the number of fixed arms in the wheel will have to be so increased in dimensions, as to equal the quantity contained in the wheel, as those which move on centres can only be considered as trusses.

The moveable arms of the wheel will require to be strengthened by cross braces, in order to resist any strain opposed to them sideways, and the centre bosses will also require to be of greater diameter than usual, especially at those parts where the arms move. Therefore, taking all things into consideration, I am of opinion that the additional weight, which will be required to make the wheels of sufficient strength, as proposed by Mr. Cunningham, will require the same length of time to connect and disconnect, as would be found requisite in the ordinary way, when taking off a sufficient number of paddleboards. The latter has been effected, when the hook-bolts have been properly attended to, in the short space of from thirty to fortyfive minutes.

Under all these considerations, I think the proposition before stated will fall short of the means already in general use, and will be of no benefit either as regards time or other matters connected.

I am, Sir,

Your very obedient and humble servant, JOHN KINGSTON.

Captain Warren, C.B., Superintendent.

IMPROVEMENT ON SIDE BELL-LEVERS. Sir,-A short time since I was requested by a paper-hanger to repair some bells which he had put out of order.

On examining the "levers," I found that he had forced some of them off from the wall, in order to lay the paper, and others had been drawn off from the spindle, the chain being nearly twisted from the barrel. In order, therefore, to enable paper-hangers to work without injuring the bell-hanging_machinery, I would suggest that the lever should be a separate piece from the chain-barrel, and made to take off and on by a small screw in front; the bellhanger could thus take away the lever from the chain-barrel, until the paper is hung, when the lever might be replaced, and without putting the bells out of order. Requesting you will give this suggestion publicity,

I have the honour to remain, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
ISAAC BRIDGES,
Bell-hanger.

Waterloo-street, St. Hilliers, Jersey,

May 11, 1835,

First, you must prepare two glasses, the fashion whereof let be like unto the figures marked with the letters A B and CD. The glasse C D is open at both the ends; also in the middle there is a neck coming up of sufficient wideness to receive the shank-end of the glasse A B. Then fill the glasse CD a third part with either of the waters, and divide the glasse into so many equal parts as you would have degrees; rarifie the ayre in the head of the glasse A B by holding it to the fire, which being yet warme reverse the shank of it into the glasse CD. Note, that if the water do not ascend high enough, you must take the glasse A B out againe, and heat it hotter; if it ascend too high, heat it not so hot. If it be in the dog dayes, and extreme heat of summer, 1 and 2 are good degrees; if the weather be most temperate, then 3 and 4 are best; if a frost, 9 or 10. When you have hit an indif. ferent degree, lute the joynts very close, and fasten a ribben unto the top of the glasse to hang it by. In this glasse the water will with cold ascend the glasse A B; with heat it will descend the glasse A B, and ascend the hornes of the glasse C D.

Communicated by Mr, J. White, of Wells.

Let there bee a vessell of copper, about the bignesse of a common football, as A. Let it have a long pipe at the top as B, which must be made so that you may upon occasion screw on lesser or bigger vents made for the pur pose. Fill this one-third part with water, and set it over a furnace of coals, as F G H I, and when the water beginneth to heat, there will come a strong breath out of the nose of the vessell, that will force the flame of a lampe placed at a convenient distance as K. If you hold your glasse in the extension of the flame, it will melt suddenly, so you may work what you will thereof.

The Description of an Engine to force Water up to a High Place, very usefull for to quench Fire amongst Buildings.

Let there be a brasse barrell provided, having two succurs at the bottom of it; let it also have a good large pipe going up one side of it, with a succur nigh unto the top of it, and above the succur a hollow round ball, having a pipe at the top of it, to screw another upon it, to direct the water to any place. Then

fit a forcer unto the barrell, with a handle fastened unto the top. At the upper end of the forcer drive a strong screw, and at the lower end a screwnut. At the bottom of the barrell fasten a screw, and at the barre that goeth crosse the top of the barrell let there be another screw-nut. Put them all in order, and fasten the whole to a good strong frame that it may be steddy, and it is done. When you use it, either place it in the water, or over a kennel, and drive the water up to it, and by moving the handle to and fro it will cast the water with mighty force up to any place you direct it.

How a Man may walk safely upon a high Scaffold, or piece of Timber, without danger of falling.

This is easily performed by wearing a pair of spectacles, whose sights must be made so gross as that he which weareth them may not discern any thing a farr off, but at hand onely. For it is the sight only of the steepnesse of the place, that bringeth the fear and overturneth the brain. By this means, I have heard, that the English man, which displayed an ancient upon a scaffold near the top of the pinacle of Paul's steeple, did help himself in his desperateattempt.

To whiten Copper.

Take a thin plate of copper, heat it red-hot divers times, and extinguish it in common oil of tartar, and it will be white.

To soften Iron.

Take of allum, sal-amoniacke, tartar a like quantitie of either, put them into good vinegar, and set them on the fire. Heat your iron, and quench it therein.

66

We entirely agree with our worthy correspondent, Mr. Henry Watson (see Mech. Mag. page 56, of the present volume), that we"-our friends the mechanics, and, alas! ourselves also-" who are in populous cities pent,' should be induced to devote some portion of our time to the simple operations of horticulture." Through the kindness of Messrs. Loddiges-a kindness which they extend to all respectable persons-we have recently indulged ourselves in a visit to their splendid establishment at Hackney, -an intellectual as well as a physical gratification of no mean order. We did intend to say something, as from ourselves, on this refreshing subject; but we have found, suited to our hand, a very interesting paper, contributed by another esteemed correspondent of ours, Mr. Archibald Rosser, some years ago, to the London Museum, a periodical projected by Mr. John Valpy, the wellknown classical printer. As that publi. cation has long ceased to exist, and as its circulation was very limited, we do not scruple to present this paper as new matter, in the hope of stimulating some of our 66 pent up" friends to relax themselves with the innocent and healthy occupation of gardening.

There is a degree of enthusiasm in some minds, that gives an exquisite zest to the enjoyment of intellectual pleasures arising out of the contemplation of the works of nature, or the most important achievements of human power. This extreme sensibility, no doubt, renders the woes of life more afflicting to those who bear it about them, than they would be to others who possess it not; but at the same time is productive of the highest mental gratifications. I must ever re

member the first time I stept on the terrace at Richmond Hill. All circumstances conspired to make that wellknown landscape, which at once burst on the eye from the eminence, most delightful to me. The day was beautifully fine -towards the end of the summer-ere the brown tints of autumn had mixed to any decided extent in the dark-green foliage below. The season's heat had, for some weeks, been so frequently tempered by refreshing showers, that the meadows wore the hue of spring. The shadows of some heavy, yet not threatening, clouds gave depth and body to the mass of verdure; while that enchanting feature of the rich picture, the broad expanse of the silver Thames, dotted across by a line of cattle quietly standing in its cool stream, threw a finishing lightness on the whole. The full force of the enthusiasm of taste bore on my mind. A similar feeling has often been roused by the passing banners of our intrepid warriors, unfolding, in their undulations, the names of places rendered immortal by the victories of British arms. A vene rable abbey-the tomb of a great and good man-the ocean in its rage-these, and other objects of equal interest, cause an expansion of the heart, the value of which can be appreciated by the enthu siast alone. They flash a sunshine on the mind, amply compensating for the endurance of all the darkness which it disperses.

*

I am yet enjoying such an excitement, experienced, a few days ago, on entering the great hot-house of Messrs. Loddiges', the indefatigable horticulturists. Their taste has led them to erect, in their conservatory, which is devoted to tropical plants, a stage, from which a most magnificent spectacle of vegetation presents itself at one view. The immense plantain, not as in its wild state, torn by winds and deformed by insects, but in all its undisfigured majesty, is rivalled only by its neighbour the Urania. The latter plant, with leaves of twenty-five feet in length, and nearly three in breadth, almost overwhelms the senses of those who have seen none but the productions of our ordinary gardens. From the platform, which the visiter is directed to ascend, he sees palms, fanleaved, and of

This stage is now removed, the plants have ontgrown it, and they are now each viewed from below.

every character of that "royal race," as Linnæus terms the genus, in profusion. For my own part, I should scarcely have been surprised, had I seen the tiger creeping with wary malignity, or the elephant, in untamed activity, throwing up his proboscis, beneath their high. arched foliage.

But it is time to descend from my eminence and give (if I can), not a full description, but some faint and sober idea of this romantic place; and I much mistake, if even those who are not botanists will not be gratified by it.

The proprietors of the garden, a venerable German and his two sons, have, on little more than twelve acres of ground, situated on the eastern side of Hackney, collected almost every vegetable production that the best inventions in horticulture (the very best being their own) can preserve in our climate. As well as increasing stock can be calculated on, they possess not fewer than 18,000 vegetable productions of different species; more than half of which are rare, and some unique, in this country. The hot-houses are warmed by steam-pipes, ingeniously arranged, and supplied by a double apparatus; so that, in case of an accidental failure of the water or fire for the one, the other may preserve the precious collection. Both the hot-houses and greenhouses are veined throughout their roofs by fine metallic tubes, perforated at proper distances, by means of which gentle showers, resembling the natural rain, are at pleasure let fall on the plants beneath.

At this delightful repository may be seen, full of life and vigour, plants of all magnitudes, from the little aretia of the Alps, which, with its profuse yet delicate blossom, does not lift its head above an inch and a half from the earth, to the magnificent musa paradisiaca (the plantain), which towers forty feet from its root, though, in fact, it is merely an enormous esculent, possessing nothing of the character of timber.

To attempt to describe the elegance and splendour which reign here, would be vain. Forms pyramidal, spiral, waving, present themselves on all sides. Flowers of the most brilliant hues, either uniform or variegated, bewilder the eye like a rapid succession of objects in a

The good old man has paid the debt of nature since this paper was first published.

kaleidoscope. Even leaves, such as those of the maranta zebrina, if viewed apart from the other beauties of the place, would excite the highest admiration. In many instances nature seems to have been playful in her works, and to have indulged in downright bizarrerie; as in some uncommon plants of the cactus tribe.

Here the classical visiter will be introduced to the true Alexandrian laurel, of the very species which in ancient times rewarded the hero and the bard. Here, too, he may muse over a specimen of the Heliconia, from Mount Helicon, the papyrus, and the sacred lotus.

Our fair country women will be delighted to see, in actual growth, things familiar to them in other shapes,-tea, bohea and green-coffee, chocolate, cocoa, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pimento, nutmeg, and arrow-root.

Here are also the date, the areca (producing the betel-nut, with which the Chinese beaux and belles dye their teeth of a red colour), the mango, the bread fruit-tree, the camphor, the sugar-cane, the bamboo, the plant that yields the gum of which Indian-rubber is manufactured, and the only teak tree that ever lived in this country.

There are some vegetables which our limited knowledge leads us to call poisonous; though it may fairly be conjec tured that they afford powerful medicines. One of the most prominent of these, which cannot without risk be touched with the naked hand, so nearly resembles a snake in colour, shape, and dimensions, that no animal, aware of the dangerous properties of the serpent tribe, would approach it incautiously-this is the caladium seguinum, or dumb cane; the juice of which, when it enters the human frame, besides being otherwise detrimental, paralyses the faculty of speech for a time.

Thejatropha urens, upon being touched, however lightly, produces the effect of a sharp sting.

Those who have been delighted with the peculiarity of the sensitive plant, will be further gratified by the hedysarum gyrans; the younger leaves of which, under a warm sun, are constantly in spon taneous and rapid motion. The dionea muscipula may also be noticed with the sensitive plant. This vegetable bears a kind of a pod, which opens like the shell

of a cockle, strongly jointed near the stem that holds it. Within the pod are a number of fine fibres, and the instant any insect enters the pod and touches either of these fibres, the shells close on their victim, and hold it fast until death has deprived it of motion, when they return to their former position.

Here may be seen the air plant, a species of the epidendrum, suspended in baskets, and having no communication with earth or water; yet vegetating in strong luxuriance, and blossoming, supported solely by the nourishment that it derives from the surrounding atmosphere.

The garden contains no fewer than 1260* different species of roses, forming a gulistan which probably even Persia herself does not outvie.

In short, in this collection, the first in the world, and approached only by the botanical garden at Vienna, have these persevering cultivators, in every region from the tropics up to 76 degrees of latitude, gathered something rare, beautiful, curious, or majestic, whether vegetating in air, in earth, or in water.

But what gives the most steady gratification, are some objects of humble appearance, and which, to an unexperienced eye, require for their detection some of that good-natured explanation that is always afforded to inquiring visiters by the Messrs. Loddiges. These show the kind bounty of Providence towards animals in its government of the vegetable kingdom.

I will instance but one, the nepenthes distillatoria, or pitcher plant, which grows in great abundance in stagnant, fetid swamps. This "spring in the desert," is in shape like a tall jug, and has over it a cover resembling that with which some old-fashioned silver tankards are furnished. When at full size it is about six inches in height, and one in diameter. In those unwholesome marshy places in India, and particularly in Ceylon, where pure water is not easily to be met with, the nepenthes filters the necessary element, through the fine fibres with which its lower extremity is lined. The cover then closes of itself, to exclude insects and vermin, and to prevent evaporation, and the plant remains ready to supply men and cattle with its crystal

contents.

Now (1835) 1485 different species.

Atheist though I almost doubt whether there really does exist such a character to answer the appeal-if neither the contemplation of the all-glorious sun, nor that of the starry heavens, have taught thee the lesson of truth; if thou hast been deaf to the voice of the thunder, blind to the light of the heavens; if neither the fragrance of the balmy gale, nor the gratefulness of juicy fruits, nor the refreshing coolness of the limpid stream; if none of these delights have entered into thee, for aught but sensual enjoyment, through thy clouded senses, betake thyself, with thy cold philosophy, to the examination of the wonders of the vegetable world. If that does not convince thee that there is a ruling Providence, Almighty and All-good, continue in thine own dreary fancy, the creature of blind chance-an ephemeris- the being of a day-come into the universe only to vanish from it. For myself, I am willing to live in the belief that "there is a God that governs the earth." Not a bird that carols from the spray-not a blade that points its rich luxuriance to the sky-not a beetle that spreads its gemmed armour to the sun, but proclaims the glorious truth. In this happy conviction, which constantly calls for gratitude and praise-the most delightful exercises of the mind-I live, and hope to die; while thou-but surely I am addressing an unreal mockery. There never was (whatever shape the pride, or the self-sufficiency, or the hypocrisy of man may assume), nor is, nor ever will be, a real atheist.

EVIL EFFECTS OF THE DIVISION OF

LABOUR.

In attempting to prove that the minute subdivision of labour has an evil tendency, I am aware that I shall meet with few who will admit the evil to be so extensive as I shall endeavour to point out; and it is very probable I shall be written down by some of the many able correspondents of the Mechanics' Magazine. But as the following facts are the result of long observation and experience among the working classes, I have resolved to publish them anonymously, in the hope that they will meet the eye of some who may be benefited by them; and should they be the means of convincing even one, I shall consider myself happy