328 CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



of the pump by sedimentary matter. To ascertain its action at 

 any time, they recommend a small stop-cock in the supply pipe, similar 

 to that used in locomotive boilers. 



4th. The carelessness or ignorance of those entrusted with the 

 management of the steam engine may produce, and have produced, 

 the most disastrous accidents. To guard against these the Commit- 

 tee have proposed certain provisions in their project of a law for 

 regulating steam navigation and the steam engine, and to which we 

 must refer for details. 



5th. Cases of collapse from a partial vacuum within a boiler or 

 its fues. 



The ordinary air-valve is commonly provided, to prevent danger 

 from this source by the condensation of the steam. A singular case, 

 described, by Mr. John Taylor, as having occurred at the Mold 

 Mines, is discussed by the Committee. It appears than an explosive 

 mixture of coal-gas and air was formed in the flues on the closing 

 of a damper, and became ignited. A burst of flame was seen from 

 the mouth of the flue at the moment of explosion. The boiler was 

 one of those with interior flues. The precaution which suggests itself 

 to prevent the possibility of such an accident is an obvious one. 



6th. Having closed the subject of the means of preventing explo- 

 sions, the Committee consider briefly whether it is possible to pro- 

 vide protection against them when they occur. 



The means proposed are by carrying passengers in a boat separate 

 from the engine, or by placing the boilers on the " guards" of the 

 boat, and separating them by a suitable bulwark. The first of these 

 plans, it is stated, has been tried in America, and abandoned on ac- 

 count of the impediment to speed. The second, the Committee are 

 of opinion, might be rendered effectual, but they prefer strongly at- 

 tempts to render the boiler safe to those intended to ward ofi^ the 

 effects of its explosion. These means, as far as have occurred to 

 them, are embodied in the project of a law, from the adoption of 

 which we should anticipate much good would result, and which, 

 with the Reports, we recommend to the perusal of our readers. 



An Address delivered at the Opening of the Worcestershire Museum, 

 by Charles Hastings, M.D., F.G.S. ; to which is subjoined the 

 First Fasiculus of the Statistical and General History of Worces- 

 tershire — Parish of Great Witley — by the Rev. Thomas Pearson, 

 Rector of Great Witley, and the Rev. John Pearson, pp. 97, 

 800. London: Sherwood — Worcester: Deighton. 



Foremost among the Natural History societies that, like bril- 

 liant syngenesious flowers opening before the unclouded sun, met 

 the bright beams of the sun of science, shone forth the Natural 

 History Society of Worcestershire. Its founders seemed men en- 

 dued with enthusiastic ardour, its patrons appeared liberal and judi- 



