96 REPORT — 1844. 



out, in some parishes, with individuals who sometimes send them out to beg and per- 

 haps steal. Such is the extent of poverty, that in one year seventy-nine persons were 

 voluntary inmates of the Glasgow prison, and after remaining there for some time 

 they were turned out, when one half of them returned, having qualified themselves 

 by the commission of some crime. In 1842 there were in the jail at Glasgow 134 

 males and 124 females, whose crimes it was well ascertained arose from their inability 

 to find employment. Dr. Alison drew a comparison between this frightful state of the 

 Scotch poor generally and their state in Berwickshire, where more adequate poor- 

 assessments are regularly levied, and the poor are temperate and industrious ; mendi- 

 cancy does not exist among them, and the evils of which he complained were nearly 

 unknown. 



On the Statistics of Health, elucidated by the Records of the Marylehone In- 

 frvury. By Dr. Clendinning. 



This infirmary is for the relief of the sick poor of Marylebone parish. During a 

 period of 6f years 220 patients had been admitted monthly, of which 140 were from 

 the workhouse and 80 from their own homes ; of this number the average was 144 

 cures, 26 deaths, and the remainder were incurable, discharged themselves, or were 

 dismissed for irregularity. The females admitted were 122 to 98 males, 



Lieut.-Col, Sykes, on closing the Section, remarked that he considered its labours had 

 not been either useless or unsuccessful. They had been obliged to drop some papers 

 in order to get through the work before them. They had now run a circle of twelve 

 years, and this session equalled, if it had not excelled, its predecessors. 



MECHANICAL SCIENCE. 



On the Resistance of Railway Trains. By J, Scott Russell, 



The author detailed a number of experiments on the Sheffield and Manchester 

 Railway. For the purpose of these experiments it was necessary that the railway 

 should present long and very steep gradients. The experiments were as follows : — 

 1. Trains of carriages, empty, were put in motion at the summit of an inclined plane, 

 at about 30 miles an hour, and were allowed to descend freely. 2. Trains of car- 

 riages, loaded, were tried in the same way. 3. The engine and tender were treated 

 in the same way, being put to a velocity of between 30 and 40 miles per hour, and 

 allowed to descend freely the whole length of the inclined plane without any train 

 attached. 4. The engine and tender, with a train attached, were propelled to the 

 top of the inclined plane, and then allowed to descend freely by gravity. By these 

 means the following results were obtained: — 1. The resistance to railway carriages 

 at slow velocities does not exceed 8 lbs, per ton. 2. The resi^■'^ance to a light railway 

 train of six carriages, at 23'6 miles an hour, was 19 lbs, per ton. 3. The resistance to 

 a loaded train of six carriages, at 30 miles an hour, was 19 lbs. per ton. 4. The resist- 

 ance to a light train of six carriages, at 28 miles an hour, was 22 lbs, per ton. 5, The 

 resistance to a loaded train of six carriages, at 36 miles an hour, was 22 lbs, per ton, 

 6, The resistance to a six-wheeled engine and tender, at 23"6 miles an hour, was 191bs. 

 per ton. 7. The resistance to a six-wheeled engine and tender, at 28-3 miles an 

 hour, was 22 lbs. per ton. 8. The resistance to a train composed of six light carriages, 

 with engine and tender, at 32 miles an hou- H lbs. per ton. 9, The resistance 



to a train composed of nine loaded carriag 'ngine and tender, at 36 miles an 



hour, was 22 lbs. per ton. Mr. Russell observed, ci/a't the subject wa^'"'^ 'Considerable 

 importance, inasmuch as the system adopted for laying down th ''nts of new 



lines was of necessity regulated chiefly by the opinion of the engineer ^ ^e question 

 of resistance. How much mechanical force is required to move a given weight of 

 train along a given gradient, at a given speed, was a question of which the solution 

 was essential to sound engineering, but the profession had long felt that they were 

 not in possession of sufficieut data to determine this question. 



