British Association for the Advancement of Science. 317 
ham, prepared by Mr. W. L: Wharton. —Next was read Mr. Wil- 
son’s account of the Darton collieries “ Accident Club,”—a kind 
of mutual relief association.—Mr. Felkin, of Nottingham, read 
an abstract of the Annual Report of the overseers of the town- 
ship of Hyde, in Cheshire-—Mr. W. R. Charlton submitted Sta- 
tistical notices from the parish of Billingham.—Mr. Hare offered 
an Outline of subjects for statistical inquiries.—Mr. P. M’Dowall 
presented statistical: tables of Ramsbottom, near Bury in Lanca- 
shire.—Mr. Kingsley read a paper giving a tabulated view Lat the 
Onin 1 Statistics of Ireland. 
Baiton G. Mechanical Science. — 
A paper was read on a new Day and Night Telegraph, “ta 
Mr. Joseph Garnett ; and a paper on Lsometrical a by 
Mr. Thomas Sopwith. 
_ Mr. Sopwith also gave a description of an Satie method of 
const, ues ing large Secretaires and Writing Tables. 'The prin- 
ciple is, y opening a single ‘lock, all the drawers, closets and 
at by 
sarfitione are opened. These are so disposed, that a person may 
reach every thing contained in it, without stirring from his seat. 
‘The president, (Mr. Chas. Babbage, ) and many others, expressed 
their admiration of the arrangements, and of the convenience 
which such a table must be to every person ehgaged in an ex- 
tensive correspondence, or ane many sets of papers on various 
subjects. 
Mr: G. W. Hall on the power of economising and ranaieilices 
heat for domestic purposes.~—Mr. John S. Russell gave some fur- 
ther notices on the resistance of water—Mr. P. Nicholson com- 
municated an essay on the principles of oblique bridges. —Mr. 
W. Greener submitted remarks on the: material and mechanical 
construction ‘of steam boilers. He considered the accidents which 
happen to steam boilers to be mainly due to defect in the mate- 
rial; and he detailed several experiments made on slips of iron 
cut from plates of different quality. He found that slips cut lat- 
itudinally from a plate, bore less by 30 per cent. than.slips of the 
same dimensions cut longitudinally. 
Sir John Robinson spoke on the use of coal-gas for sabia 
Mr. Strutt, of Derby, stated some years since, that coal-gas would 
probably be found, by the lower classes, the cheapest fuel for 
cooking. The whole apparatus, (which might be considered the 
