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has, however, since been resumed under favorable auspices, and at the present time the Tunnel is about completed.

The average cost of the Thames Tunnel does not exceed £6 3s. 9d. per cubic yard of the ground removed, including the structure, which contains nine hundred and sixty rods of brickwork. The average cost of the drift-way is £16 10s. per cubic yard, with no more than seven rods of brickwork.

Watchmaking in Swtizerland.

The following details are given in an abridged form from a "Report on the Commerce and Manufactures of Switzerland," by Dr. Bowring, recently laid before Parliament. A large portion of the facts were furnished to Dr. Bowring by M. Houriet, an intelligent manufacturer, who, in his communication, dated January, 1836, asks for indulgence on the plea that he is neither "a learned man nor a writer," and yet, says Dr. Bowring, "a more interesting and instructive document has seldom, I believe, been furnished."

One of the largest and most interesting branches of Swiss industry is the watchmaking trade. It is carried on to an immense and still increasing extent in the mountainous districts of Neuchatel, in the French portion of the Canton of Berne, and in the town and neighborhood of Geneva. It has been a source of wealth and comfort to many thousands of the inhabitants, who, in the seldomvisited villages of the Jura, have gathered around them a large portion of the enjoyments of life. Switzerland has long furnished the markets of France; and though the names of certain French watchmakers have obtained a European celebrity, yet Dr. Bowring was informed by M. Arago that an examination into this trade had elicited the fact that not ten watches were made in Paris in the course of a year, the immense consumption of France being furnished from Switzerland, and the Swiss works being only examined and rectified by the French manufacturers. The contraband trade into France was immense, and no custom-house regulations could stop the introduction of articles so costly and so little bulky. They are now admitted into France at six per cent. for gold, and ten per cent. for silver watches, and a considerable quantity pays this moderate duty.

The Jura mountains have been the cradle of much celebrity in the mechanical arts, particularly in those more exquisite productions of which a minute complication is the peculiar character. During the winter, which lasts from six to seven months, the inhabitants are, as it were, imprisoned in their dwellings, and occupied

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in those works which require the utmost development of skilfui ingenuity. Nearly one hundred and twenty thousand watches are produced annually in the elevated regions of Neuchatel.

zerland the most remarkable of the French watchmakers, and among them one who has lately obtained the gold medal at Paris for his beautiful watch-movements, had their birth and education: and a sort of honorable distinction attaches to the watchmaking trade. The horologers consider themselves as belonging to a nobler profession than ordinary mechanics, and do not willingly allow their children to marry into what they consider the inferior classes.

The art or trade of clockmaking was introduced into the mountains of Neuchatel in a manner worthy of notice. As early as the seventeenth century some workmen had constructed clocks witn weights, but no idea had been conceived of making clocks with springs. About the end of that century, an inhabitant of the mountains, returning from a long voyage, brought with him a watch, which was an object previously unknown in the country. It was put into the hands of a skilful workman to be repaired, who succeeded in doing so, and then tried to make a similar article. He succeeded in effecting this also, notwithstanding the difficulties which lay in his way, he having to construct the tools with which he wrought, as well as all the different movements of the watch. His success naturally created a great sensation; other workmen were stimulated to try what they could do, and a new branch of industry sprung up in the mountains of Neuchatel. During the first forty or fifty years a few workmen only were employed in watchmaking; and owing to the numberless difficulties they had to surmount, to the slowness of execution caused by the absence of convenient tools, the want of proper materials, &c., the productions and profits were inconsiderable. They began at length to procure the articles of which they stood in need from Geneva, and afterwards from England; but the high prices which these articles cost induced many of the workmen to attempt to provide them for themselves. They not only thus succeeded in rivalling foreign tools, but they eventually made many superior ones till then unknown. From that period they have constantly invented other instruments in order to facilitate and perfect the art of watchmaking; and at the present moment the manufacture of watchmaking tools and appurtenances is become a branch of industry of so much importance, as to enable the inhabitants to supply them to those countries from whence they formerly imported them.

It is not more than eighty or ninety years since a few merchants began to collect together small parcels of watches, in order to sell

hem in foreign markets. The success which attended these speculations induced and encouraged the population to devote themselves still more to the production of articles of ready sale; so much so, that nearly the entire inhabitants have embraced the watchmaking trade. The population has increased threefold, independently of the great number of workmen who are established in almost all the towns of Europe, in the United States of America, and even in the East Indies and China. From this period a great change has taken place in the country of Neuchatel, where, notwithstanding the barrenness of the soil and the severity of the climate, beautiful and well-built villages are everywhere to be seen, connected by easy communications, together with a very considerable and industrious population, in the enjoyment, if not of great fortunes, at least of a happy and easy independence.

"If our watches," says M. Houriet, "have attained a certain reputation of superiority, it is in a great measure to be attributed to the independence of our workmen, and to the advantage which they have derived from a careful and studied execution of the several articles intrusted to their respective and particular talents. Indeed, on the one hand, each artisan working at home, and for whomsoever pays him the best price, and on the other, the merchant having an interest to encourage by paying the best prices to those who furnish him with the best materials and work, a kind of emulation is naturally excited among the workmen to obtain a preference and an advantage. Perhaps, also, the spirit which is generally diffused among the inhabitants of mountainous countries, added to the habits and customs of our workmen, who are at the same time landed proprietors, has not a little contributed to this development of talent amongst our population. Living simply, and in the bosom of their families, occupied entirely (with the exception of a few slight agricultural cares) in the labors of their art, and not being exposed to those temptations which exist in and corrupt large societies, it is very natural that they should be more assiduous and more desirous of attaining perfection in their art; and the more so still, as they derive a greater benefit from it, their reputation and their interest are equally engaged.

"The present condition of this branch of industry is extremely prosperous, and it is with great difficulty that we can succeed in executing all the orders which we receive.

"As to the probable fate of this trade, it is even permitted to hope, and with much probability, that it is yet susceptible of extension. A watch is no longer, as it was formerly, an object of luxury, destined exclusively for the rich; it has become an article of the first necessity for every class in society: and as, together with the

increased perfection of this article, its value has at the same time considerably diminished, it is evident that a common watch, which will exactly indicate the hour of the day, is actually (by its low price) within the reach of almost every individual, who will likewise feel anxious to possess one. For this reason, and in proportion as commercial and maritime relations are extended and emancipated from the trammels in which the great central marts of commerce have involved them, so will distant nations become civilized; and it may be fairly anticipated that the art of watchmaking will form a part of the great current of improvement.

"The number of watches manufactured annually in this canton (Neuchatel) may be calculated to be from 100,000 to 120,000, of which about 35,000 are in gold, and the rest in silver. Now, supposing the first, on an average, to be worth 150 francs, and the others 20 francs, it would represent a capital of nearly 7,000,000 francs, without taking into consideration the sale of clocks and instruments for watchmaking, the amount of which is very large.

"Not only the whole of the European markets, but also those of the most distant countries, are now opened to our productions. The United States of America consume the largest proportion of our watches. There is, however, a great difference with respect to the degree of facility which is afforded to us by the several nations with whom we deal. In Austria, and in all the countries under her dominion, as well as in Sweden, our clocks and watches are prohibited, and only penetrate by fraud. In England, the duty is twenty-five per cent. for home consumption; and for the colonies, though there is in London a bonding depot, it offers too many disadvantages and impediments to permit us to make use of it: for an article of such careful and delicate construction ought not to be mixed pell-mell with grosser commodities, as it runs too great a risk of being seriously damaged. In Spain, and in most of the Italian States, the duty is equivalent to a prohibition. In France, the duty has recently been reduced sufficiently low to render smuggling unnecessary. In Russia and in the United States, the duty, though high, can still be borne. In Prussia, the duty has always been moderate, and of late years it has been reduced by one-half in favor of our productions. Finally, the States of the German and the Swiss Confederation are the only countries which have been entirely open to this species of commerce; and it has always een easy to forward to Turkey and to the Levant by the free ports of the Mediterranean. We are making arrangements with Russia for an overland trade to China."

With the exception of gold and silver for the manufacture of the watch-cases, the other materials for the construction of the works

or mechanism of the Neuchatel watches are of little value, consisting merely of a little brass and steel. The steel is imported from England, and is reckoned the best that can be procured; the brass, which was formerly brought from Holland, is now furnished by France, the French brass being now considered much superior. With respect to gold and silver, the inhabitants of Neuchatel have no other resource but to melt current money, which induces M. Houriet to suggest that an advantageous commerce might be opened up with such countries as possess the precious metals.

The spirit of adventure is very strong among the industrious inhabitants of the Jura Mountains. A great many of them have travelled into very remote countries, whence some have returned with considerable fortunes. A few years ago a watchmaker of Neuchatel found his way to China, where he amassed a handsome property by importing watches; and he returned home since, accompanied by a young Chinese, whom he caused to be instructed in the trade, and who had sailed for Canton only a few weeks before Dr. Bowring's visit.

Perpetual Motion.

AN able writer in the 'Penny Magazine' has clearly shown the futility of seeking to square the circle, a pursuit in which, he says, persons are still engaged. How many may waste their time on such an object I have no means of knowing; not any considerable number, I should think, as nobody can expect any profit to arise even from success. At all events, such enthusiasts must be few indeed compared with those who are spending their days and nights, and exhausting their means, in the equally vain hope of discovering the perpetual motion. Professional men, employed in preparing patents, could tell of project after project submitted to them by the impatient inventor who is afraid of waiting to perfect his machine, lest his invaluable secret should get abroad, and he should be deprived of the riches which he has all but in his grasp.

Two classes of persons are inveigled into this hopeless quest. the first is the projector, generally a man who can handle tools, and who is gifted with some small power of invention,- -a faculty, as Mr. Babbage justly observes, by no means rare, and of little use unless coupled with some knowledge of what others have done before him. Of the inventions already made,-of the experiments which have been tried and have failed, our projector is usually profoundly ignorant. What are called the laws of machanics, namely, general truths which were established by the observations

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