THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Jan. 6, 



The following is Mr. Laurie's description of the in- 

 strument. The drawings give the details of the appa- 

 ratus. — J. S. R. 



The fact that the specific gravity of salt water !s 

 greater tlian that of fresh, and that it increases with 

 the degree of saturation, is what the operation of this 

 instrument depends on ; by its means two columns 

 of water, the one feed and the other brine, are poised 

 against each other, so as that any difference of weight 

 betwixt these columns immediately becouies apparent 

 by the lighter of the two requiring an accession in 

 quantity to resist the upward pressure to which both 

 columns are subjected. This is accomplished by having 

 two common glass gauge-tubes close together, each of 

 which is connected with a separate tube; that inside 

 the boiler descends to the level of the water, the spe- 

 cific gravity of which is to he measured, and having 

 either or both of these tubes so connected with the 

 feed-pipe of the boiler, that by opening a cock one of 

 the pipes will be filled with feed-water, while the other 

 remains filled with brine, which cock being shut, the 

 tubes remain so filled ; but inasmuch bs feed-water is 

 of less specific gravity than brine, it will be forced 

 up and stand in the glass tube at a higher level than 

 the brine, which dift'erence of levels increases with the 

 saturation — and hence the index to judge of the salt- 

 ness. 



Fig. 1 and 2, A, B, are the two glass gauge tubes ; 

 C, one of the tubes forming the connexion betwixt one 

 of these glass gauge tubes and its tube D, that descends 

 inside of the boiler to near the bottom ; E, the tube 

 forming the connexion betwixt the upper ends of these 

 tubes and the inside or the boiler and ascends to near 

 the top; F, G, two cocks so made, as shown in the 

 drawing, that by their means each of the tubes inside 

 of the boiler may be shut off from the glass tubes, and 

 also may be connected with the tube II, leading from 

 the feed-pipe of the boiler; I, a cock affording the 

 means of shutting offthe tube E from the glass tubes, and 

 also of connecting either of these glass tubes with the 

 tube K, leading to the bilge of the vessel ; each of these 

 cocks has a handle, and when the instrument is indicat- 

 ing, the three handles hang perpendicularly downwards. 

 To bring the instrument into operation, the three handles must first be put 

 in the position j j which has the effect of allowing the brine to flow right up 

 the t'lass tube A, and out through the tube K, into the bilge of the vessel ; this 

 having been done for so long a lime as that A and its tube inside the boiler be 

 thoroughly cleansed and filled with brine, the handles are then to be put in 

 the position j ;, which, in like manner, cleanses and fills B and its tube inside 

 of the boiler with brine; finally, bring the handle of the top cock into its 

 original position, and put either of the lower handles horizontal, which 

 forming a connexion of the feed-pipe with one of the tubes inside of the 

 boiler, fills that tube with feed-water ; thus there are in the two tubes inside 

 of the boiler two columns of water of different specific gravities, the one being 

 brine, the specific gravity of which is to be measured, and the other feed- 

 water, the specific gravity of which is pretty nearly constant, so long as the 

 temperature of condensation is the same, and does not vary much, let the 



temperature of condensation be what it may ; but, inasmuch as these columns 

 of water are of different specific gravities, the pressure on the bottoms of 

 them will force the lighter up the glass tube, until such a quantity of brine has 

 followed it as makes it of equal weight with the other ; and hence, in the two 

 glass tubes, the water stands at different heights, the magnitude of which 

 difference becomes known by means of the scale fixed betwixt the glass tubes, 

 and therefore also the degree of saturation of the brine. 



The use of this instrument, which might be called a Salinometer, is not 

 confined to this one subject, for it answers thoroughly all the purposes of 

 the common glass gauge, the position of the surface of water in the boiler 

 being midway betwixt the surfaces of water in the tubes. 



When either or both of the glass tubes is broken, put the handles in the 

 position ! ! , and nothing can escape from the boiler. T. W. L. 



CHURCH BUILDING IN IRELAND. 



It at all times affords us much pleasure to notice the works that are in 

 progress in Ireland, particularly when we have to record buildings of a public 

 character, such as the one we are about to describe; for the description, to- 

 gether with the preceding remarks, which are slightly abridged, we are 

 indebted to the Newrii Examiner. The architect is .Mr. Duff, whose eccle- 

 siastical works we have before noticed in this Journal. 



We hear of continual comparisons between England and Ireland, in which 

 the relative prosperity and poverty, civilization and crime, learning and igno. 

 ranee of these two countries, are descanted upon with no small share of skill. 

 There is, however, one prominent part which these balances of national cha- 

 racteristics have, either through inattention, or incompetence to do justice to 

 the subject, left almost unalluded to. This is the more to be regretted, as 

 nothing more tends to introduce good feeling between countries, and a sense 

 of emulation, than judiciously pointing out to the less improved country the 

 causes and consequences whereby the more cultivated has arisen in "emi- 

 nence. 



England has been remarkable for the richness of its churches since imme- 

 diately after the conquest, when William, the Conqueror, with arms, intro- 

 duced arts, and when the simple strength of Saxon edifices was supplanted by 

 the more stately splendour of Norman towers. The temperament of these 

 hardy Normans must have been more than tinctured with piety. They must 

 have been essentially devout, for, whilst we find the castles of their nobles uf 



comparative plainness, in no instance does aught beneath grandeur suffice 

 them when they erected temples of religious worship. This may he accounted 

 for by the prevalence then in repute of joining the priestly functions and ar- 

 chitectural duties in the one person. The churches of England are almost 

 all constructed after the designs of bishops and priests, and, perhaps, never 

 again may the world expect to behold Gothic architecture carried to such 

 perfection as when such men as William of Wykehani, though wearing the 

 sacred purple, deemed them sanctified duties to resign, with compass and 

 square, inspect stone-hewers, leain the relative bearing uf timbers, and, in a 

 word, all but became artisans, by spreading out the protecting span of roofs, 

 and by sheltering civilised society. 



Unfortunately for Ireland, its distracted state of society, ever in a turmoil 

 between the invader and the invaded, aflTorded no shelter for arts to thrive. 

 Hence its almost total want of magnificent churches ; and Christ's and St. 

 Patrick's in Dublin, and Armagh Cathedral, may be said to constitute the 

 only pious preserves of ancient days. Better times are upon us now, and 

 church building, within these last twenty-five years, durably marks the vast 

 spread of civilization, learning and religion, which have come, as it were, in 

 well regulated abundance upon the people. More Catholic churches have 

 been built in Ireland within that period than were for the preceding two cen- 

 turies ; yet few of them are in the Ecclesiastical or Gothic style of architec- 

 ture. Dublin has been especially blameahle in this respect, and out of the 

 hundreds of thousands sterUng, its citizens dedicated to erect houses of wor- 

 ship these last ten or fifteen years, we look in vain for a Gothic building. 



