partly by steam. America, then, had the lead again in daring to apply Fulton's machine to long voyages, and this is the more remarkable, that it has always had but few steam-boats on sea service. This first essay was not repeated until in 1835, when the English undertook the passage from Falmouth to the Cape of Good Hope; the Atlantic, provided with an engine nearly similar to that of the Savannah, accomplished in 37 day a distance of 2,400 nautical miles. The Berenice, the Medea, the Zenobia, performed passages of different lengths on the coast of Africa, and in the Indian seas. All these boats were English. In the Mediterranean, steamers of different nations, Neapolitan, Sardinian, Austrian, French, crossed from one port to another. Lastly, our service of steam packets from Marseilles to Alexandria was established, and threw open to us a new access to the East. The passage to Constantinople, which was sometimes forty-five days in duration, was thus reduced to thirteen and a half days.

These numerous experiments gave rise to the idea that, by the aid of steam, it was possible to accomplish the distance between Europe and the United States. The difficulty of carrying the necessary quantity of coals for the consumption of an engine acting, without interruption, from one shore of the ocean to the other, during a space of from fifteen to twenty days, was no longer an obstacle. It had been discovered that the consumption of combustible did not increase in the same ratio with the power of the motors,-that an engine of 250 horse power, for instance, was far from burning twice as much fuel as was necessary for an engine of 125 horse power; that, moreover, certain parts of the mechanism might be simplified in such a manner as to take up less room, and consequently, leave more space at disposal for the accommodation of passengers or merchandise. From this time operations were commenced, and on the 4th of April, 1838, the first experiment was tried. You are all acquainted, gentlemen, with the result. You all beheld the enthusiasm excited by the succéss of the vovage undertaken by the Sirius, fifteen days had been sufficient for its passage. Scarcely had this vessel arrived in the port of New York, when it was joined by the Great Western, which started from Bristol on the 8th of the same month, after a passage of fourteen days.*

Henceforth the problem was solved. America was nearer the European continent by half the distance which formerly separated them. There could be no more doubt concerning it; the events which have since occurred have ratified these first expectations.

The Great Western has crossed the Atlantic twenty-eight times during the period of the fourteen months just elapsed without accident, maintaining an almost uniform speed, of which the average time was

*The length of this boat is 236 feet, its depth 23 feet 3 inches, its width outside the paddle boxes 58 feet 4 inches, draught corresponding to the load, 16 feet, tonnage 1,340 tons. The engines are so constructed as to diminish the consumption of steam and fuel. It is said that they consume 33 tons of coal a day. The total cost of the vessel when it was launched was 55,000l.; since that time improvements have been effected in it which have amounted to 15,000. It carries 700 tons of goods, 135 passengers. The rest represents the weight of the engine, the boilers, and the water.

sixteen days going, and from thirteen to fourteen days coming back: the last voyage was even accomplished in eleven and a half days.

During two years, since they begun their operations, with what strides have the English advanced?

A first line from Bristol to New York was established in 1838. The company to whom it belongs has four steamers of 450 horse power -namely, the Sirius, the Great Western, the Royal William, and the Liverpool. The price of each of these boats is 1,300,000f. It is said that they now are building an iron steamer, which is to carry two engines, whose united powers will amount to 1,000 horses. These engines were constructed on the plan of Mr. Humphreys; the boat will only be 100 metres in length, and will have room for 300 passengers, and a considerable quantity of merchandise. The works are in active continuation, and will be terminated, according to appearces, in the course of the year 1841.

Another line was established for the service of London and New York. Two vessels were employed on it-the British Queen and the President; the engine of the British Queen was of 500 horse power, that of the President 600; they can accommodate from 225 to 250 passengers, and receive a load of from 500 to 600 tons. A third line connects New York to Liverpool, so that there are already three establishments sending steam vessels from different parts of Great Britain to the United States.

Moreover, a compact was sealed on the 4th of July, 1839, between the Admiralty and Mr. Samuel Cunard, for the transit of letters from Liverpool to Halifax. Mr Cunard has engaged that there should be two departures per month, and receives from the Government an annual remuneration of 1,500,000f. The Britannia, of 450 horse power, was launched into the sea in the beginning of February, 1839.

Lastly, a more extensive service will soon connect Great Britain with the West India Islands; there is a company in existence under the name of the Royal Steam Navigation Company, which is preparing vessels for New Orleans, Mexico, and part of the South American This company the Government indemnifies by an annual payment of 6,000,000.

You must all perceive, gentlemen, that we must not delay entering into the lists, for we are urged on by competition from every quarter, and the appearance of English steamers on every point of the New World to the exclusion of our own, would soon banish us from those regions.

However serious the character of these motives, gentlemen, they are, however, secondary when compared to the consideration which we will not endeavour to conceal. The navy is a weapon, and one which to all appearances is destined to play an important part in the conflicts which a future day may bring to light. Attempting to foretell what consequences may be reserved for a future period by the introduction of steam in constructing ships of war would be presumptuous; it is a question of entirely recent origin; experiments with regard to it are in their infancy. It is, however, already discernible that the use of new motors will infallibly produce the following effects:

-In the first place, it will render every vessel in similar conditions equally supple and tractable, by whatever men she may be manned. It will be sufficient to have able engineers in order to effect manœuvres with a facility and precision as entirely independent of the state of the sea as of the greater or less aptitude of the sailors.

Secondly, the number and proportion of the men required for the performance of the ship's duty would be entirely changed. The Great Western, whose form and dimensions are nearly those of an ordinary frigate, is conducted by fifty men, including engineers and stokers. Now, if it be true that the naval enrolment of France is incompetent to supply all its necessities, this inconvenience will vanish; and the more so, because the zone in which we shall be able to find men fit for the service will be extended.

Lastly, the draught of water occasioned by a steamer depends upon its power; but for all it is less than that of ships of war. Whence it follows, that instead of the five or six ports to which our vessels and frigates can resort, steam-boats will be able to cast anchor off any coast, and, so to speak, in any bay.

Thus the new vessels provided with a good engine will be swift, will offer less hold to the enemy, will have a greater number of safe harbours to resort to, will require a less numerous crew, and require less previous apprenticeship than in sailing vessels. This will evidently become a new weapon; and if these ships carry guns for the discharge of bombs of a recent invention, whose effect is such that at one discharge they are capable of disabling the largest craft, they will become a weapon at once easy of management, safe, and of the most destructive nature. Is there not wherewithal here to change the whole direction of naval tactics, all the proportions existing between the powers of nations? Here is an entire revolution. Slow or fast, partial or complete, this revolution will ensue. Now, with the example given us by a Government whose energetical endeavours are dedicated to the continued increase of its naval resources, when we see Great Britain during two years continually multiplying, at the cost of such enormous sacrifices, its steam navigation, and finding in the gigantic establishments of its industry those inexhaustible resources of which we are deprived, would it be wise, would it be prudent, to continue our materiel in its present state, to abstain from making some progress in the new career which has been traced out to us? Undoubtedly we do not indulge in the chimera that our country can ever equal the English in their naval establishment. The strength of the British nation rests entirely on its foreign trade; they are an exclusively seafaring nation. All the springs of its prosperity are there; it drags after it that colossal superiority which constituted at once its greatness and its peril. The conditions of existence in which France is situated are different; but the extent of its coast, its position, the genius of a portion of its inhabitants, compel it to possess a navy, and in that case it is becoming that, wherever she may be pleased to hoist her flag, she may be enabled to assemble and display a sufficient force in order to

insure respect. Without this she could never effectually protect her national interests beyond the seas.*

The construction of steam-boats for transatlantic voyages presents, then, a double object to our view. Applied, in time of peace, to the growth and preservation of our commerce, they may be transformed, during hostilities, into ships of war; they may assume, in turn, the double character of a defensive weapon and of a means of conveyance -of a commercial and of a military navy; to-day they may carry merchandise, and when requisite guns.

Civ. Eng. & Arch. Jour.

Steam Packets to convey the Mails between France and America.

We, Louis Philippe, King of the French, have proposed, the Chambers have adopted, we have ordered and do order the following:Article 1. A line of steam packets shall be established in order to convey the mails between the ports of Havre and New York.

The Minister of Finance is authorized to treat, within the space of three months, with a commercial company who will undertake the service, on condition that they receive in payment an annual fee not exceeding SSOf. per horse power. The number of steam packets to be employed in the service of this line shall be three at the least, or five at the most; each packet to be propelled by engines of 450 horse power.

A list of conditions, to be drawn out by the administration, will determine the times of departure, the number of passengers, and every detail relative to the service of this line.

2. Two principal lines of communication shall be established by the Government, in order to convey the mails between France and America, and served by steam packets of 450 horse power, one starting from Bordeaux every 20 days, and from Marseilles every month, in order to arrive at Martinique, and continuing by Guadaloupe, St. Thomas', Porto Rico, Cape Hayti, and St. Jago, to Havanna; the other starting from St. Nazaire every month to Rio Janeiro, passing by Lisbon, Goree, Pernambuco, and Bahia. Three secondary lines, served by steamers of 220 horse power, will be established in order to continue the principal lines, the first to Mexico, touching at Vera Cruz, Tampico, Galveston, and New Orleans; the second to Central America, touching at Chagres, Carthagena, Santa Martha, and La Guayra; the third to Montevideo and Buenos Ayres.

To effect this a special credit has been opened to the Minister of the Navy, to the amount of 28,400,000f., to be devoted to the construction, arming, and fitting up of 14 steam packets of 450 horse power, and four steam packets of 220 horse power, and which is to be appropriated to the expenditures of 1840, 1841, 1842, and 1843.

* England had, in 1831, 840 commercial steam-boats, representing altogether 64,700 horse power. Besides which, the English Admiralty possesses 66 vessels, whose powers amount to nearly 9,400 horses, while in France we reckon only 640 commercial steamers, and 38 belonging to Government.

From the total sum of 28,400,000f. a grant is made to the Minister of the Navy

3. The steam boats belonging to the Government shall be constructed so as to enable them, in case of necessity, to carry guns, and when performing the duty of packets to carry merchandize.

Incrustation in Steam Engine Boilers.

Ibid.

We are informed by L'Echo du Monde Savant, of the 25th of July, that M. Edouard Richard had presented to the Geological Society of France a calcareous incrustation, which must be considered of great value, as it was not formed in the boiler, but in the cylinder of the engine, and beneath the piston. The incrustation formed a disc 12 centimetres in thickness; and in consequence of the pressure of the piston, it is so hard that it is capable of receiving as high a polish as the densest marble. It is evident, therefore, that explosions may be produced as well by calcareous concretions of the cylinders as of the boilers of steam engines. The engine from which this specimen was procured, has been used for the purpose of pumping water from the mine of Auzin, and has been built after Newcomen's plan.-In L'Echo du Monde Savant of August the 5th, we find a communication upon the subject of steam boiler explosions by M. Flesselle, a retired officer of the French Marine, resident at Graville, near Havre. M. Flesselle suggests, that, in order to prevent the formation of calcareous incrustations, (which have long been considered the principal causes of accident,) some common salt or muriate of potash, should be put into the boiler with each fresh supply of water. M. Flesselle recommends this measure, because the incrustations are formed of the carbonate, the sulphate, and perhaps the phosphate of lime-(salts, insoluble, or sparingly soluble;) and these salts, boiled with the muriate of soda (common salt,) or muriate of potash, will undergo double decomposition with these muriates; the products being the carbonate, sulphate, and phosphate of soda, and the muriate of lime-salts all of which are soluble.

M. Flesselle says that M. Chaix, of Maurice, has invented a method of preventing explosions, which appears to have been adopted with success in the French government steam vessels; but M. F. considers that auxiliary means also are requisite-and we think he is right; for the fact we have related regarding the engine at Auzin, proves that we should avail ourselves of every cheap and simple aid to prevent the fearful accidents to which incrustations may give rise, seeing that the sulphate, carbonate, and phosphate of lime may be held in suspension by the steam-be carried by it in a state of minute molecular division even into the cylinders-and there also be deposited in the form of hard concretions.-The method of M. Flesselle, seeming found