DR. CARSON'S PATENT METHOD OF SLAUGHTERING ANIMALS FOR HUMAN FOOD.

In our last month's list of patents there appears mention of one granted to Dr. Carson, of Liverpool, for "an improved method of slaughtering animals for human food." The objects proposed to be effected by this invention are twofold, first, a speedy and therefore merciful method of depriving the animal of life, and second, improvement in the meat, by rendering it more nutritious and of better flavour. The Doctor has in the press a pamphlet which will contain a full explanation of his manner of slaughtering, and the physiological principles upon which the plan is based; and from which work, as soon as it appears, we shall take the necessary extracts to explain the matter to our readers. In the course of the last week several butchers in Liverpool slaughtered some oxen and sheep by the patent method, and a party of twelve gentlemen supped off a shoulder of one of the sheep, which was pronounced by all who partook of it to be superlatively fine. The butchers of Liverpool are, we understand, adopting the plan very promptly.

In the mean time, as the subject is one of considerable interest, we extract a few passages from a letter which Dr. C. has addressed to the Editor of the Liverpool Mercury.

"The object of the mode of slaughtering recommended is, to remove the impediments which nature has set up against the elasticity of the lungs, on the existence of which impediments, life, in a great measure, depends, and, of course, to allow the lungs to resiliate into their natural dimensions, or in other words, to collapse, while the animal is still alive,

"The method of removing these impediments in the circumstances stated, to break fully and at once what may be considered the mainspring of life in all animals with elastic lungs, in the most humane manner,

has been the object of long and anxious consideration and of much varied experiment. The result has been effectual and conclusive.

"The effect of this method of slaughtering is to retain the lymphatic and lacteal fluids, and, indeed, all the finer juices of the body, at the same points and in the same proportion in which they existed while the animal was still alive, instead of being accumulated in the large vessels and discharged out of the body in a mass, and becoming a nuisance.

"The result is an increase of the edible part of a carcase to the amount of at least one-tenth beyond that which it would supply by any mode of slaughtering hitherto in use. The meat thus obtained is more juicy, tender, and far better flavoured. It sets sooner, and, of course, is earlier fit for use. It keeps much longer sweet and untainted. This remarkable and important property is evidently derived from none of the vessels being empty so as to admit the external air, and from an oozing of juice or lymph from the full vessels, when any portion is cut, upon the raw surface of that portion, and, by its tenacity, forming a sealing cement. This property is of great importance to butchers, who lose a great deal of meat in certain states of the weather; to the public in general; but particularly to mariners and to the inhabitants of warm climates.

"The time to which this meat will keep in different states of the weather has not been ascertained, for it has always been used before any marks of approaching putrescency have been discovered; but, in the course of last autumn, this meat continued sweet and untainted for many days after other meat, killed at the same time and placed in the same circumstances, had given such proofs of spoiling as to render it necessary to cook it.

The meat, the produce of slaughtering in this mode, is more economical. In the first place, it never shrinks, but on the contrary, enlarges in cooking; the fat, being supplied with the juices which enrich the muscular or red portion, is much more savory and is more acceptable to delicate palates, and is, therefore, less wasted. It requires less time to cook. The centre of a large joint is done nearly as soon as the surface. These properties are derived from the meat being less spongy and a better conductor of heat than meat obtained by any of the modes of slaughtering at present in use. It preserves well and requires a much less quantity of salt. Other valuable properties will present themselves to those who use this meat, and the method in question is also attended with advantageous results affecting hides, skins, &c., upon which it is not necessary now to dilate.

ENGINEERING DUTIES OF THE BIRMINGHAM
RAILWAY OFFICERS.
[From Lecount's History of the Birmingham
Railway.]

The labours of the engineers, it is almost needless to state, commenced long before the ground was broken. In fact, many of them were employed in getting assents to our Bill, from the land-owners who have shown themselves so wise in their generation. Then came the various surveys and levellings required for fixing the line; then the designing and drawing of bridges and other works in detail, in order that approximate estimates of costs might be laid before Parliment. When the period arrived for executing the works, it was necessary to calculate the time which those of the greatest magnitude would be likely to occupy, so that they might be let to the contractors in such an order, that the whole might be simultaneously completed, as far as possible, with reference to the successive openings of portions of the whole line, which was desirable, not only as a measure of pecuniary interest, but to get the road in good repa'r, and to drill every one into his particular duty. The order of letting the contracts having been decided, assistant and sub-assistant engineers were appointed, as required, upon the general principle of dividing the whole line into four districts, and each district into three lengths, so as to place about ten miles under the immediate superintendence of one subassistant engineer; thus each assistant engineer had three sub-assistants, being all subordinate to one engineer-in-chief.

When any particular portion of the works was to be prepared for letting, the subassistant engineer, under the direction of his superior, had to revise all the Parliamentary surveys and levels with the utmost care, and draw to a large scale very accurate plans and sections of the land, in order that the quantity of excavations and embankments might be obtained as nearly as possible. It was also necessary to make detailed plans and working drawings, elevations, and sections of every bridge and culvert which carried a road or stream across the railway, or which carried the railway over a road or

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stream. These, being roughly sketched by the engineer on the spot, were sent to the chief office, to be fairly drawn out with full details, and upon a uniform system laid down by the principal engineer; the object being to put them in such a shape that parties wishing to tender for any of the contracts might clearly understand the nature of the works, and make accurate estimates from the drawings without difficulty. The limits of each contract were defined with reference to the most convenient execution of the works, regard being had to the disposition of the earth works, so that each contractor might make his embankments with the materials yielded by his excavations, as far as it was practicable; care being taken that the aggregate amount of the contract should not exceed the means of the generality of persons in the habit of tendering for such works.

A contract of 100,0001. was thought a very responsible undertaking; and the experience of the London and Birmingham Railway has shown that those amounting to or exceeding that sum, have called for extraordinary exertions. Of these there have been seven upon the whole line; four were very soon relinquished by the parties originally contracting for them, and the remaining three executed with great difficulty.

The drawings being completed, and the limits of the contracts fixed, detailed specifications were drawn up, under the engineerin-chief's superintendence; the whole was then submitted to the inspection of parties willing to tender for the works, who, on an appointed day, delivered in their respective estimates; and the lowest tender was generally, but not invariably, accepted,-regard being always had to the character and means of the parties. The whole of these extensive and important works were let at prices which were under the estimate of the engineer-in-chief.

The original contract drawings were signed by the engineer-in-chief and the contractor, and preserved as documents. Three copies of each, however, had to be made out-one for the use of the committee, one for the engineer-in-chief, and one for the assistant engineer..

When it is borne in mind that the engineering works of the whole railway, in accordance with the above system, were divided into thirty separate divisions, each requiring its own set of drawings, estimates, and specifications, and that all these works, with two unimportant exceptions, were let to various contractors, between May, 1834, and October, 1835, it will be perceived that an extensive and efficient drawing establishment must have been kept at work.

Speak

ing in round numbers, we must say, that for eighteen months, not less than thirty drawings per week, each requiring two days' work from one pair of hands, were turned out from the engineer-in-chief's office.

NOTES AND NOTICES.

A Transparent Watch.-A watch has been presented to the Academy of Science at Paris, construeted of very peculiar materials, the parts being principally formed of rock crystal. It was made by M. Rebellier, and is small in size. The internal works are visible; the two teethed wheels which carry the hands are rock crystal, the other wheels of metal, to prevent accidents from the breaking of the springs. All the screws are fixed in crystal, and all the axles turn on rubies. The escapement is of sapphire, the balance-wheel of rock crystal, and its springs of gold. The regularity of this watch as a time-keeper is attributed by the maker to the feeble expansion of the rock crystal in the balance-wheel, &c. The execution of the whole shows to what a state of perfection the art of cutting precious stones has been carried in modern times

Mr. Wivell's Fire Escape.-At a meeting of the Society of Arts on Thursday, the 10th instant, Mr. Wivell's fire-escape was brought before the Committee of Mechanics. He has somewhat simplined it since it was described and figured in No. 723 of our Magazine, by the substitution of a single for a double ladder, in other respects it is the same. The Society thought that it was the best that had been brought before them, and awarded Mr. Wivell a silver medal, on condition of his leaving a model in their Museum. An exhibition of its operation took place at the Society's house in the Adelphi on the following Tuesday. It certainly proved itself to be as complete an apparatus as could be desired, in all cases where it can be applied,-that is, to windows within a foot or two above or below the exact heights of the ladders. No experiment upon the principal point of objection urged by our correspondent, Mr. Baddeley, was made, that of indelicacy in regard to females. The Society's house-keeper could not be prevailed upon to make the descent in the canvass trough.

Long-going Time-keepers.-The Revue du Havre states, that a journeyman watchmaker of that town has invented a new movement, by which he can make a lady's watch go for a year after being once wound up, a gentleman's watch for three years, an ordinary clock for twenty years, and a church or other public clock for 280 years! The cost of one of these watches is only 50 francs.

Paris Artesian Well.-The boring in the Artesian well at the Abattoir de Grenelle has now attained the depth of 1400 feet, but no water has yet been found.

Railway Labourers and Navigators.-There is always one feature which strikingly distinguishes the construction of railways from that of canals, and this is the employment of the surrounding agricultural population. When the reader is informed, that for nearly three years from fifteen to twenty thousand men were engaged on this work, taken almost invariably from the adjacent towns and villages, and that, in actual labour, nearly four millions have been expended in earth-work, brick-work, brickmaikng, &c., among the local population, he would have some idea how this would influence pauperism and the poor-rates; whereas, in the making of canals, it is the general custom to employ gangs of hands who travel from one work to another, and do nothing else. These banditti, known in some parts of England by the name of "Navies," or "Navigators," and in others by that of "Bankers," are generally the terror of the surrounding country;

they are as completely a class by themselves as the gipsies. Possessed of all the daring recklessness of the smuggler, without any of his redeeming qualities, their ferocious behaviour can only be equalled by the brutality of their language. It may be truly said, their hand is against every man, and before they have been long located, every man's hand is against them; and woe befal any woman, with the slightest share of modesty, whose ears they can assail.-Lecount's History of the Birmingham Railway.

Magnetic Observations.-A deputation from the Royal Society had an interview with Viscount Melbourne on Saturday, the 5th instant, in Downingstreet, to communicate some resolutions of the council, recommending the equipment of a scientific expedition to the southern regions, with a view to magnetic observations and the establishment of fixed magnetic observatories in Canada, St. Helena, Van Dieman's Land, Ceylon, and at the Cape of Good Hope. The deputation consisted of Mr. J. W. Lubbock, Vice-President and Treasurer; P. M. Roget, M.D., and Mr. S. H. Christie, Secretaries; Sir John F. W. Herschel, Chairman; and Major Sabine and Mr. Charles Wheatstone, Secretaries of the Physical and Meteorological Com. mittees of the Royal Society.

Vegetable Weather Prophet-The attention of scientific men is just now directed to a curious discovery of Professor Stiefel-well known throughout Germany for his Natural Science-the result of which has been the attainment of a more accurate knowledge of those changes to which the atmosphere is subjected, than was possible by the old method. The instruments hitherto in use have been the thermometer and the barometer, but an unerring standard has been considered a desideratum; that is said to have been at last supplied in the shape of Geranium fruit, the awns of which are in and evolved by the dryness or humidity of the atmosphere, in obedience to laws so regular and unvarying, that being fixed upon a dial-plate properly graduated, the change from one part of the room to another may be noted with the greatest accuracy. A paper on the subject was to be read at the meeting of German naturalists, held this year at Freyburg. Professor Stiefel is the greatest weather-doctor in southern Germany, and has for many years tabulated all changes in the atmosphere, according to a plan suggested by Goethe; but he does not venture to predict for more than twentyfour hours at a time, and laughs at our weather prophets. By observation, he says, one may get the rule, but not the exceptions.-Athenæum.

Economy of Fuel in the Smelting of Iron.-It is stated by M. Teploff, mining engineer in Russia, that in the Ural Mountains, where many mines of iron are worked, they obtain 141bs. of iron by a consumption of the same quantity of fuel, provided both the quantity and rapidity of the air which enters into combustion is properly regulated; but only from four to six pounds when the action of the blowers is badly managed. In an experiment made by order of the Government, it was found that 100 cubic feet of air, under a pressure of two inches of mercury, have produced the same effect as 200 cubic feet of air under a pressure of one inch, but with this difference, that in the latter case the consumption of fuel was double that required for the former. M. Teploff further states that a furnace had produced 22,000 lbs. of iron in twenty-four hours, and which had only consumed 16,000 lbs. of fuel for this operatiou, whilst before the proper regulation of the blast, double the quantity was required to produce an equal portion of iron. According to the same engineer, the results obtained by this method are superior as regards economy to those produced by means of the hot blast.-Recueil de la Société Polytechnique, June, 1838.

Sir, I beg to send you herewith Mr. Physic's lithographed drawing of the beautiful gates, two pairs of which, with palisading, are now about being finished by Mr. Dean, engineer of Bolton (not as stated in the newspapers, for the Pasha of Egypt but) for the Grand Sultan of Turkey; at whose palace, in Constantinople, upon the banks of the Bosphorus they are to be erected.

The height of the gates, including the center ornaments over them, will be 35 feet, these, as well as all the other ornaments will be richly gilt (a taste you, say) more suitable to the Orientals than

to us.

The height of the gates themselves will be 22 feet, and they will have a gateway of 12 feet in width; but including the hanging pilasters, which are formed to represent beautifully pendant vine leaves, the width will be 18 feet 3 inches.

The gates are formed of splendid devices and of admirable castings, and will be supported on each side by marble columns, 3 feet 9 inches each in diameter, surmounted by elegant vases.

The palisades add much to the general effect, they are 23 feet in length on each side, and are fixed in marble basements 7 feet 6 inches each in height, making in the whole 22 feet.

The weight of the two pair of gates will be forty tons.

The cost of them when fixed up, the manufacturer informs me, will be upwards of 20,000l. The patterns 9001. Packing cases 150l.

I am, your's, faithfully,
RICHARD EVANS.

7, Portland-street, Manchester,
Nov. 21, 1838.

ON STREET PAVING-DESCRIPTION OF A NEW METHOD.

Sir, The subject of road-making interests the public in the present day so much, particularly during the time allowed for the trial of those portions of experimental pavement now laid down in Oxford-street, that I hope you will allow me to say a few words on the subject.

I understand that the time allowed for the trial of the different plans in Oxfordstreet is until the end of June next; now. I contend that this is unquestionably not a sufficient length of time for a fair trial of these experiments, because there can be no doubt that most of them will be found infinitely superior to the old mode of paving the street, and six months is not a sufficient length of time to judge of the merit of any particular system-surely a twelvemonth is the least time that should be conceded, more particularly as these bituminous compositions should undergo the fiery ordeal of the summer's heat as well as the extreme of the winter cold.

I myself have always contended that a street ought to be paved upon a plan purely mechanical and simple, and upon which I shall have a little to say before I conclude this letter. I hold that boiling cauldrons with the subsequent daubing and pasting of the bituminous matter under, over, or between the stones is perfectly useless and unnecessary. When I make use of these terms I acknowledge the superiority of this style of pavement over the old, although I at the same time condemn it as useless. It has always been to me a matter of great astonishment how any men whose business it was to have studied this subject could have persisted for so many years in paving streets upon the old plan the whole system of which, from the removal of the old stones to the laying down of the new ones and completing the road, was one of the most absurd and fallacious.

Colonel Maceroni's plan of having the stones all of one size is no doubt perfectly correct, and without this being the case you can never have a road that will last for any length of time, because a heavy weight passing over a small stone will force it farther into the foundation than the next which is much larger; this fact, coupled with the additional fact of the foundations always having been too soft, has been the cause of the immediate destruction of all the paved streets of London. The Colonel next recommends a very heavy rammer for hardening the foundation and driving the stones down; now this, unless done effectually, will be of no use, or in other words it will be of no use unless the effect of the blow from the rammer be more than equivalent to