72 



MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



[1853 



persons to the square mile. In 1801, the people of England were on an 

 average 153 yards asunder, in 1851 only 107 yards, The moan dis- 

 tance between their houses in 1801 was 362 yards, in 1851 only 259 

 yards-. In London the mean proximity in lc<01 was 21 yards, in 1851 

 only 1-1 yards. The number of islands in the 'BriTisli group were 

 stated at 5U0, but inhabitants were only found on 175 on the day nf 

 the census. '1' lie early history of Lhe more celebrated of the islands 

 ■was given. The population of the chief of the group, Great Britain, 

 had been given. Ireland contained 6,553.357 inhabitants; Anglesey, 

 the next most populous island, had 57,318 inhabitants; Jersey, 57.020; 

 the Isle of Man, 52,311; the Isle o'' Wight, 50. 24; Guernsey, i>9 757; 

 eight islands ranged from 2J.918 to 5,857, ,17 from 4 00G to"l,06t, 52 

 from 9-17 to 105, and the remaining 92 downwards to an islai d innabit- 

 ed by one solitary man. The shires, hundreds, and tythings, were 

 traced to Jflfred the Great; the circuits to Henry the Second. The 

 terms " hundreds" and " tythings" had their origin in a system of nu- 

 meration, 'the number of reformed boroughs in England and Wales 

 ■were 198, and contained a population of 4.345,269 inhabitants. Scot- 

 land contained 83 royal and municipal burghs, having a population of 

 752,777 inhabitants. The diffiultyof tracing the boundaries of the 

 ecclesiastical districts, and consequently of ascertaining correctly their 

 population, was shown. The changes in the anrient boundaries of 

 counties and other divisions were alluded to, and the paper concluded 

 with a general summary of the results of the census. An appendix 

 contained tables, showing the population and number of houses, dis- 

 tinguishing whether inhabited, uninhabited, or building, in England, 

 Scotland, Wales, and the Islands, respectively,- at each census from 

 1801 to 1851; the same in 1851, for each of the 14 registration divi- 

 sions; for eacli of the 36 districts uf London; and for each county in 

 England and Wales, and in Scotland; also the population of each 

 county in England and Wales, a,.d in Scotland, at each census from 

 1801 to 1851, and the increase of population in the last half century; 

 the area in acres and square miles, the number of persons to a square 

 mile, of acres to a person, of inhabited houses to a square mile, and of 

 persons to a house, for each county in England and Wales, and in 

 Scotland; the population and number of inhabited houses in the coun- 

 ties, and parliamentary divisions of counties, in England and Wales, 

 and in the counties of Scotland, including and excluding represented 

 cities and boroughs or burghs, also the numbei of members returned: 

 the population of each island containing above 100 persons; the popu- 

 lation and number of inhabited houses in each of the 815 cities, bo- 

 roughs, and principal towns in England and Wales and in Scotland, 

 distinguishing the municipal and | arliamentaiy limits; the number of 

 each class of public institutions in England and Wales, Scotland, and 

 the Islands, and the number of persons inhabiting them; the number of 

 births and deaths, and the excess of births over denlhs, in England 

 and Wales, for each of the ten years of 1841-50; and finally, the num- 

 ber of persons who had emigrated from Great Britain and Ireland in 

 each year from 1843 to 1852 inclusive and the destination of the emi- 

 grants. The author concluded by stating that the paper would be 

 immediately printed. 



Section G.— MECHANICAL SCIENCE 

 * Introductory Address on General Improvements in Mechanical Science 

 During the Past Year,' by W. Faibbairn, — The first subject 

 noticed by Mr. Fairbairn was Ericsson's Calo.ic Engine, from which 

 so much had been expected. It was constructed, he said, on the same 

 principle as the air engine of Dr. Stirling, invented ten years ago: — 

 the engine is passed through wire gauze, to take up the heat, instead 

 of through plates of iron. The great objection to the engine appeared 

 to be that two-thirds of the power was wasted in passing the air 

 through the gauze; and though it may be premature to pronounce an 

 opinion before the result of the improvements lately effected were 

 known, yet if so much of the power was required for taking up the 

 heat, Mr. Fairbairn could not but think it must prove a wasteful ex- 

 penditure of fuel. The improvements that during the last year had 

 "■ been made in the application of the screw propeller were opening a 

 new era in the history of our war and mercantile navy, of which the 

 recent review at Spitheud might he considered an indication. We 

 were now in a stale of transition between the paddle and the screw, 

 and he had no doubt that in progress of time great improvements 

 would be made in the construction of the engines, and their applica- 

 bility to the work, which would materially economize space and power 

 in our steam vessels. Mr. Fairbairn next alluded to the construction 

 of an immense steam vessel, which had been undertaken by Mr. Brunei 

 and Mr. Scott Russell, of such vast dimensions that it. would stretch 

 over two of the largest waves of the Atlantic, and would thus obtain 

 a steadiness of motion, which would be a preventive against sea siek- 

 ' uess. This mammoth steamer is to be 680 feet long, with a breadth 

 of beam of 83 feet and a depth of 58 feet. The combined power of 

 the engines would be that of 2,600 horses. The ship is to be built of iron 

 •with a double bottom of cellular construction, reaching six feet above 



the water line, and with a double deck, the upper and the lower parts 

 being connected together on the principle of the Britannia tubular 

 bi idge, so that lhe ship will be a complete beam. It would thus pos- 

 sess the strength of that form of construction, and not be liable to 

 " hogg " or break its back as had be,-n the case with other ships of 

 great length. The double bottom would be a means of increased 

 safely in other ways, for if by any accident the outer shell were 

 broken, the inner one would prove effectual to keep dut toe water.- 5 — 

 As an additional security, howevei, it was divided into ten rater-tight 

 compartments, 'he ship would be propelled by paddles and by a 

 screw, which would be worked by separate sets i f engi es, so that if 

 any accident occurred to the machinery of one, the o'.her would be in 

 reserve. He said he had no doubt that if properly constructed, this 

 ship would answer the expectations entertained of its capabiliti s and 

 strength, and that it would form, when completed, the most extensive 

 work of naval architecture that had ever been constructed. The next 

 subject to which Mr. Fairbairn adverted, was the improvements making 

 in the locomotive department of railways, particularly to an engino 

 constructed for the southern division of the Nonh-Western Railway, 

 from the designs of Mr. McDonnell, which was the most powerful lo- 

 comotive Ihat had yet been made for the narrow gauge. The peculi- 

 arity of construction consisted in the great length given to the fire-box, 

 in which the greatest amount of steam always generated, and in the 

 comparative shortness of lhe tubes, which were only half the usual 

 length. The' steam generated by this boiler was sufficient for any 

 engine of 700 horse power. The engine was intended for an express 

 train that would complete the distance from London to Birmingham 

 in two hours. In manufacturing machinery there had also been great 

 'activity and progress during lhe past year; and it was gratifying, Mr. 

 Fairbairn observed, to find accompanying this improvement in machi- 

 nery a most prosperous condiiion in the working clashes engaged in 

 those manufactures — a prosperity which had never been equalled 

 within his experience. He attributed this prosperous state of things to 

 the combined operalions of improvements in machinery and lhe re- 

 moval of commercial restrictions. The improvement which he more 

 especially noticed t\ as that of anew combing machine of French 

 invention applicable alike to cotton, to flax, and to wool. It combs 

 the fibre inslead of carding ii, a n amber of small combs being applied 

 in succession to the cotton or flax, by which means a much finer yarn 

 can be produced from the same material than is possible by the former 

 processes. As evidence of the present aclivity and enterprise in man- 

 ufacturing industry, Mr. F.iirbairn mentioned the erection of a mam- 

 moth alpaca woollen manufactory, by Mr. Salt, of Saltaire, near 

 Bradford, which was 550 feet long, 50 feet wide, and six stories high, 

 besides offices, warehouses, and various other luildings connected with 

 it. Their steam engines to drive the machinery would be equal to 

 1,200 horse power, and the factory would employ upwards of 3,000 

 hands The cost ot ike whole would be upwards of £300 000, and 

 the enterprise was that of a single individual. Mr Fairbairn concluded 

 his resume of manufacturing progress by noticing the improvements 

 introduced by Prof. Crace Calvert, of Manchester, in process of melt- 

 ing iron by previously removing the sulphureous vapour fiom coal and 

 smoke. The results had proved most satisfactory, the strength of the 

 iron produced by this process being about 40 per cent, greater than 

 that, made in the ordinarv way. 



'Report of the- Committee appointed in 1852 to prepare a Memorial to 

 the Honourable East India Company, on the Means of Cooling Air in 

 Tropical Climates,' oyW. J. Macquorx Rankine. — In the absence of Mr. 

 Raukine, one of the Secretaries read the Rep'-rt, which was founded 

 on experiments with apparatus invented by Prof. Smyth, described by 

 him at a previous meeting of the Association. The principle of the 

 inveution consists in cooling the air by expansion. The air at the 

 temperature of the atmosphere is first compressed in a bell receiver, 

 and the heat generated by this compression is lowered fey passing the 

 air through a number of tubes immersed in water, V.y which means it 

 acquires in its compressed state the normal temperature of the atmos- 

 phere — say 90° of Fahrenheit' The air then passes into another in- 

 verted bell receiver, where it is expanded to the ordiuary pressure ot 

 the atmosphere, and during this expansion, it absorbs so much heat 

 that the temperature is reduced to 60°. It is then admitted into the 

 room te be ventilated. The compression of the air during the experi- 

 ments in the first cylinder was equal to 3 2-10 inches of mercury per 

 square inch above the pressure of the atmosphere, and the refrigerator 

 exposed a cooling surface of 1,100 square ie-t, which was considered 

 sufficient to reduce 'the temperature of the' air in passing through the 

 tubes to that of the atmosphere, viz. 90°. The Report staled that by 

 means of this apparatus, 66,000 cubic feet of air per hour might be 

 cooled from 90° to'60°, by a steam-engine of one-horse power which 

 is required to raise and det ress the hell receiver. The advantage of 

 cooling the air by mechanical means instead of by evaporation was 

 stated to be, the avoidance of aqueous vapour with which the air is 

 injuriously charged by the evaporating process. 



