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156

MORDAN AND Co.'s PATENT THREE-POINTED PENS.

meant by a lateral opening, the impetus required to expand the slit, merely causes the slit to open in the same manner as two fingers may be opened, or separated from each other, without an uprising action; or, in other words, if we were to open a pair of compasses, though the legs appear in the position of expansion, yet it will be evident that the very action of their separation must be a linear, or lateral one, both right and left, without the least bending of the legs upwards, or downwards, which is precisely the same with pens without ribs, or channels, and that is the cause why the previously manufactured steel pens, in general, have not the easy flexibility of the quill pen. Now if the action and the expansion be not easy and free, the steel pens will write very harshly and stiff; but this is not the case with Mordan and Co's counter oblique pens, for they possess a very free and easy opening, and glide extremely smooth over the paper owing to the fine temper of their steel, and the perfection of the manufacture of their pens, by very superior machinery, &c.

"Upon the whole, I consider this oblique pen superior to many of its predecessors, and Messrs. Mordan and Co. are worthy of high commendation, on account of the great expense they have been at for tools and machinery, and in employing able mechanics to accomplish the end they had in view, namely, to produce a pen worthy of the public attention.

"As good steel pens cannot be produced from bad steel, and as steel varies extremely in its properties and qualities, it is therefore of the utmost importance to be very cautious in the choice of steel, and more particularly so as it respects its temper and quality. I believe I have at present in my possession one of the finest and most perfect specimens of steel ever produced in England, or any where else. With regard to its pliancy," it may be compared to the thinnest and, finest whalebone, and it will re-vibrate to its former position after it has been bent double, end to end. Being highly carbonated, it is the only proper steel, and the most suitable for the manufacture of the best steel pens. Now this kind of steel may be more expensive, yet good steel pens from such a superior article would more than compensate for

any extra charge on the pen; and it si greatly to the credit of Messrs. Mordan and Co. that this is the kind of steel they generally use in their pens."-"I cannot pass over unnoticed the personal exertions and perseverance which Mr. Mordan himself has, with never-ceasing and undiminished ardour, for many years, endeavoured to overcome every obstacle, in the hopes of obtaining ultimately a successful result. Messrs. Mordan and Co, have succeeded in producing a more excellent and natural pen, than all those who have tried every kind of metal, both mixed and unmixed, that the mind of man could possibly conceive or invent!"

Thus far, Mr. Carstairs, in addition to which it is only necessary to state that with three-nibbed pens the following important advantages are secured; viz. 1. A certain supply of ink, uniform with the most rapid writing. 2. The two nibs of an ordinary pen act only as dividers or tracers, while the third nib in the new pen, pressing upon the paper, conducts and distributes the ink. 3. The additional nib renders the same pen capable of writing the boldest text, or finest running-hand. 4. The third nib becomes a species of reservoir, holding a large quantity of ink without any risk of blotting. 5. The third nib acting in the slit of the pen, effectually removes the fibres as they are gathered from the paper, thereby removing the greatest impediment to the use of metallic pens. Finally Firmness in use is obtained by the third nib, and, at the same time, the flexibility is increased, and durability necessarily follows

One important fact is deserving of particular notice; viz. that persons who had been accustomed to sign their names to checks, &c. &c., in a peculiar manner with quill pens, have hitherto been compelled to accommodate themselves to the capabilities of steel pens when using them for that particular purpose; whereas, with the triplepointed pen, the same freedom exists as in the quill, and it accommodates itself to the writer; instead, like all its predecessors, of compelling the writer to submit to the limited range of its capacity.

A jointed holder should always be used with these pens, to enable them

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W. BADDELEY.

LITERAL SPELLING.

Sir, It is an old maxim, to begin when you can with the egg; and in this age of many beneficial and some Utopian reformations, I am of opinion it would be beneficial to reform the mode by which our infants are first taught to read, and that would be effected by the abolition of absurd literal spelling. The words of our language are made up of the sounds of its syllables, and not of the sounds of its letters; and if so, why are the sounds of those letters taught? Several attempts have been made by Berthaud, Mrs. Wilfiams, and Anti-spelling, to accommo. date the sounds of the letters to their sounds in words; but I would reform it altogether, and abolish them. This may be thought too sweeping a measure, but if your readers will take the trouble of examining, they will find that literal spelling is altogether time lost and worse. Let them try the word leg-l, e, g. What are these sounds, leg or elegy?

This foolish system is not followed in teaching music or French. A French master teaches his pupils the sounds of the French letters separately, as aw, bay, say, &c. but he does not go on with this system, and say, "Now, my pupil, vay-0-00-ace-voo (vous): tay-0-00-tay -too (tout)." It is too absurd and roundabout. He says at once, "Look at that vous, it is voo; at that fou, it is too; don't forget, they are voo and too in sound, and vous and tout in sight;" and he remembers accordingly.

There is a strong and prominent fea

ture in most (perhaps all) languages, and that is, the abundance of short vowels they suit the early state of speech, whe ther in infants, as ba, ma, pa, mam, pap, dad-or in low-cultivated nations, as the Eskimaux, in Ikmal-lik, Tussarkit, Tennitarpin, &c. These short sounds far outnumber all the other vowel sounds put together; and if all others were expunged from our tongue, they would still form a language capable of conveying an extensive range of ideas. I would only have to do with syllables, as dis tinct sounds, at first. A child can tell this is and, and why not this, and? this is g, and why not this, jee? this z, why not this, zed?" Let any one dissect an English word as it is now first taught, and divide it into the simple sounds of which it is composed, and he will immediately find out that a child (poor thing) is instructed first to utter a number of simple sounds, and then expected to combine them into a compound sound, of which they do not form the elements or component parts. The child is first taught that this letter a sounds like hay; but perhaps the first syllable which it sees the letter in (ab) falsifies its previous instructions, for the letter a does not sound like hay, but somewhat like hah-and if it meet with the letter in the word all, it sounds neither like hay nor hah, but like haw.

I think the most judicious beginning would be to teach these first short vowel sounds unmixed. I I intended publishing a first book on this plan, and had two sheets of it printed, but as I may not do so, I beg room for these remarks in your very useful work, and shall be glad of any comments upon them. My lessons are all of the following kind, reserving other vowel sounds for a higher grade or second book:

ab, ad, ak, al, pa, ra, sa, ta, dad, dan, fan.
ed, ef, ek, en, beg, bed, bet, peg, pen, jet.
ib, id, ik, in, it, ix, fit, pil, din, nit.
ob, od, of, on, op, ox, bob, rob, pon, top.
ub, uf, us, ut, um, up, nup, rub, sud, sun.
on it, an ox, it is, if it is, is it up, or at it.

in a cap, is it a bat, mix it up, dad or mam.

run not in mud, pin her cap on, Tom cut his pen.

It cannot fit him, it is a bad job, it is as big as an ox.

It is a bad peg for his job, but Bob can lop it a bit for him.

Put it in a jar, or a cup, in his gig, but let him not sit on it. Her bonnet is formal, but it is velvet.

"Benjamin cannot get it into his cabinet, &c.

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AERIAL LOCOMOTION.

Sir, I was amused with an idea of one of your correspondents, that birds might be trained for aerostation; and as I have since 1826 had various thoughts on locomotion by mechanical means, I beg leave to lay before your readers my ideas on locomotive-balloons. In the first place, the form of body should resemble that of a fish of great velocitysalmon or bonetta. Next, I would have in the centre of the body a fan-blast, or bellows, the vent being at the tail; and beneath the belly a stage should be hung by copper rods, on which the winch to act on the fan-blast should be fixed. At the tail end I would have a large fan, to act as a rudder; and on each side of the body a sort of fin, to regulate the rising and falling, acted on by strings or cords held by the person at the tail-fan. It is not necessary to go to great altitudes; therefore, I propose that the gas to fill the body should be only in sufficient quantity to render the whole mass of the same specific weight as the atmosphere, or a trifle less-then by working the fan, motion would result. To progress, a nearly fair wind should be blowing, as this mode of transit can only resemble the compound forces of a river and a boat crossing, which produce diagonal motion; hence I consider the solution of the problem more curious than useful.

I had an idea of propelling vessels in a nearly similar manner, but have given it up for one more original, and perhaps better, as it will not require any sort of direct action of machinery on the water. The result will have all the appearance of a common sailer; and for a vessel of war, all will be entirely out of the reach of shot; steam or other power will, of course, be required as usual.

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BRITISH IRON TRADE. (Extract of a letter from Mr. Gerard Ralston to the Editor of the American Railroad Journal.)

In my last letter you will recollect I mentioned that the following advances in price had taken place in common (Welch) bars, viz.:

On 25th August the price at
Newport and Cardiff was

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Thus you see there has been a fur ther advance of 12s. 6d. per ton since my letter to you. But the price of 7 12s. 6d., as fixed by the meeting of Welch iron-masters at Romney, on the 1st inst., is not observed by some of the leading houses, who refuse to sell under 81. per ton, and others decline orders ath all, for the present, alleging that their engagements are already so heavy, and the prospects of the trade are such, thats they prefer to confine themselves to the t execution of orders on hand, and thusw enable them to take advantage of ins creased prices in the spring. The meeting at Romney adjourned to assem ble again on the 12th January next when it is confidently expected the price of 81. will not only be generally confirmed, but that a further advance of $ 10s.* The iron market is in a most exeq traordinary state; the demand is far greater than the supply, which it is im possible to increase immediately, owing to the inability to obtain competent workmen to mine the coal, ironstone, and limestone, and to manufacture them into iron when procured. Aid cannot be expected from the lead, copper, tin, and other manufacturers of metals, which would be practicable if these branches were in a depressed state; but so far from this being the case, these trades are in nearly as flourishing a condition as the iron trade. Hitherto

*The present price (June 6th) of British bar-iron is 121. per ton.-ED. M. M.

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the iron-masters always considered themselves fortunate, if they could get through the winter without a decline in prices. Now, in the month of December, the effort of the most judicious among them is to prevent too frequent and too great advances of price, which they deprecate, lest consumption should be checked; and also, what they fear more than any thing else, the workmen should combine, and 'strike' for higher

wages.

You may inquire what effect has been produced on railway iron. I can answer, by quoting my own experience. I have within a week received an order for a very large quantity (so large that I have not revealed it to any one lest it should affect the market,) of railway iron from America. I have issued my circulars to all the houses in this line, and I find a most wonderful alteration in the tone of their communications; formerly they were all eagerness to give an answer by return of mail, and they manifested the greatest anxiety to secure the whole order, or as much of it as possible. Now, some of them decline making tenders altogether, owing to the magnitude of engagements on hand; others, rather than break off connexions, mention such high prices for very small parts of the total quantity wanted, that they think they will not be accepted. A decided indisposition is manifested to come under any further engagements, unless at exorbitant prices, until it is ascertained what will be the result of the adjourned meeting at Romney on the 12th January. I very much fear that the same pattern of rail, which I put out in the middle of September last at 87. per ton, will not now be contracted for under 107. per ton, but I will do my best to screw them down to the lowest price. Not withstanding the present high price, I have every reason to believe that prices will be still higher in the spring; for since I wrote to you, I have traversed the whole iron region, visiting every establishment of any importance, and every where I found an activity and bustle which I never before witnessed during my long experience in this business. Every establishment is full, to excess, of orders, and the greatest exertions are making, day and night, to execute them.

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The Pacha of Egypt's order for about 5,000 tons for the railway across the Isthmus of Suez, is about one-half completed; but others pour in from France, (there are two recently from that country for about 6,000 tons,) from Germany, Belgium, America, and every part of this country, in a way to astonish even the most enthusiastic friends of the railway system. Besides this demand for railway iron, the consuption other kinds of iron fully keeps pace with it. This country being in a more prosperous condition, and every branch of trade, cotton, silk, wool, flax, hemp, tin, lead, copper, &c., being more flourishing, than at any period since the termination of the Napoleon wars; it is reasonable to suppose, and such is the fact, that iron, which is the foundation upon which the arts of civilized life rests, should be in great demand, when all other branches of industry flourish. Hence the demand for domestic consumption for ordinary purposes is very great, which, when added to the demand for foreign countries, and railway purposes, you may easily imagine will readily account for the present prices, and the prospect of still higher in the spring, unless war or some other calamity should ensue to check the brilliant progress of civilization arising from the long continuance of peace.

PRESERVATION OF ANIMAL SUBSTANCES BY CARBONIZATION.

[A short notice of this new discovery appeared in our 667th Number. The following additional particulars are from the American Journal of Science and Arts.-ED. M.M.]

The following are some of the objects that have been subjected to the petrifying process. One of Sig. Segato's first experiments was performed upon a Canary bird. It is still preserved unaltered, although it is now ten years since the experiment was performed; and it has been submitted to the action of water and of insects. A parrot retains its original brilliancy of plumage, unimpaired. Eggs of the land turtle, turtles, various tarantulæ, a water-snake, a toad, various kinds of fish, snails and insects, are in a perfect state of preservation. To these, are

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REPORT OF EXPERIMENTS ON THE EXPLOSIONS OF STEAM-BOILERS.

added various parts of the human body. A hand of a lady, who died of consump tion, preserves the emaciation of the disease and of death. Another of a man is flexible in the different phalangic articulations, and yet unalterable; a foot with the nails perfectly fast; a collection of all the intestines of a child, in their natural colours and forms, with the fecal matters unremoved; the liver of a man who died from intemperance, dark and lustrous like ebony; an entire human brain with its convolutions, of extreme hardness; the skin of a woman's breast, naturally configured; a pate of a girl perfectly flexible, from which the hair hangs in curls; the head of an infant partly destroyed, and discoloured by putrefaction. There is also in the cabinet of Sig. Segato, a table constructed as follows. A spheroidal surface of wood contains a parallelogram, composed of two hundred and fourteen pieces, regularly arranged. These to the eye appear like the most beautiful pietre dure that have been produced by nature. Their various colours, polish and splendour, and their suprising hardness, would leave no doubt of their stony character. The sharpest file, with difficulty, makes an impression on any of them; some it does

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not attack at all. These pieces are all portions of the human body, hardened by this new process; as the heart, liver, pancreas, spleen, tongue, brain, arteries, &c. &c., all resembling the most highlypolished precious marbles. An entire body has not yet been tried, principally on account of the limited resources of Sig. Segato, although the expense would be but about one-tenth of that of embalming by the ordinary process.

Great advantages to science, especially to natural history and human anatomy, are expected to result from this discovery; and it is even confidently believed that the remains of friends, of men of science and of worth, may be preserved for ages in the exact form and appearance, in which the hand of death found them, with nothing offensive or revolting about them.

As vouchers for the accuracy of the statements contained in the pamphlet, the certificates of many of the distinguished physicians, professors and men of science in Florence, where Sig. Segato resides, are appended. Among them, it is sufficient to mention the names of Sig. Betti, Professor of Physiology; Sig. Zannetti, Professor of Human Anatomy; and Dr. Gazzeri, Professor of Chemistry.

REPORT OF EXPERIMENTS MADE BY THE COMMITTEE OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE OF PENNSYLVANIA ON THE EXPLOSIONS OF STEAM-BOILERS, AT THE REQUEST OF THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

(From the Journal of the Franklin Institute.)
(Continued from p. 124.)

The temperature of maximum vaporisasion was obviously about 2920 Fah. The effect of the polish was thus distinctly shown by a comparison with the preceding table, which gave 3270 to 3290 for the same point. Perfect repulsion took place as low as 3150 Fah. In repeating this series, with the surface tarnished by the effect of the heat and water used, the temperature of maximum vaporisation was raised to 325°, and of perfeet repulsion to about 378°, confirming the conclusion from the preceding series.

3. The same copper bowl in a bath of oil, the surface being clean but not smooth; and again, the surface being very much oxidated, but free from grease, gave the results recorded in the next table. The nature of the

bath would not, probably, materially affect the results with so small a quantity of water; the cooling effects of the vaporisation of the drop upon the surface of the metal being inconsiderable. In these rough surfaces the effect of giving a tendency to motion to the drop of water, by allowing it to fall on the sides of the bowl, becomes very appreciable. This tendency assists the force of repulsion, and frequently determines a considerable increase in the time of vaporisation.

The first series in the annexed table consists of results obtained when the dish was clean but the surface not smooth; the second and third, when the dish was free from grease, but much oxidated :— #

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