1844. 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



53 



it is not our province to entpr. On the engineering department lie 

 charges many instances of neglect. 



On the 30th of April, last year, it is said : — 



"The account you heard about the Tcviol, one of the Royal Mail 

 Steam packets, having nearly sunk in the Southampton water, is per- 

 fectly correct. It is a well known fact here. The circumstances were 

 these : — the engineers, on leaving work, left one of the sea cocks open, 

 and some hours after, it was discovered that the ship was settling by 

 the head 1rom 1ft. Gin. to 2ft. On examination the cause was discovered, 

 but so diflicult was it to get at the cock, that one of the engineers got 

 a bed or bag, or something of the kind, to stop the water until she was 

 pumped out, and the ensign was hoisted union down, which is a signal 

 of distress, or to indicate a want of assistance, which was sent from 

 the Seivr7i, and one of the Havre steam vessels stopped to render 

 assistance." 



Also that the Severn took fire on the voyage from Bristol to South- 

 ampton, owing to the construction of her boilers and furnaces. These 

 have been strongly denied by the secretary of the oinpany, but the 

 evidence adduced by Mr. Macqueen has not been disproved. To the 

 mismanagement. Captain Chappell, the Secretary, bears testimony in 

 a circular addressed to the captains : — 



"One ship proceeded from St. Thomas to Havana, through tiie old 

 Bahama channel, finding no difficulty whatever in the navigation, 

 whilst another passed to the south of Cuba, thereby extending her 

 voyage unnecessarily between 300 and 400 miles, burning away above 

 GO tons of coals that could have been saved, and creating two days' 

 delay on the passage, as well as further detention at Havana to replace 

 the fuel thus unnecessarily consumed. 



" Coals have in many cases been taken on board at a most objection- 

 able expense, in places where the company have no depots, and where 

 no absolute necessity existed to ship coals, snch as at Tobago, Charles- 

 ton, and Curafoa. In other instances more coal was taken from the 

 depots than was required, snch as at St. Thomas, where the stock 

 being short, one ship took much more than she wanted, leaving none 

 for the next ship." 



Also Mr. Macqueen says : — 



"Several of the officers and crews at the outset would, howeven 

 lend no assistance to coal, and the manner in whi;h the steamers had 

 been constructed, with spar decks, is unfavourable for coaling rapidly, 

 and the delay thus occasioned is increased by the coal-funnels being 

 too narrow to admit the coals quickly. At the coal depots these de- 

 fects were unich complained of, and which are attributable to the ig- 

 norance or carelessness of Captain Chappell, Marine Superintendent, 



when these were originally constructed. The existence of all these 

 defects tended to produce delav, delay to produce confusion, and both 

 to bring the great undertaking at the very outset into disrepute." 



CONDUCTING AND ABSORBING POWER OF BUILDING 

 MATERIALS. 



New Experiments on Building IMaierial 

 M.R.C.S. London : Taylor & Walton. 



By John Hutchinson, 



This small work embodies the results of the writer's long and labo-. 

 rious researches communicated to the Chemical Society. His attention 

 was directed to the subject in connexion with the relative conducting 

 power of building mr.terials, as influencing the construction of peni- 

 tentiaries, hospitals, union houses, &c. The compositions used for 

 the purpose of experiment were obtained by permission from the 

 Model I-'rison. From the degree of labour bestowed on this work, 

 and with the knowledge that it is about as easy to make a right ex- 

 periment as a wrong one, we are bound to presume that Mr. Hutchin- 

 son is right in his conclusions. It should be also observed, that he has 

 most fully and carefully described the materials used, and the methods 

 of experiment resorted to, so that any source of error, if existing, can 

 be immediately detected. Of the l.ibour, as we have said, there is 

 abundant evidence. Such a work rests entirely on its own merits, 

 and it is difficult to give an idea of the value of that which depends 

 upon its merits as a whole, without republishing the entire work. 

 We have, however, availed ourselves of two tables with Mr. Hut- 

 chinson's remarks and observations which by professional readers will 

 be viewed with great interest, as thi'y clearly show, at a glance, the 

 conducting and absorbing power of most of the materials used in 

 building. 



There are in the work nine tables. The first gives the whole mat- 

 ters necessary to work out the calculation of specific heats of equal 

 bulks and equal weights. The second table shows the times of pas- 

 sage as to velocity, through the various substances. The third ex- 

 hibits the time consumed in the passage of heat. The fourth the re- 

 sistance to the passage of heat outwards. The filth the conducting 

 power or velocity for the transmission of heat, corrected for specific 

 heat, referred to the conducting |)ower of fir wood as 100, and slate 

 as 100. The sixth exhibits the conducting power during four different 

 intensilies of heat. The seventh the times of cooling in air. The 

 eighth the quantity of heat conveyed outwards in air by different 

 substances, compared with fir wood as 100, and with slate as 100. 

 The ninth (shown below as No. \) illustrates the gradation of con- 

 ducting power. The tenth is also extracted as No. 2. 



T.^BLE I. 



Gradation of Conducting Power rofcrrrd fo Fir Wood as 100, and to Slate fly 100, in Iieatinr/, and tlie rate of Cooling in air referred to Fir Wood as 100, to 

 Slate as 100, t/ie lowest Conducting Poieer, t/ie lowest rate of Cooling, the lowest Specific Heat by Weight and Bulk, and lowest Specific Gravity placed first 



in each coltimn. 



