70 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Feb. 10, 



the useful effect obtained was equal to T^^ttis. of the power expended, which 

 was higher than many of the best wheels had attained ; he then described a 

 very ingenious adaptation of the balance weight governor for the penstock, 

 for'regulating the flow of the water to the wheel. 



A description of a Water-meter, by Mr. P. Carmichael was then read. 

 The mode of operation of this meter, which was attached to the feed pumps 

 of three steam boilers supplying an SO horse engine, was tliiis described : as 

 the water proceeds through the discharge valve, the float sinks until it comes 

 in contact with a detent or catch attached tn a rod, which is suspended from 

 a lever, this moves round a spanner and pendulum, until it passes the centre 

 of gravity, when the pendulum falls and strikes a spanner, which shuts the 

 discliarge valve and opens the inlet valve from the reservoir to the closed 

 box which supplies the boiler ; a dial, the hand of which was acted upon by 

 the spanner, indicated the number of times of the emptying of the reservoir, 

 and it was stated that the action of the reservoir was very correct. 



Dr. Roth's Jutomaton calculator was exhibited, and its action explained 

 by Mr. Wertheimber. He gave a short review of the various attempts at 

 constructing calculating machines, noticing the Roman Abacus, the calcu- 

 lating lioxes of the Chinese and Russians; the several classes of instruments 

 invented by Napier in 1617, by Perrault and others in 1720, and subse- 

 quently ; the slide rule invented by Michael Scheffelt of Ulm, in 1699; the 

 more important machines attempted by Pascal in 1640, by Moreland in 1673, 

 by Gersteu and by Leibnitz, which were submitted to the Royal Society of 

 London, and the Academic des Sciences in Paris : he then mentioned the 

 machine of Mr. Babbage, upon which upwards of ^20,000 had been ex- 

 pended before the project was abandoned, and the finished part, which 

 formed tables of progression up to five figures, was consigned to the museum 

 of King's College, London. Dr. Roth's machine apiieared very simple, and 

 its results, which were severally tested, were very accurate ; it performed all 

 the operations of arithmetic from simple addition, subtraction, multiplica- 

 tion, and division of numbers, or of pounds, shillings, and pence to vulgar 

 and decimal fractions, involution and evolution, and arithmetical and geome- 

 trical progression : it appeared particularly adapted for checking long calcu- 

 lations of quantities, for contractors, for the merchant's counting house, or 

 for government offices. The same principle had been adopted as counters 

 for rotary or reciprocating machines, ami they appeared from the compact- 

 ness of their form and their regularity of action to be well adapted for the 

 purpose. 



ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, PARIS. 



Jan. 2. — The first business of the evening was the election of officers. 

 M. Charles Dupin was elected President, and M. Elie de Beaumont, Vice- 

 President. 



M. Ilombron, surgeon to the last expedition of M. Dumont-d'Urville, read 

 a paper " On the Tupof/rnjihy of the Austral Frozen Region.'* 



M. Morren communicated the results of some experiments on the varia- 

 tions in the composition of air dissolved in sea-water at dilTerent hours of 

 the day and in djtferent seasons of the year. 



The next paper read was a communication from M. Collegno, " On the 

 Character of the Italian Alps." 



Jan. 8. — A paper, by M. Francois, was read, " On Lights for Lighthouses." 

 That gentleman has succeeded in manufacturing lenses of much greater 

 power tlian any before known ; so powerful is their illuminating property, 

 that from an experiment made at the Observatory at Paris, it was proved 

 that a revolving lamp of four wicks gave a light equal to HO Carcel lamps, 

 while the oil used was only 700 grammes (lilb.) — a single Carcel lamp 

 consuming 42 grammes. JI. Arago observed, in respect to this invention, 

 that an order had been received for their application in England. 



Jan. 15. — M. Arago made a further communication respecting the comet 

 discovered by M. Faye, from which it appears that it is a periodical, having 

 a revolution of six years and 200 days. 



Papers were read from M. Milne Edwards relative to the organization of 

 various non-vertebrated animals of the coasts of the Channel; by M. Bon- 

 jean, on tlie eft'ecls of the ergot in rye; and by M. Robinet, on the formation 

 of silk by the silk-worm. 



Jan. 22. — On tbii day were announced the rewards awarded by the com- 

 mittee of the Academy as follows — to MM. Strotueyer and Dieflcnbach, for 

 having conceived and performed the operation of strabism ujion dead bodies, 

 and for having been first to practise it with success on the living subject, 

 6U00fr. ; to MM. Bnurgcray and Jacob, for their work on analimiy, .'iOOOfr.; 

 to Dr. Tliibert, for his specimrns of artificial anatomy, 4000fr.; to Dr. Lou- 

 get, for his work on anatomy. 3000 fr.; and to Dr. Valleix, for his treatise on 

 neuralpia, 2000 fr. — M. Frerny read a paper on metallic acids. 



M. liiot ]U"csented to the Academy his ai tides in the /o»n/fl^ (/c? 5'2r(7H« 

 " On lite Jlistory of Obscrvalive A.'itruvomy relative to the 1 heory of the 

 Moon." He observes, that the Arab treatise of Abul Wefa, said to contain 

 the discovery of the variation, has not the slightest reference to it, and that 

 the supposed passage is nearly a literal translation from Ptolemy, relative to 

 the second element of the erection. 



M. De Gasparin read a paper " On the Flooding of the Rhone," which he 

 considered not as attributable to clearing the wood from the mountains and 



the elevation of the bed of the river, which he recognised as secondary 

 causes, but to a meteorological phenomenon, arising from the deposition of 

 rain by the south and south-east winds. This evil, he avers, is irremediable, 

 but he recommends all engineering measures of defence to he adopted. 

 M. Chevandier read a paper " On the Cultivation of Forest Timber." 



Jan. 29. — M. Chaussenot's Safety Valves were again brought before the 

 Academy, being now adopted in several places. 



M. Morin made some observations on steam engines, from experiments 

 made with Watt's steam pressure indicator. He considered from tlie exami- 

 nation of the curves made by tlie indicator — 1st. That notwithstanding the 

 various niodes of communicating motion to the distributive valves, the pres- 

 sure which takes place in the cylinder during the admission of the steam, is 

 sensibly constant, and that [to obtain this constant pressure from the begin- 

 ning of the piston stroke, it is sufficient to give a little advance to the ad. 

 mission of the steam. 2nd. That in well-proportioned engines, in which the 

 orifices, tubes, &c. have a sectional area of about ^th of the piston in low- 

 pressure engines, and yLth to ^th or less in high-pressure engines worked 

 expansively, the pressure in the cylinder differs a little from that in the 

 boiler. 3rd. That it is essential by regulation of the slide valves, to give a 

 certain advance to the emission of the steam, in order to diminish the re- 

 sisting pressure from the beginning of the stroke. 



A paper was read by M. Eugene Chevandier, on the elements of the com- 

 position of the various woods grown in France, and the annual average pro- 

 duce of hectare (2^ English acres) of forest land. 



M. Raulin, vice-secretary of the Geologic.il Society of France, read a paper 

 on the opinion of M. Marcel de Serres, tliat native mercury is not to he 

 found in more recent strata than the red granite, and that there does not 

 exist in the Aveyron any native mercury analogous to that of Idria. 



A communication was read from M. Duchartre, on an ejihaiisted volcano 

 near Beziers, on the Rocque-Haute. He states that the crater is perfectly 

 distinct, and can only account for its not having been mentioned in any of 

 the recent works of geology by supposing that the wood with which the 

 plateau of Rocrjue-Haute is crowned has caused it to escape notice. 



A communication was read from M. Micallet, a physician of Malta, on the 

 surprising effects of the sesquiodine of mercury in ulcerations of the cornea, 

 particularly with scrofulous patients. 



A communication was read from M. d'Hombres Firmas, on the electro- 

 meter of .M. Majocci, of Milan. The writer states, that with this instru- 

 ment the nature of every kind of electrical current may be fully ascertained. 



NOTES OF THE WEEK. 



It will be seen that it is in contemplation to hold a meeting at the Horti- 

 cultural Society's Room in Regent Street, on Saturday, 17th inst., to adopt 

 some me;isures for rewarding the public services of the late Mr. Loudon, and 

 for securing the unincumbered possession of his works to his family. Upon 

 his services to architecture by the foundation and conduct of the Architec- 

 tural M.igazine, during a number of years, it is unnecessary for us to enlarge, 

 nor upon his valuable contributions to architectural literature by the publi- 

 cations of the Encyclopaedia of Architecture, Repton's Landscape Gardening, 

 .Suburban Gardener, and his numerous works relative to archittclure and 

 landscape gardening. For careful observation, conscientious and laborious 

 compilation, and minute completeness, no works have exceeded those to 

 which we have just referred, and we beg to urge most strongly such of our 

 readers as have not the whole of his works, to take the present opportunity 

 of purchasing such as they may require, as indispensable lo the formation of 

 a truly useful professional library, while they will at the same lime have the 

 pleasure of knowing that they have paid a tribute due to a zealous and badly 

 remunerated labourer for the public weal, and contributed to the comfort and 

 welfare of a lady, scarce less deserving on her own account than as Mr. 

 Loudon's representative. 



The imposing fajade of the Palais Saint Pierre, on the Place des Terreaux, 

 at Lyons, is about to receive additions in the shape of a pavilion at each wing, 

 similar to those in the centre. Each pavilion will be united to that of the 

 centre by the erection of four colossal statues on the capitals of the pilasters 

 which adorn the fa9ade. This work is at the ex])ence of a private person, a 

 citizen of Lyons, and will prove a munificent public gift. A statue of the 

 Virgin, by M. Auguste Preault, is about to be placed in the Ursuline Convent 

 at Nogeiit sur Seine. — The French have sent 200 convicts to Stora to con- 

 struct a wharf and road, and to restore the ancient Roman aqueducts. — The 

 hotel Lambert, in the Isle of St. Louis, at Paris, a monument in the Louis 

 Quatorze style, lias been restored at the expence of the Princess Czartoriska. 

 The ceilings are by Lcluun and Lesueur. 



The parish church of Klosternburg at Vienna, and several houses have been 

 destroyed by lightning. 



The painter Margenstern, son of the perspective painter of that name, died 

 at Frankfort on the 21st ult., aged 66. — The Goethe monument, at Frankfort, 

 l<y Schwanthaler, is to be erected on the place of the theatre. This sculptor 

 has also completed a colossal statue in brass, of the Margrave Frederick of 

 Bayreuth, who founded Erlangen University. 

 Barberi, the motaicist at Rome, has executed for Viscount Middleton, a 



