384 



Dies of medals 

 ▼ery liable to 

 be broken. 



Are there any 

 mefms of pre- 

 senting this ? 



QUERY ON THE BREAKING OF DIES, 



U To the specimens of Mr. Dumarest's talents I ought to 

 add the medal on the peace of Amiens, the execution of 

 which was awarded to him after a public competition. Un- 

 happily, we arc informed, one of the dies was crushed 

 under the mill. This is a very frequent accident, and dis- 

 couraging to the artist. Dumarest experienced it in a very 

 vexatious manner ; he was obliged to make almost every die 

 he executed over again, and for one of his medals this 

 happened no less than eight times following. The causes of 

 it deserve inquiry. No doubt they depend on the quality of 

 the steel, the care with which it has been forged, its temper, 

 and the influence of the atmosphere; but still more on the 

 mills, and the care taken in coining." 



As I cannot gain any instructions on this point from the 

 books I have at hand, and have no opportunity of acquiring 

 information from any artist, I should be happy to be in, 

 formed through the medium of your Journal, whether there 

 be not means of preventing this. 



It appears, that Dumarest was in England sometime, and 

 employed in the manufactory at Soho by Mr. Bolton, so 

 that he must probably have been acquainted with many pre- 

 cautions taken there against an accident, to w hicjj it might 

 be supposed the dies would be particularly liable, under the 

 pressure of Mr. Bolton's powerful machinery. 

 I am, Sir, 

 Your very obedient humble Servant. 



C. 0. T. 



French tran«- 

 lat'on of Ar- 

 chimedes. 



„V C I EN T I F 1 C N E JVS. 



IT is somewhat remarkable, that the works of a mathe- 

 matician so justly celebrated as Archimedes has never been 

 translated into any modem language till lately. I believe 

 his Arenarius is the only tract we have of his in English ; 

 but I am informed a French translation of the whole of his 

 works, that have reached us, has lately been published at 

 Paris. 



