132 
of that article, and to your reader's who 
may be troubled with that nuisance, 
the following improvement on the com- 
mon cowl on the top of chimneys, as 
published in the Mechanics’ Magazine, 
August 7, 1824, No. 50. The remedy 
there inserted, may be applied, with 
effect, in situations where the inconve- 
nience is caused by the wind: blowing 
down the top of the chimney. I can 
speak with confidence to this, as 1 have 
made one for a friend of mine, and it 
has completely answered the purpose. 
The contrivance is simply by inserting, 
into the back of the common cowl, a 
tube shaped like a speaking trumpet, 
open at both ends; a vane is added to 
assist its traversiug, and to insure the 
bell of the trumpet being constantly 
presented to the wind; by which a 
strong draft is created over the mouth 
of the cowl, and beyond, the top of the 
chimney.*— Yours, &c. 
James Swarr. 
Northampton, 7th Feb. 1825. 
—— 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Instirutions of Mrcuanics — Pro- 
Gress of Macurnery. 
HE formation of Mechanics’ Insti- 
tutions may justly be regarded as 
one of the most important events of 
the present age. As means of diffus- 
ing intelligence among a very impor- 
tant class of the community, of stimu- 
lating their inventive faculties, and of 
inspiring habits of economy and the 
love of science, in the place of dissi- 
pation and idleness, more powerful 
agents could, probably, not have been 
devised: their influence on the well- 
being of society cannot be estimated. 
How much may be effected by a prac- 
tical engineer, when his energies are 
guided by the lights of science, we may 
partly conjecture, from what we know 
to have been done by two: individuals 
of our own time—Watt and Fulton. 
They have effected an entire revolution 
in the arts of manufacture and naviga- 
tion, and have multiplied the power 
and productive industry of this country 
incaleulably. The effects, direct and 
collateral, of their mechanical disco- 
yeries will contribute, or, I may say, 
have already contributed more to change 
the face of society, and augment the 
wealth of nations, than the combined 
result of every discovery since the Re- 
formation. Their discoveries rank, in 
* The small end of the tube must project 
over the top of the chimney. 
Smoky Chimnies.—Mechanics’ Institutions. 
{ Mar. 1, 
importance, with that of printing. Yet 
these men were originally mere work- 
ing mechanics—the one a watchmaker, 
the other a carpenter; and working 
mechanics they would, in all probabi- 
lity, have continued, had science never 
opened to their minds its ample page. 
To Watt we owe the steam-engine, to 
Fulton (an American, an extraordinary 
man, though little known in this coun- 
try) we are indebted for steam naviga- 
tion. How many Watts and Fultons, 
Arkwrights and Wedgwoods, have 
passed away, like the “ rath primrose,” 
unknowing and unknown. Ignorance 
sat upon their genius like some oppres- 
sive incubus, and stifled its exertions. 
What splendid results may we not an- 
ticipate from the knowledge which will 
be diffused, and the rivalry and com- 
petition that will be called forth, among 
the Institutions which are every day 
establishing in all our prineipal towns ? 
It may appear surprising, when we re- 
flect on the rapidity with which they 
are spreading, that the idea of such 
Institutions had not occurred at an 
earlier period; the fact is, that they 
could flourish only when society had 
attained a certain degree of intelligence. 
It would be a vain attempt in countries 
where the elements of knowledge were 
not already. laid among the bulk of the 
people, and where the popular mind 
had not already acquired a powerful 
impulse toward the acquisition of know- 
ledge. This is precisely the case among 
our artizans and manufacturing popu- 
lation. And hence the amazing suc- 
cess which is now attending this new 
species of scientific institutions. If 
such success has hitherto attended the 
exertions of mechanics, when a scien- 
tific mechanic was a phenomenon, what 
may we not expect when every me- 
chanic shall be a man of science! 
Every circumstance, in the past his- 
tory of man, shews that the progress of 
improvement is unlimited, and that the 
degree of perfection to which the arts 
of life may attain, can neither be anti- 
cipated nor appreciated. The manner 
in which the discoverers, in the various 
branches of the arts and sciences, com- 
bine and multiply each other’s power, 
is truly miraculous. When Arkwright 
was employing his days and nights in 
bringing to perfection his spinning 
machinery, could he have imagined that 
vast multiplication of power which it 
would experience from its combination 
with the steam-engine, which at that 
very moment was occupying the genius 
of 
