1821.] Scientific Intelligence. 46y 



which it was expressly stated that he should employ it for the convey- 

 ance of vessels. The specification is placed at the beginning of a very 

 rare tract preserved in the library of the British Museum. The above 

 work is illustrated by an engraved plate, representing a steam-boat 

 towing a large vessel, and contains the following account of the appa- 

 ratus employed : 



" In some convenient part of the tow-boat, there is placed a vessel 

 about two-thirds full of water, with the top close shut ; this vessel being 

 kept boiling rarefies the water into a steam; this steam being conveyed 

 through a large pipe into a cylindrical vessel, and there condensed, 

 makes a vacuum, which causes the weight of the atmosphere to press 

 on this vessel, and so presses down a piston that is fitted into thjs 

 cylindrical vessel in the same manner as in Mr. Newcomen's engine, 

 with which he raises water by fire." 



After Hulls, we may place M. Duquet, the Marquis de Jouffroy, 

 and Lord Stanhope, as the next in the list of candidates for the honour 

 of this invention, all of whom are prior to Fulton, the so much boasted 

 transatlantic engineer. We have noticed this subject, as it serves to 

 illustrate a part of the history of the most stupendous machine which 

 science has yet presented to the aid of man ; but a useful treatise on 

 this subject has long been wanted, and we feel pleasure in statin"- that 

 this important chasm in scientific literature is likely to be supplied by 

 the immediate publication of a work on the subject by Mr. Partington 

 of the London Institution, an analysis of which we hope to lay before 

 our readers in an early number of the Annals. 



VI. New Apple. 



A gardener resident at Barnwell, near Cambridge, has, after many 

 years' trial, brought an entire new species of apple to very great perfec- 

 tion. It is admirably adapted for keeping; and for magnitude and 

 weight it exceeds all that are known in this country, measuring 

 twelve inches in diameter, while it exceeds one pound in weight. 



VI T. Goodman's Improved Stirrup-Iron. 

 This patent improvement consists in the introduction of a cross-bar, 

 bearing a spring within the open bottom of a stirrup-iron supporting a 

 false bottom, which rises and falls according to the motion of the 

 horse, and affords relief to the rider; the horse is also relieved from 

 any sudden pressure, and they prevent the breaking of the saddle-tree, 

 the weight of the rider being uniformly carried upon an elastic instead 

 of a solid bearing. 



VIII. Comets. 



It appears that the late Mr. Cusac has left some unpublished papers 

 on comets. He supposes them to be globes of water; that, on return 

 to perihelion, the solar rays (after sunset) strike on the mass of water, 

 enter converging to the centre, where, after decussation, they emerge 

 from the liquid globe diverging, and form the phenomenon in the 

 heavens called the comet's tail. As to the use of these watery bodies, 

 he thinks they were formed by nature to assist in giving a due temper- 

 ature to our system. 



IX. North Polar Expedition. 

 It appears from an account furnished by a gentleman connected 



