but, in point of fact, not more than about half of the English publications of late years will be found there, if so many. A few prosecutions of the publishers would soon produce a change in this; and as, however much they complain of the demands of other institutions, authors never complain of that of one copy to the Museum: this course might be adopted without objection, due notice having been previously given in the newspapers of an intention to insist for the future on the full advantages of this valuable privilege. Still another method would be requisite to ensure a good supply of a third branch of literature-the colonial. Such is the irregular apathy manifested towards this, that I once searched the catalogue of the Museum in vain for the New South Wales Magazine, which, though published at Sydney, is regularly transmitted to an agent in London. Of course it was useless to expect to find there the interesting periodical publications which have been lately edited in the English language in India by young Hindoos, who have caught from their foreign rulers the wish to excel in science and literature; and yet what works could be named more worthy of a place in the national establishment of England? An order from the Lords of the Treasury for the careful preservation of files of domestic newspapers to be transmitted to the Museum, was deservedly a theme for the commendation of the press about two years ago. A similar one to some of our numerous colonial officials to preserve and transmit us sets of colonial newspapers, magazines, and reviews, would do more than any thing else to throw a steady light on the history of the colonies -and as the publications, not periodical, are there so few, a copy of them might be ordered to be procured at the Government expense for the same purpose. This, I will venture to say, would, if carefully attended to, form in a few years one of the most valuable and interesting, as well as one of the most truly British parts of the Museum. One other suggestion, and I have done for the present. It is this:-on the inside of the binding, or on the fly-leaf of every book in the Museum, without exception, should be recorded the date of the establishments becoming possessed of it, and the mode. The books presented by Sir Joseph Banks invariably have his name and coat-of-arms pasted in, and this at once reminds every reader to whom he is indebted for the pleasure he is deriving. A sentiment of grateful respect is thus excited, which is a deserved tribute to the public spirit of the donor. But with most of the other books this is not the case; and I almost felt as if I had defrauded some one of his just rights, when, after luxuriating for more than a year on the rich collection of books on Polish subjects added in 1833 to the Museum, I then first discovered that the whole had been presented by the till then unthought of Prince Czartoryski, who, driven from his own country to take refuge in ours, thus generously contributed to the literary glory of both. donors, the insertion of the name is due from a principle of gratitude, and would be good policy also, as it would most probably induce them not to insist, as they sometimes do, on the embarrassing compliment of keeping their libraries separate in the midst of a larger one. Even in cases where the book was not given, but bought at a sale, it would often be interesting to know to what person it be longed, and the addition of the dates would give an interesting view of the progress of the library. I do not know that this plan has ever been adopted any where, but it might, I think, be adopted with advantage every where. With edge, and are thus made :-An inch bar of fine Swedish or English steel is forged out into plates seven inches long, one inch broad, and one-sixth of an inch thick. Similar bars of fine, soft iron are prepared in the same manner. These are smeared with a paste of borax dissolved in water, and laid in piles of twelve-nine of steel to three of iron, or three to one, alternately: each pile is wrapped round with rag thickly plastered with mud made of a loamy earth; then heated, welded, and drawn out to a bar one inch and one-eighth broad, and one-third of an inch thick: this is bent zig-zag three or four times is again welded and drawn out to half an inch thick; and, during the heat, borax is frequently dropped on the metal while in the fire. Two of these bars are next welded into one, and, when about twelve or fourteen inches long, it is bent into the form of a loop or staple; in the middle of this a piece of fine-grained file is inserted, of the same width, and nearly as thick all is then welded together, and the blade is formed. : Tempering. An earthen pot, twelve inches wide and six deep, is notched on the edges (the notches being opposite each other) with a file, about a quarter of an inch deep, and is then filled nearly up to the notches with water, and oil is then poured on the surface. The blade, being heated equally to a light red, is removed from the fire, and the point, entered into the notch on one edge, is passed to the opposite one, keeping the edge from a quarter to half an inch in the oil it is drawn backwards and forwards rather slowly till the hissing ceases, and the rest of the blade above the fluid has become black; a jug of water without oil is then poured along the blade from heel to point. In order to take out the warp produced by tempering, the blade, when nearly cold, is passed over the fire three or four times; then being brought to the anvil, is set straight by striking it regularly, but moderately, with a hammer; by this means a Damascus-curved blade may be brought nearly straight. Blades made this way, in my brother's presence, when he was President of the Regency in Cutch, were proved, previous to grinding, by striking at stones, ramrods, musket-barrels, and even wheel-tires, without injury to the edge.-Trans. Soc. of Arts. - HUNTER'S STONE-PLANING MACHINE. At a late meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the merits of the patent stone-planing machine formed the subject of conversation. Drawings of the machine, and several specimens of the planed stone, being laid upon the table, Mr. Lindsay Carnegie explained its mode of operation, and made several statements as to its actual performances. The principal objection to all former machines for a similar purpose-the immense friction and consequent destruction of tools-seems to have been com pletely obviated in this instance, as Mr. Carnegie stated, that "the wear of tools was so trifling, that it was scarcely worth noticing in calculating the expense of working the machine:" this arose, he said, from the peculiar mode of working, -the tool not coming in contact with the stone more than four times in a foot, and thus not being heated by friction, it does not lose its original tempering. At a subsequent meeting of the Institution, the subject was resumed, when Mr. Cubitt, the eminent engineer, said he had occasion to be in Scotland a short time since, and having heard much of Mr. Lindsay Carnegie's machine and its operations, he sent three slabs of stone -two slabs of very hard slate stone, and one slab of hard Yorkshire-that he might see them planed in order to speak to its effect. These slabs were each three feet long and fourteen inches wide. They were put upon the planing machine, and the roughing tool passed over each of them in three minutes, and the smoothing tool in four minutes; it planed them very well. His opinion of Mr. Lindsay Carnegie's machine was decidedly favourable. He thought it not particularly useful in dressing stone for building purposes, but more adapted for slates, pavements, and landings, which it planes admirably. He thought all slab work might be planed by it at a farthing, or from that to a halfpenny, per square foot. The immense saving which will be effected by the use of this machine in London may be imagined from a statement made by a member, that he had just before been charged ninepence per foot for smoothing a stone seven feet by four and a half. According to Mr. Cubitt's statement, the maximum cost by the machine would have been one halfpenny! tained. The lamp consists of an argand burner placed in the focus of a large speculum of a peculiar form, by which the whole light is distributed just on the space where it is required; it is computed that the light on the above space is equal to that of twenty-five or thirty similar burners in comwould be useful for other purposes: it appears to us that the largest assembly room might be brilliantly lighted by one placed at each end of the room, and one would be sufficient to light the stage theatre, The of this one is said to be We understand that a working model of the machine has been placed in the Adelaide Gallery for the purpose of exemplifying its mode of workingwhich it does as well as can be ex-mon lamps. A lamp of this kind we have no doubt pected, when it is considered that the moving part of the model does not weigh above a hundred weight, while the same part in the machine itself weighs about two tons. From this model, however, in connexion with the description given in our 636th Number, any person interested may fully understand the whole modus operandi of this important inven tion. NOTES AND NOTICES. Economy in Linen-Washing.-A correspondent of a Dundee paper writes as follows:-"After many experiments made by myself and others, I tind that a little pipe-clay dissolved among the water employed in washing, gives the dirtiest linen the appearance of having been bleached, and cleans it thoroughly with about one-half of the labour, and ully a saving of one-fourth of soap. The method adopted was, to dissolve a little of the pipeclay among the warm water in the washing-tub, or to rub a little of it together with the soap on the articles to be washed. This process was repeated as often as required until the articles to be washed were made thoroughly clean. All who have made the experiment have agreed that the saving in soap and labour are great. and that the e'othes are improved in colour equally as if they were bleached. The peculiar advantage of employing this article is, that it gives the hardest water almost the softness of rain-water. Purification of Coal-gas.-Mr. H. Phillips, su perintending engineer of the Exeter Gas works, has discovered the means of arresting the volatile alkali, to which, from its known corrosive property, when in contact with copper or brass, is to be attributed the destruction of cocks, fittings, and meters; and as azote (one of the constituents of ammonia) is highly injurious to respiration, that peculia ly pungent and obnoxious quality of the air in rooms in which gas is burnt for a long portion of the night, is probably augmented, if not produced by it, from the circumstance of the ammonia not being previously separated: azote is alike injurious to combustion;-by employing two burners of the same size, and supplying one with gas from which the ammonia has been removed, and the other with gas from which the ammonia has not been removed, the superiority of the light produced by the one over that produced by the other will be clearly apparent. Mr. Phillips has taken out a patent for his discovery.-Worcester Journal. Preserving Paste.-Paste made by putting acetate. or sugar of lead, into it, in-tead of the old way of mixing it with alum, keeps it from moulding, and quite moist for months together.New Monthly Magazine. 1 New Lamp.-A lamp of a new construction, which describes a circle of light of about thirty feet in diameter of the apparent intensity of sunshine, showing the objects within its sphere as distinctly as those on the table of a camera obscura, has been erected at the head of the inclined plane in St. Leonard's depôt. Its object is to enable the engine-men to have a distinct view of the inclined -ropes during the night, and this has been fully at about 2004., but we understand it saves an annual expense of about half that sum. The inventor is a Mr. Rankin, and he names it the Conoidal lamp -probably because the light is thrown from it in the form of a cone.-Caledonian Mercury. New Liquor-Gauge.-A gauge, upon a very simple and excellent principle, which has just been introduced in the new gin palaces, has been invented by Mr. Fage, the hydrometer manufacturer, to show the quantity of liquor, in inches, contained in a cask or vat at any time. The gauge is a vertical glass tube of the same altitude as the cask or vat, and about the size of a large barometer tube, open at both ends. The lower end is securely let into a brass tube about six inches long, at right angles, with a valve, or stop-cock; this tube is fixed into the lower part of the side of the cask, as near the bot'om as can be, similar to a cock. The glass tube is attached to a brass index about two inches wide, and of the same height as the glass tube, which is divided into inches; and the number of inches is engraved in figures, reading from the bottom to the top. It is evident, when the valve at the foot of the glass tube is open, the liquor in the vat or cask will rise to the same height in the tube as it is in the vat; and, by means of the brass index, that it will show the number of inches of liquor in depth there are in the vat or cask. It saves considerable labour and trouble to the Excise officers; as, by ealculating the quantity there is in each inch in depth in the cask when the gauge is first fixed, they can make their entries without the trouble of the gauging-rule.-Architectural Mag. Communications received from Mr Mackintosh -Mr. Elliott-Iver M'Iver-G P.-A Constant Reader- Mathematicus-W. W. G.-Mr. Barrett. 82 REPORT OF EXPERIMENTS ON THE EXPLOSIONS OF STEAM-BOILERS. REPORT OF EXPERIMENTS MADE BY THE General Description of the Apparatus. The boiler used by the Committee, and represented in figs. 1, 2, and 3,* was twelve inches in interior diameter, two feet ten and REQUEST OF THE TREASURY, DEPART a quarter inches in length within, and one MENT OF THE UNITED STATES. (From the Journal of the Franklin Institute.) The Committee of the Franklin Institute on the Explosions of Steam-Boilers, respectfully present to the Secretary of the Treasury, their Report of the experiments undertaken at the request of the department. The queries which were submitted by the Committee to the officer at whose request the experiments were instituted, have formed the basis of the labours of the Committee. They have, however, availed themselves of the privilege accorded, of trying such other experiments as might grow out of the investigation, or as they might deem of special interest. The object of the experiments was to test the truth or falsity of the various causes assigned for the explosions of steam-boilers, with a view to the remedies either proposed, or which may be consequent upon the result of the investigation. The causes being accurately known, the attention of ingenious men is led away from false suppositions, which can only waste their time and talent, if taken as the basis of their plans for safety; greater hope is afforded of an efficient remedy; ap. plications of an indirect, or it may be of a positively injurious sort are avoided; and if the causes be found to be such as, for the present, to baffle ingenuity in their removal, the attention is directed more fixedly towards the means of protection against the effects of such accidents. The Committee hope that the results of their inquiries will not be found without fruit. It was the aim of the Committee to provide for the experiments an apparatus of such dimensions as to furnish results applicable to practice, without being so great as to be managed with difficulty, or to increase, unnecessarily, the danger incident to parts of the investigation. To arrange the apparatus and complete the details, they secured the services of an able and experienced mechanic, David H. Mason, by whom, or under whose direction, the nicer parts of the work were executed, and who assisted, also, in the experiments. The Committee propose, first, to give a general description of the apparatus used, followed by details in the more complex parts next, to report the results of their examination upon each of the questions proposed for investigation. The Hon. S D. Ingham late Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. fourth of an inch thick; of rolled iron, with the heads rivetted in the usual manner. Fig. 1 is a side-view, and 2 and 3 are endviews of the boiler, and of the apparatus connected therewith. The boiler was placed horizontally in a furnace, the fire surface extending about half way round the cylinder. The The furnace was arranged for a charcoal fire, the grate bars extending the whole length of the boiler, and the fire being applied through nearly the whole: length. draught entered by an opening, closed in the usual manner, and left the furnace through a flue placed at one end and side of the boiler. It will be convenient to use the terms fireend or front of the boiler, in reference to the proximity to the furnace-door, and back-end door, B. the furnace-door; and in 1 and 3, of the boiler, In fig. 2, A is the ash-pit C'is the furnace chimney. In order to examine, readily, the interior of the boiler during the progress of the experiments, each head was provided with a glass window (D; figs. 2 and 3), The glass used was three-eighths of an inch thick. The openings in the ends, which were rectangular, were two and a half by one and three quarter inches wide. At first a glass plate, rather larger than the rectangle just mentioned, was applied to the opening, and kept in its place by four strips of brass secured to the heads, on which a rectangular frame, having the surface next to the glass accurately ground, was secured; the pressure of the steam keeping the glass against this frame, closed the boiler. Fractures occurring frequently from the rapidly varying, and often considerable, pressures within the boiler, and taking place by pressing the middle part outwards, as was proved by examin ing the fractures, frames with cross bars, see figs. 2 and 3, having the interior surface carefully ground, were used. The difficulty of properly adapting the surface of these frames to the glass having been removed, they were used in the later experiments, and were found to afford a sufficiently good view of the interior of the boiler, notwithstanding the obstruction by the cross bars. Three gauge cocks were placed in the front head of the boiler; their positions will be particularly stated hereafter; they are shown in figs. 1 and 2, at a, b. and c. To the same head, and by the side of the gauge-cocks, a glass water-gauge (w, x, figs. The end-views will be given in our succeeding Number. |