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the house would represent such surfaces-would be in danger should an electrical discharge take place between them.

Artificial lithographic stones have been invented, and are manufactured at Frankfort by M. Rosenthal. The ingredient used in their preparation is simply cement, which has, however, to go through careful manipulation before the stones are fit for the printer's use. The mode of manufacture is briefly as follows: Finely ground cement is mixed with water and allowed to harden into slabs. These slabs are next heated, and wetted with water until they crack in every direction. Once more the material is ground into fine powder, and is mixed with an equal quantity of dry cement. The mixture is now put into moulds, still in a dry state, and is subjected to very heavy pressure. Whilst still under pressure, water charged with a certain quantity of very fine cement is forced through the mass and binds its particles together.

being knocked into small pieces by constant change of receptacle.

A village in Switzerland more than five thousand feet above the sea-level, and surrounded on all sides by snow-clad mountains, with a climate where the thermometer often stands at twenty degrees Fahrenheit in the day, and below zero at night, does not seem to be quite the right place for consumptive patients to winter in. Yet, such is Davos, where, for many seasons recently, doctors have been sending their patients with the best results. These results are due to the extreme dryness and purity of the air, the dryness removing catarrh of the bronchial tubes, and the absence of organic matter in the air preventing irritation and breaking-up of lung tissue. Patients are recommended to begin their stay in the place during the summer, so that the coming autumn may acclimatise them and enable them to bear the cold of winter. The place has plenty of amusements, and the only fear is that it may become overcrowded, when its benefits must surely disappear. For further particulars of this new health-resort we refer our readers to a long account of it published in the Times newspaper of September 30th.

Professor Dunnington of the University of Virginia has hit upon a way of preserving chalk diagrams and drawings made for class illustration, which may be found useful by many of our readers. Some teachers and lecturers are remarkably expert with blackboard and chalk, and we have seen sketches in differently coloured crayons so finely executed that it seemed a pity to efface them at the end of the lesson. Professor Dunnington makes his drawings in coloured chalks on unsized paper, and they are subsequently passed through a bath of very dilute varnish composed thus: Dammar varnish one part, spirits of turpentine twenty-five parts. After being hung up to dry for a few hours, the drawings so prepared can be handled without any chance of the chalk-paste. lines rubbing away. The varnish has fixed the chalk particles firmly to the paper.

A new kind of paving material under the name of Grano-metallic Stone has recently been introduced, and is now under trial in a portion of the Strand, London. It is composed of blastfurnace slag and granite in certain proportions, which are crushed and mingled with Portland cement. A rough ballast forms the substratum of the roadway or footpath under treatment, and the new material is laid upon this after having been mixed with an alkaline solution into a The process of laying is inexpensive, and the pavement is ready for traffic in ordinary weather in twelve hours. Mr Bryant, of Palace Chambers, Westminster, is the patentee.

INVENTIONS.

AN IMPROVEMENT IN SPIRIT STOVES.

Mr S. Pichler has devised a system of raising trucks of minerals from the shaft of a mine, which is very ingenious, and of which we have lately had the opportunity of inspecting a working model. The method is based on the man-engine, which has now been in use for many years in Cornwall and other mining districts. The manMESSRS H. A. KNOX & Co., of Hounsditch, London, engine consists of two long beams, which extend and of New York, have recently brought out a down the whole length of the shaft, to which spirit stove, which, while it tallies with preceding are attached little platforms at intervals of articles of a similar kind in the means by which about six feet. The beams are governed by a the light is produced, is fitted with a simple but seesaw attachment to the engine at the pit-effective mechanism by which the light can be bank, so that they are constantly moving up and down in reverse directions to each other. By this motion, the platforms at every stroke of the engine are made for a brief time to pause opposite one another, so that a man wishing to ascend the shaft has merely to watch his opportunity and step from platform to platform, on the right and left hand beams alternately, until he arrives at the top. He can, of course, descend to his work in the same way. In Mr Pichler's arrangement, the platforms would be large enough to accommodate a truck of coal or other mineral, and they are so contrived that on meeting one another they tip up obliquely. This tip naturally causes the truck resting on the Recognising the elements of danger which exist platform to run off to the platform which next in the kind of stirrup that has so long been in use is brought against it, and so the vehicle runs -notably that which results from its inability from side to side until it reaches the mouth of to release the foot of the rider if in the event the shaft. This method would, if adopted, not of an accident he falls from the saddle-Mr only save much labour, but would prevent coal | R. Wright, of High Lodge, Richmond, Yorkshire,

regulated. This mechanism is of the following description: the wire-gauze elliptical disc through which the oil filters upon the wick below is surrounded by a margin of metal plate, and beneath this metal plate are fitted two crescent-shaped slides, which, moved backwards and forwards by means of little rods projecting from either side of the stove, have the power to reduce the flames to the smallest size, and, if desired, finally to extinguish them. With the 'Eclipse' Spirit Store, baby's food, &c., can be kept warm or simmering for any length of time.

A SAFE STIRRUP.

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has recently brought before the attention of equestrians a novel invention, and one which we should think is likely to prove a boon. One thing is aimed at in the Safety Saddle Stirrup-iron, and that is the releasing of the rider's foot immediately he falls from the saddle and before he reaches the ground. This end is attained by the following means: the bottom of the stirrup, or that part which receives the sole of the rider's boot, is set upon pivots, and thus revolves freely in harmony with any movement of his foot. A joint occurs, too, upon each of the side-arms of the stirrup, and these yield with a slight pressure; while still further 'give' is imparted to the contrivance by the rod under which the attaching strap passes being made to revolve freely. Mr Wright points out that the invention gives a more springing action, and is much easier in use, than the uncouth primitive iron hoop' hitherto known as a stirrup. This latter contrivance, he contends, has caused the deaths of numbers of persons, who, when they have fallen from the saddle, have been dragged along with their heads to the ground, and thus killed. As it seems impossible that this could occur when the new stirrup is used, the novelty ought to command attention.

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MANGLE, WRINGER, AND TABLE COMBINED. With the development of effective mechanical processes, the practice of 'washing at home' and thus abolishing a ready means by which infectious diseases can be brought into a household -is rapidly spreading; and as a consequence, machines of different types are introduced into our kitchens. That these machines should, as at present, stand in their positions occupying space uselessly during six out of every seven days, is a domestic misfortune; at least, so it has apparently appeared to Messrs Thomas Linley and Sons, of Stanley Street, Sheffield, who have brought out an ingenious combination machine. On 'washingday,' this is a mangle, and, with a little modification, a wringing-machine; while during the remaining days of the week it fills the rôle of a stout and useful kitchen table, and, as far as a hasty glance can tell, nothing but a kitchen table. The arrangement, indeed, by which the mechanical part, from being securely fixed in the wooden frame, is divested of its fly-wheel and folded down beneath the table-top, is of so effective a kind as to entirely hide it from view. Nor must it be supposed that this arrangement is obtained at the expense of strength and durability; for the rollers and other parts of this machine are made as large, as strong, and as thick as in ordinary machines.

AN INGENIOUS FISHING-FLOAT.

Bottom fishers have from time immemorial been put to a great inconvenience in the pursuance of their craft. They have been unable, when angling in anything of a breeze, to detect a 'nibble' or the 'bite' of a small fish from the movement of their floats caused by the ripples of the water. Thus, many fish have been missed, and many times anglers have struck' at nothing. Mr A. V. Catmur, of 18 Ebury Street, London, has introduced the Eclipse' float, which does away with the inconvenience in question. A porcupine quill, having a small ivory

ball at the top and a cork cone at the bottom, has in the centre a loosely-running cylinder of the latter material, occupying less than the intervening space. The line passes through the ball, the cylinder, the cone, and a little eye attached to the bottom extremity of the quill. When in the upright position in the water-and it may be added that the float is self-cocking-the cylinder occupies a central position between the ivory ball and the cone, it being separated from both by a small space. The entire contrivance will rise and fall upon the ripples; but a 'bite,' or tug upon the line, will draw down the quill and its ball-appendage, without affecting the cylinder. Thus, when the angler sees his float bobbing up and down, he will take no notice; but when he sees that the ivory ball descends towards the top of the cylinder, he will know that there is a fish attacking his bait and that he may 'strike.'

TWENTY-TWO TOOLS IN ONE.

A combination tool, invented by Captain Hartshorne, of the Bengal army, and which has been commended by Lord Napier of Magdala, appears to possess considerable advantages. Captain Hartshorne's implement is no child's toy, but an article which might find a fitting place slung from the saddle of a cavalry soldier or in the knapsack of a traveller. Forged from only two pieces of wrought-steel, without any brazing or welding, the implement comprises as many as twenty-two tools, and weighs two and three-quarter pounds. Combined are a hammer and a hatchet, wirenippers, four files and a rasp, a saw, a screwdriver, a crowbar, a bradawl, and a pair of tongs; while the instrument further comprises a pair of compasses, a twelve-inch rule, a straight-edge, and a T square. If, too, a portion of the metal is buried in a block of wood, the remaining part represents a useful little anvil; while the implement, having a known weight of two and threequarter pounds, can be used as a poise for weighing forage, &c. The makers are Messrs Hill and Son, of 4 Haymarket, London; and the price is twenty-five shillings, eleven shillings extra being charged for a solid leather case.

A POCKET FILTER.

The idea of a filter which, carried in the pocket, can be used to convert the brackish and impure water which the soldier, tourist, &c., encounters at almost every turn, into a harmless liquid with which he can readily slake his thirst, is not a new one; but in the Maignen Patent 'Watch' and 'Soldier's Filtre Rapide' there are many valuable characteristics which are quite novel. The two forms in which the invention is manufactured differ from one another, not in the principle on which they perform their common function, but in their mechanical construction. The Watch' filter is shaped like the familiar portable time-piece; the 'Soldier's' is cylindrical in form. We will give a description of the latter. It consists of a frame covered with asbestos cloth, this asbestos cloth being coated with powdered carbo-calcis, which is the filtering medium, and which can be discharged

along with all the impurities it may have arrested-and replaced, the process being gone through as often as necessary. The frame is

inclosed in a cylindrical tin box measuring five inches by one and a half, which can be conveniently used as a drinking-cup. Attached to the filter is an india-rubber tube, through which the water may be drawn from a rivulet, bottle, cask, &c. The contrivance can, however, be used without this tube; while a third method of use possible is that on the principle of a siphon, water being automatically drawn impure from one vessel and discharged pure into another. The patentee is Mr P. A. Maignen, of 32 St Mary-at-Hill, Eastcheap, E.C.; and the agent, Mr Goy, of 21 Leadenhall Street, E.C.

TO PREVENT CANDLES GUTTERING' AND
'SLOPPING.'

Mr G. F. Thompson, of 3 New Street, Warwick, has brought out a simple and efficacious little contrivance called a 'Patent Candle Economiser,' which aims at preventing, in the first place, the waste entailed in the 'guttering' or running over of a candle; and in the second, the inconvenience and injury attending the slopping' or spilling of grease-drops. As is well known, both when being carried about and when placed even in a slight draught, a candle is apt to misbehave itself in the manners indicated; and it is not too much to say that this circumstance has done not a little to restrict its use, and to banish from the desks and tables of many, a form

of illuminant which for softness and subdued brilliancy holds a high place. Mr Thompson's 'Economiser,' which is made of brass, is nothing more than a short piece of tubing curved in at the top in a manner to make the circumference of the upper extremity smaller than that of the lower. The contrivance is placed over the head of the candle; and upon the wick being ignited, the melted superficial grease finds its level beneath the apex of the Economiser,' the curved character of which proves the means of imprisoning the liquid and preventing its running over the side. Something of the kind was, we believe, brought out a few years back; but the metal employed being lead or pewter-both of which are very heavy, and quick conductors of heat-the devices served actually to melt away the candle. Mr Thompson himself has not arrived at his present result without considerable preliminary experimentation. His first little dome-shaped contrivances were made of tin, and these served their purpose well. But he aimed at realising a further improvement, and so tried brass. At first, he made his Economiser' too heavy, and found that they got rather hot. The more recent samples, however, on which he rests his reputation, scarcely get hot at all, and cool as soon as the candle is extinguished.

PRESERVING VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL FOOD.

An apparatus for preserving food, constructed on strictly scientific lines, has been patented by Mr B. H. Thwaite, of 37 Victoria Street, Liverpool. Four, eight, or more small chambers, constructed to contain meat, poultry, vegetables, &c., are arranged around a vessel containing water. Beneath this vessel there is a receptacle holding a specially made oil-lamp, intended to burn pure paraffin or other hydro-carbon. Connecting tubes, fitted with valves, join the several

food-chambers with the receptacle containing the lamp; while other connecting tubes, also fitted with valves, run from the food-chambers to the water-vessel. The last-named itself carries an outlet cock. Turning to the principle on which the apparatus is constructed, it should be stated that, food having been placed in the preserving chamber, the lamp is ignited, and the valves of the two sets of connecting tubes having been opened, the outlet cock of the water-vessel is also opened. The issuing liquid occasions an aspirating action in the vessel, and, through the connecting tubes, the air is drawn from the preserving chambers. The consequent displacement is filled up by the gaseous products of combustion which find their way from the lampreceptacle through the connecting tubes. As soon as the water in the vessel falls to a given level, the lamp may be extinguished and all the valves closed. The air has thus been withdrawn, and, in the gaseous products from the lampreceptacle, a powerful antiseptic has taken its place. The result is that food can be preserved in the chambers in a perfect state-no suspicion of decomposition manifesting itself-for several months.

SONG.

Оn, three little birds on a bramble spray!
Each flew to find him a nest:
There was one went rarely over the sea;
And one flew straight for the North Countrie;
But the third

Little bird,

He winged his way to the watery West, Where one that I love sits sighing.

Oh for the withering bramble spray,

And the bird that sleeps in his nest !
There is one in a castle over the sea;
And one in a pine in the North Countrie;
But the third
Little bird,

He sings at a lattice far in the West,
Where one that I love lies dying.

Ah me, for the thorny bramble spray
And the weary bird in his nest!
There is one that dreams of the silver sea;
And one looks over the North Countrie;
But the third
Little bird,

He sings o'er a grave in the silent West,
Where one that I love is lying.
PHILIP THIXE.

The Conductor of CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL begs to direct the attention of CONTRIBUTORS to the following notice: 1st. All communications should be addressed to the Editor, 339 High Street, Edinburgh.'

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2d. For its return in case of ineligibility, postage stamps should accompany every manuscript.

3d. To secure their safe return if ineligible, ALL MANTI SCRIPTS, whether accompanied by a letter of advice or otherwise, should have the writer's Name and Address written upon them IN FULL.

4th. Offerings of Verse should invariably be accompanied

by a stamped and directed envelope.

If the above rules are complied with, the Editor will do his best to insure the safe return of ineligible papers.

Printed and Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, 47 Paternoster Row, LONDON, and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH

All Rights Reserved.

CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL

POPULAR

LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART

Fifth Series

ESTABLISHED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, 1832
CONDUCTED BY R. CHAMBERS (SECUNDUS)

No. 97.-VOL. II.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1885.

POOR JACK.

PRICE 1d.

his rolling gait, and bronzed countenance, all conspire to impress the mind of the average landsman with the feeling that this is the real Simon Pure. He has all the outward and visible signs of a toiler of the deep, without which, as the advertisements have it, none are genuine. Would that the sailors of our vast merchant

their more fortunate brethren of the sister service. Nothing, however, can be more dissimilar than the dress and deportment of the two classes. They are as far apart as the poles of the universe.

In a great nation such as ours, essentially maritime, it is astounding how few there are who have any acquaintance with the manners and customs of the sailors of our mercantile marine. Our ships on every sea, some perchance steaming onwards with the distressing glare of a scorching navy could assimilate in these respects with tropical sun at noontide falling vertically on the devoted heads of their crews, their stokers faint- | ing by reason of the intense heat and utter stagnation of the atmosphere; others, their canvas straining and timbers creaking in fierce conflict with the ice-cold blasts of the gales of the polar seas; or throughout the long dreary nights and short days of dense fog, all hands with every sense alert, in dread anticipation lest at any moment some massive iceberg should drift across their path, carrying destruction upon them.

To the man-of-war's man is assigned the guardianship of our commerce. He is supported by the money of the nation; his officers are gentlemen, who vie with each other in their zealous efforts to keep him presentable and of good morals. He is rarely overburdened with work, and that which he has is of a very light These pioneers of civilisation, not unworthy character. His food is well cooked by trained descendants of the hardy Norsemen who first men, and scrupulously clean. He is not comturned in furrows the waters of the German pelled to draw rations which he does not care Ocean with their rude keels, are as much to eat. The value of these rations is placed to strangers to the dwellers in our country towns his account at a specified price, thus enabling and hamlets as the inhabitants of the interior him to supply himself with more pleasing fare of Africa or Swift's Lilliputians. The novelist when in port. During the greater part of his represents them as men full to the brim with life he is swinging to moorings in some snug nautical phrases, given to hitching up their harbour, taking at times a pleasure-trip to sea trousers and pulling their forelocks; men incap-just for the benefit of his health and 'to able of talking on any theme like a rational keep his hand in.' If ill, he has good medical being, their jaws always revolving some choice advice ready to hand. On returning home, he piece of hard tobacco, in order to extract its is granted leave of absence to display himself dark juice, which they expectorate wherever to his admiring townsfolk. When age creeps they may be. The painter holds forth Jack upon him, he is pensioned off with something to the world with his nether limbs encased to live upon; while at his death, if he should in garments evolved from the painter's inner consciousness; while, on the other hand, his manly breast is exposed to all the winds that blow. In both cases he is totally misrepresented. This may be due to the fact that the sailor of the royal navy is always seen in his uniform. His jaunty hat with streamers flying in the wind, his painfully clean knife lanyard, his peculiarly shaped unmentionables,

wish it, he is granted a funeral with naval honours. This is the beau idéal of a sailor's life. To a youth wishing to adopt a seafaring life, we unhesitatingly say that the royal navy is to be preferred to the merchant service.

Now, let us turn to the latter picture-the very seamiest life one could follow. And yet, without Poor Jack,' commerce would be at a stand-still. Of what use would be the products

of our looms and factories, of what avail our industries of coal and iron, if we had no hardy mariners to carry our textile fabrics, our coal, and our iron, across the stormy ocean, bringing back more rare and more valuable necessaries, together with the luxuries which render the lowly cottage home of the present day equal in point of comfort to the ancient baronial hall?

Cromwell, when he framed the Navigation Laws, struck at the root of Holland's supremacy as a carrier on the high seas. Great Britain at once assumed the sceptre, which she has wielded ever since. The Lord Protector, with great wisdom foresaw that the British nation had been ordained by her insular position to carry commerce into the most remote parts of the earth. Unless she were mistress of the seas, the occupation of her people would be limited to the tillage of the soil. We should be compelled to depend on the precarious results of toilsome agriculture. Our sailors have carried our religion and our advanced civilisation at the same time as our articles of merchandise. They have brought back with them the arts and sciences peculiar to other nations. They have been, although perhaps unwittingly, prime factors in doing good to our own people and to all mankind. They conduct our overflowing population in safety to new and more inviting shores, to found cities and states, which shall hereafter make their voices heard with no uncertain sound in the great councils of the world. Notwithstanding all this, the merchant sailor is scarcely known outside of his own circle. He has helped to swell the banking account of many a shipowner, yet but scant justice has been meted out to him. He is, as a class, deteriorating both physically and morally, and it is fairly within the limits of probability that the genuine merchant sailor will, unless some alteration takes place, soon be almost as rare as the mastodon.

Why is this? We cannot believe that there is anything of necessity demoralising in the life of a seafarer. The ocean with its ever changing aspect; the wondrous phenomena of the atmosphere; the gorgeous sunsets and azure vault of the heavens above him, studded with myriads of effulgent stars, afford him subjects for elevated feeling. Nor can it be affirmed that life on the ocean is prejudicial to health; nowhere is there such an unlimited supply of fresh air and ozone. It is, however, a lamentable but indisputable fact that our merchant sailors are sadly altering for the worse. We have shown that this cannot be attributed to any evils inherent in the life itself; it must therefore be due to remediable external influences, over which Poor Jack may or may not have control. He is sliding down a steep social plane, attaining a greater velocity as he descends. His naval confrère, however, has moved onwards both in personal comforts and moral qualities in one unbroken march of improvement.

What are the causes acting so injuriously to the merchant seaman? Can any feasible remedies be proposed? These are the questions which force themselves upon our attention, and call for our careful consideration. In our opinion, the sailor of himself can do but little to arrest his downward progress. Circumstances are too

strong for him. It would appear that it is to the shipowners to whom we must look to arrest the degeneracy of the British seaman. The principal causes of his deterioration are the introduction of steamships; the abolition of compulsory apprenticeship; want of kindred feeling between the shipowner and his employees; the almost complete absence of any home influence whatever while on shore; drunken habits; and last, but not least, the bad accommodation on board ship.

The introduction of steam as a motive-power on the deep sea effected a complete revolution in the condition of the merchant seaman. The old collier craft of the North Sea were swept away. These vessels constituted a splendid nursery of seamen, merchant and naval. They were family ships, wherein the sailors had an interest in their welfare. Now, a single steamship is owned by many people. It may so happen that the mild rector in some out-of-theway country parsonage is indirectly, in his capacity of shareholder in some single ship Company, the cause of great suffering to his fellow-man at sea. Sailors cannot be trained in steamships, which in most instances have only rudimentary masts. The stately tea-clipper with her lofty spars, graceful lines, and immense spread of canvas, has disappeared. It would break the heart of the old-time clipper-sailor if he were to see these straight-stemmed, ungraceful steamers which have taken over the tea-trade. Even the route is changed since his day; although it is possible, if the trying quarantine regulations recommended by the Sanitary Congress be adopted, it would pay the shipowner better to adopt the old Cape route, in preference to that of the Suez Canal. Our ships are too valuable to be needlessly delayed at the behest of any foreign power. Everything is now made of iron or steel, and, as far as possible, worked by steam. This is the iron age in reality. The iron has entered into the seaman's soul. Stokers have been brought in who were drawn from a lower class than that from which sailors came; these rough, uncouth men have reacted on the sailor with whom they mess. Moreover, in steamers it is sufficient if the man before the mast know how to steer; this can be easily acquired, and his other duties call for no more skill; he is simply a hewer of wood and drawer of water. Hence sailors of the old type are becoming few and far between.

It was formerly compulsory on all owners to carry a certain number of youths as apprentices to the nautical profession; but shipowners petitioned against this, and compulsory apprenticeship was abolished. An apprentice would usually be of the lower-middle class. His parents had to pay a premium with him, and he was bound to serve an apprenticeship of seven years; at the end of which time he was, as a rule, eligible for a junior officer's post, when occasion offered. Now, but few ships carry apprentices; while in steamers it is out of the question. It is true that we have reformatory and other training-ships for boys partly to supply the deficit. But, we ask, why should the mercantile marine be deemed just the place to send refuse gathered from the criminal classes? The fallingoff in apprentices also led to the introduction

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