British Association for the Advancement of Science. 317 



ham, prepared by Mr. W. L. Wharton. — Next was read Mr. Wil- 

 son's account of the Darton collieries " Accident Club,^^ — a kind 

 of mutual relief association. — Mr. Felkin, of Nottingham, read 

 an abstract of the Annual Report of the overseers of the town- 

 ship of Hyde, in Cheshire. — Mr. W. R. Charlton submitted Sta- 

 tistical notices from the parish of Billingham. — Mr. Hare offered 

 an Outline of subjects for statistical inquiries. — Mr. P. M'Dowall 

 presented statistical tables of Ramsbottom, near Bury in Lanca- 

 shire. — Mr. Kingsley read a paper giving a tabulated view of the 

 Criminal Statistics of Ireland. 



Section G. Mechanical Science. 



A paper was read on a new Day and Night Telegraph, by 

 Mr. Joseph Garnett ; and a paper on Isometrical Drawing, by 

 Mr. Thomas Sopwith. 



Mr. Sopwith also gave a description of an improved Tnethod of 

 constructing large Secretaires and Wiiting Tables. The prin- 

 ciple is, that by opening a single lock, all the drawers, closets and 

 partitions are opened. These are so disposed, that a person may 

 reach every thing contained in it, without stirring from his seat. 

 The president, (Mr. Chas. Babbage,) and many others, expressed 

 their admiration of the arrangements, and of the convenience 

 which such a table must be to every person engaged in an ex- 

 tensive correspondence, or having many sets of papers on various 

 subjects. 



Mr. G. W. Hall on the power of economising and regulating 

 heat for domestic purposes. — Mr. John S. Russell gave some fur- 

 ther notices on the resistance of water. — Mr. P. Nicholson com- 

 municated an essay on the priyiciples of oblique bridges. — Mr. 

 W. Greener submitted remarks on the material and mechanical 

 construction of steam boilers. He considered the accidents which 

 happen to steam boilers to be mainly due to defect in the mate- 

 rial ; and he detailed several experiments made on slips of iron 

 cut from plates of different quality. He found that slips cut lat- 

 itudinally from a plate, bore less by 30 per cent, than slips of the 

 same dimensions cut longitudinally. 



Sir John Robinson spoke on the use of coal-gas for cooking. 

 Mr. Strutt, of Derby, stated some years since, that coal-gas would 

 probably be found, by the lower classes, the cheapest fuel for 

 cooking. The whole apparatus, (which might be considered the 



