would probably be sent from abroad, the price of the tools and machines, if the free exportation were permitted, would be considerably and permanently raised at home.

2d, That it was to be feared that, in a short time after the repeal of those laws, foreigners would be able to undersell us in cotton goods, in lace made in frames, and in some other branches of manufacture.

To these two principal objections your Committee more particularly turned their attention; and in the evidence of all the London engineers it is distinctly stated, that they do not believe that any considerable rise of price would, for any length of time, follow the repeal of the prohibiting laws. On this subject, however, your Committee submit to the consideration of the House an extract from the evidence of Mr. Alexander Galloway.

"Do you then think that we should secure a very con"siderable and profitable branch of permanent manufac"ture, without injuring our home manufactures, if this "law was repealed?—I am decidedly of opinion we should improve our condition; and if I was a considerable ma"chine user in any of our principal manufactures, I should say I should be very much benefited by taking off the prohibiting laws, as it would ultimately lessen the price "of machinery.

"Do you mean by the increased competition and skill "that would be brought into action ?—Yes; and that will "all end in making machines cheaper. At first it may "increase the price with certain individuals, but not with "the manufacturers generally; and ultimately it will in"crease the means by which machinery is produced."

The principal difficulty which seemed to your Committee likely to occur, from any considerable increased demand for machines from abroad, was the number of hands which could in a comparatively short space of time be procured to meet the demand.

It has always hitherto happened, and on general prin

ciples it may safely be affirmed that it will always happen, that where a commodity can be supplied in unlimited quantities (which machinery may be in this country) a large increase in the demand never fails, after a very short period, to reduce the price; but the necessity of instructing men in machine-making seemed to oppose an obstacle which it would require much time to overcome; and it was apprehended that in the mean time the price of machines might be considerably increased. The opinion, however, of the London engineers was, that no difficulty whatever would exist as to the procuring of hands capable of constructing machinery in any quantity which could be required; and that, too, greatly to the advantage of a large number of persons.

Messrs. Martineau, Bramah, Maudslay, and Galloway, all of them eminent in their profession as engineers, affirm that men and boys in almost any number may be readily instructed in the making of machines, and that the great improvement of the tools used for making machines, and for the abridgment of labour in many important parts of the business, (which enables them to employ common labourers, who may rapidly become skilful workmen) furnish reasons for believing that the price of machinery is much more likely to be reduced, and that in a short time, than increased by any considerable extension of the business of machine-making. Your Committee would, however, call the attention of the House to the evidence of Messrs. Ewart, Kennedy, and other witnesses from the country, who have expressed a contrary opinion, in order that a correct judgment may be formed on the subject.

To be continued in our next Number.

On the Extraction of Opium from the indigenous Poppy.

By M. LAINE.

From Bibliothéque Universelle.

In October, 1821, the author had a considerable space sown with poppies of the kind called blind poppies, disposed in rows two feet asunder. Although these poppies made a very indifferent appearance in the spring, they greatly improved afterward, and every one produced from 8 to 20 capsules. In April the ground was dug and raked, and in May the plants were earthed up. Most of them grew to the height of four feet and a half.

The method followed by the author to gather the produce, consisted in making incisions in every head or capsule, with an instrument formed of two blades or edges, fitted into a little wooden handle, so as not to project beyond it more than about a quarter of a line, the incisions being as much as possible in a spiral direction. Children followed the person who cut the poppy-heads, and gathered the milky juice which escaped with a small brush or pencil, the size of the little finger. When the pencil was full of juice, they pressed it with a finger against the inside of a little tin vessel, in the same way that painters press the oil out of their brushes in order to clean them. At the end of every half day's work, all that was collected was put together into a flat vessel, where it was left to evaporate to dryness.*

* The milky juices of vegetables owe, in general, their milky appearance to a certain quantity of resin or of fatty substance which they hold in suspension. They likewise frequently contain different substances soluble in water, particularly mucilage.-See Annales de Chimie, Vol. XLV. p. 257; v. 21, 275, and 288.

NOTICES OF NEW PATENTS.

Patent granted to WILLIAM CHURCH, of Birmingham, Esq. for certain improvements in casting cylinders, tubes, aud other articles of iron, copper, and other metals. Dated January 18, 1825.

THE plan for which this patent was obtained, consists of exhausting the air by air-pumps from the moulds, prepared for receiving the melted metal so as to be air-tight, and forcing the melted metal from air-tight vessels into those exhausted moulds, by the action of compressed air, impelled by air-pumps over the fluid metal. The patentee states that there are many methods of doing this, depending on the nature of the castings and moulds, which cannot be all described; but gives the following example of the mode of applying his plan in casting iron rollers.

The mould is to be inclosed in an air-tight case of cast iron, from the bottom of which a tube of earthen ware (such as is used in making crucibles) is to descend, and from its top a pipe is to pass to an air-pump (which is represented in the drawings of a large size in proportion to the mould), and beneath which is an air-tight vessel, which may be exhausted by it, and whose use is to accelerate the process of exhausting the mould, by previously pumping the air out of it, and opening the communication between it and the mould, which is made by continuing the pipe from the air-pump to it, and having cocks so placed in its passages, that the air may pass from the mould either to the pump or to the vessel, by opening some cocks and shutting others, as the occasion demands. The pan containing the melted metal is placed beneath this mould in an iron chest, with charcoal dust between the two, to retain the heat, and the earthenware tube of the mould passes down into the melted metal, through a circular lid with conical edges, that closes the chest so as to be air-tight, an expanding ring of metal being placed between the two,

to make the junction more perfect; but how it effects this purpose is not sufficiently explained, or the manner in which the lid is pressed down on the top of the chest, though this latter may be more easily conceived; the airpump before-mentioned being constructed so as to act as a forcing pump as well as an exhauster, and a pipe passing from it to the chest that holds the pan of fluid metal, and a cap of metal that will readily melt being put on the end of the earthen tube, and that being passed through the lid of the chest, and its juncture with it, as well as that of the latter, with the chest, being all made air-tight; the earthen tube descending through the melted metal within an inch of the bottom, and the mould being previously exhausted; as soon as the cap is melted of the earthen tube by the red hot fluid metal, this latter will begin to ascend through it into the mould, and at the same time the air-pump, being worked so as to force the air into the, chest that contains the pan of melted metal, its pressure will accelerate the rising of the fluid metal into the mould.

A pipe is represented passing off sideways into the vessel beneath the air-pump already mentioned, from the pipe that goes from the pump to the chest, and a cock with three ways is placed at the joining, so that the passage to the pump, or to the vessel, may be opened from the

chest as desired.

Round the metal case of the mould another external case is exhibited in the figure, with a cock near its bottom, the use of which is to admit cold water round the mould, to cool the casting more rapidly, when it is expedient to case-harden its surface.

The mould is furnished with gudgeons for attaching chains, by which to lift it into its place over the fluid metal by one of the cranes commonly used in founderies; and the pipes have union joints, in the proper places, for connecting them together, to form the communication with the air-pump described, when the mould is lifted into its place by the crane.