No. 10. Improved Safety Girdle. — Hatching double yolked Eggs. 309 



periodicals — such as Chambers' .Journal and 

 Miscellany — was only one shilling- a quar- 

 ter; and that among the subscribers there 

 were no fewer than eleven tcho could not 

 read! It was the first time we had heard 

 of men ignorant of the alphabet subscribing 

 to a news-room ! This interesting establish- 

 ment, which was started upwards of eight 

 months ago, through the praiseworthy exer- 

 tions of a person named Mr. James Part- 

 ridge, is denominated 'The City Teetotal 

 Reading Room,' and affords a curious in- 

 stance of the good that is sometimes doing 

 by private individuals in obscure places, and 

 under circumstances apparently the most 

 adverse. — LitlelVs Living Age. 



The Improved Nautilus or Safety Girdle. 



This is an important article to travellers. 

 The opinion of those who have tested its 

 qualities, together with an e.^amination of 

 its construction and mode of operation, in- 

 duces a belief that, in practice, it will fully 

 sustain all that is claimed for it. The Nau- 

 tilus is a foreign invention, and has obtained 

 a high reputation in Europe, having been 

 adopted in the English and French marines, 

 by order of their respective governments. 

 In the hands of our ingenious countrymen 

 its mode of construction has been materially 

 changed and improved. It is secured by 

 Letters Patent, both for the original inven- 

 tion and the improvements. It is inflated 

 by the single act of putting it around the 

 chest, and when secured there, the wearer 

 cannot immerse his head in the water, con- 

 sequently drowning is impossible. Its supe- 

 riority over the ordinary air bag, consists, 

 first, in its being inflated in a moment of 

 time without the aid of the breath. Second- 

 ly, when inflated, the water proof covering 

 is distended by an ingenious apparatus with- 

 in, and permanently remains so whilst around 

 the chest, or otherwise elongated. Being 

 thus distended, and unable to collapse from 

 external pressure, the air within has no tend- 

 ency to escape, consequently, if perforated 

 with numerous small holes, it retains its 

 buoyancy for a long time. 



Thirdly, the compact form to which it 

 may be reduced when not in use. 



In view of the immense destruction of 

 human life on our inland seas, rivers and 

 Atlantic coast, it ranks as an indispensable 

 article for the carpet-bag, or overcoat pocket 

 of the traveller. 



In all kinds of boat service, in stress of 

 weather, landing through surf upon the 

 beach, &c., the Nautilus cannot fail to be 

 es^sentially serviceable. Two dozen of them 

 extended around a long boat or launch, con- 



verts them into perfect life boats, which can 

 neither capsize nor sink. This can be accom- 

 plished with but little preparatory arrange- 

 ment for making them secure. The recent 

 loss of the ship Alabamian, and the rescue 

 of the passengers and crew by almost a mir- 

 acle, would have illustrated the use of the 

 Nautilus, in converting a launch into a life 

 boat. 



The revenue service, in our harbours, and 

 along our coast, should undoubtedly be sup- 

 plied with them. The Nautilus may be ex- 

 amined at Leary &. Go's, No. 5, Astor House, 

 S. C. Smith & Sons, 79 John street, or at 

 the Factory, 83 Anthony street. — Neio York 

 Farmer and Mechamc. 



Hatching of double yolked Eggs. 



The statements below are given as we find them in 

 the jYort/i .American. We would not be understood as 

 vouching for their correctness. — Ed, 



Her Majesty's Aviary at Windsor: The 

 following singular and rare, if not unique 

 occurrence, has just taken place at the 

 Royal Aviary, in the Home Park, at Wind- 

 sor. It having been deemed advisable by 

 Mr. Walters, the superintendent of her Ma- 

 jesty's Aviary, in order to improve the breed 

 of the genuine Dorking fowl, that it should 

 be crossed with that of the Cochin China 

 fowl, the necessary arrangements were made 

 for tlmt purpose. A Dorking hen, which 

 had roosted for some time past with the 

 fowls from China, has recently been in the 

 habit of laying twice, and sometimes thrice 

 a week, eggs containing double or two dis- 

 tinct yolks. Mr. Walters determined to try 

 the experiment of attempting to hatch one 

 of these double-yolked eggs, and placed it 

 with several other eggs under the hen. The 

 result was that two chickens were produced 

 from this single egg ; one is a cock-bird, of 

 the pure Cochin China breed, and the other 

 is a hen chick, of the Dorking genus. Both 

 whicli are now five days old, are in good 

 health, and there is not the least doubt of 

 their being reared. This is a circmnstance, 

 as we are informed, unprecedented in the 

 annals of natural history. The Cochin China 

 fowls were imported into this country direct 

 from Asia, and presented to her Majesty last 

 autumn. — North American. 



A man who gives his children the habit 

 of industry, provides better for them than 

 by giving them a large sum of money. 



A man is valued, as he makes himself 

 valuable. 



