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made upon this plan. In a time of scarcity of corn, the discovery will prove a great blessing.

Protraction of Vegetable Life.-The following extraordinary instance of the lengthened period of time during which the vital principle of vege. tables may be preserved, was mentioned by Mr. Houlton, in the course of his introductory lecture as professor of botany, at the last meeting of the Medico-Botanical Society :-A bulbous root, which was found in the hand of an Egyptian mummy, in which situation it had very probably been for more than 2000 years, germinated on exposure to the atmosphere, though, when discovered, it was apparently in a state of perfect dryness. The root was subsequently put into the ground, where it grew with readiness and vigour.

Imitative Gold.-Professor Hermstadt has late. ly made known the composition of a fictitious gold, which is much in use among the German jewellers. To sixteen parts of pure platina add seven parts of brass and one part of zinc; place them in a crucible, cover the whole over with pulverized charcoal, and keep it over the fire until the composition is in a liquid state, and reduced to one uniform mass. This alloy has not merely the colour of gold, but possesses its ductibility and specific gravity.

Steam Carriages abroad.—It is stated, a steam carriage will shortly ply between Dresden and Leipsic. Is it possible that we shall after all permit foreigners to anticipate us in the public use of this noblest of all the results of steam machinery?

Butter. The Journal des Connaissances Usuelles gives an account of the means used in the canton d'Issigny to procure excellent butter in winter. The cows are warmly clothed, so as to cause them to calve in the autumn, as it is found that the milk, after this process of nature at that time, becomes more abundant and richer in quantity; and during the severest weather in the winter, they were constantly kept clothed, and fea in the open air, as the taste of the butter is said to be much injured by confinement in the stable. The butter of this district is superior to any other on the continent.

Parallax of Fixed Stars.-In an article in the last Number of the Edinburgh Review, on the progress of astronomical science, speaking of the annual parallax of fixed stars, the writer says, "Dr. Brinkley has imagined that the DUBLIN circle indicated the existence of parallax, and he instances some stars with regard to which its inAuence was too great to be mistaken; but his results have not been confirmed by the excellent circles of the Greenwich observatory, so that the annual parallax of any star hitherto observed, cannot be said to be appreciable even with the largest and most delicate instruments." This conclusion is exactly the opposite of the truth. It is plain that the writer of the paper imagines' that the Greenwich circle is as great or greater than the Dublin circle; now, he ought to know, because every body but himself, that has ever 'heard by report' of astronomical instruments,' knows, that the Dublin circle is famous over Europe for being the largest in the world. The diameter of the Dublin circle is eight feet, that of the Greenwich six feet, therefore the size of the Dublin is to the size of the Greenwich as sixty-four to thirty-six, or nearly double. We should thank Mr. Macvey Napier to cor. ect this mis-statement in his next Number, because it is important that the British public should not be deceived under the guise of scientific informa. tion, and that they should be made aware that the greatest astronomer at present in the world (Dr. Brinkley, now bishop of Cloyne), in using the

largest instrument in the world (the Dublia cit cle), has come to the conclusion, that the annual parallax of a fixed star is appreciable.-Dublin Literary Gazette.

Seed Dealers.-A cottager may often make a few shillings by saving seeds, and selling or exchanging them with his neighbours or with the seedsmen. In different parts of Scotland this is done by labourers, weavers, and other mechanics. Torryburn is, or used to be, famous for its seeds of German greens; another village near Stirling for leek-seed. Dunfermline and Paisley were also noted in this way; and what are called the Russian stocks are raised from seeds saved by the weavers of Silesia and Saxony.-Loudon's Cottage Gardening.

Dandelion Coffee.-"Dr. Harrison, of Edinburgh, prefers dandelion coffee to that of Mecca; and many persons all over the Continent prefer a mixture of succory and coffee to coffee alone. Dig up the roots of dandelion, wash them well, but do not scrape them, dry them, cut them into the size of peas, and then roast them in an earthen pot, or coffee-roaster of any kind. The great secret of good coffee is, to have it fresh burnt and fresh ground."-Ibid.

Wine from unripe Grapes.-Dobereiner of Jena, who ranks among the first of German chemists, has latterly been occupied in making ex periments on the possibility of ameliorating wine, derived from the juice of unripe grapes; and has discovered, that it may be rendered perfectly sweet, by injecting the powder of bones, which have been reduced to a state of whiteness by combustion.

INTERIM NOTICES.

Numerous complaints having been addressed to us, respecting the difficulty of procuring copies of our back Numbers and Volumes, we think it due to the venders to state that the fault may very probably not rest with them. Any number of the work printed since the publication came under the personal direction of the Editor 27th of June, 1829) may be had immediately on application at our office; but with respect to those of an older date, the regular supply of thein has been for the present interrupted by legal difficulties, arising out of contending interests. Sooner or later, however, these difficulties will be removed-and as the Numbers have been all stereotyped from the first, no person need be in any doubt of being ultimately able to obtain whatever Numbers they are in want of to complete their sets.

S. E., of Norwich, who will find the first of his queries disposed of by the above notice, is in formed, in answer to his second, that it is not intended to stereotype the "Spirit of Literature," and that persons desirous of ensuring complete sets, would do well to commence their subscription immediately. We take this opportunity of thanking the subscribers to the Mechanics' Magazine" for the support which they have so generally extended to our new publication.

Communications received from Mr. Baddeley -J. G.-Nauticus-B. S.-Curiosûs-Honestus -S. P.-Iuteger-Mr. Duval.

LONDON: Published for the Editor and Proprietor, by M. SALMON, at the Mechanics' Magazine Office, No. 115, Fleet Street; where Communications (post paid) are requested to be addressed.

. M. SALMON, Printer, Fleet Street.

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We have related in another part of our present Number certain proceedings in Chancery, which have taken place on an application by Lord Cochrane and Mr. Galloway for an injunction to restrain Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson from making any more steam-boilers on the plan of that of "The Novelty." The engraving on the preceding page represents the particular sort of engine which the plaintiffs set forth as having been pirated by the defendants. It is the No. 1, spoken of in the course of the proceedings. The nature of the invention, of which this No. 1 is an exemplification, is thus explained by the patentees in their specification:

"Our invention consists of making and forming a machine or machines for the heating of boilers, and may be denominated improved air-tight stoves, furnaces, or fire-places, into which cold, or rather, combustible and inflammable substances shall be used to generate and convey heat by the ignition and combustion of coal or other fit substances; and which air-tight stoves, furnaces, or fire-places, must be composed and formed of any suitable materials, and with means which will permit the entrance and prevent the escape of any atmospheric air or gas into or from such stove, furnace, or fire-place; but at the situation or situations formed for the introduction and exit of such air or gas by means of pumps, valves, or other suitable machinery, which shall be capable of supplying any such stoves, furnaces, or fire-places, with any required quantity of atmospheric air to keep up the ignition of any fuel or combustible substance, and, at the same time, to force out of any such-stove, furnace, or fire-place, any smoke or gas so generated against any required resistance or pressure. Our invention is of a threefold character-the first part of it is for removing the inconvenience of smoke or gases generated in stoves, furnaces, or fire-places, by the ignition

or combustion of coals or other inflammable substances; the second part is, in certain cases, for directing the heat so generated; and the third part is for applying such smoke or gas to various useful purposes."

The description of the figure, No. 1, we shall also give in the words of the patentees:—

"AAAA show an air-tight horizontal and vertical stove, furnace, or fireplace, with its flues to heat a boiler for generating steam, or for such other purposes to which it may be found Convenient to apply the action of heat. B is the pipe through which a supply of atmospheric air is conveyed by means of a pump or pumps, or other instrument for forcing air into the fireplace to keep up the combustion of any fuel previously ignited. In the pipe B is contained a metal valve, which shuts against its seat by the pressure of the smoke from the fire and opens by the force of the atmosperic air conveyed from the pump or other proper instrument, employed to blow in the air; the pipe B may either discharge its supplies of air by being introduced under or upon the ignited fuel of the horizontal fire, or be conveyed into any convenient part of the vertical fire-place; or if more than one pump is employed for this purpose, then the air may be blown into both fires at once, as circumstances may point out. C is the plate or valve by which the smoke, gas, and heated air are compressed, according to the pressure placed on such plate or valve, either by any weight or fluid, or by any other known means of producing any required resistance. The opening or rising from its seat of the valve or plate C, allows the escape of the smoke, gas, and heated air, when the inflammable parts of the smoke shall have been subjected to any required degree of exhaustion according to the resistance made to their escape. The reservoir or vessel DD receives and encloses the end of the pipe which forms the seat of the valve C, and is made to contain the required quantity of water that shall be sufficient to perform the double object of confining the smoke until it is deprived, by the action of the fire, of any required quantity of its combustible properties; and in its exit and passage through the water, it is cleansed of some of its mucilaginous properties, and in such a purified state it may either be collected for any useful object, or it may be allowed to escape into the atmosphere without creating the inconvenience and annoyance generally experienced from the exit of foul smoke from any ordinary chimney; particularly from those chimneys em

ployed for the use of steam-engines. EE are the iron doors to shut off the fire; and the ash-pit GG. FF is the metal chamber which encloses the firedoors EE, and the ash-pit GG, and which must be made perfectly airtight when its cover II is shut into its mouth HH. This mouth or curved orifice in the chamber FF furnishes, when it is open, an introduction to the doors of the tire and the ash-pit. II, the spherical cover must be fitted and ground correctly air-tight into the mouth of the chamber FF, and which is kept in that state by the pressure of the screw J, and by which means the atmospheric air is prevented entering into the fire or the ash-pit, through the doors EE. The smoke, gas, or heated air, are equally secured from escaping through the doors of the tire and ash-pit. KK is the iron bridge which swings on its pivots, and which is connected to the chamber FF, and into which the screw J works by its lever L, and by a few turns of which screw, the cover II is admitted to move out of the way of the orifice or mouth of the chamber, and thereby gives a free entrance into it when required. MM are metal tubes, and of sufficient length to prevent the action of the fire from injuring the strong glass or glasses that are to be fixed in them for viewing the fire, and of such a diameter as will afford a general survey of the fire : these tubes, with their glasses, must be made airtight and fixed securely in the spherical cover II, opposite the apertures made in the fire-doors to view the fire. NN is an iron rake, with a shifting handle and a roller, or feet placed at the bottom to prevent the teeth of the rake from falling entirely out of the fire bars, although it is desirable that they should be as low as possible; and it is necessary when this rake is not in use that it should be kept in the recess, made for it in the ash-pit at d, and which is introduced into the ashpit for distributing the fire and for clearing the bars on which the fire is placed, and which rake moves in a ball and socket stuffing-box 0, inserted in the cover II; by this means the fire is raked without opening the cover II, and without sustaining any loss of the compressed air with which the fire and ash-pit is supplied. PP is a metallic magazine, placed at the top of the vertical fire, and surrounded with a case or reservoir for holding of water to keep the reservoir from becoming too warm, and from

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which the boiler may be supplied with warm water as fast as the reservoir is fed with cold water; and which magazine PP may be made to contain any required supply of unignited fuel, and which magazine must be made airtight in all its parts. Q is the frame or mouth of the magazine, through which the fuel is to be conveyed into the interior of it. R is the air-tight cover or plate, which by the pressure of the screw S working through the swinging-bridge T, forces down the cover R. Near the bottom of the magazine PP is placed a valve or door V, with an axle through or across its centre, after the manner of a throttle-valve of a steam-engine as respects the axle of the valve or door; one-half of which valve or door will rest when closed on the lower part of the seat WW, while the other half of the valve or door rests on the upper part of the seat. The form of the valve-seat, as shown at WW, will be found to be very convenient, as by its angular shape no coals or other fuel will lay upon it to obstruct the shutting of the valve or door V. The object of this valve or door is not only to shut off the unignited fuel from the vertical fire, but to allow the magazine PP to be replenished with fuel as often as required, without permitting any considerable escape of smoke, gas, or heated air; and when the cover R is closed or shut, then the valve V may be opened whenever the fire shall require any additional supply of fuel; and when it is so opened, the cover R must completely prevent the escape of any smoke, gas, or heated air, through the magazine PP. Y is a chimney, of any required height, issuing from the top of the boiler, and in connexion with the flue with its cover ZZ, its screw e, the bridge f, in which the screw works, and the lever g, by which it is moved. This chimney may be used for carrying off the smoke when the fire is first lighted, and when the valve or cover II is opened to admit freely and copiously the atmospheric air under the fire when the stove, furnace, or fire-place of the boiler is so used, then it is a fire on the common principle, and when used in that state it forms no part of our invention; but when the covers and valves II and ZZ, with either the cover R or the valve V, are shut by any sufficient machinery, and rendered air-tight in those parts, and a full supply of atmospheric air is forced into the fire at the place or places assigned for its entrance, then

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such a change and combination in the machinery puts this part of the principle of our invention in full force. A fireplace and its apparatus thus arranged will produce not only a saving of fuel by extracting a greater quantity of combustible material from the fuel, but will direct the heat to the object of its application more effectually than hitherto done, and will, at the same time, remove the inconvenience and annoyance sustained from the issue of large quantities of foul smoke, as at present experienced from ordinary Bres and chimneys employed for the heating of boilers."

ALLEGED INFRINGEMENT OF PATENT RIGHT.

Court of Chancery, 30th June and 6th July, 1830.

LORD COCHRANE AND MR. ALEXANDER GALLOWAY v. MESSRS. BRAITHWAITE AND ERICSSON.

The application of the plaintiffs was for an injunction to restrain the defendants from making and selling any more steam-boilers on the plan for which they recently took out a patent (the same which was applied with so much success in the case of "The Novelty"), on the ground that that patent is an infringement of one granted to the plaintiffs as far back as the 4th of May, 1818.

The patent of the plaintiffs is, "for a machine or machines for removing the inconvenience of smoke or gases generated in stoves, furnaces, or fireplaces, by the ignition or combustion

of coals or other inflammable substances; and in certain cases for directing the heat, and applying such smoke or gases to various useful purposes, which will be of great public utility."

The patent of the defendants is entitled, for a mode or method of converting liquids into vapour or steam."

The plaintiffs' bill charged, That the invention described in the defendants' patent is substantially the same with that of the plaintiffs-That in both the fire is maintained by forcing air into a furnace or close fire-place contained within the boiler and surrounded by water, so that on being forced in by an air-pump or blowing-cy

linder with a piston, or by any other suitable instrument, an adequate supply of air may be obtained without the necessity of using a high chimney-That the air thus forced into, under, or upon the fire, is pro duced and maintained in any suitable or required state of compression beyond the ordinary density of the atmosphere, as well within the furnace as within the flues which proceed from the same through the water contained in the boiler, by obstructing the exit of the unconsumed air, the smoke, and heated gas, out of the flue, in order that the same may be retained longer within such flue, and thereby give out and apply its heat to the surrounding water with more effect and economy than hitherto produced-And that the mechanical arrangements and constructions by which the above principle is proposed to be carried into effect are also very similar, for that the fuel is introduced from the top of the boiler into the furnace by the same expedient of an ante-chamber with its external door, and also an internal door between that ante-chamber and the furnaceone of these doors being, in all cases, shut before the other is opened, by which means the fuel can be introduced without any considerable escape of the compressed air.

The defendants in their answer stated-That so far from the inventions being substantially the same, the machines made by them differ both in principle and detail, and in all respects from the machines described in the plaintiffs' specification, except in such details as are old and well known, and were in use long ago-That the specification of the plaintiffs does not sustain the title of their patent, inasmuch as a machine made on the plan there set forth would put the fire out immediately, and would not remove the inconvenience of smoke-That only three machines, as the defendants were informed, had been made according to the plaintiffs' specification, and that the same had entirely failed-That it is true the defendants in the machines made by them do maintain the fuel by forcing air into a furnace or close fire-place contained within the boiler, and surrounded by