\5i Analysis of 'Scientific Books and Memoirs. 



substance of a letter addressed to us by David Gordon, Esq. already well 

 known to the public as the ingenious inventor of the portable gas lamps : 



" As Mr. White has lately taken out a patent for a floating break- 

 water, and you have noticed it in your Edinburgh Journal of Science as 

 a new invention, I beg leave to refer you to the Repertory of Arts, Vol. 

 XLI. page 206, wherein you will find the specification of my patent, 

 dated 14th January 1822, for improvements on floating breakwaters, a 

 copy of which I sent to you, and of which you gave a short notice in the 

 Edinburgh Philosophical Journal for October 1822. Vol. VII. page 373. 



« In fact I had, from observing the effects of a field of ice aground be- 

 twixt two islands, and at the mouth of a bay, and large American rafts 

 anchored in similar situations, many years ago, contrived a floating 

 breakwater, and for a long time thought myself the first inventor thereof, 

 but upon returning to this country, I discovered that General Bentham 

 had proposed to make floating breakwaters in separate parts or floats 

 of wood, to make the floats of a triangular or rather a prismatic shape, 

 and to hold them in their places by means of iron chains, &c. ; and 

 that he had actually given in a plan and estimate for forming the break- 

 water at Plymouth of wooden floats, the cost of which he calculated at 

 L.201,826. Under these circumstances, I saw that it was impossible to 

 claim being the first inventor of floating breakwaters, and limited my 

 claim to improvements thereon. 



" I humbly think that both General Bentham's and Mr. White's 

 plans are defective in several particulars, even in others than I could in- 

 clude in my specification, and which I propose to give an account of in 

 some observations on sea walls, piers, and breakwaters." 



Art. XXVIII.— ANALYSIS OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS AND 



MEMOIRS. 



I. Der Monte Rosa. Eine Topographischc unci Naturhistorischc Skizze nelst 

 einem Anhangc dcr von Hcrrn Zumstein gemachtcn Reisen zur Ersteigung 

 seiner Gipfcl. 



Monte Rosa. A Topographical and Historical Sketch, with an Appendix of the 

 Journies of M. Zumstein to these Summits. By Lotus Baron de Welden. 

 With a Topographical Chart and Lithographic Plates. Vienna. 1824. 



While Monte Rosa was regarded as inferior in altitude to Mont 

 Blanc, it enjoyed a sort of peaceful existence, which was neither disturb- 

 ed by the approach of travellers nor by the hammer of the Geologist. No 

 sooner, however, was it conjectured that it was the king of European 

 mountains, than travellers flocked to it from different quarters. Its 

 ridges were ascended, its ravines explored, its rocks broken up, and me- 

 moirs written in commemoration of its newly acquired sovereignty. 



In our last Number we gave a translation and abstract of the very in- 

 teresting journey which M. M. Zumstein and Vincent performed to one 



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