on the physical condition of the working classes in London, drawn from statistical facts, some of them of a very minute description, collected at the expense of the Society. This article is resumed in the and from its commencepresent volume; ment, which refers to one of the Irish "rookeries" by which the metropolis is infested, we shall quote a passage, both on account of its intrinsic interest, and as a specimen of the manner in which the curious inquiry is conducted, and the economy of a human warren laid bare.

"The first district examined was a place called Callmel Buildings, situated within a few yards of one of the most fashionable squares in the metropolis. These buildings, comprising twenty-six houses, are almost wholly inhabited by Irish catholics. The houses contain 264 rooms; 210 of which were occupied, and fifty-four vacant, at the time of the inquiry. The smallest number of individuals then inhabiting any one of the houses, was twenty-two, and the largest number was forty-eight; the average number to each house being thirty-five persons. There were in these twenty-six houses seventy-seven families and sixty-four single persons, who severally occupied only a share in a single room; 120 families and fourteen single persons occupied severally one room, or among them 134 rooms; eleven families and one single person occupied severally two rooms, and one family occupied three rooms. The rooms which were shared in common by different families were fifty-one in number. In twenty-seven of these one family was joined by single persons, varying in number from one to six. In each of eleven rooms there were two families; in nine rooms two families, and from one to four single persons in addition. In each of two rooms there were three families. room were four families and one single person; and one other room was inhabited by five single persons.

In one

In

"Of the 288 families inhabiting these twenty-six houses, forty-five live in apartments which may be called airy; while the remaining 243, or five-sixths of the whole, occupy close and ill-ventilated rooms, some of which, according to the report of the visitors, are unfit for human habitation. some respects, the houses are more comfortable than those described in the former volume, the drainage being good, and the supply of water abundant; while the proportion of families whose dwellings are provided with shelves and cupboards is greater (124 out of the 288).

"As regards the intellectual condition of the parents, it was found that 203 could

read, and some among that number could write; but that 244, or 55 per cent. of the whole, could neither read nor write. Of the children, 450 in number, 262, including 117 under five years of age, could neither read nor write. Only 114 of the whole number, or about one-fourth, went to school at the time the inquiry was made. *** The sum paid for schooling appears unusually large, considering the condition of the parents; the average weekly payment for each scholar, where regular payments are made, being 54d. There is a school in the court, attended by about fifty scholars, held in a room twelve feet square, and eight and a half high, which is the sole dwelling of the schoolmaster, his wife, and six children. The unwholesome condition of the air, under these circumstances, may be easily conceived. The mode of payment to the teacher of this school is remarkable and characteristic. A kind of club, which does not consist exclusively of the parents of the scholars, meets every Saturday evening at a public-house; when, after some hours spent in drinking and smoking, a subscription is raised, and handed over to the schoolmaster, who forms one of the company, and who is expected to spend a part of the money in regaling the subscribers." page 253.

In the remaining part of the article, a similar examination is entered into of the condition of several country parishes, the result of which, is, of course, strikingly different. Here, however, we meet with an instance of that inaccuracy which is so common in statistical papers, and detracts so considerably from their value. The writer professes to give a view of the condition of three neighbouring parishes in the county of Essex; which, as he observes, present very great points of contrast. And well they may. One of these parishes only (St. Osyth) in point of fact, belongs to that county, the other two, Porlock and Dunster, represented as composing part of the same union, being really situated in Somerset, at a distance of between two and three hundred miles! Where such a blunder as this could creep in, what dependence can be placed on the minuter details, which cannot in their nature be so readily detected? This author, too, in his zeal to display the benefits of education, resorts to prison and workhouse returns, in order to show how few persons superiorly educated" have been reduced to either, in comparison to those who have not had the same advantage. The fallacy of this presumed test need

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not be pointed out, at any rate, when it is unaccompanied by similar tables of the relative numbers of the same classes outside as well as in. While the numbers of the " superiorly educated" are comparatively so small, they may well be expected to add but little to our pauper and prisoner population, even were their circumstances similar to those of the classes by which our gaols and poorhouses are chiefly peopled. What would the author of this paper himself think of an enthusiastic dancingmaster, who should insist that dancing was a sure preventative against crime; and gravely maintain his position by statistical tables, showing the small proportion of offenders who could make a graceful figure in a quadrille or cotillion, compared to the masses who could not dance at all, or only inanage to shuffle through a jig?

Among the remaining papers in the volume, we are sorry to say, is one calling for the severest animadversion. This is a letter from M. de Fellenberg, the celebrated founder of the academy at Hofwyl, detailing his ideas on education, and written entirely in the French lanin which language the Society guage; have sent it forth to the English public, in a professedly English work, without a word of apology, and without the slightest whisper of a translation! We hope, as this is the first, it will also be the last time such an occurrence will need to be complained of, as the Society cannot fail to perceive how ridiculous is such a procedure, the moment their attention is fairly called to it.

In the concluding paper, the absurdities of many of the education-mongers of the day are very happily exposed, in a manner, different indeed from that of more than one of the preceding articles, in which some of these very absurdities receive a full measure of applause, in the usual wholesale style. The infant schools, above all, come in for a full share of punishment, which is administered fairly enough, merely by means of illustrative quotations from the books in

French & English Railways,-The defeat of the French Ministers on the Railway question, by unsettling all affairs of that nature for the next twelvemonth, has made it quite certain that the English part of the railway line from London to Paris will be ready long before the French. While our Southampton line is already opened to the extent of 23 miles from the metropolis, not a yard of that from Paris to Rouen and Havre is yet laid down ; and the South Western Railway to Dover is in a forward state, while the line on the opposite side as yet exists solely in the brains of its projectors, and seems likely to do so for some time yet to come.

Improvement in Gunnery.-We understand that Mr. Symington has invented a method of loading artillery, which diminishes the risk of accident, needs only one man instead of two to serve the gun with wadding, increases materially the projectile force of the ball, causes the common gun to act in the same manner as a rifle piece, and is applicable to guns on the present construction. Its introduction would produce an important change in the mode of naval warfare, inasmuch as that vessels during an engagement would, instead of coming to close quarters, or being carried by boarding, be enabled, by firing "long ball," as it is termed, to decide the contest scientifically-the gaining of the victory depending more on the destruction of property than the destruction of life.

Gas Stoves.--Sir,-Your intelligent correspondent, Mr. Baddeley, accuses me, in your last nnmber, of inconsistency in recommending a cup of water to be placed over the gas-stove described by "Evander." If he will refer to the description of that stove, he will find his mistake, inasmuch as the products of the consumed gas are not, in that arrangement, evolved into the apartment, which, therefore, cannot receive the water formed by the combination of the oxygen and hydrogen.-I am, &c. F. MACERONI.

Complete Sets of the Mechanics' Magazine may now be had, twenty-seven volumes, half-cloth, price 11. 7s.

THE STEAM CARRIAGE AND WAGGON COMPANY-SIR JAMES ANDERSON'S

STEAM CARRIAGE BOILER.

In a recent No. (770) we briefly noticed a company, which has lately been brought forward for the purpose of working steam carriages and waggons upon common roads. Our remarks were depreciatory of the project ás a commercial enterprise, because we considered that the inventor, whose plan was advertised as being adopted by the pseudo Company, had done nothing to warrant the confidence of the public in his abilities to overcome the numerous difficulties which are incident to common road locomotion-and because we regarded it as a mere individual speculation, under the guise of a public undertaking, to put into temporary operation the individual speculator's patent. We considered, that if the company had been formed with the bona fide view of giving the public all the advantages that are obtainable from common road locomotion, and at the same time, with a chance of remunerating those who advanced the capital, the directors would have chosen their plan from amongst the inventors who have devoted their attention, time, or fortune to the attainment of the desired object, with the greatest success. As being next in importance to railways and steam navigation, we have always been anxious to make public all that has been projected and effected in this branch of commercial transit; and we may mention, as amongst those whose experiments have been recorded in our pages, and who have all done more than Sir James Anderson, the names of Gurney, Maceroni, Ogle, Maudslay and Field, the Heatons of Birmingham, Sir Charles Dance, Dr. Church, and above all, Mr. Walter Hancock. We believe, that if any thing is to be done with steam carriages on common roads, this last-named gentleman is he who is most likely to effect it. For twelve or fourteen years his undeviating aim has been the perfection of his steam carriage; he has built more carriages, travelled a far greater number of miles, and has, consequently, had far greater experience in the matter than any other engineer. In a letter detailing his travelling on the Paddington road in the autumn of 1836 (see No. 685), Mr. Hancock mentioned that he was preparing calculations, prov

Our only motive in thus putting forward Mr. Hancock's steam-carriage, is a desire to see steam locomotion flourish, not only on railways, but, if practicable, on common roads. We should have thought that the course to be pursued by a bona fide public company would have been to advertise a public competition, engaging to adopt the plan which should fulfil certain fixed conditions. Every steam carriage inventor, and his backing capitalist, would then have an opportunity of putting his locomotive to the test, and with a fair prospect of remuneration in case of success. If the

result of such a trial, fairly conducted, should be against Mr. Hancock, and in favour of Sir James Anderson, or any one else, we should rest content. We certainly, however, think that an undertaking, professing to be public, should either have chosen for its adoption that plan which had already been put to the most extensive and severe tests, or have left the matter open to competition.

To enable all who are interested in the matter to judge for themselves of the merits of Sir James Anderson's plan, the adopted of the Steam Carriage and Waggon Company, we give without expressing any opinion of our own, pro or con., the following description of his boiler, in the peculiar applicability of which, to locomotives, we presume the pith of his plan lies. We extract the description from the Farmers' Magazine for the present month, in which it forms part of a high-flown article in favour of common road, in opposition to railway locomotion. The writer, we are sorry to say, appears to have but a very partial knowledge of either branch of the subject; in his mechanical calculations he is altogether at fault; and, moreover, we think, that the road steamer could be more favourably supported by argu

ment, in connection with, than as a rival to the railway.

"We shall proceed to give a description of Sir James Anderson's new patent boiler. That part of a locomotive engine being, as it were, the heart, or seat of life of the machine.

"The above engraving affords a side view of the boiler, partly in section, for the better illustration of its construction. At a is the fire chamber, and at ₺ the ash pit. A blowing machine is represented at c by which the air is forced through an assemblage of pipes dd (contained in a condensing cylinder) into the ash pit, whence it ascends between the fire bars and excites the combustion of the fuel; the current of heated gases thence ascend, and passing over the first of a series of broad flat water chambers (the edges of which e ee are only seen in this view), it descends between the first and second, then turning under the second, it ascends between the second and third, and so upwards and downwards throught the series, as indicated by the current of flame until it reaches the chimney f. The sides and top cases of the fire chamber, as well as the sides and top cases of the boiler are also water chambers, in order to generate as much steam as possible within the space, and to prevent any undue radiation of caloric, so as to adapt the apparatus in an especial manner to steam beats as well as to steam carriages.

One

of the water chambers is shown in section for the better comprehension of their construction. They are formed of two flat plates each containing about fifteen superficial feet placed about two inches asunder, and held in this position by the interposition of perculiarly formed frames of solid iron, through which and the external plates they are strongly rivetted. The plates are thus united at about every three inches distance over the whole surface, so as to render it impossible by any force of steam that can be generated to tear them asunder. The water is supplied to the boiler by the ordinary means, which fills the lower horizontal tube and rises thence uniformly through short vertical tubes into the water chambers e e which are always kept full to the top and even partly filling the horizontal tube above, whence the steam enters the reservoir through the perforated caps which impede such aqueous particles as might be borne upwards along with the steam, and returns them into the boiler, while the purified yet dense vapour passes freely through into the reservoir for the supply of the engine." "A part of the steam is condensed, and returned to the boiler by the force pumps. This condensation is effected by discharging the steam into two large horizontal cylinders fixed underneath the carriage, each of them containing an as

Sir, I have very often reflected upon the great difficulty of properly determining the priority of inventions; one thing, however, is very clear, that a person who makes any useful discovery, or brings forward an ingenious invention, must bestow much thought and trouble before he can reduce his first crude ideas into a practical form, and therefore would fain believe himself, not only as a true but the first inventor or discoverer. You will admit, however, that it is very possible that different persons may invent the same thing at the same time, or near the same time, or even at distant and different times, without the slightest knowledge, or communication of each other's discoveries, and yet each be entitled to the full honour of being an original inventor or discoverer; I will here remark that in all these cases of similar inventions by different persons, if the circumstances which originated the invention or discovery, were properly detailed, they would always be found to carry along with them internal evidence of the invention having been made by the persons claiming that honor; for it often happens that the most useful and important inventions and discoveries have had their origin in some very trivial occurrence, which has been seized at the happy moment by an ingenious mind, the idea improved upon, and ultimately turned to the advantage of himself and others. In mathematics this is indeed a very common occurrence; and speaking from experience, upwards of twenty-five years ago I thought I had made some very clever discoveries in that science, but when I became possessed of Dr. Hutton's Mathematical and Philosophical Diction ary, I found that the same things had