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66 Proceedings of the British Association. 
On the Glasgow Asylum for the blind ; ay Mr. Alston. 
On the application of Statistics to iodral. and ; by Dr. Chalmers. 
Illustrations of the practical opepaee of the Scottish aitiens of the manage- _ 
r. Alis 
ment of the poor; by D 
On the comparative ial waite of Edinburgh and Glasgow: by Mr. Watt. 
On the bill circulation of Great Britain ; by Mr. Leat 
n the excess of population, and on emigration as a ba. for it in the High- 
lands of Scotland ; by Prof. Ramsay. 
On the vital statistics of Glasgow ; by Dr, Cow 
On the state of education and crime in England se Wales ; by Joseph Bentley. 
On Pawnbroking in Ireland; by Mr. Porter, - 
Tables containing a comparative view of the state of crime in London, Dublin 
and Glasgo 
On dhe state of crime in the borough of Calton; by Mr. Rutherglen. 
the state of crime in the district of Gorbals; by Mr. Richardson. 
the state of crime in the suburban burgh of Anderston ; of ae Findlater. 
eport of the Manchester Statistical Society on the stat e cation in the 
borough of Kingston-upon-Hull. 4 
On the population of certain parts of Africa; by Mr. Saxe 
Sect. G. Mechanical Science. 
Mr. Wallace offered a paper on extinguishing fire in steam 
vessels. This he proposes to effect by steam itself. The plan 
has been some time before the public, and many successful ex- 
periments have been made in the presence of scientific men. 
Among the most important was the following, made on board 
the Leven steamboat :—On the cabin floor, a space of 10 feet by 
14 was covered with wet sand, on which were laid iron plates, 
and on these a fire was kindled with about 4$ cwt. of very com- 
bustible materials, such as tar barrels, &c. A hose 34 feet long 
and 24 inches in diameter, extended from the boiler of the engine 
to the cabin, and when the fire had been sufficiently kindled, so 
that the panes of glass in the windows of the cabin began to 
crack by the heat, the steam was let in, and the doors of the 
cabin shut. The fire was extinguished in about four minutes. 
Several trials were made, and all with like success. On another 
trial, a metal pipe of a greater diameter than the hose was con- 
nected with the steam-boiler, and extended into the cabin. A 
small square hatch was cut in the deck, immediately above the 
cabin, and through this opening were lowered down into the 
cabin two movable grates, each containing a blazing fire, well 
kindled, of about 1 ewt. of coals. The hatch on the deck, and 
the cabin doors were then shut, and the steam let in, and in fif- 
teen minutes the small hatch was opened, and one of the grates 
“—— up, when the whole mass of coal and cinders, which | had 
ag 
