New Patents and Mechanical Inventions. 57 



of nervous matter whicli gives rise to 

 the nerves of sensation, that also 

 which gives roots to the nerves of 

 voluntary motion, and the lateral co- 

 lumn connected with the offices of 



1824.] 



yet be saw in the sympathetic system 

 of the human body, only tlie develop- 

 ment of the same system of nerves, 

 although he was aware that in man 

 the sympatlietic nerve bestowed nei- 



ther sensibility nor the power of respiration, must all have been dc 



motion. 



Bichat announced his system with a 

 popular eloquence, which had a very 

 remarkable influence over all Europe. 

 Physiologists, yielding to him, mistook 



stroyed by such coarse experiments. 

 It cannot surprise us that the results 

 were obscure and contradictorj'. 



But the most extravagant departure 

 from all the legitimate modes of rca- 



thc importance of the several parts of soning, although still under the colour 



the nervous system ; and even the mul 

 tiplicd experiments of Le Gallois 

 failed to convince them of the nature 

 of the spinal marrow. 



The experiments of M. Le Gallois 

 were of the rudest kind possible. The 

 spinal marrow was cut across, or de- 

 stroyed by passing skewers into the 

 spinal canal, and tlie effects were ob- 

 served as if the spinal marrow were a 

 simple body. Whereas, by such de 



of anatomical investigation, is the 

 system of Dr. Gall. It is sufficient to 

 say, that, without comprehending the 

 grand divisions of the nervous system, 

 without a notion of the dislinct proper- 

 ties of the individual nerves, or having 

 made any distinction of the columns of 

 the spinal marrow, without even hav- 

 ing ascertained the difl'erence of cere- 

 brum and cerebellum, Gall proceeded 

 to describe the brain as composed of 



structiou of its substance, the original many particular and independent 

 ganglia, which form a series along the organs, and to assign to each the resi- 

 spinc, must have been hurt ; the track dcnce of some special faculty. 



NEW PATENTS AND MECHANICAL INVENTIONS. 



To Thomas Fuller, of Bath, Coach- 

 builder ; fur an Improvement in the 

 Construction of Sltdfts, and the Blode 

 of attaching; them to two-wheeled Car- 

 riages. — Feb. 18, 1823. 

 THIS improvement in the con- 

 struction of shafts, and the mode 

 of attaching them to two-wheeled car- 

 riages, are designed to prevent that 

 uDi)lcasant vibration of the carriage 

 commonly called knee-motion ; which 

 object is ellected by rendering the 

 binder part of the shafts elastic, and 

 affixing tlicni to the drawing -bar, by 

 means of shackles, with pivots, upon 

 which, as fulcrums, the shafts vibrate, 

 and thereby communicate the up-and- 

 down motion of the horse to the elastic 

 part of Ijie shaft beyond the drawing- 

 bar ; while the body of the carriage, 

 being suspended in front to the ful- 

 crums, and behind to the extremities 

 of the elastic shaft, escapes the 

 vibrating action of the shafts, and is 

 «iil)ji:clcd to no other motion but that 

 which is «:(jmmunicated by the elasti- 

 city of the springs as the carriage 

 passes over temj)orary obstructions. 



By means of a shackle-joint or ful- 

 crum, the vibratory motion of the 

 sli.'.n. is <lissipated, whereas, in the 

 ordinary crjn.slriiclion of two-wheeled 

 carriag(;s, tin; shafts are constuiilly- 

 Monthly Mao, No. 3£>2. 



vibrating levers, having their fulcrums 

 at the axle of the wheels, and deriving 

 their action from the up-and-down 

 motion of the horse's back, by which 

 that unpleasant vibrating movement is 

 produced, commonly called knec- 

 niotiou, and which the introduction of 

 the improved elongated clastic shafts 

 and shackle-joinls entirely prevents. 



A horse works much easier in the 

 patent shafts, as they accommodate 

 themselves to his action by their flexi- 

 bility behind the bar ; for the same 

 reason they arc not so likely to break 

 as other shafts. The simple and secure 

 method of attaching the patent shafts, 

 allowing them to be disengaged with- 

 out difficulty, presents a great conveni- 

 ence in shii)^ing for exportiilion, as the 

 whole of the body and sju-ings, &c. 

 can be inclosed iu apfirtable |)acking-» 

 case, and the shafts packed together 

 in a way to preserve their shape, and 

 may be disposed of in any convenient 

 part of the vessel. Spare shafts can 

 also be taken out. If it should be (and 

 it is not unfrcquentlj) the case, that a 

 gentleman has a favourite lioisc, much 

 Ix.'Iow in height the horse he is a(cu,-.< 

 tomcd to drive, a pair of extra shafts 

 can be mad(! for the suiall horsey 

 which can easily be substituled iVtrthy 

 others wlicu »c<iuired, and the cai riago 

 1 rcmkrctl 



