320 British Association for the Advancement of Science. 



Dr. Lardner addressed the meeting on Steam Navigation and 

 on a self-recording Steam- Journal. Dr. L. said that it was a 

 matter of no real importance how far any opinion which he might 

 have formerly expressed on extended navigation was right or 

 wrong, except so far as it had been made a personal question. He 

 had, indeed, expressed a discouraging opinion as to the probability 

 of ever maintaining an unbroken intercourse by steam naviga- 

 tion between Great Britain and New York, but he had never de- 

 clared that it was a physical impossibility. He confessed that 

 the success of the Great Western had shaken his former opin- 

 ions, and should the same success continue throughout the entire 

 year, he would be the first to come forward and acknowledge 

 himself completely in error. He then gave an account of his in- 

 strument, termed a stea'in-journal, by which he proposes to reg- 

 ister every five minutes, the following varying phenomena, on 

 which the efficiency and performance of steam engines depends : 

 — the pressure of the steam between the slides and the steam 

 valve — the pressure in the boiler — the vacuum and the quantity 

 of water in the boilers — the saltness of the water in the boilers,- — 

 the velocity of the paddle-wheels — the draft of the vessel — the 

 trim of the vessel — the rate of the vessel, — the course of the ves- 

 sel, — the apparent force and direction of the wind. All these, 

 excepting the course of the vessel, it is intended to register by 

 self-acting mechanism. 



Mr. J. S. Russell followed with an essay on the same general 

 subject, and insisted on the propriety of making steamboats sharp. 

 Iron boilers, with copper tubes, appeared to him the best. 



Mr. Fairbairne described machi7iery for riveting holier plates, 

 by which the work is done better and much more speedily than in 

 the usual methods. — Mr. B. Green gave an account of the con- 

 struction of timber viaducts. — Prof. Willis described a method re- 

 cently introduced by Mr. Hawthorn, of working the valves of a 

 locomotive without the usual eccentrics. — Mr. J. T. Hawkins 

 described several methods of filtering water. — Several communi- 

 cations were offered which could not be read for want of time, 

 viz. Mr. Reed, on an hn-proved safety hook and how for coal-pits : 

 Mr. Glynn, on the ivatenvorks of Newcastle: Mr. Wake, on a 

 new paddle-ivheel : Sir C Monteith, 07i a new tram-road ; on an 

 improved kitchen grate : Mr. Fourness, on coal onine ventilation : 

 Mr. Dobson, on a method of making bi'icks of every required color. 



