136 New Scientific Books. [Feb. 



practical ing:enuity, have erected a very ingenious apparatus for illumi- 

 nating with gas the dials of the Tron Church and Post-office steeple in 

 Glasgow. *' The apparatus consists of a No. 1 Argand burner, placed 

 a few feet out from the top of the dial, and enclosed in a nearly hemi- 

 spherical lantern, tlie front of which is glazed ; the back forms a para- 

 bolic redector; the dial receives not only the direct, but a conical 

 stream of reflected rays, and is thus so brilliantly illuminated, that the 

 hours and hands can be seen with nearly the same distinctness at a 

 distance as through the day. To mask the obtuse appearance of the 

 Jantern, its back has been made to assume the form of a spread eagle, 

 above which is placed the city arms, the whole handsomely executed 

 and gilt. The gas-pipe and lantern move on an air-tight joint, so that 

 the lantern may be brought close to the steeple for cleaning when 

 necessary. The gas is first ignited by means of a train or flash-pipe, 

 so perforated, that when the gas issuing from the holes at the one end 

 is lighted, the holes along the pipe become so, and tlius the gas inside 

 the lantern is kindled as if by a train of dry gunpowder: in tliis way 

 the light might be first communicated either from the street or from the 

 steeple. The effect of the lighted dial is at once cheerful, pleasant, 

 and useful. By a simple contrivance, the clock disengages a small 

 detent, something similar to the larum in wooden clocks. This shuts 

 the gas cock, and instantly extinguishes the light." — (Edin. Philos. 

 Journal.) 



Article XVIII. 

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