GO 



NEW YORK INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION. 



[1854. 



of the beach, it would appear that the shingle and sand of 

 which it is firmed have been brought from the north, in wliich 

 direction there are recorded instances of great destruction of 

 laud by storms during the last oOO years. The aspect, how- 

 ever, of much of the coast-line appears as if it had remained 

 unaltered for a very long period, except in the manner Mr. R. 

 A. C. Austen* alludes to when he remarks " that although the 

 sea for months together, and in places even for whole year.s, 

 may not acquire any fresh spoil, yet there ai-e few houi-s when 

 its waters are unemployed iu fashioning and abraiding the mat:- 

 rials already acquired." In considering the effect upon the sea- 

 level caused by sand, mud, and pebbles washed in by the 

 breakers, it is only necessaiy to regard those materials that may 

 be brought in from cliffs above high-water mark; for the move- 

 ment of sand and mud below high-water mark can produce no 

 effect upon the sea-level, because' the abstraction of these 

 materials from one part of the shore is exactly balanced by 

 their addition to some other part. For instance, some of the 

 flint-pebbles which have contributed to the recent deposit at 

 Laudguard Point have been brought along shore a great dis- 

 tance from their original position on the cliff. These flints 

 formed an addition to the sea-bed, and tended to raise its 

 general level by displacing an amount of water equal to their 

 bulk the moment they fell on the shore below high-watermark; 

 and it is cpite clear their subsequent movements, either beneath 

 the wave or on the beach, could produce no further effect upon 

 the sea-level, the spaces they occupied on one part of the coast 

 being balanced by the vacancy left at some other. It is also 

 evident that the beach at Landguard Point will go on extending 

 so long as the fresh supplies of shingle and sand from the north 

 exceed the removals southward. 



In the same manner the continued supplies of pebbles from 

 the westward enables the Chesil Bank to preserve its position. 

 As soon, however, as any disturbing causes interrupt the sup- 

 plies of new material, the sand and shingle beaches dependent 

 upon them must soon disappear ; and in fact the termination 

 of every beach will be at that point where the waste and abrasion 

 by breaker-action are balanced by the supply of pebbles and sand 

 drifted from other places. Although it appears clear that only 

 the detritus obtained from cliffs above high-water mark need 

 be taken into calculation, yet I regret to find that scarcely any 

 data of this kind exist, and therefore it is not possible to as- 

 certain the probable effect upon the sea-level that is being pro- 

 duced by the detritus so derived. In the same manner the 

 per-centage of soluble salts in the water of the few large rivers 

 of which notes have been published has not been given 

 separately from the per-centage of matter in suspension, and 

 therefore we are in ignorance of the supplies that are annually 

 introduced into the ocean from the formation of submarine 

 deposits from materials dissolved in the sea-water. When the 

 rise in the sea-level from the effect of alluvium brought in sus- 

 pension by rivers was being considered, I supposed'that that 

 cause alone might produce an elevation of one foot in 54,000 

 years ; but in order to make some allowance for the similar 

 effects that must be produced by the introduction into the ocean 

 of materials from above high-water mark on coast linesf by 

 breaker-action, and also by the formation of submarine deposits 

 from materials which were brought into the ocean in solution 

 I now propose to consider that all these causes together might 

 produce an elevation of the sea-level equal to one foot in 40,000 

 years, or three inches in 10,000 years. 



Mr. Darwin has remarked, that " the knowledge of any result, 

 which, with sufficient time allowed, can be produced by causes. 



though appearing infinitely improbable, is valuable to the 

 geologist, for he by his creed deals with centuries and thou- 

 sands of years as others do with minutes." For these reaisons 

 even if, upon further investigation, it should be found that the 

 true rise in the sea-level is much less than three inches in 

 10,000 years (in periods undisturbed by subsidences and eleva- 

 tion,) yet it may still be an important element in accounting 

 for those changes which we are now about to consider. 



* Austen, Quart. .Tour. Geol. Soc. vol. vi. 71-73 . and De la Beche, 

 Geol. Observer, 18.51, p. 65. 



f The rough estimation of the extent of coast-line, kindly supplied 

 by Mr. A. K. Johnston, (Nov. 18-52,) is as follows: — 



Nautical miles English statute miles 



(eo to a deforce.) (C9J^ to a de^ee.) 



Europe, - - 17,200 "20,425 



Asia, - - - 30,800 34,825 



Africa, - - 14,000 16,625 



America, - - 37,600 44,656 



99,600 

 (To be continued.') 



116,531 



Netv York Industrial E]:£liibition. 



Special Repoet of Mb. Dilke, Presented to the House of 



CoMKOss BY Command of IIek Majesty, in pursuakce of their 



Address of February 6, 1854. 



Mr. Dilke's sudden recall to England while collecting information 

 connected with the New York Industrial Exhibition, prevented him 

 from giving more than a passing attention to the details of the subject. 

 To Mr. Antrobus Holwell, the Commissioner from Canada, the public 

 are indebted for the Reports on the Classes which comprehended Naval 

 Architecture, Military Engineering, Ordnance, Armour and Accoutre- 

 ments, Phflosophical Instruments and products resulting from their use. 

 (e. g. Daguerreotypes, &c.,) Maps and Charts, Horology, Surgical 

 Instiuments and Appliances. Indeed we may justly say that Mr. 

 Dilke's report is not a report of the Exhibition, it is merely a collection 

 of official details and notices of facts, without any special bearing 

 upon the subject he was sent to investigate. The supply of water to 

 towns, — Limited Partnerships — Industrial Educational Establishments 

 — the Smithsonian Institution — and Fire Establishments — are briefly 

 alluded to, and some interesting, although to a Canadian scarcely 

 novel, descriptions are given and facts recorded. The readers of the 

 Canadian Journal are already familiar with the description of the 

 building in which the American Exhibition was held (see Canadian 

 Journal, Vol. I., page 69). The same description together with a 

 similar plate of the building is given in Mr. Dilke's Report. The 

 objects exhibited were divided into thirty-one classes; Mr. Dilke 

 furnishes a report on two of these classes only — class 8, and 10. The 

 report on these classes was written by the Canadian Commissioner, 

 and it bears the title of — "Notes on some of the Contributions to the 

 Exhibition of the Industry of all nations at New Tork, in 1853 by W. 

 Antrobus Holwell, Ordnance Store Keeper, Quebec, and Commissioner 

 from Canada" — we proceed to extract a few interesting items. 



Breech-loading and Self-cleaning Rifles ; Shot-Guns, and Pistols. 



Marston Fire Arms Manufacturing Company, New York. — That 

 this is a favourite description of rifle with the Americans may be in- 

 ferred from the fact, that the number of men employed in January 

 1853 in the manufacture of these and other similar arms and cartridges 



of Mr. Marstcn's invention was but ninety, and has been increased to 

 upwards of a hundred and forty ; the average sale being at the 

 pi-esent date (December 1853) about forty a week. The breech- 



