382 New Publications. 



certainly a most important feature in our Patent plan, and such a result could 

 never be expected from the most careful and best conducted hand-spinning. 

 But this is not all, by hand-labour the hemp can only be spun from the mid- 

 dle, or liight ; and therefore only one-half of the length of its fibre is extended 

 in the yarn, consequently, some qualities of hemp have hitherto been consi- 

 dered inferior, because, on account of the shortness of their fibre, they would 

 not admit of being doubled : thus, a material in other respects as good, while 

 of lower price, has been rejected in the manufacture of Cordage, not so much 

 on its own account, but because, by the process of hand-spinning, only the 

 one-half of its length could be employed. Now, Mr Lang's plan has this ad- 

 ditional advantage, that the hemp is spun by the end of the fibre, and thus, 

 by having its whole length extended in the yarn, those qualites of hemp 

 hitherto considered inferior, because shorter, may be applied with equal safety 

 and advantage, and do in reality produce Cordage as strong and as durable as 

 the others. When we take into account the very depressed state of this branch 

 of our manufacture, in consequence of the facilities enjoyed by our neighbours 

 on the continent of underselling us in a foreign market,* as also the present 

 state of the shipping interest, it will, by every candid person, be acknowled- 

 ged that an invention such as this, by which we are enabled to produce a su- 

 perior article, and at a cheaper rate, ought, even in a political point of view, 

 to be regarded as a public good ; and is consequently entitled to public en- 

 couragement and support." 



So far Messrs Macnab. We have seen the rope-yarns, un- 

 derstand the machinery employed, have read carefully the ex- 

 position, and do not hesitate to say, that this new cordage has 

 answered the expectation of those who have tried it, and that 

 severely too, in many seas. The public, the best judges in such 

 cases, will, we doubt not, after a careful perusal of the " ExpoH- 

 tion^'' and examination of this new kind of cordage, feel it their 

 interest to employ it extensively. 



5. Lethcea Geognostica; or Figures and Descriptions of the clutracle- 

 ristic Petrifactions of the different Rock Formations. By Dr 

 H. G. Brom^n. In 4to fasciculi. Heidelberg 1834. 



This beautiful, accurate, and interesting work, of which the 

 first number has reached us, is creditable to the well known 

 practical skill and learning of the author. Every possessor of 

 a geological cabinet, and all who study the geological history 

 of the remains of the animals and plants buried in the crust of 

 the earth, will find in the I^ethaea Geognostica a safe and in- 

 structive guide. 



• We learn, upon good authority, that Ropemakers in Russia are paid at 

 the rate of only S^d. per daj^ ; hence the importance of machinery, which, 

 by lowering the price of the article, prevents our being shut out of the fo- 

 reien market. 



