and Miscellaneous Curiosities deposited in the Australian Museum." It is very handsomely printed "by James Tegg and Co., at the Atlas Office, George-street, Sydney," an offshoot from the wellknown "Thomas Tegg, at the Old Mansion House, Cheapside, London." The collection of natural history appears to be very considerable, as the list of it occupies nearly all the seventy-one rather closely printed pages of which the pamphlet consists. The "miscellaneous curiosities" are chiefly, as might be expected, specimens of the dresses, weapons, and utensils of the natives, presented by Major Mitchel, the able and intelligent colonial surveyor. We are glad to observe, that "the museum is open for the inspection of the public, every Tuesday and Friday, from 11 to 4." In fact, everything about the establishment does honour to all parties concerned, with one slight exception, which we hope to see amended in the next edition of the catalogue. The short "Advertisement" which is prefixed, is drawn up in a style which may, perhaps, pass for grammatical at Sydney, but, most certainly will not in London, though backed by the authority of the "Secretary to the Museum, George Bennet, F.L.S."

Berlin and Potsdam Railway.-The opening of the Berlin and Potsdam Railway took place on the 29th of October. The buildings and carriages were adorned with flags and flowers, and a couple of bands of music added to the gaiety of the scene, one in the train and the other at the "terminus." At twelve o'clock 280 persons started in eleven carriages, drawn by two locomotives. Among the passengers were the Crown Prince and numerous other members of the royal family, with officers of all the government establishments. The train arrived in forty-one minutes at Potsdam; halted to allow the party to take refreshments, and accomplished the return journey in thirty-eight minutes and a half. Everything appears to have gone off well.

Asphaltum Pavement. - The promoters of asphaltic paving on the Continent mention with triumph, that some which has lately been laid down in the "Electorial Street," at Warsaw, has borne with success a trial which must remove all doubt of its stability. A train of carriages lately passed through Warsaw, carrying machinery from the manufactory of Cockerill, at Seraing in Belgium, for the use of a great cotton spinnery, belonging to a Mr. Geier, at Loda. The load carried by some of these carriages was nine tons, their own weight was a ton and a half, and the combined weight of 10 tons, passed over the new asphaltic pavement without occasioning the slightest fracture or other injury. The circumstance is noticeable in itself but its accessories give it additional interest. The "great cotton factory at Loda," beyond Warsaw, and the machinery supplied to it from the workshops of Englishmen settled in Belgium, are striking facts in the history of the "march of manufactures."

March of Illumination.-On the 19th of October the members of the Parisian Academy of Sciences were present at some experiments in a new method of illumination proposed by M. Gaudin, which, it is said, were so completely successful as not only to satisfy but to enrapture the scientific spectators. M. Gaudin's illumination is of three degrees :-The

first is calculated to supplant the use of common gas, supplying a brighter and whiter light;-the second, which is called "star-light," is brighter still, and purposed to be introduced into lighthouses; a focus of the size of a nut gives out a blaze which it requires the aid of green spectacles to survey withont injury. The third, which is called "sun-light," possesses all the brilliancy of the rays of that luminary, and has the same effect in dazzling the eyes. Such is the first account of a discovery which, if what is stated be true, will soon dazzle all Europe.

Substitute for Steam. The Corfu newspaper mentions that on the 23rd of September an important experiment was tried in the harbour of Corfu on a new invention, by a Greek of the name of Mauras. It consists of a machine capable of moving ships without the aid of fire or wind, and without the slightest danger-in fact, a complete substitute for the steam-engine in navigation. Nothing is said of expense, and no further particulars are given-And the curious must therefore ttrust to their old companion, Time, to ascertain the real merit of the invention.

March of Science. The correspondent of a weekly Scientific Periodical, requests to be made acquainted with the best method of softening steel; upon which the editor volunteers a reply, kindly directing him to put it in the fire, make it red-hot, and then lay it on a dry stone to coo!! The same work lately contained a description of an improved oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe, the principal novelty of which consisted in the employment of a condensing syringe with a bell-shaped working barrel! Oh tempora,

oh mores.

P. P.

Kreosote.-This interesting substance was recently discovered by M. Reichenlach, in impure pyroligneous acid; it has been applied with great success, both internally and externally. In tooth-ache, a single drop introduced into the cavity, previously dried with a bit of cotton, will in most cases give immediate relief. The employment of this substance in ring-worm, and similar diseases of the skin has been attended with the most advantageous results, some practitioners considering it a specific. In diabetes, spitting of blood, and catarrhal affections, kréosote has been administered in doses of from two to six drops, three or four times a day, either in solution (two drops being soluble in one ounce of distilled water) or in the form of pills, mixed with liquorice root powder, and mucilage. In affections of the bronchia and lungs, it may be most advantageously applied in the form of vapour; for this purpose pour into an inhaler (capable of containing a quart) a pint and a half of water, at a temperature of 150 degrees, adding to it thirty or forty drops of kréosote: mix by agitation and inhale the vapour through the tube. It may also be usefully employed undiluted, as an application to corns, warts, &c.; but it is highly important that this substance be employed in a pure state, entitely free from certain deleterious principles naturally combined with it in the compounds from which it is obtained. W. B.

The Railway Map of England and Wales continues on sale, in a neat wrapper, price 6d. ; and on fine paper, coloured, price ls.

DESCRIPTIONS OF VARIOUS INVENTIONS BY THE REV. N. S. HEINEKEN.

Sir, I forward you a description and drawings of some contrivances of mine, which are at your service should you think fit to give them a place in the Mechanics' Magazine.

Believe me, Sir,

Respectfully yours,

N. S. HEINEKEN.

Sidmouth, Sept. 20, 1838.

No. 1.-Simple Transit Instrument.

The object of the drawing Fig. 1, is to show the application of the common level, slightly altered, to the purposes of the transit instrument. My aim has been in this contrivance to enable any clock-maker to construct for himself an instrument by which he may ascertain the time for rating his clocks; not indeed with the accuracy attained by the usual transit instrument, but still with far greater accuracy than by the ordinary means of the dial and the meridian line. The instrument may be constructed at a trifling cost, and, as before stated, may be made to serve the purpose of a level (the spirit-level being added) when not in use as a transit.

The instrument is attached to a wall or side of a window, &c., situated as near as may be in the meridian of the place, by means of four screws, K K K, fig. 1, passing through the larger plate. A second plate, having four adjusting screws and a stem, and containing the axis to which the frame of the telescope is fixed, is connected with the first plate by means of a simple loop of metal, a, fig 2, or a ball and socket, or Hook's joint. When the instrument is attached to the wall, the two adjusting screws, AA, are placed vertically by means of a fine plumb-line, and dots marked in their centres. The axis of the telescope (represented by dotted lines in fig. 2) is levelled by these two screws, the adjustment being made by means of a star or other object seen by direct vision and by reflection as usual. The two other screws, B B, serve to place the telescope in the meridian. The telescope is placed at right angles to

the axis by means of a fine plumb-line, suspended from the groove in the screw H, and passing over a corresponding groove in I, and this adjustment is made by the screws cc, the telescope being of course placed vertically, and the indications of the plumb-line observed during a revolution in the conical collars of the telescope frame. If required, of course the usual plumb-line apparatus could be attached. The revolution of the telescope in the collars furnishes the means of making the collimation adjustment, the wire plate being moveable for this purpose; it also allows of reversion during an observation; one of the conical rings turning in the collars is fixed to the tube, the other is moveable, and can be clamped by a screw, E. This moveable ring has upon it two marks at exactly opposite points, F F; a mark, f, is also made upon the frame in which the ring turns. When, therefore, the hairs have been made vertical, the mark F upon the ring is brought to coincide with f on the frame, and the ring then fixed by its screw E. The hairs will, therefore, be vertical when the second F is brought into the same position by a revolution of the telescope. The screws D D serve to clamp the telescope. The axis being conical (see fig. 2) can be tightened at any time by the insertion of a turn-key under the telescope, without altering the previous adjustments, and a divided circle might be attached to the stem Q, if required, for placing the telescope at any angle of elevation; or a common quadrant applied to the telescope for ordinary purposes. The construction of the telescope is of course the same as in other instruments in which cross hairs are employed. And in conclusion I may observe that every direction for placing a transit instrument in the meridian, will be found in the 2nd edition of Mr. Sims's admirable treatise on surveying instruments. I may state, also, that I have for some time used a telescope merely fixed to the frame c c (without the contrivance of the collars, &c.), for ascertaining the rate of watches, by the passage of the fixed stars across the wires, when I did not require the true time.

99

The sketch fig. 3 is the representation of a contrivance to enable a draughtsman to rule any number of equi-distant parallel lines, which are frequently required in mechanical and other drawings. It consists merely in the addition to the common parallel rule of an adjusting screw for limiting the distance between the lines, and a socket for holding the pen or pencil so as to enable the draughtsman to rule with greater accuracy than by hand alone. The rule, however, can be used with or without either of the additions, by withdrawing the adjusting screw, &c. The addition is made to the most common parallel rule, and also in the simplest way, so that the artist or engraver may be enabled to make it himself. For more accurate purposes the treble parallel rule would be preferable, and the socket containing the pencil, &c. should slide upon a raised plate of metal fixed along the edge of the rule, and perpendicular to its face; or the usual dividing point and frame might be adopted for short lines. It is evident that by having the edge of the rule indented, waving lines might be drawn.

Mode of using the Rule.-The method of using the instrument is to withdraw the adjusting screw, so that the rule shall open the required distance, press

the lower half of the rule firmly to the paper with two of the fingers, and the upper with the other fingers, apply the socket containing the pencil to the edge of the rule, elevate, or depress the pencil by means of the point at C till it touches the paper, and draw a line. Now, with the two fore-fingers slide the upper half of the rule on the paper till stopped by the screw, the other half being held down firmly by the other fingers, and repeat the process for the lower half till this is stopped by the upper, then draw a second line, and so on. If it be required to draw lines upon a copper plate, as in etching, it will be necessary to allow the rule to rest upon borders of card-board, or the like, elevated a little above the plate, both to prevent the rule from slipping and from injuring the plate.

The adjusting screw is tapped only into the pillar A, the other half of the screw is left plain and slides through B. The pillars are fixed into the rule by nuts counter-sunk in the under side of the rule, but not so tightly as to prevent the pillars from turning a little, in order that they may accommodate themselves to the different distances to which the blades of the rule may be opened.

B

C

B

B T

Fig. 5.

The objections to this simple micrometer have been that it has not been easily applicable to the reflecting telescope, as in consequence of the eye-piece being made in one tube, there has been no means of changing the position of the micrometer; and also that the divisions of the micrometer, in its ordinary form, are distorted by the eye-glass. I have endeavoured to remove these objections thus ;-I have racked the tube which carries the diaphragm of the eyepiece, and applied an endless screw. By this means I can place the micrometer in any required position. The second defect I have sought to lessen by giving to the pearl slip a curvature, whose radius is the focal distance of the eye-glass. The plate carrying the pearl slip is attached to the diaphragm tube

Fig. 4.

by two long screws, and by removing this plate, a circular pearl micrometer, or a plain diaphragm, may be substituted. Thus the same eye-piece becomes available for several purposes.

Fig. 4 represents the eye-piece. The endless screw is contained in the box A, and the dotted lines show the racking of the diaphragm tube, and the micrometer secured to its plate and curved by the two screws B B.

Fig. 5 represents the pearl slip, and its plate, removed from the eye-piece. B B are the two flat-headed screws which confine and give the requisite curvature to the micrometer; a a the two holes for the insertion of screws for the purpose of attaching it to the diaphragm tube.

III

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