1807.1. On building Rooms, Ke. 
ened; he sent for Mr. M. but prudence 
prevented him from gomg, and soon atter 
he heard of his death. 
The cattle are subject to many dis- 
orders in these parts. ‘The bloody mur- 
rain often visits them, What isthe cause 
of this fatal distemper, the people can- 
not tell, but if a conjecture might be ha- 
zarded, as it generally attacks young cat- 
tle from one to two years old. I think 
it is owing to their feeding upon marshy 
grass, with which the meadows abound 
at the latter end of the year. Cattle 
above that age being exempt from it, 
perhaps from the superior strength of 
their constitutions, or the discrimination 
of their palates, which makes them avoid 
feeding upon the noxious grass. In this 
case, draining would prevent the growth 
of such grass, and, of course, the dis- 
temper. Dr, F. has lost five in three 
days. They shew it first by violent 
twitchings in the flanks, then they be- 
come so weak-that they lie down, and 
seem to lose all pain for the last three 
or four hours of life. They die within 
the twenty-four hours. I saw one open- 
ed. The coat of the stomach was peeled 
off in places, and inflamed and rotten 
where it remained; the inside was even 
black, the kidneys were inflamed, turgid, 
and bloody; the lobes of the lungs and 
auricles of the heart were black, and 
upon cutting into the loins on the back, 
there were numerous small lumps of 
blackclotted blood, A most intolerable 
stench issued from the carcase. A man 
from Gettisburg, who was going by with 
his waggon, said that he had lost some 
young cattle this winter of the same dis- 
temper. He had given to the surviving 
ones one spoonful of alam and brimstone 
in equal parts, morning, noon, and night, 
and thought it a preventive. 
In considering the counter-eurrent of 
rivers, [ have sometimes thought that the 
facilities which they afford to navigating 
vessels up the stream, might be consider- 
ably increased by imitating nature in 
those circumstances which cause coun- 
ter-currents. For this purpose, where 
the rivers run in right hnes for any dis- 
tance, say five hundred to one thousand 
yards, might not moles be projected from 
the banks, so as to catch part of the cur- 
rent, which would cause a counter-cur- 
rent? In order that boats might not 
have occasion to go round the points of 
these moles, and so run the risk of being 
drawn into the main current, a sufficient 
space for their passage might be con- 
tyived through the frame-work of the 
soasto preventan Echo. 345 
moles, near to the bank, where the water 
would always be the stillest. Where Na- 
ture, by her own protections or moles 
causes counter-currents, if they require 
securing, or Increasing against unavoid- 
able decay, as they will generally, except 
their base and elevation be rocky, it may 
be done by inclosing the projecting point 
in a coffer-dam, and extending it as far 
as may be thought necessary into the bed: 
of the river, filling up the intermediate 
space between the end of the point of 
land and extremity of the coffer-dam 
with stones and rubbish. Where the 
points of land project considerably, and 
are narrow, cuts may be made for the 
passage of boats similar to those through 
the artificial moles, and as near as pos- 
sible to the general bearings of the 
banks. - 
It may be objected to these moles, that 
in tine the intermediate space would be- 
come too shallow for navigation, by the 
deposits of sand, mud, and trees, brought 
down by the main current. The object 
tion seems farmidable and well founded. 
To obviate it, instead of these moles be- 
ing stationary, might not the principles 
of boat and ship-building be applied to 
them, securing the stern to the bank, 
and the head towards the bed of the ri- 
ver by anchors. ‘Thus, before any con- 
siderable swell is apprehended, the an- 
anchors might be raised, and the mole 
vessel drifted along side of the bank. B 
this means all the deposits of sand, &c. 
which had been made in those rivers 
which are only navigable at certain sea~ 
sons of the year, asthe Ohio and Mississip- 
pi would be swept away. But these would 
be trifling, compared to what might be 
caused by the stationary moles, becaus¢ 
the greater part would drift under the 
mole vessels, whenever a trifling swell 
should raise them from the bottom of the 
river. | 
(To be continued.) 
en 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazines 
SIR, 
F some of your architectural corres 
spondents would point out a mode of 
building large rooms in such a manner 
that no echo shall be produced, they 
would confer a great service on the pub- 
lic. There are some county-halls in the 
north of England, in which the assizes 
and sessions are held, that produce so 
much echo, that the speakers cannot be 
distinctly heard, which must be allowed 
to be a great inconvenience, especially 
to the judges and jurors. In building 
; rooms 
