapours), first, in spreading the rags on hurdles. of the engineers on board of the "Bahia." "Silvado had Walter Gilbert, first engineer, and supposing the process now, there would be the sub-constructed for the continuous reception of the acid William E. White and Charles Freedland, second ject of a valid patent; but it did not follow that vapours while capable of supporting heat. Third, engineers. In ascending, the "Alagoas" had her although the process was not new there could not in introducing the hurdles suitably laden and ar- engine disabled four hours by the shot she received. be a valid patent for the product. For instance, ranged in layers, and in regulating the disengage-She was struck eight times in both passages. in case of an article made for the first time, there ment of the acid vapours, and keeping them in promust be something new in the treatment or in the portious and arrangements according to the quality combination. As regarded the paper of Mr. New- and quantity of material under treatment. Fourth, ton, it was impossible to exaggerate the grievances in arresting the disengagement when the disaggregating influence has been attained, purging the appaof the present system of adjudication; it was a ratus, and opening the registers for the arrival of disgrace to our law. the heat, which is allowed to act until the moment, when, by simple frictions, the vegetable matter will fall in dust. Fifth, in submitting these rags to the action of a beating engine, from which the wool will issue free and without deterioration in rovings or shreds suitable for re-employment, while the vegetable matter will be collected to be used in chemical products, or as manure. Sixth, in dyeing, unravelling, carding, and so on, by ordinary processes, as may be desired.

Mr. Wright, Chairman of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Pankhurst, Mr. F. Hill, Mr. Beale, and others, having spoken, a resolution was passed appointing a local committee to bring the subject before the Commissioner of Patents.

THE CHASSEPOT BULLET. ARAGRAPHS from time been

By manufacturing sulphate of soda beneath the P making their appevance in the public journals oven chamber a profitable use is made, on the one hand, as to the effects of the Chassepot bullet and the enor- of the greater part of the chlorhydric acid vapours mously disproportionate size of the exit as compared (mostly a source of embarrassment), and, on the other with that of the entrance wound. Our readers, ob-hand, of the waste heat of the apparatuses in which serves the "Lancet," will no doubt remember that the sulphate of soda is manufactured, an economical these statements were based upon experiments made with this weapon at the camp of Lyons on the bodies of dead horses. We have been favoured by Dr. Gason, of Rome, with information as to the effects produced by this bullet at Mentana in November last, which cannot fail to prove highly interesting at the present time; and Dr. Gason's observations are the more valuable on account of their being based on the personal experience of a skilled professional observer. It would appear from the reports from the camp at Lyons that the bodies of dead animals were used for the experiments, and it was even alleged by some that those of dead men had been similarly employed; So, it is a practice which we are told is not altogether unknown in French history. Be this as it may, the wounds on the dead bodies of men or animals are not, for several physiological reasons, identical with

if

"Silvado" was struck twenty-nine times, and re-
ceived damages, for the greater part, such as could
not be repaired with the means at the disposal of
the division. Two balls struck a foot under water,
and another striking 2ft. under water at the junc-
tion of the plates loosened both and stuck in the
backing. Another smashed the grating of the en-
gine-room and, besides other damage, destroyed the
firebox. A marine was killed and the commander
and three others wounded. The "Piauby," which,
with the "Barroso" and "Rio Grande," moved up
and engaged the batteries while the other three went
up, was struck ten times, and, towards the end of
the affair, her turret was jammed up by a splinter
and the gun had to be brought to bear by the aid of
the twin screws, while a carpenter cut away the
circle of wood
The shot wood around the turret, in order to free it.
under the turret, and also sent many inside, and the
commmander complains of this and other dangers
arising from the want of a suitable collar to the
turret, as an enemy boarding could easily jam the
tower with a wedge and throw grenades and com-
bustibles through the wide space between its lower
end and the deck. Two shots striking simulta-
neously on the bow, below water, stopped the vessel
The "Barroso
for a moment.
was not hit, and
the "Rio Grande" received only two shots.

extraction being thus obtained, as also by utilizing
the hypoazotic vapours obtained in the manufacture
of iron mordants for dyeing and printing. In some
cases the hurdles may be replaced by a cast-iron
case or drum arranged so as to turn on bear-
ings in the masonry of the oven. The move
ment given to the case or drum causes the rags to
constantly present fresh surfaces to the influence of
the gases or vapours, as well as of the heat acting
on the rags by passing through openings in the sides MACHINERY FOR POLISHING SHOT AND
of the apparatus. A moist vaporization prepares
and facilitates for certain materials the success of
the operation.

SHELL.

E last week described Mr. Tarr's machinery for

Whardening shot and shells; we now proceed to

those inflicted on living subjects, and the difference Tronclaus under fic, which we extract from the between cups which are applied upon vertical rotat

in their appearance was remarked by Dr. Gason after the battle of Mentana. The projectiles used by both combatants in that engagement were principally the round ball, two sizes of the Minie, and the Chassepot ball. The lightness of the Chassepot firelock, and its loading at the breech, caused a far greater proportion of wounds in the upper part of the body than was the case in those wounded by balls from the muzzle-loaders. The entrance made by the Chassepot ball was very small; the exit not much larger. We have the authority of Dr. Gason for positively asserting, that among the cases brought into the hospitals in Rome, there was not one where the wound produced by the Chassepot bullet bore any proportion to that mentioned in the report from the camp at Lyons, that "the exit was as large as a person's two fists." There was much less effusion of blood beneath the skin than in wounds by the round ball or Minie. The long bones were more frequently

notice the second part of his invention, which relates to an improved method of and machinery for polishing and smoothing the shot. It consists in retaining the balls with emery or other polishing substance ing shafts whose axes coincide, and which receive different speeds, so that the balls may be made to receive irregular or oscillatory motion about their axes, and thus while being polished they will remain spherically true or be rendered so by the operation. Fig. 1 of our engraving is an elevation of one side of the polishing machine; fig. 2 is a vertical taken centrally through the same machine; fig. 3 is a section taken through the same machine in the horizontal plane, indicated by the line X X in fig. 1; and fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the polishing cups showing a ball between them.

IRONCLADS UNDER FIRE. HE following particulars of the behaviour of "Anglo-Brazilian Times," will probably interest our readers:-The enemy was ready in the batteries upon the Fortines bluff, close to which the very narrow channel lay. The bluff mounted fifteen cannon in redoubts, seven of which were 68-pounders, one a 32, four rifles, and four of unascertained calibre. Owing to the curve of the bluff, the fire of the cannon converged upon the narrowest part of the channel, at a very short range. Two successive volleys struck and shook the vessels, causing much damage, but the vessels continued to steam up at full speed, finding no boom or torpedoes, as anticipated. The second redoubt raked the two vessels from ahead, A3 represents the horizontal bed of the frame of while the 68-pounders shook the plating with shot the machine, which is elevated upon legs or standards discharged within thirty yards. However, only fif- that are bolted firmly down upon a floor or foundateen struck, seven on the "Bahia" and eight on the tion. This allows free access beneath the bed of the turret and other exposed parts of the "Alagoas," machine for adjusting the step of one of the shafts owing to the haste of the enemy, who evidently ex- or spindles. Above the bed Â3 are four central hubs pected the whole division was coming up. For fifteen | A+ A+ A+ A3, from which arms radiate, and through

feeder C is forced through the opening k into the 6ft. or 7ft. from the muzzle, and from the line of fire
air reservoir A, whilst, at the same time, the upper to the ground. Gunpowders that require no granu-
feeder is filling with air through the opening r.lation, and are used in the compact form, are subject
When the boards a and u descend (which they do to no such loss, for nothing is seen to be blown out
by their own weight, or by weights attached to them) in any shape. The means of preventing the escape
air is forced from the feeder into the air reservoir of gases from the breech may be safely left in the
through the passage g and opening h, so that air is hands of the manufacturers themselves.-I am, Sir,
at all times being forced into the air reservoir, and yours, &c.,
as the cover a of this reservoir always presses
with an even pressure upon the air contained
therein, a uniform and continuous jet or blast will
be projected throuhg the tuyere or nozzle f.

Correspondence.

MILLSTONES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE "MECHANICS' MAGAZINE."

1, Baker-street, Reading.

HENRY W. REVELEY.

OCEAN TELEGRAPHY.

cable; the advantages, in fact, are as natural as I maintain they are indisputable.

In the interests of the great public question of laying cables across the deepest seas, at the cheapest rate, and in the most efficient condition, will secure its general use for rich and poor, I therefore ask space for these remarks in your journal.-I am, Sir, yours, &c., W. ROWETT.

9, Bush-lane, City, August 25. [Knowing Mr. W. Smith to have been absent upon telegraph business, we held the above letter over, in order to afford that gentleman an opportunity of replying to Captain Rowett's previous letters, should he have thought it necessary, on his return, which Captain Rowett informs us has taken place.-ED. M. M.]

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

other kind-could be disconnected in an instant from

SIR,-Your correspondent, Mr. Willoughby Smith, in your number of July 24, questioned my authorship of the light hemp deep-sea telegraph cable. Since then, so far as it has gone, I have placed the subject before the public through the SIR,-It has been my opinion for a long time, that SIR,-I see by the "Patent Journal" of last week medium of your excellent paper. If he still holds that Mr. J. Wallis, of Kent, has obtained a patent to his statement, I ask him to show how his late if railway trains, in case of accident by an approachfor a method of dressing millstones in curved lines friend, Mr. Statham, was the inventor of my lighting train-as in the case of the Irish mail, or of any from the eye to the circumference; and I beg to hemp telegraph cables, for by his silence he tacitly the engine, it would be the means of saving many state, for his information, that he will find a full admits what I have already stated in reply to his lives. I have sent you two sketches out of the description and plate of that original mode of dress-letter. I have endeavoured in my previous letters many designs that I think would accomplish this ing the working faces in the "Transactions of the frankly to explain the merits of my method of end. No. I is a lever slip; 1, is the lever that slides Society of Arts" for the year 1823, vol. xl., page 47. making and laying telegraph cables across deep This is the fate of a large portion of intending their first cable, that the system which I even then seas. The Atlantic Company found, by the loss of patentees who cannot possibly be aware of everything that has been done before; and it is a circum-in 1857 and 1858 pressed and entreated them to stance little noticed, because not one in a hundred adopt was the only one by which the wire could be derives the slightest benefit from his so-called safely laid across the Atlantic; but there are inpatent rights. It is only when clashing with other variably bars to the introduction of even the most claims, and the issue is tried in the Court of invaluable improvements and inventions, and this Chancery, at the cost of a few thousands, that the is no exception to the rule. Watt's patent for an validity or otherwise of a patent right comes pro-engine itself was not at work till 1777; thus a improved steam engine was dated 1769, but the minently before the public.-I am, Sir, yours, &c., HENRY W. REVELEY.

1, Baker-street, Reading.

THE BOXER CARTRIDGE. SIR,-Notwithstanding the great ingenuity and perfection of workmanship displayed in the manufacture of this cartridge, nevertheless it infringes somewhat upon the rules of economy and common sense, and, moreover, utterly fails when attempted to be used for a really effective explosive-such as white powder. Cartridge cases may be either destructible or permanent, as in the Boxer form, but these are very costly, containing seven separate pieces of metal, besides sheet brass, and a wad of no use except to assist the anvil in firing the percussion composition, though costliness would form no material objection if the Boxer cartridge could be re-fitted and used until fairly worn out, whereas it is thrown away after the first discharge. Their excessive rounds have to be carried in active service. The weight is also a very serious objection when many rim-fire copper cartridge, on the contrary, though much less costly, can be re-fitted and used until worn out, and even then the old copper still remains. Such everlasting cartridge cases, however, may not exactly suit the views of manufacturers, and are in consequence but little used, though rim-fire is quite as good, practically considered, as central

fire or needle.

period of eight years intervened before the motive power could be brought into practical use. England now owes her magnificent position among the nations of the earth mainly to this improvement, to which the world owes a larger amount of civilization, industry, health, and happiness than was ever before realized. Manufactures, railways, steam navigation, and the countless uses to which steam power is applied, all take date from Watt's improved control and application of steam. We need not inquire as to whether jealousy, envy, or other unworthy motives, obstruct the advance of useful improvements-these, no doubt, abound. I shall presume, however, that Mr. Willoughby Smith will not deprive us of his help in ventilating the merits of an improved deep-sea telegraph cable. His letter has been productive of some public good by provoking this discussion, and though it may not lead to such vast universal advantages as Watt's improvements, yet we may be mind to cables of an improved kind, obtainable at reasonably assured that by directing the public a vastly reduced cost, every deep sea in the world will finally and speedily be crossed by the electric telegraph cable. Rich continents will be peopled, and their wealth developed; in a word, what is impossible for the railway to do the deepsea telegraph will accomplish for the civilization and happiness of mankind. I would invite Mr. Smith, Undoubtedly, the most perfect shots will be made therefore, to reflect, as an accomplished electrician, muzzle or breech-loader, with thin paper cartridge to assure himself that as there is no abrading motion cases. No cap ever misses firing the charge to disturb the electric conductor when it is once through the paper cases, which, when white gunpow-deposited at the bottom of the deepest sea, he der is used, are so utterly dissipated that after an unlimited number of shots nothing more is necessary the simple hempen cable to carry it there. can have no reason to distrust the capabilities of than to wipe the barrel with a greasy rag. bullet and elastic wad, when required, are fixed to Whenever he is disposed, I can show him a cable the head of the paper case with a touch of hard lin. in diameter, made of the strongest fibre, convarnish. For breech-loaders, the butt end is set intaining an insulated conductor 3001b. to the mile, the Boxer or other ferule also with hard varnish, which will, in the dry stato, actually float in water, the ferule only remaining behind after discharge, and and, by merely wetting it, the specific gravity is which should be so contrived as to be returnable increased in a slight degree; it will then sink so iuto store to be re-charged for future use. Ordinary fast as to reach the bottom of 2,500 fathoms in copper caps will answer perfectly for breech-loading less than an hour; being so light in water, it is cartridges if set in a thimble in the ferule instead of easily lifted from this extreme depth with but on a nipple, provided the head of the cap be pierced trilling strain upon itself. Such cable as this can with a fine needle-hole corresponding with a similar be made so as to admit of no elongation whatever needle-hole in the thimble, when no anvil will be required. Under these circumstances the fire of the in water-as I am prepared to show him-which composition pierces the powder with astonishing only requires the adoption of a principle on which rapidity. I have for years made cables. Each yarn employed in forming the strand takes its place under severe tension, and, by adopting the right spiral form for both strand and cable, its elongation when wet would be simply impossible. As I endeavoured to make clear in my last letter, the hempen envelope, which naturally shrinks when in contact with the non-contracting core slack and merely pressed water, will inevitably take all the tension, and leave along the centre lays of the cable ready to yield when any required tension was brought upon it. The protective covering so strong, so light in water, and so contracted by water, are surely points of economy possessed by no other kind of deep-sea

The

Metallic cases are indispensable for safety and carriage, but should not be inserted with the cartridge, as they tend, together with the very coarse powder now used, to increase the length of the barrel occupied with the charge, which should be as short as possible. Every cartridge should have its metallic case from which it can be taken when required for loading. The use of large-grained powder has, further, the great disadvantage of causing a very large proportion to be blown out of the muzzle without having contributed to the expulsion of the shot, as may be clearly seen by standing close behind the rifleman, who cannot himself see the fiery shower of still burning and smoking grains, to the extent of

2

FIG.I.

FIG. 2.

7

No. 2 is a

From

the slip off; 2, is the pivot on which the lever
works; 3, is the hook of engine; 4, is the slip that
keeps the joint from opening; 5, is the joint that
lever draw-pin in which 1 is the lever that draws the
opens; 6, is the chain of the carriage.
pin out; 2, is the pivot on which the lever works;
3, is the draw-pin; 4, is a small key to keep the pin
from coming out; 5, is the shackle; 6, the chain of
the carriage; 7, is the hook of the engine.
the end of a lever along the side of the engine, a rod
or light chain might be carried, so that the engine
driver, seeing the danger, could disconnect the car-
riages from the engine. If the train of the Irish
nected the carriages from the engine the instant he
mail had been provided with one of these slips, the
engine driver, seeing the danger, might have discon-
saw the danger; the propelling power of the engine
then ceasing to act on the carriages they would soon
have stopped. By this means, the lives of all the
passengers saerificed at the catastrophe at Abergele
might have been saved.-I am, Sir, yours, &c.,
Outwell, Cambridgeshire. EDWARD ROBE.
September 23.

TUNNELLING THE BRITISH CHANNEL. SIR,-In dull times, it is our own fault if we remain idle. Our shipbuilding yards are now the mere spectres of former glory-nothing but the bare poles remaining, and for the time being the shipbuilding has gone elsewhere. May we not ask ourselves if there fully say, Yes. The long pending question of tunnelare no other works to execute? and may we not truthling the British Channel has been simply delayed because we have not had the courage to execute such a large undertaking, and the doubts of it ever becoming a paying speculation. As regards the former I consider laying down a submarine tunnel across the Channel is one of the largest and simplest undertakings that the modern engineer is called upon to execute. I will not now stay to enter into details: at the same time, I would simply state that the structure should be composed of wrought-iron, an inner shell containing two sets of rails, for the locomotive system of transit, covered with an outer casing, the space between the casing being filled up with solid concrete or brickwork laid in cement; thus we have a strong inner shell covered with an arch of concrete resting on the bed of the Channel, eventually covered over with a bank of loose stones, &c., thus forming a strong and permanent structure. The expense of mooted. There is no use of going into the traffic at such an undertaking would not be great. I consider it could be as cheaply executed as those schemes already present; suffice it to say, it would be very great in the event of having international exhibitions, &c. I would merely add that the hundreds of telegraph wires that could be securely carried across the Channel through this great tube, flashing intelligence,

We must absolutely decline attending to any communications unaccompanied by the name and address of the writer, not necessarily for insertion, but as a proof of good faith, ED. M. M.

Advertisements are inserted in the MECHANICS' MAGAZINE, at the rate of 6d. per line, or 5d. per line for 13 insertions, or 4d. per line for 26 insertions. Each line consists of about 10 words. Woodcuts are charged at the same rate as type. Special arrangements made for large advertise

ments.

MESSRS. WISE and Co.'s letter upon the subject of petroleum furnaces is unavoidably postponed until next week

THE Historical Society of Switzerland lately held its annual gathering in the grim old Castle of Chillon, which was gaily decorated with garlands, flags, and flowers for the occasion. The members, to the number of about a hundred, dined in the great hall, the sides of which are ornamented with painted coats-of-arms.

been fitted on the Scott carriage above referred to'
the official trial of which will shortly be made. The
remainder of the 18-ton guns are expected to arrive
at Chatham in the course of the ensuing week.
A SUCCESSFUE attempt has at length been made to
raise the safe of the Adams Express Company with
its treasure, which was sunk with the steamier W.R.
Carter," of the Atlantic and Mississippi line, in the A LADY of fortune at Fontenay-sous-Bois, France,
Mississippi River, about 20 miles above Vicksburg, has just committed suicide. She had a boil on her
two years ago. The treasure consisted of 230,000 nose, and was afraid of being disfigured.—A boy of
dols. in national currency, and all has been re-sixteen, apprenticed to a gilder in the Rue de
covered; of this, 200,000 dols. belong to the United l'Universite, Paris, hung himself with his waist-belt
States treasurer, aud the remainder to parties in in the water-closet lately. He objected to run
Memphis.

errands.

IN consequence of the increased impetus given to the Austrian iron trade, several railway companies, and especially the Lemberg-Czernowitz, owing to its proximity to various large works, have had an increased traffic. On that line it has been found necessary to increase considerably the rolling stock, and tenders for the same have been issued.

THE number of visitors to the South Kensington Museum during the week ending October 3, 1868, was-On Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday, free, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., 11,628; on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (admission Gd.), from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m., 2,280; total-13,906. Average of corresponding week in former years, 13,099. Total from the opening of the Museum-7,813,778.

THE naval gun carriage invented by Captain Scott, R.N., underwent a further trial last Friday at Woolwich Arsenal, and answered most successfully. It is one of eight gun carriages being constructed on Captain Scott's plan to carry 18-ton guns, intended to form part of the armament of the "Hercules." The experiments, as on the former occasion, severely A STATUE of James Watt was unveiled on Saturtested the construction of the carriage, which was day last, at Birmingham, in the presence of a large found to be in perfect order at the conclusion. Cap- concourse of people. This work is from the studio tain Scott was enabled to obtain accurate adjust-of Mr. Munro; the size is larger than life, and it is ments for his other carriages from the trial. chiselled from a solid block of Carrara marble. With SOME officers of engineers have just been making the sculptor it may be truly said to have been a labour tiou of Norton's Abyssinian Tube Well in the MECHANICS' experiments at Antwerp as to a means of defending of love, and he has succeeded in producing an admiMAGAZINE for March 20, 1868, page 216. able likeness.

for want of space.

MESSRS. SHAND, MASON, and Co.'s letter upon the sub

ject of the steam fire engine trials at Newcastle upon-Tyne is deferred for the same reason, both letters being of considerable length.

A CONSTANT READER will find a full illustrated descrip

W. P.-S. C. O.-W. and S.-F. L. J.-W. T. F.-W. K.

the passes of the Scheldt by a system of torpedoes
placed in three lines, the explosion of which is regu-
lated by the use of a camera obscura. The instru-
ment is fixed at a certain point, and whenever a
ship passes over it its image is reflected on the
mirror at the camera. When the image arrives at a
certain determined point the electric current is ap-
plied, and the explosion takes place immediately.

A SILVER bell, weighing 28 ounces, supposed to be one of a lost chime of St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick, has been accidentally discovered by a diver in one of the deepest pools of the abbey river in that city. The bells were flung into the river in the old days of persecution to save them from the spoiler, and it is expected that the rest of the chime will be recovered.

MR. J HARLEY will find answers to his inquiries in our article on "The Ornamentation of Iron Castings." ENQUIRER will find the information he requires in Mr. Phillips' work on The Mining and Metallurgy of Gold and Silver," published by Messrs. Spon, 48, Charing Cross. RECEIVED.-R. L.-T.S.-G. E. P.-R. W. M.-J. MeG.R. S. P.-W. L.-E. R.-S. K. M.-P. O.-H. W. R. A. B. B.-W. H.-G. D.-A. B.-G. W. B.-P. and S.R. T.-J. W.-R. T.-E. M.-G. W. H.-J. A. F.-H. W.-The mines are numbered, and each has a correspond- THE present consumption of water in New York C. J. L.-H. B.-G. J. G.-D. and B.-S. and M.-R. C.-ing mark in the chamber. The method of observa-averages 60,000,000 of gallons per day, or sixty galE. J.-C.B.—F. W.—S. E.-C. P. and S.—R. J.-T. T. and Co. tion is simple and sure, and was adopted for the de-lons for each inhabitant. This supply, after deductfence of Venice in the late Italian war. The trials ing the quantity necessary for extinguishing fires, succeeded perfectly, and are soon to be repeated on for washing, and other purposes, would appear to be a larger scale. liberal, though not equal, if we may believe history, to that provided for the citizens of Imperial Rome, who were at liberty to use something like one hundred gallons per day each.

Habal, Military, and Gunnery Items.

A BERLIN engineer is stated to have invented a military land torpedo, with which he promises to blow up a whole battalion.

the "

THE first steam turret ship of the French navy, Ocean," will be launched at Brest on the 15th inst. The vessel will be furnished with a ram which will weigh about 20 tons.

AN Act of Parliament was passed in the late session by which in all Admiralty suits, costs, when against the commissioners, are to be paid as in ordi

nary cases.

THE accounts of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board for the year ending the 24th of June last, after payment of all claims and liabilities, including poorrates, show a surplus of £41,000.

AN Imperial decree, dated 1st inst., orders the execution of a detailed geological map of France at the expense of the State, and upon the same scale as the military map. M. Elie de Beaumont is appointed to superintend the work.

ACCORDING to an official statement lately issued in Rome, the present strength of the pontifical army is 16,405 men, including 673 cavalry and 933 artillery. The latter consists of one mountain, three field, and two mountain batteries. Rome is defended by 157

AT a recent meeting of the Harbour Board of Dundee, a report as to the improvement of the harbour-involving an outlay of £250,000-was approved, and a committee was appointed to prepare a bill to be introduced into Parliament next session.

THE splendid iron screw steam frigate "Latoff," one of the best vessels in the Turkish navy, recently arrived in the Mersay from Alexandria, for the purpose of being overhauled. The "Latoff" is a rakish barque-rigged vessel, and, judging from her fine line, she is evidently a fast sailer, both under steam and sail. She is commanded by Suliman Bey.

THE Contract to remove the wreck of the steamship "Scotland," at Sandy Hook, has been awarded by Major General Newton, of the United States Engineers, to the Neptune Submarine Company, of New York, for the sum of 63,300 dollars, and the interest of the United States in the material removed. Congress appropriated 100,000 dollars for this work.

stored, after the damages done by the floods, and is THE Mont Cenis Railway is now completely renow open throughout from St. Michel to Susa. The French Victor Emmanuel line is not yet repaired sufficiently for trains to work over between St. Jean de Maurienne and St. Michel, the commencement the Mont Cenis line, thus necessitating carriage by diligence between those places. There is now, however, only a delay of one hour in the journey from Paris to Turin, the whole distance being performed in about twenty-five hours.

ON the recommendation of the Ordnance Select Committee, the 7-inch 7-ton rifled muzzle-loading guns will in future be tapped with a hole, similar to the fitted with a preserving screw, the object, being that friction tube pin-hole in other guns, which will be the head of the screw may indicate the position of the vent by the touch during siege operations by night. It has also been determined that when wrought-iron, smooth-bore, muzzle-loading 100pounders, of 64 tons, are mounted on iron carriages, they are to be fitted with pivot pieces, &c., for elevating. A drawing to guide this alteration has been sealed. The order also announces that a pattern wrought-iron, rifled, muzzle-loading 7-inch 61-ton AT the first ordinary meeting of the Society of un, 10ft. Gin., has been sealed as a specimen of guns of this nature and construction to govern future manu-Engineers for this session, held on Monday, the facture. The weight of the sealed pattern gun is 5th instant, Mr. Baldwin Latham, C.E., in the chair, tons 7cwt. 19qrs. 601b.: preponderance, Bewt. 3qrs.; a paper was read on the screw propeller, by Mr. length of gun (mounted). 12ft. 6in.; bore, 111in.; Arthur Rigg, jun.; and the following candidates rifling, 95.5in.; calibre, 7in., with "A" tube, tough were balloted for and duly elected as members:steel. Messrs. Edward Baker, Reading Gas Works; George Attock, Great Eastern Railway; Archibald Davis Dawnay, Maismore-square; James Eldridge, Gas Works, Richmond. As associate-Mr. John Walter Smith, Oxton, near Birkenhead.

Miscellanea.

ON the 24th ult., a fine specimen of the solitary snipe (Scolopax major) was killed in some heather, on Salisbury Plain, and is now being preserved.

IT is reported that the skull of a mastodon,
measuring 3ft. in length, 2ft. 8in. in width, and 2ft.
across the nostrils, and weighing 100lb., has been
found in Pike County, Ohio.

THE reconstruction of the great cupola of the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, at Jerusalem, which
has been executed under the auspices of France,
Russia, and Turkey, is entirely finished.

ON September 24, at a quarter before ten in the
morning, a somewhat sharp shock of earthquake was
felt at Malta, but it was of very short duration, and
has caused no damage.

THE town of Stanislau, near Lemberg, in Galicia, has been almost totally destroyed by fire. The town hall, prison, several churches, and some hundreds of houses, have been burnt down.

THE number of visitors to the Patent Office Museum, South Kensington, for the week ending October 3, was 4,254. Total number since the opening of the Museum, free daily (12th May, 1858), 1,403,151.

THE Surrey ploughing match took place at Epsom on Tuesday week. Charles Killick, a local man, won the champion prize, holding a Howard's plough; and in the class for ordinary ploughmen, both first prizes were also won with Howard's ploughs.

THE number of pumping-engines reported for August is 22. They have consumed 1,640 tons of THE first of the eight new pattern 18-ton 450- coal, and lifted 11-7 millions tons of water 10fms. pounder guus for the "Hercules," has been re- high. The average duty of the whole is, therefore, ceived at Chatham from the Royal Gun Factory, 47,900,000lb., lifted 1ft. high, by the consumption of Woolwich, and placed on board, where the gun has | 112lb. of coal.

shire Agricultural Society, held at Chapel Brampton, AT the great ploughing match of the Northamptonthe seat of Earl Spencer, no less than 70 teams competed. Stephon Bluut, a local ploughman, with an ordinary iron plough of Howard's, carried off the prize

open to all England," beating the crack man sent horses, and an elaborately finished steel plough. from Ipswich by Messrs. Ransome, with wained Thus twice in one week have local men, with Howard's ordinary ploughs, beaten the competitors sent from Ipswich with special ploughs.

A MEMORIAL brass has been erected in the chancel

of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-on Avon, to the memory of the late Mr. F. W. Fairholt, F.S.A. At the death of this accomplished gentleman, the museum at Shakespeare's birthplace was enriched by a bequest from him of a great variety of archeological gifts from his collection which he had made during many years' labour. The brass is placed on the north wall of the chancel, a short distance from the poet's tomb.

AT the last general meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, J. Russell Reeves, Esq., F.R.S., in the chair, the following candidates were elected Fellows, viz. :-David Dunbreck, Esq., C.B., Mrs. Dummett, Lady Emily Fitzmaurice, and A. Macalister, Esq., of Loup. There was a very interesting collection of flowers and fruit, and also two fine collections of fungi, exhibited by Dr. Bull, of Hereford, and Mrs. Worthington Smith. Dr. Bull delivered an eloquent and entertaining lecture on the different varieties of fungi, and did much to promote their more general use as an important article of food.