1802.] 
the purpofe of lifting any weight. And 
by. means of a newly-invented oar which 
is worked by the wind, it may be ap- 
plied to navigating veflels of different 
kinds and fizes. In fhort, the patentees 
confider this machine as aprlicable to any 
purpofe to which wind-mills, ftedm-en- 
gines, or water-wheels are commonly ap- 
plied ; avd when placed where the tide 
ébbs and flows, it may be looked upon as 
a perpetual motion with unlimited power. 
‘This machine, it is faid, may be ereéted 
at a {mall expence, in proportion to any 
other now adopted, and the purpofes to 
which it may be eafily applied are more 
numerous than can be afcertained. 
Obfervation —It will be recoll:&ed by 
the reader, that, in one o1 more of Lord 
Stanhope’s patents formoving veflels againtt 
wind and tide, the oars, to which 
fteam was applied as a moving force, were 
made in the form of a book, which in 
pafling through the water, before the firoke, 
were fhut by the refiftance of the water, 
and in the aét of turning they were by the 
fame means opened to the full extent:— 
the fimilarity of this method and part of 
the invention now under confideration is 
too ftrikine to be pafled over. | 
MR. JOSEPH BARTON’s (OLD-STREET, 
ST. LUKE'S) for @ MEDICINE which he 
denominates COMPOUND CONCEN- 
TRATED FLUID VITAL AIR, Of great 
USE im the cCuRE of PUTRID DIs- 
EASES, &c. and another PREPARA- 
TION, which he calls AEREATED PRE- 
VENTIVE FLUID, as @ PREVENTIVE 
Jjrom PUTRID INFECTION, Ge. Alfa, 
AEREATED LIQUID BALM, for PRE- 
SERVING avd BEAUTIFYING the SKIN. 
Mr. Barton thus defcribes the method 
ef obtaining his concentrated vital air.— 
Having put the materials, with or with- 
out any decompofing acid, as may be ne- 
ceflary, into a retor¢, to which is attached 
a tubulated receiver, containing water ; 
through this the vital air is made to pafs, 
im order that any mephitic air, or carbo- 
From the Port-folio of a Man of Letters. 563 
nic acid, which will almoft always rife 
wiih it, may uni‘e with the water. A 
fecond receiver, containing alcohol, is then 
made to receive the pure vital’air, which, 
combining with the fpirit, forms the li- 
quid of compound concentrated fluid 
vital air. To detach from this any infam- 
-mable a'r that may be produced in the 
operation, a third receiver, containing an 
alkaline folution, is made ufe of. Virab 
air prepared and combined with pure {pi- 
ritin the mode above defcribed, is the 
medicine which fingly and alone is to cure 
the difeafes mentioned in Mz. Barton’s 
patent. 
The aéreated preventative flu'd is made 
in the fame manner, except that, inftead of 
fpirit, the vital air is combined with effen~ 
tial oil and diftilled water. And the ae e- 
ated liquid balm requires the fame proce(s, 
only into the fecond receiver a {ufficient 
quantity of the flowers of rofes, jeflamine, 
&c. or of the expreffed as well as effential 
oils of fweet-fmelling vegetables, is intros 
duced, to enable the diftilled water ta 
combine with and retain the vital air. 
Obfervation.—We have given a pretty. 
full account of thefe patent preparations, 
not from any conviction of, or faith in, 
their efficacy for the purpofes enumerated 
in Mr. Barton’s fpecification, but from a 
defire of fetting forth to the public the 
mode of preparing this commedity. We 
have known infances in which pure vital 
air, the properties of which, asa ftimu- 
lant, are now well known, have been dai- 
ly adminiftered in large quantities, for the 
purpofe of exciting artificial fpiris, and 
mending the general ftste of health ; 
months have, however, elapfed, but the 
patients have found no other benefit than 
they might have derived from copious dofes 
of brandy. As medicines, in proper hands, . 
both fpirits and oxygen may be adminif- 
tered with the beft effect: But when re- 
courfe is hadto them for the purpofe of 
exhilirating the mind, and lightening the 
cares of life, they become the molt noxi- 
ous poifons which can be tampered with. 
Extra&is from the Port-folio of a Man of Letters. 
—e a 
THE BATTLE OF SEMPACH. 
EOPOLD third duke of Avftria, 
having invaded Switzerland in 13386, 
determined to put every thing to the iffue 
of one engagement. Having pitched upon 
MonrHLy Mac. No. 83, 
a narrow and rugged plain where cavalry 
could have been of little fervice, he 
obliged all the nobility and men at arms 
who furrounded him to difmount. “Thefe 
chofen troops placed themfelves in the 
4D fir i 
‘ 
