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water, is very great, but I apprehend their application to sewers would be highly detrimental; for, if but partially used, that effluvium, which is now dispersed by about 800 apertures, would, if forced through fewer vents, become not only from them, but from the drains in the houses, intolerably powerful. Necessarily this would cause them to be attached to every gulley-hole; and if they should be attached to every gulley-hole and every private drain, and the sewers be thereby made air-tight, tubes of various and very irregular diameters, and in many cases with closed ends, I much fear that explosive gas would be so commonly generated, that it would be impracticable to enter them but at an imminent risk of immediate death to the workmen, and injury to the adjoining buildings. That this may not be deemed a chimerical idea, I beg to remind the Court, that when part of the Bishopsgate-street sewer was stopped, men were sent in to cleanse it, and were severely burnt by the ignition of the foul air; and that when the sewer in Tower-street was built, and the grates not being in readiness, the apertures were closely covered with boards and earth, some gas having accidently entered the sewer, two men were so seriously injured that the Court had to remunerate them for their loss of time, the destruction of their clothing, and for the expenses of medical aid. Even if no danger of this description could rationally be feared, I apprehend that the traps would, in many situations, present so much obstruction to the passage of water during the heavy rains, as to cause them to flood the houses, and subject the Commissioners to endless claims for compensation. Carefully considering the whole question, I cannot but think the disadvantages attending their use would be found so great that I could not recommend their adoption."

The Commissioners of Sewers, acting on this Report, came to the resolution"that it is not expedient to adopt this plan within the city.'

Mr. Cuff afterwards sought the opinion of Dr. Birkbeck, Mr. Pereira, and other scientific gentlemen, on the validity of Mr. Acton's objections to his plan, and the answers which he has obtained seem to dispose of these objections in a most satisfactory and unanswerable manner. We need but quote, in opposition to Mr. Acton's Report, the following passage from that of Dr. Birkbeck :

Upon the supposition of every entrance being thus constructed, which ought, of course, to be the case, the gases evolved must be confined in the principal sewer,

and must gradually expel all the atmospheric air; ultimately occupying the whole space: they must afterwards unavoidably begin to escape at the only aperture which is left, the discharging extremity of the sewer, The whole quantity of gas produced must, however, be much less than at present, because of the frequent removal of the great mass of decomposing matter from the gulley-holes, where alone upon this plan it would be allowed to accumulate. When, in the course of six or seven years, it might be requisite to enter the sewer for the purpose of cleansing it, no lamp or candle, it would soon be found, would burn; no explosion could take place; and no human being could respire. This will appear sufficiently obvious, when it is recollected that the whole cavity has long been filled by carbonic acid gas, carburetted hydrogen gas, sulphuretted hydrogen gas, &c., and that the air of the atmosphere has by their disengagement been totally excluded. It would, therefore, be necessary to allow these unrespirable gases to escape by suitable openings or tubes, at the highest points of the sewers; when their place would be occupied by the air of the atmosphere, gradually entering at the lowest extremity, and finally filling the entire cavity: there would then be no difficulty in remaining in the sewer as regards respiration, and very little as regards explosion; none at all, indeed, if the scavengers were furnished with the wire-gauze covering for their lights, as recommended by the late Sir Humphrey Davy. In order to prevent the effluent gas, when issuing thus abundantly, becoming offensive to the persons residing in the neighbourhood, it may be set on fire at the different orifices; and as it would explode when it begins to issue mixed with a certain portion of atmospherical air (that portion which gradually finds its way into the sewer, and escapes with the latter portions of gas), it would be requisite to place in the discharging tubes two or three pieces of wire gauze of suitable fineness, through which the explosive mixture must pass, in the manner well-known by chemists to prove so effectual, in the otherwise dangerous application of the oxyhydrogen blow-pipe. From what has been already stated, it will appear obvious, that the objections urged by Mr. Acton resolve themselves entirely into-imperfect introduction of the valuable plan of Mr. Cuff imperfect or defective cleansing of the gulley-holes and ignorance of the nature, distribution, and management of those gases, which he fears would be commonly generated;' but which, in fact, are constantly generated, and which, on that account, effectually exclude the atmospheric air; with

The Commissioners of Sewers, however, still continue opposed to the general adoption of the plan; but they have so far departed from their original resofution of entire rejection, as to announce that, "if any individual complains of the state of the sewers, and requests Mr. Cuff's plan to be adopted, the request shall be complied with." Several individuals have accordingly availed themselves of this permission, to have stenchtraps, on Mr. Cuff's plan, attached to the gulley-holes of their premises, among others, Mr. Deputy Gorst and Mr. Deputy Farrance. In the Tower Hamlets' district, where the pavement trusts are not under the control of the Commissioners of Sewers, the plan is coming into general use.

STATE OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES IN PERSIA.

a

Mr. Fraser, the intelligent author of Travels in Khorassan," and "Tour through the Himala," but, perhaps, better known to general readers for his admirable tale of Khorassan, called "The Kusilbash," has contributed to the "Edinburgh Cabinet Library' very excellent Historical and Descriptive Account of Persia."* It is not very well arranged, and in some parts brevity has been studied (to order, most likely) at the expense of clearness; but taken altogether it is the most authentic and accurate account of the Persian empire in the English language. We subjoin an extract from the portion devoted to the state of the arts and sciences :

Among the sciences most cultivated are those of astronomy, judicial astrology, me taphysics, logic, mathematics, and physic. In the first their efforts are contemptible; their theories, founded on the Ptolomæan system, with strange additions of their own, are utterly useless, unless it be to aid their still more childish dreams in astrology. No

* "An Historical and Descriptive Account of Persia, from the latest ages to the present time. With a detailed view of its resources, government, population, natural history, and the character of its inhabitants, particularly of the wandering tribes. Including a description_of_Afghanistan and Belochistan." By James B. Fraser, Esq. Illustrated by a map and thirteen engravings, by Jackson. Oliver and Boyd. 1834.

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Persian will undertake the most trivial affair, far less any enterprise of moment, without consulting a professor of this delu. sive art; and when a mirza or a mollah has once established his reputation as an astrologer, he is in the sure way to become rich. Should a lucky day arrive before a traveller is ready for his journey, he leaves home, though he should remain for weeks in some incommodious lodging till his preparations are complete; satisfied that the favourable influence of the stars has been secured by making the move at the proper conjuncture. An ambassador about to proceed to India was induced by the representations of the Wise Men, although the ship in which he was to sail was not ready, not only to leave a comfortable dwelling at Bushire, and occupy a tent on the hot sands near it, but even to cause the wall of the town and several houses to be penetrated, that he might depart without facing a most malignant, though invisible constellation, which would, otherwise have blasted the success of his mission.

Their metaphysics and logic are scarcely less puerile. The first consists of little more than a collection of disputations, sophisms, turning on wild and unprofitable paradoxes; the second, in an ingenious me thod of playing upon words, the object not being so much to arrive at truth, as to display quickness of mind and readiness of answer in the discussion of plausible hypotheses. Geography is no better understood. Their knowledge of countries and their relative positions is extremely confused; nor can they lay down with any exactness even those places or regions with which they are most familiar.

"Mathematics, although they are not much more beneficially applied, are taught on better principles; for the Persians are acquainted with the works of Euclid. Chemistry is unknown; but alchymy is a favourite study, and the search after the philosopher's stone continues an eager pursuit. The adepts work with no less secresy and hope than their deluded brethren used to do in the West; nor are the frauds they commit on credulous and wealthy dupes less palpable or notorious.

"In their knowledge of medicine they are still deplorably deficient. They declare themselves pupils of Galen and Hippocrates (called by them Jalenoos and Bocrat); but their practice is a mixture of the most wretched empiricism, with the exhibition of a few simples, the qualities of which experience has taught them. They classify diseases into four divisions,-hot, cold, moist, and dry, and this in the most arbitrary

manner, on no apparent principle. They combat each disease by an application of an opposite tendency,* the virtues of the remedy being as vaguely determined as the nature of the disorder. They are totally ignorant of anatomy, and unacquainted with the circulation of the blood; so that their proficiency in surgery is no greater than their knowledge in medicine; and when patients recover under their hands, it is to be attributed to soundness of constitution, rather than to any ability of treatment on the part of the professional attendant.

Though they admire the skill of Europeans, they adhere obstinately to their own practice; and all the persuasion of the medical gentlemen who accompanied the British embassies, from the year 1800 to 1810, were insufficient to establish vaccination, although the ravages of the small-pox are often dreadful. In cases where calomel would, in the opinion of the English physicians, have saved many lives, they persevered in resisting its use, as a remedy which, being hot in itself, could not be ad visable in a hot disease; ice and refrigerating draughts were given in preference, which cooled many effectually. Yet they have discovered a method of quickly affecting the system with mercury, by causing the patient to inhale, through the common calleeoon or water-pipe, a lozenge made of cinnabar and flour.

"There are persons, among the tribes particularly, who pretend to hereditary powers of curing certain distempers. Sír John Malcolm mentions a chief named Hedayut Kouli Khan, who banished agues by tying his patients up by the heels when the periodical attack was approaching, applying the bastinado severely, and abusing them bitterly all the time, a process which, he asserted, produced heat and terror, instead of a cold fit.'

"The profits of science are confined to those who enjoy a name for high proficiency in divinity, astrology, and physic; but the latter is miserably paid. The two former, when combined, thrive best.

"In the fine arts the Persians have little to boast of; but there is reason to believe that in former ages their skill was much superior to what it is at present. Nor is it to be wondered that excellence in any department should be rare, when the professor runs the risk of being ordered to labour

A gentleman in India, whose servant was unwell, consulted a native physician. "Sir," said

the doctor," the patient's illness arises from sixteen different causes; now, in this pill which 1 mean to give there are sixteen different ingredients, so arranged that each will operate upon its respective cause, and thus cure your servant.”

without payment for the king or governor to whom his acquirements might first be come known. In painting and sculpture it is next to impossible they should ever become adepts, as, in the first place, they possess no models to imitate, and, in the second, it is repugnant to the Mahommedan faith to make representations of the human form. When we do meet with any such attempt, as in the delineations of battles or hunting-pieces, the total absence of all knowledge of drawing and perspective renders the effect ludicrous, if not disgusting. Ink-stands and small boxes are made at Shiraz and Ispahan, and adorned with painting, chiefly of birds and flowers, and occasionally of beautiful girls and boys, finished with an accuracy which, under better direction, might be successfully exerted for nobler purposes. The stone and seal cutters of the same city are famous for the excellence of their workmanship. Cashan is known for its manufacture of lacquered tiles, which ornament many of the gorgeous domes aud minarets in Persia. Coarse china and glass are made in various places. The sword-blades of Herat, Mushed, and Shiraz are highly esteemed, as well as their other work in steel; and gold and silver brocade, with silks of considerable beauty, are produced in many parts of the country." The " engravings by Jackson wood) are extremely beautiful; we have seen few things equal to them in this branch of art.

(in

On Animal Instinct. A Lecture delivered before the Members of the Mechanics' Institute at Colchester. By the Rev. AtGERNON WELLS. Fenton, Colchester. 1834. 40 pp. Svo.

Philosophical, eloquent, interesting, and instructive. The author's opinion is, that

"Consciousness, animal sensation, capability of feeling, implies voluntary active power, and that voluntary active power implies mind-is an attribute of mind, and can be possessed and employed only by mind; and that, therefore, that power or faculty by which the inferior creatures are guided in their various voluntary actions, and which we call instinct, is nothing mechanical, is no attribute of matter in any way, but is a species of intelligence with which minds is in brutes endowed, and in the use of which they are active, voluntary agents—an intelligence which we can explain in its appearances, relations, and results; but the nature of which, or the manner in which it is pos sessed by animals, we can no moree xplain

than we can the essences and modes of being in other instances. It is as much, but no more than other works of God, a mystery to us. So far as into other subjects we can dive into this, but no farther. So far as they are plain, this is plain also. Where mystery begins with them it commences with this-and that is, when we abandon facts and relations, and endeavour to explore essences and modes of being."

OLIVER AND BOYD'S CATECHISMS OF ELE

MENTARY KNOWLEDGE.*

Those Catechisms in this collection, of which it falls within our province to speak, are extremely well drawn up; simple, perspicuous, and attractive. Mr. Lee, the mathematical master of the Scottish Military and Naval Academy, has done great justice to the different departments of " Natural Philosophy;" and Mr. Wm. Rhind to the "Natural History of the Earth, Zoology, and Botany." "Drawing and Perspective," by Mr. Lawrence, would have been the better of a leaf or two out of Mr. Jopling's "Practice of Isometrical Perspective;" though perhaps the best thing the publishers could do, would be to get Mr. Jopling to furnish them with a separate Catechism on that important branch of perspective.

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(so reported to me by one of the parties) of the men, the bottom of the kettle was burnt out." Can any of our correspondents furnish us with the particulars of this trial, and the real cause of failure?

Russell's Steam-Carriage.-A new steam-carriage (Mr. Russell's) commenced plying between Glasgow and Paisley on Wednesday. The carriage is attended by a supplementary vehicle, containing the necessary supply of charcoal and water. The carriage itself is superbly fitted up, holds six inside and twenty outside passengers, and is hung upon springs, quite free of the boiler and machinery. The boiler is extremely sinall, and occupies the space immediately below the carriage, while the boot contains the engines. The boiler is capable of generating steam in twenty minutes. The two engines, fourteen horse power each, situated above the hind axle, are connected with it, by cranks working at right angles to one another, so as to produce continuous rotary motion. They are contained in a polished brass box of six cubic feet, and communicate with the boiler in a manner imperceptible to the eye, highly ins genious and quite novel. The whole machinery is poised upon curviform springs of the fourth order, so marvellously adjusted as to prevent any concussion or shock from telling, or taking effect upon the engine; while the potential detachment of the wheel from the axle enables the engineer to stop either wheel at will, and so to turn and steer the carriage according to the most tortuous sinuosities of the road. The hind-axle is alone propelled, and the fore-axle is used as a helm whereby to guide the movements of the vehicle. Hence the wheels, both in the front and back, are at the entire command and control of the superintendent; and although the velocity can be extended up to fifteen miles per hour, it can be governed, regulated, and directed with as much ease as our present mails, and adapted alike to an open country or a crowded street. Weekly Dispatch, March 30.

Roberts' Locomotive Carriage.-Mr. Roberts, of the firm of Sharp, Roberts, and Co., engineers, of Manchester, has been for some time engaged in the construction of a locomotive carriage for common roads, for which he has obtained a patent. One experimental trip was made in December, which, while it led to the detection of a few imperfections in the details, easily removed, has tended to establish the soundness of the principle on which the carriage is constructed. On Thursday the second of these experimental trips was made. The carriage started from the works in Falkner-street at half-past six in the evening, under the guidance of Mr. Roberts, with upwards of forty passengers. It proceeded about a mile and a half up Oxfordroad, namely, to near the end of Nelson-street, where, owing to an apprehension of a deficiency of water, a sudden turn was made. The breadth of the road at this point was insufficient to allow of free scope for the engine, and about six minutes were occupied in making the turn. The carriage then proceeded back to the works, where it arrived without accident just nineteen minutes after starting. The maximum speed on a level was twenty miles per hour, and the acclivities of the road were mounted without the least sensible effect on the speed. No doubt exists of the engine being speedily put in complete and effective condition for actual service.-Manchester Advertiser, March 29.

A nice little World.-The diameter of Pallas does not much exceed seventy-nine miles, so that an inhabitant of that planet, in one of our steamcarriages, might go round his world in a few hours. Mrs. Somerville.

There was a grand exhibition of the Thames Tunnel last week to a number of members of the

Royal Society, and distinguished foreigners, "for the purpose," say the newspapers, of inspecting this extraordinary undertaking, and of considering the practicability of the completion of the work," when every body present was perfectly satisfied that it could be completed with ease, and that it is a prodigious" reproach to the country," the funds necessary for the purpose are not forthcoming. A "reproach to the country," forsooth! We wonder whether it was explained to the distinguished foreigners who were present, that the country came forward with every farthing of the money which the engineer calculated to be requi site for the complete execution of the Tunnel; and that the total loss from the irruptions of the river, to which the stoppage of the work, about half-way is so conveniently ascribed, did not exceed 13,000l. The undertaking is at a stand, simply because it cannot be completed for double the engineer's original estimate, and because, if completed at such a cost, it would not, in all probability, yield a shilling of revenue to the proprietors.

Navigation of the Danube.-An important project is on foot for establishing a regular communition, by means of steam vessels, between Vienna and Constantinople, and, at some future périod, in connexion with that project, a communication with the German Ocean and the English Channel, by means of the Rhine and the rivers which connect it, or nearly so, with the Danube. On the part of the Austrian government this affair has become, in some measure, a state object, and great numbers of the Austrian nobility, and the sovereigns and nobility of the contiguous German states, have cmbarked money in it. The project is not altogether a new one, a company having been formed (query, projected only ?) in the year 1830, under a charter from the Court of Vienna, for the navigation of the Danube within the Austrian dominions, with which the present undertaking will naturally connect itself, and become an extension of it. The first object will be to establish the intercourse, by steam vessels, between Vienna and Constantinople, a distance of 1500 miles, and the estimate is, that this may be accomplished in ten days, allowing the vessels to come to anchor during the night; but that, when all the arrangements are completed, it is supposed that the voyage may be performed in seven days. Preparatory surveys made of the course of the Danube, by order of the Austrian government, are said to have afforded satisfactory proof that few natural obstacles exist, and those few easy of removal.-Times, City Article. The following additional information on the subject is extracted from the Parisian private correspondence of the Times:-"The only local difficulty, which has long stood in the way of the project, consists in a rocky part of the Danube, extending all along that river from Orsova to Ada Kalé, a distance of about twenty-five English miles. very enterprising and wealthy Hungarian nobleman, Count Seczini, who has an estate which borders that part of the river, had for several years been at vast trouble and expense in trying to find some mode of dislodging the rocks, but he was compelled to give up the hope of doing so, though not of ultimate success in the object he had in view. A canal has been commenced, at his expense, over his estate, by means of which the rocky part of the river may be avoided altogether. This canal will serve the double purpose of avoiding the rocks and the distance formed by a circuitous direction that the river takes where they are situated. The canal was only commenced about three or four months ago, and will not be completed until next year. Hitherto the steam-boats going down the Danube started from Raab, in Hungary, atown situated half-way between Presburg and Buda, and proceeded only as far as Orsova, being prevented by the rocks from going farther."

A

Connt Seczini (Cznecki ?), the Hungarian nobleman mentioned in the last extract, is now in Loudon, for the purpose (we believe) of procuring information connected with the prosecution of the undertaking in question.

⚫A Correspondent at Boston (U. S.) informs us that Mr. Rutter's new mode of generating heat from coal-tar and water has been adopted at the gas works there with great advantage. The proprie. tors have followed, without deviation, the process set forth by the patentee in his specification, and first published in our Magazine of the 14th September last.

"An Attentive Reader of the Undulating Controversy" proposes that a sum of money should be staked on the result of a trial of an undulating line. He requests us to ask "Whether Mr. Badnall and Mr. Cheverton have confidence enongh in their respective opinions, to come forward singly, or supported by their friends and advocates, and stake a sum of money on the event?" He for one, he adds, "would be happy to back Mr. Badnall." The wager, our correspondent suggests, might be laid so that "the winner should pay for the expense of the trial; which expense, in case of failure, would be merely that of laying down the rails and taking them up again, on any projected line." The sum he names is from 1,000l. to 2,000l.

John Fuller, of Rosehill, Esq..-" Honest Jack Fuller" (sometimes "Eccentric Jack"), as he used to be called, before he abandoned the turmoil of political life for the quiet retreats of philosophybefore he gave up lecturing Speakers, and took to founding lectureships-has, besides establishing the Fullerian Professorship of Experimental Philosophy in the Royal Institution, now so ably filled by Dr. Faraday, lately invested a sum of 3,3331. 6s. 8d. three per cent. consols, for the endowment of a Professorship of Physiology in the same Institution; and another sum of 3,000l., three per cents., to form an accumulating fund for the general purposes of the Institution. The total amount of this gentleman's donations to the Royal Institution falls now little short of 10,000l. The members have testified their grateful sense of this extraordinary instance of munificence, by voting that a bust of Mr. Fuller shall have a distinguished place in the Library of the Institution. So much, some will say, for pelf-which exalts a mere country squire to the same honours as a Rumford and a Davy. Far be from us, however, so narrow a measure of justice! We say, on the contrary-so much for great wealth nobly and usefully employed; and may the admi. rable example of Honest Jack Fuller" have many imitators among the squirearchy of England!

Communications received from Kinclaven - Mr. Badnall--S. P. A.-A Shareholder-Why so?Mr. Erpingham.