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"The regular and constant supply of the fuel, will be as follows: On the wheel Q being moved round by hand, engine, or otherways, the end of P becomes elevated, until at the next notch, it suddenly falls, and throws a small quantity of fuel upon the top of the shelf K, the wheel continuing to move round, forces the lever U back, and with it, the sliding rail and shelf K, which compresses the spring G, and the coals or fuel falls upon the bed plate E, which soon becomes heated from the construction of the furnace; and when the notch of the wheel arrives at V, the springs are suddenly greased, and the fuel is thrown upon the fire in a flaming state, and that without ever opening the door, so that by varying the velocity of the motion, and the power of the springs, any quantity of coals may be equally distributed over the largest fire, the smoke thus entirely consumed, and a considerable saving of fuel effected; while the fire may be urged to any extent by the operation of the air valves at X. Dr. Black, in his lectures on fossil coal, has fully pointed out the necessity of better contrived furnaces, and of supplying them more constantly, but with less fuel at once, to whose able remarks, I am indebted for inventing the machine before described.

"The construction of this furnace is equally applicable to all kinds of large fires and furnaces, for whatever purposes they may be intended, as for steam engines, breweries, distilleries, rectifiers, soap boilers, tallow melters, sugar bakers, salt refiners, dye houses, glass houses, potteries, air furnaces, and all others, which consume much fuel: and the construction of the chimnies alone, are equally applicable to smaller fires, as bakers' ovens, japanners' stoves, coakels, air and hot house stoves, and the grates of private and public buildings.

"The last application of this invention having been fully tried, and highly approved, by all who have entered into the merits of it, and as it forms a very leading feature in our domestic health and comfort, it may possibly be worthy of a separate paper, particularly when it is stated, that the fire grates and chimnies being so altered, the largest room can be warmed from 55 to 80 degrees, without smoke, dust, or coal drafts, by the radiant heat of an open fire, and with a considerable saving in fuel. I remain, Sir,

your very obliged servant,

Charles-street, Grosvenor-square,

May 28, 1817.

Jos. GREGSON."

'Art. 6.---An Account of some Experiments on the Escape of Gases through Capillary Tubes.---By Mr. Faraday, Assistant in the Laboratory of the Royal Institution.'---These experiments are as yet imperfect: so far as they are detailed, they tend to show that the mobility of gases decrease as their specific gravities increase, when exposed to a high pressure. But it does not appear that the same law obtains at all pressures.

Art. 7.---Note respecting Elimination.---By Charles Babbage, Esq., A.M. F.R.S.'---This does not admit of abbreviation.

Art. 8.---Sketch of an Introductory Lecture to a Course of mineralogical and analytical Chemistry, delivered in the Royal Institution of Great Britain.---By W. T. Brande, Sec. R. S., Prof. Chem. R.I., &c.' ---This appears to be Mr. Brande's introductory lecture to his course of mineralogy. What that course is, we cannot know here; but if we are to judge of it from his Outlines of Geology, lately published, and from the meagre face set before us, in the present introductory discourse, we shall not be able to speak of it in very high terms. We mean in our next number to give a review of Mr. Brande's late treatise on the subject.

'Art. 9.---On the Cause of the Diminution of the Temperature of the Sea on approaching Land, or in passing over Banks in the Ocean. ---By Sir H. Davy.'---Somewhere about the year 1779, colonel Jonathan Williams, lately deceased, discovered that the temperature of the sea varied greatly according to its depth, and that it was colder in shallow than in deep water. The experiments on which this opinion was founded, were published by colonel, then Mr. Williams, in a small tract entitled Thermometrical Navigation, 1779. Nothing appears to have been done on the subject since that time, unless perhaps it may be mentioned; that the present judge Cooper, and Mr. Joseph Priestley, instituted a series of similar experiments in a voyage from Liverpool to Philadelphia, in the year 1793, whose notes, daily registered, may be found deposited in the library of the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia. The cause was ascribed to the earth being a much better conductor of heat than water, and of course the temperature of the water would be lower within the reach of the earth's action in this respect.

Baron Humboldt and Mr. Davy, brother to sir Humphrey Davy, seem to have noticed this general law, which sir Humphrey Davy in this paper attempts to explain, by the descent of the cooled strata of water. The mode of explanation is not given very clearly in the paper before us, nor does it seem to possess any superiority over the common cause assigned.

Sir H. Davy says that ice can never form at the bottom of the ocean, when the temperature of the water is above 40°, and that, as count Rumford has shown, ice always forms first at the surface. Now this is directly contrary to the common experience of the watermen who ply on the Thames, and who can feel ice with their poles at the bottom, when none can be observed on the top of the water. The common reason assigned for the phenomenon in question appears, to us, unshaken by any thing advanced in this obscure paper of sir H. Davy's.

'Art. 10.-New Neapolitan Botanical Works."

'Art. 11.---Proceedings of the Royal Society of London.'---This paper gives a brief account of a new thermometer, constructed by the Rev. Mr. Wollaston, for measuring the height of mountains: an

account of an electrical increase: a paper by sir Ev. Home, on the passage of the ovum from the ovarium into the uterus: a further account of the colchicum autumnale, or meadow saffron, as a cure for the gout, wherein its violent action is ascribed to some acrid matter that spontaneously deposits from the vinous solution: a paper by Mr. Knight, on the expansion and contraction of timber trees: a paper on chronic lameness in horses: a paper by sir H. Davy, on the temperature of the ocean, already noticed.

Art. 12.---Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.'---An account of a paper by Mr. Campbell, on the Theory of Vision: by Mr. Murray, containing an improvement on Mr. Brooke's blow pipe, so as to prevent explosion; not a word of Mr. Hare or Mr. Cloud. A paper by Dr. Brewster, on some new properties of light and crystallised bodies. On the Stromnessite (a compound of sulphat of baryta, and carbonat of strontia) by Dr. Trail, of Liverpool. An improvement on the new blow pipe, by Dr. Hope. A mode of stopping bottles, by Dr. Dewar, by the well known method of water locking the cover of the bottle, either by water, or oil, or mercury. On the tides in the river Dee, where the salt water insinuates itself under the fresh water, which, however, is not the case in the Thames. A paper on the Agamemnon of Eschylus.

Art. 13.---Miscellanea.'---On the iodic, and muriatic acids: on Cheltenham waters: on building materials: annales maritimes et coloniales. Notice of Mr. Cockerell's tour, and return from Greece. Description of a lactometer, to ascertain the quantity of cream afforded by different modes of feeding. On cleaning chimnies.

• Art. 14.---Analytical Review of the Scientific Journals published on the Continent.'---Observations on thunder storms, by Volta: a circular table of chemical equivalents: on the prehnite of Tuscany, by professor Brocchi: a description of two barometers, by the deceased Landriani: on the vibration of elastic fibre: letter from Van Mons to Brugnatelli, on phosphoric æther; on the metallization of the earths (which we doubt) by marquis Ridolphi: on the medical vir. tues of chlorine, by professor Brugnatelli; particularly in hydrophobia, to which we ascribe no credit: experiments on transplantation, by Carradin, who advises never to prune the roots, to sup ply them with water, and keep them for some time from the light of the sun: observations on volatile bodies, so called, by Hermbstaed; · on the alps of the Cadore: on the efficacy of supertartrat of potash in the scald head, given internally; on the mineralogy of Sicily: on the diamond, by Dr. Bossi: on Wolfe's apparatus, by Landriani; we are promised a translation of this paper, which will enable us to compare it with Mr. W. Hembell's method: on the cure of aneurism: on opium: new books in Italy.

On the magnetic property of the violet ray, by Ridolphi: on vegetation in North Holland: distribution of the animal kingdom, by Cuvier; a translation promised: on the medical treatment of unwholesome trades, by Dr. Gosse: on some phenomena of floating

VOL. X.

39

306

Analytical Notice of the Journal of Science and the Arts.

bodies, by M. Lepot: an astronomical paper by Piozzi: on the volume and tension of steam in pure and mixed gases: on vegetation in Holland: on the naptha of Amiano, by Theod. Saussure; it contains carbon 87.6, hydrog. 12.78, while olefiant gas contains of carbon 85.03, hydrog. 14.97: a letter on an aurora borealis: observations on the comet of 1811, by M. Schroeter: on the way in which light is emitted so as to produce sensations of colour, by B. Prevost: on the specific gravity of different elastic fluids, deduced from stachiometric calculations.

TABLE

Of the specific gravities of elastic fluids drawn up from stocchiometric

calculations.

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On the gas lights of London: on agriculture, by M. Peschier: on the oil of grain, by Schrader: roses, by J. Redouté; this is a companion to the liliaceous tribe described by this admirable botanist: on the Rumford soup shops, by De Roches: biographical notice of professor Odier.

Art. 15.--- Meteorological Diary,'

ART. III-1. Conspiracy of Arnold and Sir Henry Clinton against the United States and against general Washington. By M. Barbe de Marbois. Translated from the French and inserted in the second volume of the American Register, pp. 63.

2. Vindication of the Captors of Major Andre. New-York, published by Kirk & Mercein, 1817. pp. 99.

THE

HE history of our Revolutionary contest were it all a fiction might form the plan and outline of a most noble epic poem. It abounds in fine examples of the moral sublime, in traits of heroic self devotion, in strongly marked diversity of character and extreme vicissitudes of fortune, as wonderful and interesting as the most ardent admirer of romance could desire.

We are yet perhaps too near in point of time to the season of those events to feel sensibly the truth of this observation. The play of imagination is restrained by the closeness of the view and the swell of sentiment is repressed by the accuracy of our acquaintance with the least interesting realities. The great men of antiquity are known to us only in their days of glory. We take leave of the heroes of the Iliad while they still glitter in the panoply of war with all their noble qualities fresh and undiminished, the Greeks flushed with victory, and the Trojans celebrating the funeral rites of Hector; our last do not therefore sully our earlier impressions; we do not follow them into retirement, see the splendid shield exchanged for the herdsman's goad, and the youthful warrior dwindle in age to the feeble rustic. But the Diomedes and Sarpedons of our history remain within our view until the streams of dotage flow from their eyes and the weakness of second childhood succeeds to the firmness of early manhood. Posterity will see better because they will not see so much, and will wonder at the coldness and indifference with which we regard the Revolution independent of its consequences. Nor were incidents wanting suitable to form beautiful and affecting episodes, among which, perhaps, the story of Arnold's treason and major Andre's death has excited the strongest and most general feeling of interest. The unhappy fate of Andre deplored alike by friends and enemies has been the cause of many a tear and the theme of many a song, and the incorruptible integrity of his captors, as a characteristic of the yeomanry of the country has irresistible claims upon our frequent and fond recollection; claims which will we trust acquire new force by the ultimate effect of the late attack upon them which a highly respectable gentleman in Congress unfortunately thought it his duty to make.

We are therefore under great obligations to the learned and accomplished editor of the American Register for his excellent

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