1827.] Varieties. 



A person whose talents and attainments en- 

 abled him to raise the veil, boldly states the 

 claims of the different assurance societies to 

 general confidence, and exposes the numerous 

 arithmetical sophisms by which they have 

 deluded the public, and have been hoping to 

 execute future depredations. One journal 

 (the Quarterly), hitherto supposed to be ad- 

 verse to the diffusion of knowledge among 

 the people, confesses the obligation they are 

 under to this writer, and endeavours to for- 

 ward his views of enlightening the commu- 

 nity by a still more popular exposition of the 

 subject. Another journal (the Edinburgh), 

 hitherto supposed to be the organ of truth, 

 the standard of accuracy, and the inveterate 

 foe of all that is corrupt and mysterious, 

 stands forward to condemn Mr. Babbage for 

 presuming to assail what he (Mr. Babbage) 

 proves to be corrupt; advocates some of the 

 worst abuses in the system of life assurance, 

 of such vital importance to this nation at 

 large ; and, by a series of miscalculations 

 and unsupported assert ions, endeavours again 

 to mystify the public. Why should the advo- 

 cate of the people's rights and instruction 

 now labour to deceive them ? We hope the 

 answer is not to be found in the ill-gotten 

 wealth of the societies whose cause he advo- 

 cates, and in the frailty of human nature. 



Improved Hygrometer. Until Mr. Da- 

 niel's very valuable invention, no hygrometer 

 existed which could be considered in any 

 other light than as an instrument of compa- 

 rison, the positive value of the zero point 

 being undetermined. By a very simple but 

 ingenious contrivance, M. Arago has so far 

 perfected the hair hygrometer, that, by 

 ascertaining the value of the extreme points, 

 by a direct comparison with Mr. Daniel's in- 

 strument, the intermediate degrees may be 

 known with great accuracy. The principle 

 of his machine is this: the wheel, instead of 

 being moved by the expansion and contraction 

 of a single hair, is regulated in its motion by 

 the joint effect of several hairs, connected 

 together by small slips of ebony, resembling 

 and acting as splinter-bars to a team ; and a 

 correct idea may be formed of the nature of 

 the instrument by describing on paper the 

 manner in which horses are harnessed to the 

 pole of a carriage, only substituting for the 

 pole itself the silk band which embraces the 

 periphery of the wheel of the hygrometer. 



Scientific Trifles. We have heard of 

 " splitting straws j" and, in fact, there is a 

 little contrivance for the purpose, by no 

 means a diminutive limb of the law, but a 

 small cheap machine, for enabling our work- 

 men to perfect the manufacture of straw hats. 

 A very ingenious gentleman has recently in- 

 vented an engine, to be moved by steam or any 

 other adequate power, for cutting, splitting, 

 and binding fire-wood into bundles. This 

 happy illustration of the old adage of "break- 

 ing a gnat upon a wheel " is, we learn from 

 Newton's Journal, the subject of a patent 

 a useless waste of mone,y, the cost of the 

 machine being sufficient to supply all London 



655 



with manual-cut, split, and bound fire-wood 

 for years, if not for ages. This last, how- 

 ever, is far surpassed by " another perpetual 

 motion, by Sir W. Congreve," contrived, no 

 doubt, for the benefit of the numerous mining 

 companies in which the baronet was so large 

 a proprietor ; inasmuch as it is a sort of 

 water-wheel, to be worked by the force of 

 capillary attraction, accumulating a weight 

 of water greater on one side than on the 

 other, and that sufficient, he believes, not 

 only to overcome the friction of the wheel, 

 but to afford a surplus of power for any re- 

 quired purpose. Sir W. Congreve may be- 

 lieve he could thus neutralize the frictioa of 

 his wheel ; others know that he could not : 

 but he is a great projector. 



Situation of Benares. The exact situa- 

 tion of Benares, so celebrated in the history 

 of Hindu astronomy, and containing such 

 stupendous but rude instruments of observa- 

 tion, has been recently determined by Messrs. 

 Cracroft and Prinsep : the latitude of the ob- 

 servatory is 25. 18'. 33". N. ; the longitude 

 is 82. 35'. 52-5". E. of Greenwich. 



Barometrical Measurements. Although 

 the corrections applied to formulae in physics 

 are, in very many instances, carried much too 

 far for all practical purposes, still, where 

 modern discoveries suggest modifications 

 which are likely to produce any sensible ef- 

 fect upon the result, we think they should 

 receive all possible publicity ; and, therefore, 

 present the following formulae for deter- 

 mining heights by the barometer the result 

 of a long dissertation of Mr. Anderson, in- 

 serted in the Edinburgh Philosophical Jour- 

 nal : 



l -f 



h (the height in fathoms) =10000 J 



m^^m^ 



. og086 



t and t' represent the temperatures of t he air 

 at the lower and higher stations ;/ and/', the 

 elastic forces of the vapour at these stations j 

 b and It' the heights of the barometer, the 

 second being reduced to the temperature of 

 the instrument at the lower station. The 

 temperature is expressed in Fahrenheit's 

 scale. 



A Hint to Florists. The impetuous ca- 

 reer of modern research has led to the neglect 

 of numerous discoveries, if not always of ge- 

 neral utility, at least frequently pleasing in 

 their application. In one of the volumes of 

 the Philadelphia Transactions, a method of 

 preserving or of recovering flowers when 

 culled for ornament is recorded for the in- 

 sertion of which our London readers, at least, 

 will feel indebted to us. It is the substitution 

 of camphorated for plain water ; and if this 

 be frequently changed, a flower must be very 

 far gone if it do not return to its original vi- 

 gour, although it may require a longer or a 

 shorter time. We have recently seen the ex- 

 periment tried with two slips of lilac, which 



