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Stones from the Moon-Power of Steam, &c.

123

when submitted to chemical analysis, assuming what is impossible; and the they all agree in component parts; the persons who have taken up this conjecmetallic particles being composed of ture, have assumed one impossibility nickel and iron; the earthy of silex and to account for what they conceive to be magnesia. another; namely, that the stony bodies should come from any other source than our own globe.

Large masses of native iron have been found in different parts of the world, of the history and origin of which nothing The notion that these bodies come very accurate is known. Such are the from the moon, though it has been great block of iron at Elbogen in Bohe- laughed at as lunacy, is, when imparmia; the large mass discovered by Pal- tially considered, neither absurd nor las, weighing 1600lbs. near Krasnojark, impossible. It is quite true,that the quiin Siberia that found by Goldberry, et way in which they visit us is against in the great desert of Zahra, in Africa; such an origin; it seems, however, that probably also that mentioned by Mr. any power which would move a body Barrow, on the banks of the Great Fish 6000 feet in a second, that is, about river in southern Africa; and those three times the velocity of a cannonnoticed by Bruce, Bougainville, Hum- ball, would throw it from the sphere of boldt, and others in America, of enor- the moon's attraction into that of our mous magnitude, exceeding thirty tons earth. The cause of this projective in weight. That these should be of the force may be a volcano, and, if thus imsame source as the other meteoric stones pelled, the body would reach us in seems at first to startle belief; but, about two days, and enter our atmoswhen they are submitted to analysis, phere with a velocity of about 25,000 and the iron they contain found alloyed feet in a second. Their ignition may by nickel, it no longer seems credulous be accounted for, either by supposing to regard them as of meteoric origin. the heat generated by their motion in We find nothing of the kind in the earth. our atmosphere sufficient to ignite them, To account for these uncommon vis- or by considering them as combustibles, itations of metallic and lapideous bod- ignited by the mere contact of air. ies, a variety of hypotheses have been While we are considering the possisuggested. bility of these considerations, it may be Are they merely earthly matter fused remembered that, in the great laboraby lightning? Are they the offspring tory of the atmosphere, chemical changes of any terrestrial volcano? These were may happen, attended by the produconce favourite notions; but we know tion of iron and other metals; that, at of no instance in which similar bodies all events, such a circumstance is with have in that way been produced, nor in the range of possible occurrences; do the lavas of known volcanos in the and that the meteoric bodies, which least resemble those bodies, to say no- thus salute the earth with stony showthing of the inexplicable projectile force ers, may be children of the air, created that would here be wanted. This is by the union of simpler forms of matter. merely explaining what is puzzling, by

I

T has been our rare fortune, in the prog- it is our glory, in regard to several of them, ress of this miscellany,to be the harbingers that, in recominending them, we have often of the various important discoveries which, stood alone, and have generally been oppos during the last twenty-five years, have done ed by contemporary journalists, and not unhonour to the genius of man. Notwithstand- frequently by professors of science. We have ing the lofty pretensions of learned bodies now to announce another application of phiand societies, we have, with few exceptions, losophy to the arts of life, so pregnant with been the first to draw these discoveries from advantages, and so extensive in its purposes, obscurity, and exhibit to the world their as to threaten an entire revolution in the claims in a clear and popular manner; and economy and formation of our domestic es

124

Intelligence. Power of Steam, &c.

tablishments. In the Number for April last, we introduced the details of a system of warming houses, by means of the steam generated in a small boiler, worked in any outbuilding, and conveyed by pipes to hollowsided cylinders placed in the rooms of a house; and we stated in such clear terms the advantages of this elegant mode of propagating heat, that the work-shops engaged in the manufactories have had more orders than they can execute. The experiments made in the course of these erections have, howev

(VOL. 4

er triumph of philosophy than philosophers themselves have ever contemplated.

Mr. W. Aust, of Gray's-Inn Road, has invented an instrument for freeing the shaft horse when fallen with a loaded cart. The instrument consists of the simple addition to the common props of the cart, of an iron bar and hook, about half their length, attached to the top of each prop, and a bent iron prong at the bottom, to prevent their slipPing; the props are strengthened with an iron ferule at each end.

very

The Oolite, or freestone, found at Bath, is and absorbs a considerable quantity of, wa soft and porous, is easily penetrated by, ter. It has of late been formed into winecoolers and butter-jars, in place of the common biscuit ware, and, from the facility with which the water passes through it, so as to admit of evaporation at the surface, it succeeds But the most ingenious applicavery well. tion of this stone is in the formation of circular pyramids, having a number of grooves

cut one above the other on its surface; these hole made in the centre filled; salad seed is pyramids are soaked in water, and a small then sprinkled in the grooves, and, being supplied with water from the stone, vegetates; and, in the course of some days, produces a The hole should be filled with water daily, crop of salad ready to be placed on the table. and, when one crop is plucked, the seeds are brushed out and another sown.

The number of persons executed for Forgery, in England, from 1790 to 1818, is 146!

Mr. Samuel Young's second publication of Minutes of Cases of Cancer, at the Cancer Institution, instituted by the late Mr. Whitbread, merit the notice of the entire body of the faculty; and to the afflicted they will recommend themselves. To the cases Mr. Young has added an appendix, containing a reprint of his valuable dissertation on the nature and action of cancer, with a view to a regular mode of cure, which was first published in 1805.

er, determined a fact which cannot fail to lead to a great extension of the system. It appears that steam, conveyed in pipes nearly half a mile in length, has suffered at the extremity no sensible diminution of heat; consequently, hot steam may be diffused for purof heating houses, in a radius from the boiler of at least half a mile, and perhaps even of two, three, or more miles. Here then is a principle by which heat may be conveyed from a public boiler or magazine, where it is generated, to any desirable distance; and thence may be conveyed into houses for the purpose of keeping the rooms at any temperature, just as gas for light, or water for culinary purposes, is now conveyed into them. We thus divest ourselves at once of coal or wood fires, of all their smoke, filth, and dangers; and also of chimnies, grates, and their accessories. In cost, the ratio is very high in favour of the heat of steam, as ten to one, and twenty to one, according to circumstances. In effective heat, in wholesomeness, in enjoyment, and in luxury, there can be no comparison. Thus a bushel of refuse coal and cinders, costing eight-pence or a shilling, will boil a copper for fifteen hours, and generate steam enough to keep ten or twelve rooms at a uniform and equally diffused temperature of sixty or seventy degrees. Of course it is the same whether these rooms are in one house, six houses, or twelve houses;* and hence the incalculable advantages of this application of steam. Houses, manufactories, schools, churches, hamlets, villages, cities, and even the great metropolis itself, may thus be heated from one or many boilers, or from one or many stations, as may be most convenient. Smoke, the nuisance of towns, will thus at once be exterminated; because that which is generated at the public boilers may easily be consumed, or condensed. We thus also clear society of the stigma and the crimes of chim-curity, as freeholders, in the most genial cliney-sweeping; and diminish the hazards The two last no country possesses in more enmate and most productive soil on the globe. and the horrors of those conflagrations which are as dangerous to our property as our lives. In fine, we expect that these observations will, in due time, have the effect of rendering Steam-heating Societies as general, as pop ular, and as lucrative, as Gas-lighting Societies; and we hope, in consequence, to witness, in the universal success of both, a great*It is proved, by experiment, that every superficial foot of a metallic hollow cylinder will heat 250 cubic feet of air, at 60°, 70°, or 80o, as may be desirable. A cylinder, four feet high, and sixteen inches diameter, that is, having sixteen feet on the inside, will therefore heat 8000 cubic feet of air, or a room thirty feet square and nine feet high. It appears, also, that one small boiler will keep four such cylinders at 70° of heat; and, therefore, will heat twelve rooms, that are eighteen feet square, and eight feet high.

Mr. Birkbeck's Letters from the Illinois are characterized by the same good sense and benevolence as his former productions. Nothing but courage to undertake the voyfamily, which is not quite devoured by taxes, age appears to be necessary to enable any tythes, and high rents, to settle in social se

viable degrees than England; but, alas! the passions of wicked ministers, and of the borHeaven. It remains to be seen, whether the ough-faction, have destroyed the bounties of unmanageable minority will be able to enforce a more just and ratiual policy, so as to keep our industrious population at home: if not, then we fear the political liberty of the two Americas will draw from us our life's best blood, in hundreds, and even thousands, of such nobles of nature as Mr. Birkbeck. All Europe, indeed, without an entire regeneration of its social and political system, must, from the operation of the same cause, soon become a mere caput mortuum, like modern Greece, or Asia Minor. According to Mr. B. in this land of Canaan, land sells at the rate of two dollars an acre; wheat is 3s. 4d. per bushel; and beef and pork 2d. per pound. The soil is fertile and easy of tillage

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of his zeal.

Intelligence-British Agriculture, 1818.

..

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Miss Thurtle's History of France, from the earliest Periods to the second Return of Louis XVIII,---is a book constructed with ability, for the use of young persons.

M. de Chateaubriand's three first volumes of the History of France are, it is said, on the eve of publication.

there is nothing to be deducted from the of the eye, this spring, a membrane covering profits for poor-rates, tythes, or rent; and the external surface of the retina in man and the taxes amount to about one farthing per other animals. acre. At the end of fourteen years, the stock of a proprietor will be accumulated, and the worth of his estate increased, and no renewal wanted: besides, the capital required by an English farmer, at least donbles that required by an Illinois proprietor. For about balf the capital required for the cultivation of worn-out soils in England, a man may establish himself as a proprietor there, with every comfort, and the certainty of establishAGRICULTURAL REPORT, AUG. 1818. ing his children as well or better than him- The charm is dissolved, a reaction has sucself. To labouring people, and to mechan- ceeded, and, in despite of the ice islands, and ics, this country seems to afford every oppor- the conjectures of the learned, we have at tunity to obtain comfort and independence, length and in turn enjoyed a summer as high with the certainty of escape from the calam- in temperature as any, or most of those, ities both of war and peace,---from oppres- which used to warm our ancestors. Harvest sion and taxation. The government imposes commenced, some ten days or a fortnight no taxes, and the whole system of internal since, in the south-western counties, and will taxation has been abolished by a late law, soon become general. The long-continued which, at the same time, decreed a large drought has greatly injured all the crops,--sum for canals, bridges, &c. Mon. Mag. wheat, it is to be hoped, least of all, as most The Journal of a Residence in Iceland, dur- able to endure drought, and generally pro ing the years 1814 and 1815, by Ebenezer ductive in dry seasons. In some, perhaps Henderson, D. D. a missionary from the Bi- many, parts, the wheat will be undoubtedly ble Society,--bears the most ample evidences a great crop; in others, middling, below an Where the researches of his average; and, upon scalding gravels, and predecessors do not furnish Dr. Henderson weak and arid soils, the produce will be with data of theories, be exhibits a wonder- light. The wheat plant has been universally ful degree of assurance in getting out of his tinged with mucor, in consequence of atmos depth; that is to say, to get footing in the pheric vicissitude and drought; and consid credulity of his reader, by torturing into erable quantities of blighted and smutted his journal some verse of his Bible, or some wheat may be expected. The whole of the shred of poetic rodomontade. Dr. Hender- spring crops---barley, oats, beans, peas, will son calls his journal, My Assemblage of be short, throughout England; in some parts, Wonders" and, truly, he makes it marvel- the barley will barely return seed. On the lously edifying, by illustrating many parts of other hand, letters from various districts iu the sacred writers, from the volcanic moun- Scotland represent barley and oats as probatains, herds of rein-deer, hot-springs, the ble to be the best crops, the wheats not promAurora Borealis, and Scandinavian poetry. ising to reach an average. Hay, of every Nothing can be more ridiculous than many species, well got, but universally light; and of the titles of the poems which compose the green food never more scarce, affording a prosodiacal Edda, or teacher. One of these cheerless prospect for winter. They who, sublime and reverend pieces is, "A dialogue having land well adapted, stocked it with between Thor and the ferryman Harbard, lucerne, will have ample reason to applaud who would not, on any account, row him their foresight and economy. Little progress across a river" another treats of a visit has been yet made in turnip sowing, for want from Thor and Tyn to the giant Hyrmir, in of rain; and great part of the plants, alreaorder to procure from this last gentleman, dy above ground, have perished, with the ex"a kettle in which to feast the gods ;" and ception of some of the northern counties, another is a song about "a hand-mill, in where some showers having opportunely falwhich two giant girls were wont to grind len, large breadths of turnips have been sown, gold," for his Majesty of Denmark, King and are in a healthy and flourishing state. Troda. Hops and fruit, particularly the orchard the most productive seasons ; fruits, promise to be most abundant, equal to pears and plums are said to be exceptions. Many hop bine,, as the oldest planter has witnessed. plantations are as clean and pure, in leaf and The potatoe crop greatly in want of rain. The weather has been extremely favourable for the sheep-shearing, and the clip will be most valuable, as wool is perhaps higher in price than ever known before, and still apparently advancing. Both fat cattle and jean somewhat lower; stores considerably LADY MORGAN is at present in London. superintending the printing of her new work so, on account of the want of food. Pigs entitled "Florence Macarthy." It is anoth- greatly in request; and horses, of good qualMilch and in-calf cows scarce and dear. er national tale, belonging, it is said, to pre-ity, at extremely high prices. The demand from abroad for English well-bred mares has been greater, within the last twelve months, than ever before experienced.

Ibid.

There are a number of modern Greeks pursuing their studies at Munich, Wurtzburgh, Gottingen, Jena, and other' German Universities. At Wurtzburgh, one of the students is son to a Prince of Epirus. They purchase many books to take with them to their native country; and great effects may, we think, be anticipated from this importation of enlightening literature, as well as from the acquisition of knowledge in the politics and science of Europe.

sent times and manners.

Dr. Jacob, demonstrator of anatomy in the University of Dublin, has discovered and demonstrated in his lectures on the diseases