facility put together on arrival at the port of their destination, Monte Video, South America. The plates are from a quarter of an inch to three-eighths in thickness.

LENGTHENING A STEAMER.

A NOVEL operation has been effected in Chatham dockyard; that of lengthening the Gleaner Steam-vessel, which had been taken into dock for that purpose. She was sawn in two a little more than onethird of her length from her stern, and ways were laid from the fore part of her to tread on; the purchase falls were rove, and brought to two capstans, and the order being given by the master shipwright, the men hove away, and in five minutes the fore section was separated from the after part a distance of eighteen feet. The space between will now be filled up by new timber. There is no record of any ship or vessel having been lengthened in this dockyard before the Gleaner.Kentish paper.

ANTHRACITE COAL.

An Association has been formed in South Wales for extending the applicability of Anthracite Coal. America took the lead in its use in steam-boats, and also for domestic purposes; the quantity of carbon which it contains giving out a greater heat than that description of coal where combustion is more rapid. Satisfactory experiments have been made with Anthracite, both with marine and locomotive engines in this country, and it is to be hoped that its superior economy will not be lost sight of.

NEW SYSTEM OF INLAND TRANSPORT.

An experiment has been made on the Forth and Clyde Canal, in Scotland, which seems likely to affect seriously the relative value of property in canals and railways. On some canals in Scotland, light iron vessels, capable of carrying from 60 to 100 passengers, are towed along by a couple of horses, at a rate of 10 miles an hour; and this is effected by what is called riding on the wave. This new system of wave navigation, the theory of which has been fully explained in the reports of the meetings of the British Association, has hitherto been limited in its use by the speed of horses. The experiment to which we now allude shows that the locomotive engine is capable of performing feats equally astonishing in water as in land-carriage. A locomotive engine, running along the banks of the canal, drew a boat, loaded with sixty or seventy passengers, at a rate of more than nineteen miles an hour! and this speed was not exceeded only because the engine was an old-fashioned coal-engine, whose maximum speed, without any load, does not exceed twenty miles an hour; so that there is every reason to infer that, with an engine of the usual construction employed on railways, thirty, forty, or fifty miles an hour will become as practicable on a canal as on a railway. The experiments to which we refer, were performed under the direction of Mr. Macneill. Athenœum; abd.

ERICSSON'S PROPELLERS.

ON Jan. 29, the R. F. Stockton towed the American packet-ship Toronto from Blackwall to the lower point of Woolwich, a distance of 34 miles, in 40 minutes, against the flood-tide, then running from 2 to 25 miles; thus towing her through the water at the rate of upwards of six miles an hour. The Toronto is 650 tons burden, she measures 32 feet beam, and drew, at the time of the trial, 16 ft. 9 in. water; thus presenting a sectional area of more than 460 square feet. Now, the fact of this body having been moved at a rate of upwards of six miles an hour, by a propeller, or piece of mechanism, measuring only 6 ft. 4 in. in diameter, and occupying less than 3 feet in length, is one which, scientifically considered, as well as in a practical and commercial point of view, is of immense importance.-Times.

DRAINAGE OF LANDS BY STEAM-POWER.

In the fens of Lincolnshire, Cambridge, and Bedfordshire, a steamengine of 10-horse power has been found sufficient to drain a district of 1,000 acres of land, and the water can always be kept down to any given distance below the plants. If rain fall in excess, the water is thrown off by the engine; if the weather be dry, the sluices can be opened, and the water let in from the river. The expense of drainage is about 2s. 6d. an acre; the first cost of the work generally amounts to 11. an acre for machinery and buildings.-Durham Advertiser ; abd.

PROGRESS OF RAILWAYS.

DURING the past year, the following lines of Railway have either been partially opened, or opened throughout their whole extent :The London and Southampton Railway (to which the name of South Western has been given,) was opened on June 10, eight miles onward, to Basingstoke, and between Southampton and Winchester; leaving thus only the 18 miles between Winchester and Basingstoke for completion.

The Great Western line was farther opened on July 1, to Twyford, five miles from Reading; it having been previously opened as far only as Maidenhead.

The Eastern Counties Railway is intended to have its termini at Webb's Square, between Bishopsgate-street Without and Shoreditch church, London, and at Great Yarmouth-a distance of 126 miles: the engineer is Mr. Braithwaite. Of this line, 10 miles, between the Mile-end road and Romford, were opened on June 18. The distance is a series of viaducts and bridges; there being 50 bridges, one of which crosses the Lea, with a span of 70 feet.

The Manchester and Leeds Railway was opened from Manchester and Littleborough, a distance of 16 miles, on July 3.

Of the York and North Midland Railway, 14 miles, (between York and the junction of the Railway with the Leeds and Selby lines,) were opened on May 30.

The Midland Counties Railway was opened between Derby and Nottingham, nearly 16 miles, on June 4.

Of the Glasgow and Ayr Railway, the eleven miles between Ayr and Groine were opened on August 5.

The Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway, 38 miles, was opened throughout on August 12. This work has been completed

within three years, at a cost not exceeding the estimate. This line is most important, as opening a direct communication from the north to Birmingham, Gloucester, Bristol, and Exeter; the Bristol and Gloucestershire Act, completing the continuous line, having passed in the last session of Parliament.

The London and Croydon Railway, 10 miles, 16 yards, crossed by 18 bridges, was opened throughout on June 1.

The Newcastle and North Shields Railway, 65 miles, was opened on June 18. In this short line, however, is a tunnel 70 yards long, and 24 bridges; two of the latter were described in the Year-Book of Facts, 1840, р. 19.

The Brandling Junction Railway is intended to connect the Tyne and the Wear, and by its junction at Gateshead with the Newcastle and Carlisle lines, to complete a railway communication between the German Ocean and the Irish Sea. This line was opened on Sept. 5.

The Aylesbury Branch of the Birmingham Railway, a straight line, 7 miles long, has also been opened: the junction is made at Cheddington, 35 miles from London.

RAILWAY POST-OFFICE CARRIAGE.

THE letter-bags are conveyed along the London and Birmingham Railway in a Carriage constructed for the purpose, the interior being fitted with nests of pigeon-holes, drawers, desks, and pegs; and is attended by one or more clerks and a guard, the former to sort the letters, during the journey, and the latter to tie up and exchange the mail-bags. For taking and delivering the bags, during the passage of the train, to obviate stoppages for this purpose, attached to the near side of the office is an iron frame, with a piece of net, which is expanded to receive a bag from the arm of a standard at the side of the road. At the same moment that a bag is delivered into the net, another is let down from the office by the machine, and thus an exchange of bags is instantly effected. This ingenious contrivance is the invention of Mr. J. Ramsay. The post-office carriage is 15 ft. 3 in. in clear length; 7 ft. 7 in. in width; and 6 ft. 10 in. in height: its cost, 600l.-Literary World.

RAILWAYS AND TURNPIKE TRUSTS.

THE Select Parliamentary Committee appointed for the purpose of ascertaining how far the formation of Railways may affect the interests of Turnpike Trusts, have agreed to their Report; in which they are of opinion that the proportion between the scale of duty imposed on these modes of conveyance by land should be brought nearer to an equality. As far as an approximation can be made, by comparing the scale of duty on the average number of passengers conveyed by railroads, or by public carriages and posting on common roads, it appears the duty is as follows :

For every passenger by the railway, one-eighth of a penny per mile. For every passenger by a stage-coach, one-fourth of a penny per mile. For every person travelling by post, three-fourths of a penny per mile. While the conveyance of passengers by water is free from duty.

It appears that the use of Steam-carriages on turnpike roads might be encouraged by lessening the tolls payable on such carriages, which, (as appears from the evidence of one of the witnesses examined,) in some trusts are equal to a prohibition, although such carriages are considered to cause less injury to the roads than those of less weight drawn by horses.

RAILWAYS IN GERMANY.

THE line from Leipzic to Dresden is now completed, and has been opened the whole distance. The distance between Mayence and Wiebaden is proceeding rapidly; more than two-thirds of the distance is finished. The same may be said of the line between Frankfort and Hattersheim; but, from Hattersheim to Cashel it is proceeding slowly. The line from Frankfort is now opened as far as Hochst; but the continuation from thence to Cassel will not be completed before the next spring. The railway from Berlin to Potsdam has also been completed: the journey now occupies three-quarters of an hour, whereas, by the old road system, it required nearly a day to pass from Berlin to the royal palace and gardens at Potsdam.-Foreign Quarterly Review.

RAILWAY IN ITALY.

ONE of the most stupendous works of modern times is a projected Railway from Venice to Milan, connecting the seven richest and most populous cities of Italy with each other--Venice, Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Mantua, Brescia, and Milan; the most gigantic portion will be the bridge over the lagoons, connecting Venice with the main land. The length of the railroad will be 166 Italian, (about the same in English) miles, passing through through a population of 3,500,000, the seven cities having alone a population of 500,000: viz., Venice, 120,000, Padua, 44,000, Vicenza, 50,000, Verona, 46,000, Mantua, 34,000, Brescia, 42,000, and Milan, 180,000 inhabitants, to which may be added 20,000 foreigners in Venice and Milan. It is calculated the transport, when completed, will average 1,800 persons, 1,500 tons of goods, and 1,000 tons of coals daily. - Foreign Quarterly Review.

RESISTANCE OF AIR TO RAILWAY TRAINS.

DR. LARDNER has presented to the British Association an elaborate Report of his experiments in that department of Railway Constants which relates to resistance. This report, which took nearly four hours in the delivery to the Association will be found ably condensed in the Atheneum, (No.619.) Dr. Lardner states that the results of this extensive course of experiments corroborate and fully establish a doetrine which he ventured to advance before a committee of the House of Lords in the year 1835, but which was then and subsequently pronounced to be paradoxical and absurd. That doctrine was, that a railway laid down with gradients, from sixteen to twenty feet a mile, would be for all practical purposes, nearly, if not altogether, as good as a railway laid down, from terminus to terminus, upon a dead level. The grounds on which he advanced this doctrine were, that a compensating effect would be produced in descending and ascending the gradients, and that a variation of speed in the train would be the whole amount of inconvenience which would ensue; that the time of performing the journey, and the expenditure of power required for it, the expense of maintaining the line of way, and supplying locomotive power would be the same in both cases; that, therefore, he thought, no considerable capital ought to be expended in obtaining gradients lower than those just mentioned. Dr. Lardner concluded by stating in detail a number of conclusions which he considered to be warranted by the experiments; care having been taken to lay nothing before the section, except what had been fully borne out by the experiments themselves. He regards the following conclusions as established by such experiments :1. That the resistance to a railway train, other things being the same, depends on the speed.

2. That at the same speed the resistance will be in the ratio of the load, if the carriages remain unaltered.

3. That if the number of carriages be increased, the resistance is increased, but not in so great a ratio as the load.

4. That, therefore, the resistance does not, as has been hitherto supposed, bear an invariable ratio to the load, and ought not to be expressed at so much per ton.

5. That the amount of the resistance of ordinary loads carried on railways at the ordinary speeds, more especially of passenger trains, is very much greater than engineers have hitherto supposed.

6. That a considerable, but not exactly ascertained proportion of this resistance is due to the air.

7. That the shape of the front or hind part of the train has no observable effect on the resistance.

8. That the spaces between the carriages of the train have no observable effect on the resistance.

9. That the train, with the same width of front, suffers increased resistance with the increased bulk or volume of the coaches.

10. That mathematical formulæ, deduced from the supposition that the resistance of railway trains consists of two parts, one proportional to the load, but independent of the speed, and the other proportional to the square of the speed, have been applied to a limited number of experiments, and have given results in very near accordance; but that the experiment must be farther multiplied and varied before safe, exact, and general conclusions can be drawn.

11. That the amount of resistance being so much greater than has been hitherto supposed, and the resistance produced by curves of a mile radius being inappreciable, railways laid down with gradients of from sixteen to twenty feet a mile have practically but little disadvantage compared with a dead level: and that curves may be safely made with radii less than a mile; but that farther experiments must be made to determine a safe minor limit for the radii of such curves, this principle being understood to be limited in its application to railways intended chiefly for rapid traffic.

DEVIATION OF RAILWAY LINES.

DR. LARDNER has described to the British Association an instrument which he has constructed for ascertaining the deviations of