230 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[June, 



of quadnipcds \vfro really washed down into the sea ov estuary of (lie 

 Norfolk crag', and -were not subsequently introduced into the deposit by 

 dihnial action. The fresh-water shells are rare in the neighbourhood of 

 Norwicli in comparison with the marine, and the terrestrial species are 

 still more scarce. Mr. J. B. Wigham, however, has ascertained that the 

 freshwater testacea predominate in a bed at Thoiiic. The same gentleman 

 found at I'ostwick, in a stratum containing marine shells and fishes, a por- 

 tion of the left side of an upper jaw of a Mastodon, containing the second 

 true molar, and the indications in the socket of the tirst. This specimen 

 Mr. Owen lias been enabled to refer to the Mastoduii Imigiroslris, discovered 

 at Eppclsheim. In the same bed were found the teeth and jaw of a mouse, 

 larger than the common licld species ; also bones of birds, and of several 

 species of fishes. The horns of stags, bones and teeth of the horse, pig, 

 elephant, and other quadnipeds, have been likewise detected at Postwick, 

 Thorpe, Brainerton, &c. ; and this association of the Mastodon and horse 

 near Norwich, as well as in many other places in Europe and in America, 

 Blr. Owen considers to be a subject of interest. Tlie tliird point, respect- 

 ing the relative antiquity of the Norfolk and Snftblk crag, was discussed at 

 considerable length, and the author acknowledged the great assistance 

 afforded him by Mr. Wigham, who has nearly doubled the number of species 

 obtained from the former deposit near Norwich ; also the aid which he has 

 received from Mr. Searles Wood, who submitted to Mr. LycU's examina- 

 tion the whole of his magnificent collection of crag shells ; and from Mr. 

 George Sowcrby, to whose extensive knowledge of recent testacea the 

 author stated that he is indebted for a rigid determination of the existing 

 shells found in the crag. The number of well-defined species in the Nor- 

 folk crag is 112, out of which eighteen are land and fresh-water; compared 

 with the Suflblk crag this number is small, but Mr. Lyell showed from the 

 Fauna of the Baltic, that species are much less numerous in brackish than 

 salt water, the latitude, climate, and other conditions bemg the same ; he 

 also showed that, in analogous deposits in the valley of the lUiine, the 

 amount of species is small. Of the ninety-four marine shells, seventy occur 

 in the red crag, and therefore it might be inferred, that the two deposits 

 arc nearly of the same age ; but in the Norfolk beds the recent species, 

 both of fresh water and marine testacea, amount to between fifty and sixty 

 per cent., and are nearly all Biitish shells; whereas in the red crag, there 

 arc only thirty per cent., and in the coralline but twenty. This compara- 

 tively recent origin of the Norfolk deposit, had been previously inferred by 

 Mr. Charlesworth, from the general character of the fossils. In the exami- 

 nation of the coUectious which led to the above results, the greatest care 

 was taken to reject those shells which might have been washed out of the 

 red crag into the Norfolk beds, or those species which apparently did not 

 live in the waters, which deposited this division of the crag. From the 

 numerical proportion of recent testacea, Mr. LycU infers, that the coralline 

 and red crag belong to his Miocene division of the tertiaiy series, and the 

 Norfolk strata to his older Pliocene ; he also show-ed, that the lacustrine 

 beds at Grays, in Essex, and many other places, constitute another link in 

 the geological sequence of formations, as they contain ninety per cent, of 

 recent testacea, and must consequently be referred to the newer Pliocene 

 epoch. Lastly, a comparison of the crag with the tertiary strata of the 

 faluns of Touraine, has convinced Mr. Lyell that M. Desnoyers was right 

 in considering the Suftblk and Touraine dejjosits to be of the same age, 

 although he formerly dissented from that conclusion. 



AMERICAN INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. 



We feel great pleasure in giving the following address to our Transatlan- 

 tic brethren, agreed to at pieliminary meetings at Augusta in Georgia, at 

 Boston, and at Philadelphia. 



Public works are now so extended in our country, and the mass of experi- 

 mental knowledge to be gained from those in use is so great and so peculiarly 

 applicable to our circumstances, that it is even more valuable to the American 

 engineer than what he can learn in Europe, where larger means liave per- 

 mitted greaier expenditures. In this country it is of paramount importance 

 to obiain tlie greatest amount of useful effect at the smallest cost ; and of 

 attempts to attain this end, the Union now contains a multitude of instructive 

 e.iamples. Some have been eminently successful, and others less so ; but of 

 either kind, the student, or the more advanced engineer, too often seeks in 

 vain for any satisfactory written or printed description, and is unable to 

 obtain any thing more than vague, doubtful, and incorrect information. This 

 evil can only be removed by the exertions of the engineers themselves. 



They are now established as a distinct class, and have long felt the want of 

 such an association as that proposed, but it has hitherto been supposed that 

 the proper time for its organization bad not yet arrived. 



^ The success that has attended the labours of the London Institution of Civil 

 Engineers, its high standing and great usefulness, prove that such societies 

 may be of great public utility, when properly conducted, and are incentives 

 to induce us to imitate so excellent an e.\ample. It is admitted, however, that 

 a society in this coimtry must differ somewhat in its plan of operations from 

 the British Institution, which can readily give utterance to its opinions 

 elicited after frequent and full discussion, since a large portion of its members 

 during the winter have their residences within the limits of London. Here, 

 however, owing to the vast extent of territory over which are scattered the 

 members of our profession, the usefulness of the society must (for the present 

 at least) depend more upon the facts and experience of its members, made 

 known in written communications, than upon their opinions orally expressed 

 in public discussions. 



The very fact that our improvements are so widely spread, that few, if any 

 members are able to give even the most important of them a personal exami- 

 nation, affords, perhaps, the strongest argument in favour of a society that 

 shall, by a concert of action, bring the experience of the whole country within 

 the reach of each member. 



The difficulty of meeting at any one point, caused by the time and expense 

 required in travelling from distant portions of so extensive a country as the 

 United States, is a serious obstacle, but it has been much diminhshed by the 

 facilities affoided by the railroads already in use, which are among the valuable 

 results of the labours of our civil engineers. Tliough our society may be less 

 favourably situated than the one in London for frequent and public discussion, 

 we nevertheless anticipate many important advantages to be derived from a 

 personal intercourse and interchange of information among its members, and 

 from the establishment of a permanent repository of the results of experience, 

 obtained from the most authentic sources. The standing of the profession in 

 our country is, fortunately, such, that its importance need not be dilated upon ; 

 it is, therefore, the more necessary that every thing in the power of the mem- 

 bers should be done to add to its respectability and increase its usefulness. We 

 look forvvard to the formation of the society as a valuable means of advancing 

 these desirable ends. 



We trust, also, that each may appreciate the importance of attending at 

 the time and place appointed for forming the society, and will be willing to 

 make some sacrifice for efl'ecting that object; or if prevented from attend- 

 ing by uncontrollable circumstances, that lie will express his views in writ- 

 ing upon the subject of a suitable constitution. 



MEETINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, 25, Great George-street, Westminster, every 

 Tuesday at 8, P. M. 



Royal Institute of British Architects, 16, Grosvenor- street, Monday at 8, 

 P. M. June 10 and 24. 



Architectural Society, Lincoln's Inn Fields Converzationt on Tuesday, 



June -1, at 8, P. M. 



AMERICAN PATENTS ISSUED IN APRIL, 1838. 



WITH IlEMAKKS AND tXEMPLIFIC.lTIONS BY THE EDITOn Or THE JOURNAL 

 OF THE EB.VNKLIN INSTITUTE. 



For a spring Lock for Coach and Railroad Car Doors ; Peter Alverson, 

 New Haven, Comiccticut, .\pril 2- 



We are told by the patentee, tliat " the object of his invention is a spring 

 lock easily managed, and of sulKcient strength to secure the door firmly, 

 and yet hi size and form so compact as not to injure the pillar of the door, 

 nor interfere v\'ith the run of the lights, and which may be opened and 

 shut from within as well as from without." The lock is then described, 

 but its construction, although not specially recondite, caimot be made 

 clearly knovvm without the drawings. 



For a Rotary Steam Engine ; Oliver Wright and A. A. Wilder, Warsaw, 

 Genesee comity. New York, April 2. 



This engine consists of a thin, revolving wheel, or drum, to the periphery 

 of which steam is conducted through hollow arms within the drum, extend- 

 ing from its centre to its periphery, where it issues tangentially ; the im- 

 provement claimed is to " the application of springs and set screws to the 

 apertures of rotary steam engines; and also the placing a door to the case, 

 so that the apertures may be closed or opened without taking the case 

 apart." 



It is not to minor an'angements of this character that the rotary engine 

 will owe its utility, should such a debt e^r be contracted by it : they may 

 servo to render one rotary engine better than another ; but to enable it to 

 compete with the reciprocating engine requires a radical change, a mode of 

 construction which shall be absolutely new ; possibly this maybe eventu- 

 ally discovered. 



For an improvement in Wardrobe Bedsteads ; Z. C. Favor, Boston, Mas- 

 sachusetts, April 2. 



For an improvement in the Manufacture of Gunpowwdcr ; Richard J. L. 

 Witty, Lowell, Massachusetts, April 2. 



For an improved mode of forming raised Surfaces for Printing on Paper, 

 Calico, &c. ; Godfrey Woone, city of London, April 2. 



For an improved Machine for breaking Hemp and Flax ; Ahin Kyes, 

 Crittenden, Grant county, Kentucky, April 2. 



An endless chain of slats, or bars, is made to revolve round two rollers, 

 the bars, or slats, forming the bed of the break. Above tliis is a platform 

 extending the length and breadth of the break, and having on its rmder 

 sides projecting slats which are to pass in between those of the revolving 

 apron, but so far apart as to span over two of them. This platform is 

 raisi'd \crtically by cams, .and falls upon the hemp, which is placed upon 

 the bed above described ; the claim is to '• the so placing of the slats upon 

 the breaker, at such distance apart as that they shall span over two bars of 

 endless chain, v\liilst the feeding is to the distance of one bar only ; the 

 slats thus striking allcniatcly. between cacli bar, as tlie endless chain is 

 nuulc to advance." 



