1845.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL 



329 



will not be regarded willi indill'ereuce by the friendi of bunianily : a com- 

 pany has just been established in London, expressly for the purpose of pro- 

 moting the cultivation of coltoli in India, primarily with a view of combating 

 slavery, by depriving it of the aliment on which it feeds. But, in whatever 

 motive such an association may have originated, its results cannot fail to 

 prove benelicial lo commerce. Recently, groat ell'orls have been made to 

 improve the quality of cotton in thecollectorale of Poonah. In one district 

 an extremely line sort, equal to the best Haroche, has been introduced, 

 and fetches a very high price at lionibay. In oilier parts arrangements 

 are making for cullivatiug the New Orleans cotton, which the most expe- 

 rienced agriculturists in Western India expect will thrive admirably. It 

 will be comparatively of litlle avail, however, lo expend money on the 

 cotton grounds of India, unless, at the same time, we provide the means 

 of conveying the produce of those grounds to the coast. 



MOTION OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES. 



Sir Your stricture on my communication of last month seem to pre- 

 suppose I had no conviction of the friclion which takes place between the 

 wheel of a locomotive and the rail. The fact of my calling the rail a fulcrum 

 for the wheel, proves I did suppose such a resistance to take place. How- 

 ever, considering the rail as a rack, and tlie driving-wheel as a cog-wheel, 

 would not alter the truth of my conclusions, which can be experimentally 

 demonstrated on any wheel-carriage. The following I have often performed 

 on a small locomotive engine, any carriage whatever will answer the pur- 

 pose, but perhaps that will be most satisfactory example : — by placing the 

 crank iii the position of the figure, page 293, and pushing the piston-rod, or 

 cross-head, in the direction I have supposed the steam acting on the piston 

 in that diagram (no reaction on the centre of the wheel then taking place), 

 the force being an external pressure, I have uniformly found the engine move 

 as I statdfl tbe extremity of a lever would in my former letter — that is jnst 

 exactlv in the opposite direction it would do if urged by steam, — the reaction 

 on the cylinder-cover then having the predominant eltect. The same ex- 

 periment can be performed on the lowest vertical spoke of any wheel carriage, 

 and will be attended with the same results. 



I remain. Sir, voiu- obedient servant, 



J. G. II. 



*;j* Our correspondent's experiment is notanalogous to the case in point. 

 He applies a muscular force from without, the forces of the locomotive engine 

 are generated from within. Let him now repeat the experiment, while 

 sitting in the carriage, and see which way it moves. 



The lowest point of a driving-wheel surely must not be considered the 

 fulcrum of a lever, for then the centre of the wheel should move in the arc 

 of a circle, whereas its motion is rectilineal. 



Motion cannot be produced in a system by equal and opposite internal re- 

 actions, but the steam pressures on the pistion, and the cylinder-cover are 

 are of this nature. So also are the mutual pressures of the connecting-rod 

 and crank. The oH/y external force in the direction of motion is the reaction 

 of the serrations of the driving-wheel against those of the rail. It is that, 

 therefore, which produces the motion. 



LINCOLN'S IXN NEW BUILDINGS. 

 Sib, — Since you thought fit to introduce a note of commentary expressing 

 doubt as to the propriety and judiciousness of employing unpainted varnished 

 deal for the ceilings of the Drawing-room and Council-room in the new 

 buildings at Lincoln's Inn, you will, both as matter of courtesy and of jus- 

 tice, allow me to explain those words of mine, whose inlcntion you seem to 

 have altogether misunderstood. I must have expressed myself very un- 

 luckily, and without that admirable perspicuity of language for which those 

 who speak of buildings are so celebrated, for what I said was most assuredly 

 not intended to recommend deceptive, imitative, and sham materials ; so far 

 £rom it, that the instance in question is particularly noticed as an example of 

 a mode precisely the reverse, the real material showing itself undisguised and 

 perfectly free from any sort of sophistication, unless the means employed to 

 bring out the grain, and impart to it as much beauty of surface as it is sus- 

 ceptible of, is to be deemed sophistication, and censured as partaking of the 

 deceptive and artificial. Your doctrine may be right, but it would lead you 

 afar greater length than, I dare say, it is at all your " intention'' to go; because 

 it would follow from it that whenever the actual material is meant to show 

 itself without disguise — without any coating of paint or other surface applied 

 to it, nothing should be done to heighten its etfect, out of the silly conceit 

 of improvimj upon the work of nature, — the bare idea of which is enough to 

 draw an awful shake of the head from all the old women in the parish. This 

 last remark you will, perhaps, set down as a piece of that impertinent " flip- 

 pancy'' which you are determined no longer to countenance ; — and you are 

 welcome to call it that, or what you will, provided you do not call it hum- 

 drum. However, let that pass ; be it right or wrong, we certainly do fancy 

 that both marble and wood look all the better for being highly polished, al- 

 though it i« very well known that they do not polish themselves, therefore 

 the lustre and beauty of surface so imparted to them, may — if we are deter- 



mined to be exceedingly precise indeed — be termed factitious. So is it ia 

 regard to the ceilings spoken of; whatever be the actual process employed, 

 no more is done to the deal than what serves to give it a rich depth of tone, 

 to bring out the graining of the wood, which is hardly perceivable in its na- 

 tural slate, and to bestow on it a lustrous surface. 



I have now, I trust, sufficiently explained myself, and removed all disagree, 

 able doubts ; but 1 cannot let you olT yet. Whether it was in consequence 

 of your honouring my pajicr in ihc Jdierurum with more than ordinary at- 

 tention I know not, but you there detected and animadverted upon what yon 

 considered a solecism contrary to sound taste, after having suffered to pass, 

 without any remark from you at all, an instance of sham material being em- 

 ployed where, I dare say, imitation cost as much as, or very little less than, 

 the reality would have done. I allude to the two closets — for they are no 

 more — in the Garden Pavilion at I!iickingham I'alace, the walls of which 

 are " painted in imitation of grey marble." To be sure that was done under 

 the sanction of royal taste ; yet criticism should pay no respect to persons, 

 but animadvert quite as freely upon royal taste as any other, — or rather far 

 more freelyand morestrongly, because if such taste goes astray it misleadsavast 

 number of other people who confide in its infallibility. Besides which, royal 

 whims and blunders sometimes prove exceedingly expensive matters. Even 

 if you did not care to touch so ticklish a point, there was at least one thing 

 which called for a note pointing out the very strange contradiction in one 

 part of the description, where after telling us that those rooms are twelve 

 feet high, it goes o.i to say that the walls are painted in imitation of marble 

 to the height of twelve feet, therefore, as it would seem, up to the very ceil- 

 ing, nevertheless, orer that "wahiseotinff," as it is termed, there is a series 

 of panels. Now, though the mistake was not your own, nor might you be 

 able to set it to rights, still it would not have been amiss to show that it bad 

 not escaped your observation. AVith a single exception, not one of those 

 who have spoken of that Pavilion have noticed, otherwise than by mention- 

 ing it, one of the most extraordinary things of all in the whole buildings 

 namely, its having a hilehen, though it stands only a few yards from palace ! 

 This has induced one periodical — and only one — to compound some sauce 

 piijuante for the occasion, and in so doing it has not spared its cayenne ; — 

 that it has more of the latter than what sounds like loyalty may easily be 

 conceived. 



So, now you have got from me note for note ; therefore putting a finis to 

 my flippancy, 



I subscribe myself, 



The Writer in the Athex.«i'm. 



'«' "Tbe M'riter in the Aihentvum" disapproves of sham, imitative and 

 deceptive materials; we have no need, therefore, to argue for the general 

 principle, but only for a particular application of it. Had no other change 

 been produced in the appearance of the deal than that of polishing it and 

 bringing out its veins in their natural colour, the alteration would not have 

 amounted to a deception. ISut when the wood assumes a " rich depth of 

 tone," totally dilferent to its ordinary appearance, is moreover placed ia 

 an inaccessible position, and forms a timber roof of exactly the same kind 

 as that for which we know that our straightforward ancestors used oak, 

 the eyes of most observers will be deceived. 



It makes nothing for the apology to say that the change is produced by 

 varnish and not by paint. It is the deception itself, and not the mode of 

 producing it, of which we complained. 



Our correspondent modestly says that he " cannot let us oil' yet," and 

 asks why we did not criticise the Pavilion at Buckingham Palace in the 

 same way as the Lincoln's Inn Buildings. This propositiou to make the 

 canons of criticism independent of their objects argues but litlle for the 

 clearness of the writer's notions. To examine a lady's boudoir aud a public 

 hall, or a " closet" and a cathedral by the same rule would lead to endless 

 absurdities. For instance, the most fastidious could scarcely object to 

 wood-work in private apartments being painted in resemblance of oak or 

 maple, yet we presume "The Writer in the Athenaum" would be some- 

 what startled to see the great doors of Al'estmiuster Abbey nicely grained 

 and varnished. 



Our correspondent is in error in supposing that we reject all flippant 

 letters — we insert his. 



REGISTER OF NEW PATENTS. 



(Under this head are given abstrucis of the specifications of all tbe most importaut 

 patents as they are enrolled. Any additional information required as to any patent, 

 may lie obtained by apulying to Mr. L.\XTON at the Office of this JOURNAL.^ 



Agustos Coffvn, of Paris, gentleman, for " Improvements in Pumps."— 

 Granted March 17 ; Enrolled Sep. 17, 184o. 



These improvements consist in a peculiar mode of working the piston of 

 pumps as well as in the construction thereof. The novelty consists in the 

 application of stationary double inclined planes for raising the piston, which 

 have a rotary as well as rectilineal motion. The accompanying figure shews 

 a sectional elevation of one of the pumps ; a « is the pump barrel supported 



