134 REPORT— 1849. 










low tariff for the transmission of communications, so that the poorest person is 
enabled for a few cents to send a communication to a considerable distance. From 
the actual operations of the three systems, it appears that the Prussian is the most 
simple, effective and ceconomical, for annual repairs are not required to the line 
wires, as in the cases of England and America, where they are exposed to so many 
casualties. 
On Kosman’s Patent Cistern as a Sanitary Machine. By — Woop. 
Mr. Wood observed that the great object of this apparatus was to cause a simul- 
taneous flow of water from the respective houses of each street, by which a thorough 
cleansing from the source of deposits may be obtained. The cistern is so contrived 
that it may be caused by a self-acting valve to discharge a periodical flow of water 
through the drains of the house, which, combining with a similar simultaneous dis- 
charge from the other houses, would sweep the sewers clean every three or four 
days or more, as may be found desirable. The advantage is considered to be, that 
instead of stagnant collections of soil, we have a perfectly fluid and attenuated flow 
at short intervals, easily carried off by the waters of a river and leaving nothing be- 
hind. The cistern is divided into two unequal parts: the larger part for domestic 
purposes, the smaller part to discharge its contents into the drain suddenly and with 
great force through a large pipe, which operation is accomplished by the means of 
a chain which is attached to the arm of the ball and to the valve at the bottom of 
the cistern. 

Woodcut omitted in Mr. Lra’s paper ‘ On Traces of a Fossil Reptile,’ seep. 56. 

