from Mr. Nutt, took the queen bee also, and in putting her back to the hive, Mr. Clark was stung. The rev. gentleman, who, Mr. Nutt says, bids fair to become an ornament to apiarian science, also mentions that his bees swarmed. Neither of these facts would probably have seen the light, had it not been for the communicative disposition of the rev. gentleman; and such a thing occurring in these matchless hives, is a positive proof that Mr. Nutt's theory of bees swarming from necessity, not choice, is erroneous. The author gives directions how to act when such an event occurs, a proof of its frequently happening." Let the swarm," he says, "be put in one of my collateral boxes, making a door for the egress of the bees, and stop the communication between it and the centre box. When the bees have filled the box with combs, then stop up the door, and allow the communication between the two boxes, and the bees will unite and become one family." I deny that they will do any such thing without fighting; and the assertion should suffice to convince any person acquainted with bees, that Mr. Nutt knows but little of the subject on which he writes. It also appears that Mr. Nutt's favourite hive of bees swarmed; but that it was in consequence of his suffering them to do so. Does not this of necessity imply that they swarmed from choice? "It was," says Mr. Nutt," the finest swarm I ever beheld, and literally darkened the air in the front of my apiary." I have seen hundreds of swarms, but never such an one as darkened the air. I immediately," he adds, "secured my grund prize." A swarm called a grand prize, and by one who contends that swarming is an evil! He did not, however, secure his grand prize by putting it into a hive, as I should have done, but only put a sheet before it. My bees, with such treatment, would have fled away, and not considered themselves secured.

Mr. Nutt says that when the thermometer stands at 130 degrees in a hive, the bees are in their greatest prosperity. Huber, who is allowed some credit for being accurate, says, that when the thermometer is at 104 degrees, the heat is intolerable to the bees.

My remarks having extended to a much greater length than I at first had an idea of, I must postpone what I have

to observe further on this remarkable book to a future opportunity, when I shall, with your permission, resume them, and likewise examine Mr. Nutt's pretensions to entomological knowledge.

I remain, with respect,

Sir, your very obedient servant,
J. P. T.

A HINT FOR THE FURTHER PROTECTION OF THE PUBLIC AGAINST CARELESS CAB AND HACKNEY-COACH DRIVERS.

Sir,-As I was passing, the other evening, along Kingsland-road, a cab drove furiously along, when one of the wheels came in contact with a poor old female who was crossing the road, and knocked her down. I immediately ran to pick her up; but instead of the rascal of a driver stopping to assist me, or to ascertain to what extent the unfortunate woman might be injured, he gave his horse an additional cut or two, and speedily drove out of sight. The evening was unluckily too dark to adınit of my taking his number. It so happened that the old lady, though much shaken, was not seriously injured; but that does not lessen the intentional enormity of the fellow's conduct. Now. as these public desperadoes are compelled to have their numbers fixed in the centre of the back part of their vehicles, I think it would be a great improvement if these numbers were ordered to be painted on glass, and lighted up at night by a small lamp placed behind, so that in the event of a repetition of such behaviour as that I have described, persons might be enabled, even in the darkest night, to note down with ease the number of the delinquent.

I am, &c.

Marlboro'-terrace, Albany-road.

NOTES AND NOTICES.

ENORT.

In the Philadelphia Museum there is an artificial magnet, consisting of fifteen bars, which weighs no less than 53 lbs., and required, on the first trial, 310 lbs. weight to overcome the attractive force. Its permanent force is 134 lbs., and it constantly supports a weight of 84 lbs.

New Comet.-Professor Schumacher, Astronomer-royal of Denmark, announces, in his Astronomische Nachrichten, of the 7th inst., the discovery of a new comet, on the 8th ult, by Professor Gambart, of the Marseilles Observatory. Although it disappeared on the 13th, and from the state of the weather, and the temporary imperfection of his micrometer, his observations were interrupted and imperfect, Professor Gambart assigns its

place, on the 10th, at 16 h. 32 m. 45 s. of sidereal time, to be 20 h. 9 m. 7 s. of right ascension, and 22 deg. 33 m. of south declination. When first seen it was near the horizon, having a nebulous appearance, and situated in the constellation Sagittarius, very near the nebulæ 2064 of Sir John Herschell. The comet was of a pale light colour, of a very round form, and of a diameter of about four or five minutes.-Athenæum.

It

appears from the American journals, in which a keen contest is carrying on respecting the ori ginality of Burden's twin steam-raft, that the celebrated Robert Fulton built for the United States Government a steam-frigate called "Fulton the First," which was "split into equal parts longitudinally, from stem to stern, down through the keel, and the two halves placed at a distance from each other in parallel lines, and joined above water by timbers and decks in the most substantial manner;" and that, about the same time, a boat was built on a similar plan, called the "Happy Couple," but "that not answering the expectations of the projector, the Couple were cut asunder, the beams shortened, and the two halves fastened together by the keels, stems, &c., and thus made a single boat." We must observe, however, that it is not so much the division of the boat or raft into two parts, which constitutes the novelty of Mr. Burden's invention (for there have been many boats on that plan besides those mentioned in the American journals), as the conical or barrel shape of the spindles, and their being made hollow. The only person who can fairly contest the originality of that feature of the invention, seems to be our own correspondent, Mr. Alfred Canning.

The Influence of Steam.--The Carnarvon Herald states that the Welsh farmers have begun to send cattle to the Liverpool market, and that a sharp competition is likely to arise between them and the Irish graziers, for the honour and profit of feeding the people of Lancashire. The first cargo of Anglesea or Carnarvon fat cattle was sent by Sir R. B. W. Bulkeley, and several others have been since dispatched from the neighbourhood of the Menai Bridge. We are only surprised that Anglesea cattle have been so long in reaching Liverpool, considering that hundreds arrive every week from all parts of Ireland, together with sheep and pigs innumerable. The Scotch Highlanders have begun to send their live stock to Liverpool. A large flock of sheep arrived from Sutherlandshire the other day, and is probably by this time transferred into mutton. This is a new triumph of steam, to bring food for the people of Lancashire from so near the Ultima Thule; but all the coasts of the three kingdoms, and all those parts of the interior which are accessible by water, must in a few years become grazing farms for the manufacturing districts, to the great advantage both of producers and consumers.--Liverpool Chronicle.

We re

A correspondent of the Times, who sighs most plaintively for distinctions for men of sciencedistinctions other than their science procures for them, and such as they would share with the lowest creatures of the court-shows the low quality of the thing he desires, by the commonplace notice he so immoderately extols. gret that so respectable and distinguished a man as Dr. Dalton should be made the subject of such flummery. During Dr. Dalton's visit to London, it was thought by his friends that it would be proper (if not inconsistent with his private feelings) that he should be presented to his Majesty; and in that case, that the robes to which his academic degree entitled him would be the fittest costume for him at the levee. The Lord Chancellor being made acquainted with these feelings, not only immediately approved of them, but most kindly offered to present Dr. Dalton to the King. Dr. Dalton having been made acquainted with the usual forms, agreed to the propriety of the view taken

by his friends, and attended the levee. The King received the philosopher very graciously, and very kindly relieved the little embarrassments of an unusual position, by addressing to him several questions respecting the interests of the town of Manchester. This condescending attention on the part of his Majesty will, no doubt, be equally gratifying to the learned body to which Dr. Dalton belongs to the intelligent society of which he is a member, and to the enlightened manufacturers of his native town."-Times, May 15.-All this is very kind and considerate on the part of the King, but it confers no distinction, as a hundred persons of ordinary or questionable pretensions have received as large a portion of the Royal notice. Is science exalted by this wonderment that the King can be courteous and kind to a man of science? Either science is degraded, or kings are satirised by the excessive importance thus attached to a little usual civility, which would not have called forth a remark if it had been shown to one a thousand degrees less worthy of it.-Examiner.

Those who have travelled by the Paisley canal in the new gig-boats, must have observed the swell of water which always accompanies or precedes the vessel. Sometimes a curious scene occurs from this wave, overtaking some hapless wight standing on the bank, ignorant of his danger. The other day a commercial Irishman, who had collected from many an obscure corner a stock of old boots and shoes for exportation, was busy at the Blackhall bridge, washing off the dirt to make them more marketable. Being quite intent on the work of purification, he did not, till it was too late, observe the boat coming forward. His stock in trade was neatly arranged on the pathway, when the wave came up and swept the whole into the water. The poor fellow first rubbed his eyes, to make himself sure he was not asleep; and after gazing a little, and being persuaded it was a fact, he made up his mind to bear the loss calmly, and, with Paddy's characteristic recklessness and good humour, exclaimed, "Well, to be sure, I wanted to wash them clane, and troth they're washed clane off."-Greenock Advertiser. This is the canal where, according to Mr. Grabame, the candid partisan of canals in opposition to railways, the quick passage-boats never raise even "a ripple on the banks"!

Colonel Macerone is again figuring away in the newspapers-performing every day some new miracle with his steam-carriage, but, as usual, ever and anon quarrelling with the gentlemen of the broad-sheet, for not puffing his performances sufficiently. He finds great faut with them for saying that in a late excursion he went at the rate of only eighteen miles an hour, and maintains that "it was undoubtedly at the pace of twenty five miles an hour." He is making, it is said, active preparations to put ten of his steamers on the Brighton road, which are to run at the rate of fourteen miles an hour, inclusive of all stoppages. This he guarantees; money is only wanting to prove him no boaster. We wonder he does not guarantee, into the bargain, that his ten fire-eaters shall run 17,000 miles without costing more than a shilling each for repairs. Surely the one pledge might be as easily redeemed as the other.

Communications received from Mr. Inglis-Mr. Woodhouse-Mr. Weekes-T. W.

The Supplement to Vol. XX., with a Portrait of William Symington, is now ready, price 6d. also Vol. XX., complete, in boards, price Ss.

LONDON: Published by M. SALMON, at the Mechanics' Magazine Office, No. 6, Peterborough Court, between 135 and 136, Fleet-street. Agent for the American Edition, Mr. O. RICH, 12, Red Lion square. Sold by G. G. BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, Saint Augustin, Paris.

M, SALMON, Printer, Fleet-street.

MEMOIR, DESCRIPTIVE OF AN UNIVERSAL PORTABLE EUDIOMETER, ITS CONSTRUCTION, AND MODEs of use. By W. H. Weekes, Esq., Surgeon, Lecturer on Chemistry and Experimental Science to the Canterbury Philosophical and Literary Institution, &c.

"How immense is the empire of chemistry! It embraces in its studies all the phenomena which nature presents to our view, in the infinite variety of her productions, and all the processes of the arts for which we are indebted to human ingenuity."-CHAPTAL.

"The person who could devise only, without knowing how to perform, would not be able to extend his knowledge far, or make it useful; and where every doubt or question that arises in the mind is best answered by the result of an experiment, that which enables the philosopher to perform the experiment in the simplest, quickest, and most correct manner, cannot but be esteemed by him as of the utmost value."-FARADAY.

The progress of experimental inquiry, which, happily for the interests of the civilised world, towards the close of the last, and more particularly during the present century, has taken a deep and salutary hold upon the affections of mankind, is awakening the most dormant and energetic spirits from the slumber of a benighted ignorance, and an apathetic indifference to the importance of philosophical research. It is not here necessary to dilate upon the vast acquisitions obtained from this happy exten sion of the powers of mind, over the multitudinous forms of matter, through the agency of practical inquiry; it is enough that the genuine philanthropist is enabled to glance with retrospective satisfaction over the beneficial results which science has already effected, while his ardent mind brightens with the operations of the present, and expands with the joy of a generous enthusiasm, as the prospects of the future unfold themselves to the eye of intellectuality.

Amidst the splendid scenery with which philosophy has decorated man's theatre of action, none, perhaps, has been arrayed in brighter vestments, or shone with a more resplendent lustre, reflected from a thousand arts and manufactures, than the science of chemistry; holding, as it does, a talisman, the potency of which unlocks nature's most secret cabinets, and from thence displays, alike to the philosopher and the artisan, the hidden properties of the whole material world.

This science is, of necessity, when it

arrives at legitimate conclusions, wholly experimental; and as a constant succession of new facts are created by experiment, the occasion arises for modifying and extending operative power. Hence the advantage and convenience of simplifying and improving the varied forms of apparatus, necessary for the multifarious purposes of the philosophical chemist; and the importance of increasing his power over matter by a skilful addition to his means of subduing and regulating its various forms, by the introduction of new species of instrumental agency.

It may justly be doubted, whether, without the enormous voltaic battery employed by the illustrious Davy, we should now have to congratulate ourselves on an acquaintance with the metallic basis of the alkalies; or, unaided by the immense, and as yet incalculable, intensity of the oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe, have been led, even to entertain a suspicion that the earths, too, are but oxides of a similar modification of matter.

The possession of a new instrument, has, in the hands of the man of science, not unfrequently led to the creation of new pursuits, independent of the facility it has yielded to the development of facts not previously recognised in the annals of scientific inquiry; and to the importance of enlarging, and advancing the means of research, the eminent names that have shed abundant lustre on continental science, and especially the savans of the French capital, appear to have been equally alive with ourselves.

In submitting to the scientific world a new form of instrument, which has been found eminently advantageous in the delightful department of pneumatic chemistry, a certain degree of diffidence, perhaps, properly attends its introduction; but, without subjecting myself to a charge of egotism, I may be allowed to remark, that though the apparatus, forming the subject of the following "Memoir," has been employed by myself in a long and extensive series of experiments, both for the purpose of trial, and with a view to chemical research, I have not found it advisable to effect any material alteration with an eye to improvement, nor have I felt the slightest inducement to exchange its use for that of any other instrument with which I have the pleasure to be acquainted,

66

though I should be sorry to be deemed insensible to the merits of several, which are well known to the philosophical world. As, however, inventors may be naturally supposed to evince a strong partiality for the result of their own schemes, I have aimed to put a check upon feelings of this description, by availing myself of every opportunity to bring the operation of the instrument under the inspection of such scientific minds as have been willing to oblige by their attention; and, though the merits or demerits of every invention necessarily ought to abide the ordeal of repeated experiment, upon which the legitimate tribunal of science is erected, 1 feel no small gratification in the concurrent opinions which have been expressed in regard to the utility and advantages of the Universal Portable Eudiometer, while I rely with earnestness upon the rectitude of future decision. Description of the Universal Portable Eudiometer.

The philosophical apparatus to which the title of Universal Portable Eudiometer has been applied, is perhaps not destitute of such claims as may, on experience of its use, sanction the application of the term, which the inventor has been induced to adopt more from a conviction of its being expressive of the principle and application of the instrument, than otherwise.

The eudiometer, which we are now to describe, is applicable to the purpose of chemically examining gaseous mixtures, by detonation with the electric spark, as in the endiometers of Volta and others, or by absorption, upon the principle of the instrument invented and described by Dr. Hope; and equally so, as regards the former case, whether the gases require to be operated upon over water or mercury; nor is the use of the pneumatic trough, which is indispensable to other instruments of this denomination, at all necessary in either case.

The apparatus may be regarded, to a considerable degree, as a self-acting instrument, charging itself with gas, and regulating the volume to be operated upon, by the mere turning and management of a small stop-cock.

In the ordinary modes of analysis, dependent on the presence of definite portions of oxygen, and detonation of the

gaseous mixture by the agency of electricity, it is necessary to transfer the gases under examination, from their respective bladders, or gas-holders, by means of a curved pipe, into the eudiometer tube, as it stands over the fluid of a pneumatic trough, which is often a tedious, and sometimes an uncertain operation, as regards the quantities intended for admixture. This inconve nience is completely obviated in the apparatus under consideration, by the attachment of a small reservoir, containing the explosive mixture, placed closely in contiguity, and communicating directly with the tube of detonation, and which, though perfectly secure from accident, during the transit of the electric spark, may be instantaneously removed or not, dependent on the choice of the operator.

In all manipulations with this eudiometer, a security is effected against the escape of any portion of the gaseous mixture, so frequently incidental on its enlargement of volume, at the instant of its decomposition, when the common eudiometer is employed; while, by means of the instrument of which we are treating, that enlargement of volume is accurately measured, and the amount registered, so as to be read off with facility by the experimentalist; as is also the residual gas, when there is any, in the tube of detonation.

As it is not to be apprehended that any of the fluid, necessary to be employed in the several manipulations, can be thrown about, as in the ordinary mode of operating, the instrument may be used with entire convenience, in any situation; it is perfectly under the command of an individual, and is, I believe, sufficiently portable, as well as simple, for all occasions on which eudiometers are employed.

The base, foot, or stand of the instrument, 1,2,3,4, fig.1, is formed from a solid block of the best well-seasoned lignum vitæ, five inches in length, four in breadth, and one inch and three-fourths in thickFig. 2, represents a longitudinal

ness.

*For the more perfect security and stability of the apparatus (a consideration of no little importance to those who are actively engaged in the employment of philosophical instruments), the bottom and sides of this block may be cased with wellpolished sheet copper or brass, and firmly fixed, by meaus of cement or small screws. One of the eudiometers in my possession is thus constructed; but when a good sound piece of lignum vitæ can be obtained, this extra measure is by no means indispensable.