554 Proceedings of the 



It has now to be cut into sheets for use. In the ordinary way this 

 is done by cutting through the reel or coil of paper in the direction 

 of its axis, then laying- it flat on the table, a block of wood of the 

 required size is pressed down upon the paper, and a cutting-plough 

 carried round the edge of (he block. This method occasions a great 

 loss of shavings, as it is obvious that the outside of the coil must 

 be larger in circumference than the inside. This loss is now 

 obviated by a machine invented by Mr. Cowper ; in this machine 

 the web of paper is cut longitudinally by circular knives, and in a 

 transverse direction by a serrated knife, resembling a row of pen- 

 knife points. 



Notwithstanding all the care taken to keep little knots and straws 

 out of the pulp, some will escape, and consequently every sheet has 

 to pass through the hands of women, who, with a sharp knife, 

 scratch out any lumps they find 5 but even this defect seems likely to 

 be removed by the recent invention of Mr. Ibbotson, who has de- 

 vised a strainer of a peculiar construction, and which is found to 

 answer. It consists of two brass plates cut into very long angular 

 teeth, extending across the box or sieve of which they form the 

 bottom ; when the plates are put together, the teeth of one plate 

 fills and completely closes the spaces of the other ; on withdrawing 

 them a little series of long narrow openings or slits are formed. 

 Now it is found that the fibres of pulp will flow through such 

 an opening, although they will not flow through small square holes, 

 while the knots are as effectually stopped by the long slit as they 

 would be by the square holes. 



It is gratifying to observe the extensive results of the im- 

 provements in paper and printing. Whether we turn to the de- 

 partments of morals, of sciences, or of the imagination, books are 

 now published to an extent far greater than at any former period. 

 An expensive work on political economy never reaches the poor 

 misguided labourer who destroys machinery ; but when 'The Re- 

 sults of Machinery ' is published, containing two hundred pages for 

 one shilling, in three months 25,000 are in the hands of the very 

 people who ought to have them. Who would not have supposed 

 that almost all the readers of Sir Walter Scott's admirable tales had 

 been already supplied ; and yet as soon as a cheap edition is brought 

 out, the publishers themselves are astonished at the demand, which 

 obliges them to print more than 1000 volumes every day for three 

 years, i. e. more than 1,000,000 volumes. 



A series of very fine coloured wax anatomical models of healthy 

 structures, and also of large anatomical drawings and engravings, 

 were placed upon the tables and appended to the walls of the library, 

 by Mr. Schloss, of Southampton Buildings. 



March bth. Dr. Edmund Chirke on Vesuvius and Pompeii. 

 Dr. Clarke gave an account of the present state of this extraordinary 

 mountain and town, drawn from his personal observations, and 



