the rule. Martyrs, suffering patiently, are not more numerous now than they were in former ages. Suppose T. M. B. were standing at a street corner, or under a gateway, during a sleeting night in winter-with no house to retire to, and imperfect garments, through which "the wind it blew in, and the wind it blew out"-cold, hungry, and wretched-without knowing where to apply for assistance-would he not bless any means which offered him an oblivion from such pains? If at that moment, a charitable hand furnished him with twopence, would he lay it out in bread or clothes or coals? No; I mistake much if he would not visit that refuge of the destitute, y'clept, a gin-shop, and forget the pain of cold and hunger, in an intoxicating dram. Even people in good circumstances do the same, when travelling by night, on the outside of a stage coach. This kind of excitement, when persevered in, no doubt mostly leads to misery. T. M. B. is, it seems rather aristocratic in his tendencies. "Dram-drinking is not confined to the working-classes -the swinish multitude-it is also actively in operation, amongst lords and ladies of high degree." He then winds up with a triumphant peroration. "So much for the sobering influence of education!" Happy! thrice happy T. M. B.! to be admitted into the snug coteries, and select drinking parties of lords and ladies, as a spiritual or spirituous supervisor. But who told him that they were educated? It is very likely that they can read and write; are believers in geography, especially that of the conti nent of Europe; can strum the guitar and tinkle the piano; have heard of such a thing as arithmetic; speak some bad French, and worse Italian; know positively that such languages as Latin and Greek once existed; moreover, they know that the constitution is composed of King, Lords, and Commons; which latter would be much better struck out, only they are useful in finding money. But much as this is for lords and ladies, still it is not mental training, fitting them to pursue the search after truth. It is not the education which induces them to pass their time in reading, and to abandon sensual excitement. Perchance they may occasionally read a tawdry novel or a flimsy poem, half through, and then yawn, and call for a glass of ratafia; but they do not possess the earn. est desire of knowledge, which induces many a mechanic to devour a book at the same time with his dinner. "Never was knowledge more generally diffused than at the present day; yet never were habits of inebriety more on the increase!" That the former is the case, is true as the gospel, but the latter is a non sequitur; and though knowledge is very widely spread, it is by no means universal. T. M. B. asserts, that drunkenness is on the increase -I assert that it is diminishing. One assertion is as good as the other. The proof can only be found, by comparing the quantity of spirits consumed with the amount of the population at different periods. I may very safely appeal to the tables. With regard to the "sprightly Frenchman," and the "gay Italian," be it known to T. M. B. that the former, during any dearth of public excitement especially, is in the habit of swallowing, at numerous intervals during the whole day, certain drams called gouttes, sometimes amounting to a bottle of brandy per diem; but without its producing drunkenness, possibly because sugar is taken with it, added to the habit, which is second nature. The Italian not gay, i. e. not of overboiling temperament, lives in a climate, scarcely requiring clothing or shelter, and very little food. Moreover, he prefers making love to drinking, as is the case in most warm climates. "The vicious are never at a loss for an excuse for their wickedness." True! but which is the vicious in this case, the government which leaves the poor man to misery, or the poor man who seeks oblivion from his misery in the alcohol, whose sale the government patronizes, for the sake of the revenue thereby accruing? "A vigorous effort," made by the government, to release the people 66 from the thraldom" of the taxes on knowledge would work wonders; and with regard to that same rotten mutton, which T. M. B. uses as a simile, be it known unto him, that if he persists in feeding upon it for the term of six months, he will find himself in such a state of misery from indigestion, that all the temperance searchers in the world, will not restrain him from seeking oblivion from pain in alcohol. PERSONAL CLEANLINESS-PUBLIC BATHS. I have always found it in practice, a never-failing sign of pride and obstinacy, when a man concludes with "in my humble opinion." The opinion of such a person never is humble, and it is in vain to expect to change it. Therefore, I will come to a compromise with T. M. B., and freely acknowledging that the precepts of true religion are highly useful things, I merely call upon him not to pronounce an irrevocable anathema, against those minor articles of comfort, meat, clothes, fire, and books. T. M. B. can very well afford to yield thus far; inasmuch, that in a former part of his letter, he states, that he has no fear of my criticism injuring the objects of his patronage. Yours, &c. Nov. 29, 1831. JUNIUS REDIVIVUS. PERSONAL CLEANLINESS-PUBLIC BATHS. Sir,-Junius Redivivus is very fond, of edging in at every convenient or inconvenient season, something condemnatory of the Government, and of attributing every evil which affects the community to bad legislation and taxation. It appears to me, that on such grounds every unworthy member of society might plausibly plead his release from the restraints of moral responsibility; and when I affirm this, I do not state that which is unsanetioned by facts, for there have been before now teachers of the same way of reasoning, who could boast of a long string of infatuated disciples, ever ready to follow their footsteps, however dirty the road or indirect the way. Desirable as it may be, that the tax on soap should be taken off, (and if every man had his hobby, we should have no taxes at all) it is not so heavy as to debar even the poorest person, if he have a desire to be clean, from procuring it. A small piece of soap goes a long way; and wretched must that person be who cannot afford to purchase this article, which is sold, even taxed as it is, at a price which places it within the reach of all. Indeed, so trifling would be the reduction in its cost were the tax removed, that no considerable increase of consumption could be reasonably expected. Your correspondent has hit upon one of the true sources of uncleanliness when he states that the poor imagine the use of cold water involves a loss of warmth. 207 Remove this impression, and some good may be done; after all, however, but little, for some people, rich as well as poor, are naturally inclined to be idle, and idleness leads to all kinds of uncleanness. J. R. assumes, that the poor would bathe more frequently had they the opportunity. Now, notwithstanding the threatening-boards of which he complains, but which are necessary for the protection of public decency, hundreds resort in the summer season to the New River and the Regent's Canal for this purpose; but I have not observed that the country poor, although they have the means of bathing, do at all make use of them in proportion to their extent, and the facility with which they are enjoyed. It is a very mistaken notion, that using cold water, even in the coldest part of winter, destroys the warmth of the body. Let any one, poor or rich, wash himself (he need not bathe) all over with cold water in his room, without a fire, and he will find that it both warms and invigorates the body. Your correspondent feelingly describes the difficulties a poor man labours under in the path of cleanliness-the wretched utensil in which he is obliged to get his water-the trouble of going for the water -and then the extreme misery of being obliged to wash himself without a fire, or perhaps warm clothes to put on afterwards. Now, this is all exaggerated. Such hardships are the lot of many, but by no means of the majority of the poor; and if they were, they are no more than what the Lacedemonians bore without murmur or complaint. Those who know not luxury, feel not as evils those things which downy ease would faint under. The man inclined to cleanliness will always be clean; where there is a will there is a way. But take one of our idle, untaught poor; wash him, feed him, clothe him, and then turn him loose to take care of himself; he will as surely return to his filth and rags, as the dog to his vomit. You may drag a horse to the water, but the force of a 100-horse power steam-engine will not force him to drink against his will. Now, the fact of there being cheap warm-bathing in France and New York (I wonder your correspondent cites the filthy Frenchman as a pattern-I would sooner wash in Mr. Braithwaite's pool, which is gently libelled by J. R., than in a French warm-bath) has no bearing on can be the present question,bitants shown, that in either place are cleaner or healthier than in London. Although I never was in New York, I would venture to assert, that cheap as the baths are there, the poorer classes do not resort to them so much as might be supposed. I question whether any of the vast number of poor Irish who swarm there do not oftener visit a change-house than a bagnio. When Junius's plan for housing the working classes on a barrack system are develoned more fully, I shall be ready to state my objections to them. The independent habits of our mechanics, and the customs of the country, form, with other obstacles, strong objections to any such speculation. Yours, &c. T. M. B. [We have received a note of a subsequent date from T. M. B. in which he says, "I have now seen Junius's Plan for the Better Housing of the Working Classes, and am very much disappointed with it. I am confident that it is bad in principle, and would not suit our countrymen. I shall, with your leave, send you some remarks on the scheme, in which I think I shall be able to show its fallacy." We shall be glad and so, we venture to say, Junius will be to see what T. M. B.'s objections are to the plan. We can readily suppose that many useful modifications may be suggestedbut that "the principle" of the thing is wrong, it will, we apprehend, be rather difficult to prove.—ED. M. M.] Maps of Cities.-Sir, I dare say you are of opinion, that there are controversies enough raging in the Mechanics' Magazine already, without the addition of a new one on maps of cities. I cannot, however. allow the remarks of Lector, in your last Number, to pass without a word, which I hope he will allow to be the last on the occasion. I was unaware that my remarks were so virulent as to be calculated to excite angry feelings even in the most thin-skinned of inventors; but, it seems I touched on a tender/ part. Lector asserts, that my suggestion is the same as his own; and as he belabours the former most unmercifully, it follows of course that the latter is worthless, nay, is an old and common expedient to facilitate reference! But I deny the resemblancethe difference, indeed, is palpable enough; there is no need. in my plan, of the rule, or its substitute, a book, Think, for a moment, of a stranger, in Fleet Street, taking out his map, say one foot by two, spreading it on the pavement (what else?) and then gravely applying some heavy old folio volume--for what other size would be large enough?-to discover the situation of St. Paul's by the given latitude and longitude! Would not he find this rather more inconvenient than consulting a map by means of refer. ences to real, large, and imaginary small squares, which might for convenience be made to fold up, or even be bound in a portable book? "Look on this picture, and on this!" Shakspeare. I have no more to say, except that Lector, in his heat, has confounded me with another adversary; and that I hope the "Maps-of-Cities controversy" may now be considered at an end.-Yours, &c. F. H. Dec. 13, 1831. London and Paris Railway. The Propagateur du Pas de Calais states, that Sir Henry Parnell when lately at Paris submitted to the French Government a proposal for connecting the two capitals of Britain and France by a series of steam communications, including a rail-road with locomotive engines from London to Dover, and a similar rail road from Calais to Paris. The Paris correspondent of the Times, referring to this proposal, observes, "The idea of a rail-road to Calais will here be talked of as a chimera; and while the roughfares of the country confinds and great thoin their present miserable condition, a Frenchman may well be excused for exclaiming that England should be left with the monopoly of making des chemins de fer. It is enough for France de faire des chemins." Miniature Steam-Carriage of silver.-Our ingenious correspondent, Mr. William Read, of the Peterhoff Paper-mill, Russia, writes to us that he has nearly finished a miniature locomotive steamcarriage made of silver, for the purpose of better explaining the operations on the Liverpool and Manchester railway; weight, three pounds. It will be nearly a copy of Mr. Braithwaite's engine, of which an engraving is given in No. 372 of the Mechanics' Magazine." Imitative Genius of the Russians.- Dr. Clarke gives in his Travels some remarkable instances of the imitative skill of Russian artizans. The letter from which we have made the preceding extract, furnishes another striking illustration of this feature of the Muscovite character, "We have here (says Mr. Read) a Russian brass-founder who moulds and casts figures of all sorts in a very superior style. He lately furnished for the Academy some hollow casts of frogs, lobsters, and other equally difficult things; with the legs, claws, &c, all in one, and not brazed on as is commonly done. The master of this man is a fine chaser and gilder. showed him the engraving in lone's Table Book, page 268, of the bronze antique found in the Thames in 1827. He went home and brought me a head in wax, of the same size and form in every respect. He said he had bought the original among some old brass in St. Petersburgh, aud had given it to M. Ferrand, the celebrated French architect, whose opinion of it was that it had been used for an inkstand; which I think a great deal more probable than it should have been employed as a lamp." I Pleasure Steam Boat.The following is an extract from the letter of a correspondent who has enriched our pages with many valuable communications: "I have just been trying a pleasure steam boat which I have constructed, of one-horse power, and as far as one can judge from a first experiment, it performs tolerably well. he boat is 12 feet by 5, and has carried 13 persons. Its rate has not been tried, as the wind has hitherto been too strong to allow of a fair estimate of its power." INTERIM NOTICES. Communications received from T. J.-An Indian Correspondent-Q. R.-J. W.-C.-J. B. V. J. H.- Anti-Cholera-Saxula Mr. Hancock Mr. Shalders-A Mechanic-Hezron - Mr. Deakin-A Poor WidowT. M. B.-T. O. M.-Mr. L. Cohen. LONDON: Published by M. SALMON, at the Mechanics Magazine Office, Wine office-court, (between 145 and 146) Fleet Street, where Communications (post paid) are requested to be addressed. Sold by G. G. BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris. M. SALMON, Printer, Fleet Street. Mechanics' Magazine, MUSEUM, REGISTER, JOURNAL, AND GAZETTE No. 437.] 4 M SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1831. Price 3d "It requires a great deal of philosophy to observe what is seen every day." -100 IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM ENGINE VALVES. Peterhoff Paper-Mill, near Sir, I send for the inspection of your readers, but more particularly of such of them as are practical engineers, the two accompanying sketches of plans for reversing the D valve of steam-engines, and using two short valves in place of the long heavy valve in common use, and shall be glad to know what is thought of them in England. The D valves at present in use, having to be packed on the semicircular back, the packing is seldom equally tight, and often to get it tight at a venture, the eduction D valve is pressed unequally close to the cylinder, so as to rub or cut the face. Now, by reversing the valve, the rubbing part has a larger surface (resembling the metallic piston in being half round) and is not so likely to score; the packing too becomes less, and being flat, and in front, is more easily to be seen. The front plate or bonnet has only two nuts, and is very quickly taken off; besides the packing has a thin iron plate, shown at 8, No. 2, within the bonnet, which is pressed up against it by means of two thumb-screws, tapped through the outside plate, so that at any time by trying them with the hand, you can easily tighten the plate to the greatest nicety. Two single valves are far lighter than the long D valve, which requires such a tremendous counter weight, which is not a good thing where steam boats are in a rough sea, The eduction pipe (EE, No. 1) Mr. Farey recommends to be large; now you will have, in the way I suggest, a fine clear passage, even larger than the St, way, (C) if you wish, without enlarging the valve, which, with the long D valve, cannot be done. These reversed valve nozzles, may be made, by fixing the top and bottom together, so as to bore them for the valves. Some objections may be started as to the difficulty of casting; but I heard of a man once at Mr. Maudslay's, who said he could mould and cast a wheelbarrow; and I think these nozzles would not be so troublesome to accomplish as that. I think the best of the two plans is that marked No. 2. A, represents the valve front sliding against the packing; B the back part of the brass valve. MORE COAL MINE EXPLOSIONS, AND Sir,-Want of opportunity has prevented me sooner replying to Mr. Deakin's letter, in page 30 of your present volume; as I wished to advert again to the draught of my letter, to ascertain one or two typographical errors. My meaning would have been better understood had the printer inserted what was written-" a northern colliery, with a square whose side [not site] is a mile;" and "cutting on [not at] the end of the coal." Technical expressions are always awkward to printers; and yet without them, seldom would persons be benefitted to the extent intended. For instance, back and end, as employed by colliers, have peculiar applications, the one signifying the smooth cleavage of the coal (as the linear direction of a split piece of wood) and the latter, the cross fracture, (or breaking of a stick). The backs are separate, the ends are of necessity broken for quarrying. Probably Mr. Deakin may have in his vicinity subscribers to the Society of Arts and, if so, by reference to the Transactions of that Society for 1816, Mr. D. will find fully explained, the Diluting Method of Ventilation, practised by Mr. Buddle; and the Vacuum Method advoIndeed cated by myself, its inventor. other Literary Journals of that date also mention them. The latter method is detailed in a pamphlet, illustrated by engravings; and the Report of Mr. Buddle to a Society for preventing Accidents in Coal Mines, in 1814, will illustrate the former." Mr. Buddle's plan will show, that twelve feet are cut in roads, and twentyfour left in pillars; and that other roads of six feet wide cut the latter parallelograms into pillars-that is to say, they take one portion and leave two. Mr. D. is correct in his remarks on the quantity taken, and that left in the mine. The Report of the Select Committee of the House of Lords for 1829, contains Mr. Buddle's examination, with elucidatory plans and sections, exhibiting the different states of the pillars, sinking, sunk, and overwhelmed with earth; and as only to be quarried with the help of the Davy lamp. The method of quarrying was adopted in days when men were scarcely acquainted with any science; and the diluting method has grown out |