so it was our duty to avoid any application to merely local purposes of the proceeds of so general a contribution." I would ask, my Lord, is not the application of the funds to the creation of a professorship of machinery and manufactures, at University College, an application to local purposes? In the fourth paragraph is another singular allusion:" It would have been highly satisfactory to us, if we could have suggested some means whereby the fund which we hope to raise should be devoted immediately to the instruction of those classes of the people, whose intellectual and moral improvement Dr. Birkbeck has laboured to promote." Thus it ever is, my Lord-the old saying is here again verified-"the weakest goes to the wall," and is crushed; nothing could be suggested to serve or assist them; while, in the midst of this helplessness to "suggest" for the working classes, a lucky suggestion" carried the day in favour of the students of University College!

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Enough of this professorship: as a fitting testimonial to the memory of a man, who has deserved so well as Dr. Birbeck, the thing is an absurdity. What, my Lord, would have been said, if at the time of the death of the great Nelson, an individual had sprung up, and proposed to perpetuate his memory by the establishment of a professorship in one of the universities of Oxford or Cambridge, for the purpose of teaching the art of yarn spinning? Doubtless, my Lord, the man, would have been looked on as mad, and his scheme would have been at once scouted. The place his countrymen gave him was among her great and worthy names, which had been preserved to memory in the noblest form; and there, in his marble cabin, he still lives; while, before his shrine, the races of his countrymen, through all their generations, pass "lovingly and reverently," and then the Nile, and Trafalgar, and other recollections of his great services are recalled to memory, and thus from generation to generation is transmitted and secured the great Admiral's fame. So, my Lord, should be transmitted to future times the memory of those good services performed to his country, by Dr. Birkbeck. A statue erected to his memory in our Metropolitan Cathedral, would be the most ap

propriate, the most national, at the same time the most graceful and durable memento of his name; and further, the world would thus be informed, that among the virtues there enshrined, a new virtue, hitherto not much heeded, had been recognized in the person of him, the friend and teacher of the English artizan.

One more point, my Lord, yet remains to be noticed, and that is the contemptuous and disparaging tone with which Mr. Hodgkin's hint at a monument was received. A "bit of marble," forsooth, was the only term you could use on this occasion. My Lord, when a great name, when a great man chooses to be eccentric, then a whole host of inferior minds follow in his wake with wonderful unanimity. So it was with some of the movement spirits at the meeting. Lord John Russell talked of the "bit of marble," Mr. Roebuck, also talked of the "bit of marble." My Lord, when men of refined minds, in any age of the world, spoke of the art of the sculptor, it has never been in this poor and unworthy tone. The sculptors of antiquity_were not accustomed to such language. It was not the custom for cultivated minds in the times of Canova, Flaxman, Chantry, and their brethren in genius to talk of the "bit of marble," when alluding to their productions. No; their "divine art," and their "immortal productions" were somewhat nearer the style in which their genius was spoken of, while the loftiest and best intellects have, in all ages, yielded reverential admiration to the genius of sculpture. The "bit of marble" sounded doubly odious coming from you, my Lord; it almost impresses one with the conviction that some great minds are denied the enjoyment of, and appreciation of, the beautiful. How different was the tone of another great man, Napoleon, when standing among the monuments of Egypt, he exclaimed to those by whom he was surrounded, "Forty centuries are now looking down upon us." My Lord, the "bit of marble" has brought down to us the deeds of antiquity. The "bit of marble" has perpetuated the manners of the far-off race of old Egypt. The "bit of marble" has recorded the graces of humanity of ancient Greece. The "bit of marble" has brought down to us the splendour and the heroism of ancient Rome, and the "bit

of marble" yet remains, in the opinion of the wisest and best of mankind, the most worthy medium for the commemoration of virtue.

By this "bit of marble" then, my Lord, I would preserve the memory of Dr. Birkbeck. That spirit of benignant goodness would be far more worthily and appropriately lodged in our Metropolitan Cathedral, than in the low rooms of the London University. His place should be among the great men of his country, and not in the cabined and cribbed dormitory of a professor of "Machinery and Manufactures." The fame

of the good Doctor Birkbeck would be far better secured by the "bit of marble." The "bit of marble," my Lord, would speak to the heart of posterity, with far more point and effect than the husky tongue of the professor, and the divine art of the sculptor would give an immortality to his fame, as far transcending the paltry power of the "professor," as the sun's light exceeds that of the moon, or the cultured intellect that of the meanest savage.

I remain, my Lord, your Lordship's very humble servant,

Mile End.

HENRY BROWN.

MR. WILLIAMS'S FURNACE.-INTRODUC

TION AT GLASGOW.

(From the Glasgow Constitutional.) While it must be admitted that in a manufacturing city such as Glasgow, where hundreds of steam engines are daily at work, smoke, and that of a very dense character, has been looked upon hitherto as inseparable from the prosecution of manufactures; yet such is the progress of science, that we ought not to rest satisfied with our atmosphere of smoke while there remains the slightest prospect of obtaining the means of entirely removing or of abating the evil. Numerous

plans have been proposed for the purpose of consuming or dissipating the smoke emitted from the furnaces of steam engines, but, at least in this city, none of them have so far succeeded as to produce any general diminution of the nuisance. Of late, public attention has been recalled to the subject by the exertions of Mr. Alston, of Rosemount, who is indefatigable in his pursuit of any object which he conceives to be calculated to promote public or individual benefit. In the course of his inquiries and researches on the most approved methods of removing the smoke nuisance. Mr. Alston became con

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vinced that the plan of Mr. C. Williams, which had been to a considerable extent adopted in Manchester, was the best yet projected, and calculated to effect the object he had in view, almost to perfection. He accordingly used every means to circulate a knowledge of the merits of Mr. Williams's invention, and pressed, with an anxiety highly honourable to him as a public benefactor, on his friends who had steam engines, to try the experiment of adopting Mr. Williams's method. In this he has succeeded; and several proprietors have agreed to apply it to their furnaces. The first experiment was made on the engine furnace of Mr. Alexander Harvie, at Govanhaugh Printfield and Dyeworks. The furnace having been tried for a few days with complete success, Mr. Alston made a respectful application to the Dean of Guild, and the other members of the Dean of Guild Court, to visit the premises of Mr. Harvie, and judge for themselves of the invention and its results. This was handsomely assented to, and on Thursday last, James Black, Esq., the sub-Dean, and the other members present, accompanied Mr. Alston to Govanhaugh, where the whole apparatus and its effects were exhibited and explained.

Exteriorly, the furnace exhibits no difference from those of the ordinary form. It is in the interior of the structure chiefly where the means of preventing the formation of the smoke are accomplished. [Here follows a description of the furnace, with which the readers of the Mechanics' Magazine are already familiar.]

When the Dean of Guild and the other gentlemen arrived at the works, Mr. Harvie directed fuel to be put upon the fire, and, excluding the air from the air chamber, he showed the usual quantity of smoke issuing from the stalk. By an ingenious application of glazed apertures at each end of the boiler the state of the flues could be distinctly seen, while immediately over the door of the orifice leading to the diffusion box, another glazed aperture affords a view of the castiron plate, and the effects of the first contact of the air with the smoke from the furnace. While the smoke continued to pour in volumes from the stalk, Mr. Harvie opened the door or valve of the air-ports, and in about a minute-in fact as soon as the smoke at that moment in the flues and stalks could escape-not a particle of visible smoke was emitted! During the time the door was shut the flues were seen filled with smoke; but immediately on its being opened and air admitted the flues were filled with flame. These alternate shuttings and openings were several times repeated with the same fire, and the result was invariably the same-with

the air chamber door shut there was the ordinary smoke emitted, with the door open there was none whatever!

The Sub-Dean and the other members of

the Dean of Guild Court expressed the highest satisfaction at the results, and declared their perfect conviction of the invention being completely successful in accomplishing the intended object.

We understand that, now when a certainty exists that at a trifling cost the smoke nuisance may be completely removed, the Procurator Fiscal of the Dean of Guild Court is determined to bring several of the manufacturers, &c. having engines in the city, before that Court, under the act of Parliament, to decide the point whether such parties can be forced to obviate the smoke of their furnaces in the most effectual way.

CAPTAIN CARPENTER'S PROPELLERS

APPLIED TO CANAL NAVIGATION.

We noticed in a recent Number the performance of Captain Carpenter's stern propellers, and of the disc engine, as fitted to the pinnace of the steam-frigate "Geyser," when tried on the river. We learn that, subsequently to these trials, experiments have been made with this boat on the Grand Junction Canal, in the presence of Sir F. Head, and other leading Directors of the Canal Company, and some partners of the eminent carrying firm of Messrs. Pickford and Co.

Notwithstanding the unfitness of Captain Carpenter's boat for canal navigation, arising from her great breadth of beam, the results obtained during these experiments were such as to induce the gentlemen present to express their unanimous opinion, that the important problem of the adaptation of steam power to canal navigation had at length been completely solved.

We are, further, much pleased to learn that the Committee of the Grand Junction Canal Company have voted a sum of 1007., to be tendered to Captain Carpenter, on behalf of the Company, to mark the sense which they entertain of the important service which he has rendered to the canal interest by his invention.

We may now, therefore, hope soon to see steam-power as triumphant on our canals as our rivers; for the objection of injury to

the banks from the action of paddle-wheels being once removed, (by the adoption of stern propellers,) the rest is easy. The proprietors of the disc engine are making active exertions to take the lead in this new field of enterprize, and, from all we can learn, with good prospects of success.

PILBROW'S CONDENSING CYLINDER ENGINE.

Sir, I have been prevented sooner offering my thanks to your valuable correspondent "S," for his good wishes, and for his communication upon my engine (in No. 971) which I have read with satisfaction; because, though he does not take quite so favourable a view of it as I could wish, yet it appears free from prejudice, and his facts, as there given, are but proofs of the correctness of my own views. The drawing he mentions, presume he perceived was meant merely to illustrate the principle, not to work from; therefore it was made as compact and as neat as the circumstances permitted, and occasion required.

I feel also obliged to your correspondent "Throttle-valve" for his "suggestions" (in No. 972,) though I think he misapprehends the grand object which I endeavour to obtain by my invention, and incline to think he cannot have seen the pamphlet written upon it, as an arrangement is there made for "passing the centre with one engine."

I am, Sir,

Very respectfully yours,
JAMES PILBROW.

Tottenham Green, April 18, 1842.

PATENT LAW CASES.

Vice-Chancellor of England's Court, Lincoln's Inn.

April 21, 1842.

Hancock v. Hullmandell.

[In January, 1838, Mr. Charles Hancock, the eminent animal painter, obtained a patent for "certain improved means of producing figured surfaces sunk and in relief, and of printing therefrom, and also of moulding, stamping, and embossing." The defendant, Mr. Hullmandell, also obtained a patent in November, 1841, for "a new effect of light and shadow, imitating a brush or stump drawing, or both combined, produced on paper, being an impression from a plate or stone prepared in a particular manner for that purpose, as also the mode of preparing the said plate or stone for that object." Mr. Hullmandell's new effect"

is alleged by Mr. Hancock to be obtained by means which are included in his specification; and the present was a motion for an injunction to restrain the alleged infringement.

Mr. Stuart and Mr. Elderton were for the plaintiff; Mr. Girdlestone and Mr. Rotch for the defendant.

The part of his specification on which the plaintiff relies, is the following: "I take a thin solution of caoutchouc mixed with etching ground, or any other composition which will resist the action of acids, and with it cover the whole surface of the plate, and then with an etching point, or other suitable instrument, remove all the parts which are not intended to be in relief, (or with the same or any suitable composition, draw or paint upon plain, curved, or undulated metallic surfaces, the whole of that part of my design which I intend to be in relief,) and when the drawing is perfectly dry, I place it in a dish or trough of adequate dimensions, with its face downwards, immersed to proper and uniform depth in the acid liquor, which I allow to operate until the desired effect is obtained. Should any part require to be placed in higher relief, the plate, block, or cylinder, is to be washed clean with spirits of turpentine, and a ground laid on in the manner usually practised in relaying of grounds; it is then to be submitted again to the action of the acid, or the part lowered with the graver."

The degree of similarity between the preceding process and that followed by the defendant, will be seen by reference to the Mech. Mag. vol. xxxiv. p. 207, where a very full abstract is given of his specification.

Numerous affidavits from artists and men of science, were produced on both sides; but there was a great conflict of testimony as to the novelty of the inventions, and whether one was an infringement of the other.

At the conclusion of the arguments of Mr. Stuart and Mr. Elderton on behalf of the plaintiff,

The Vice-Chancellor said, when the Court found persons of such scientific knowledge in these matters giving the opinions they had, he was quite unwilling to take upon himself to say what they had stated was groundless, which he should do to a certain extent by granting the injunction in the present state of things. Therefore, in the extraordinarily dark state of the case as it was now presented to the Court, he thought the proper course would be to do nothing on the motion, but to let it stand over for the plaintiff to bring such action as he should be advised, to try the validity of his patent.

Mr. Girdlestone, with Mr. Rotch, how

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ever, insisted that upon the conduct of the parties since the granting of the patent of Hullmandell, as well as the ground that two legal titles were brought before the Court, one of which must be taken, prima facie, to be as good as the other upon a motion for an injunction, the application ought to be dismissed altogether. The learned counsel also went into a lengthened argument upon the principles of the two patents, in the course of which illustrations were given by the execution of impressions of the engravings in open court, his Honour observing, that in the whole course of his experience he never remembered such a peculiar kind of "drawing in equity." (A laugh.)

The Vice Chancellor, in giving judgment, said he considered the case a very important one, and for that reason he should follow the course he had already suggested. He wished to have it made absolutely certain whether there had been an infringement of the patent or not. If he were to act on the present impression in his mind, it might happen that when the case came before a jury, a verdict might be pronounced against that opinion, and then he should have on a matter of fact, and not being at all conversant with the subject, an opinion he had pronounced on the verity of the case contradicted by persons who were, by the law of the country, the constituted judges of disputed matters of fact. He therefore adhered to the opinion he had expressed, that all he could do was to let the motion stand over for the plaintiff to bring an action, or otherwise to take such proceedings as he might be advised, with liberty to either party to apply.

April 26.

Russel v. Ledsam.

[For the better understanding of this case, we prefix a few explanatory particulars. Mr. Russel, the plaintiff, is the well known gas tube manufacturer of Wednesbury, who, besides being himself the inventor of a method of making tubes, for which he had a patent long since expired, is assignee of a patent for improvements in this branch of manufacture, granted to Cornelius Whitehouse in 1825, and renewed on its expiration, for a term of seven years. Mr. Ledsam, the defendant, has been recently manufacturing tubes under the patent of Mr. Richard Prosser, of which we gave an account in vol. xxxiii. p. 386, and it is the validity of this patent which is the present subject of dispute. Mr. Russel alleges it to be an infringement of Whitehouse's. In our account of Mr. Prosser's invention we referred to a patent still older than either Prosser's or Whitehouse's, namely, that