the mind remain dormant, or become entirely obliterated, partly from want of proper organization, and partly from the total neglect of every thing like education, "It might be expected, that the dissection of cretins would throw some light upon the series of phenomena associated together in the origin and progress of this singular affection; but the people are so superstitious, that it is very difficult to procure bodies for anatomical examination. However, some dissections have been made, and the appearances in the cranium are very curious. From the description of a cretin's skull by Ackermann, it appears that the cavity for the reception of the pons varolii and medulla oblongata was completely obliterated, and that in which the cerebellum is lodged so much diminished, that it scarcely exceeded one-third of its natural capacity. The return of the venous blood must have been considerably impeded by the malconfirmation of the foramina. Appearances nearly similar were observed by Malacarni and by Fodere. "In the anatomical museum at Vienna 1 saw a cretin's skull, from which Professor Prochaska was so obliging as to permit me to have two drawings taken. It is the cranium of a cretin, who died at the age of thirty, yet the fontanelle is Hot closed, the second set of teeth are not out of their sockets, and none of the bones are distinctly and completely formed. The head is very harge, the face small; it is like the skull of an adult joined to the face of a child; every part bears marks of irregularity in the growth and formation; and irregular action must have been the concomitant of such a morbid structure, whether the appearances be considered as Cause or effect, "The four angles of the os mala are not well defined; the zygomatic and maxillary processes of this bone are wanting; the nasal processes of the superior maxillary bone are very large, and exhibit no marks of union with the os male; the ossa nasi are very small; the temporal bone is imperfectly formed; the zygomatic process terminates at the coronoid process of the lower jaw; the mastoid and styloid processes are wanting, and the pars petrosa remarkably small; the squamous portion not distinctly marked; the os occipitis unusually large, and numerous additional bones, ossa triquetra, along the whole course of the lambdoid suture. These appearances will be readily seen by referring to the figures; the other deviations of the natural structure corresponded with those already described by different writers. "There is no fact in the natural history of man, that affords an argument so direct and so impressive, in proof of the influence of physical causes on the mind, as cretinism. It shows, moreover, that the growth of every part is essentially connected with the conditions in which it is fit to exercise its peculiar functions; and, in this respect, it fares with the intellectual as with the bodily powers. "The most decisive argument in proof of this opinion is, that cretinism may be prevented by removing children from the confined and dirty places where it prevails, and nursing and educating them in the higher parts of the mountains.— Within these last ten years, the number of cretins has diminished, the condition of the lowest class of society is somewhat bettered, and more attention is paid towards that diseased constitution which is the forerunner of mental imbecility. I did not find that the poor creatures took any pride in having any of their children idiots or bien heureux, as some authors assert; on the conrary, the parents were very much ashamed of acknowledging that any eretins belonged to their families; and it was after repeated at tempts, only by declaring myself to be a physician, that I could get access into their houses to examine any of these wretched beings in the human form. The burnt sponge is known as a remedy for the goitre among the people where it is most prevalent; but it is seldom administered, because the disease is so common, that it does not attract notice, nor affect in general the ordinary functions of life. And as to cretiism, that seems to be looked upon as belonging to indigence and poverty; for in every place where I saw cretins, many well looking persons of both sexes resided, and these were, without exception, persons of a higher class of society, who lived in better houses, and could supply both their moral and physical neces sities. "I might, perhaps, have insisted more upon the analogy between cretinism and rickets, for there is a remarkable coincidence in the literary history of these two diseases, as well as in many other points. Glisson first described rickets, as it appeared in this country, in the middle of the seventeenth century, about the same time that Plater mentions cretinism. The origin of both names is equally obscure; and since some of the remote causes are now discovered, it is to be hoped the diseases themselves will gradually disappear, and in some happier age be known only by description." APPLICATION OF COAL GAS TO ECONOMICAL PURPOSES. "THE [From MR. MURDOCH's Paper in the same.] HE facts and results intended to be communicated in this paper, are founded upon observations made, during the present winter, at the cotton manufactory of Messrs. Philips and Lee at Manchester, where the light obtained by the combustion of the gas from coal is used upon a very large scale; the apparatus for its production and application having been prepared by me at the works of Messrs. Boulton, Watt, and Co. at Soho. "The whole of the rooms at this cotton mill, which is, I believe, the most extensive in the united kingdom, as well as its counting-houses and store-rooms, and the adjacent dwelling-house of Mr. Lee, are lighted with the gas from coal. The total quantity of light used during the hours of burning, has been ascertained, by a comparison of shadows, to be about equal to the light which 2500 mould candles of six in the pound would give; each of the candles, with which the comparison was made, consuming at the rate of 4-10ths of an ounce (175 grains) of tallow per hour. "The quantity of light is neces sarily liable to some variation, from the difficulty of adjusting all the flames, so as to be perfectly equal at all times: but the admirable preci ・ sion and exactness with which Argand lamp, and resembles it in appearance; the other is a small curved tube with a conical end, having three circular apertures or perforations, of about a thirtieth of an inch in diameter, one at the point of the cone, and two lateral ones, through which the gas issues, forming three divergent jets of flame, somewhat like a fleur-de-lis. The shape and general appearance of this tube, has procured it, among the workinen, the name of the cockspur burner. "The number of burners employed in all the buildings, amounts to271 Argands, and 633 cockspurs; each of the former giving a light equal to that of four candles of the description abovementioned; and each of the latter, a light equal to two and a quarter of the same candles; mak-. little more than equal to that of 2500 candles. When thus regulated, the whole of the above burners require an hourly supply of 1250 cubic feet of the gas produced from cannel coal; the superior quality and quantity of the gas produced from that material having given it a decided preference in this situation, over every other coal, notwithstanding its higher price. "It is not my intention, in the present paper, to enter into a particular description of the apparatus employed for producing the gas; but I may observe generally, that the coal is distilled in large iron retorts, which, during the winter season, are kept constantly at work, except during the intervals of charging, therefore, the total of gas light a and that the gas, as it rises from ing; them, is conveyed by iron pipes into large reservoirs, or gazometers, where it is washed and purified, previous to its being conveyed through other pipes, called mains, to the mill. These mains branch off into a variety of ramifications (forming a total length of several miles,) and diminish in size, as the quantity of gas required to be passed through them becomes less. The burners, where the gas is consumed, are connected with the above mains, by short tubes, each of which is furnished with a cock to regulate the admission of the gas to each burner, and to shut it totally off when requisite. This latter operation may Jikewise be instantaneously performed, throughout the whole of the burners in each room, by turning a cock, with which each main is provided, near its entrance into the room. "The burners are of two kinds: the one is upon the principle of the "The time during which the gas light is used, may, upon an average of the whole year, be stated at least at two hours per day of twenty-four hours. In some mills, where there is over work, it will be three hours; and in the few where night-work is still continued, nearly twelve hours. But taking two hours per day as the common average throughout the year, the consumption in Messrs. Philips' and Lee's mill, will be. 1250 x 2 = 2500 cubic feet of gas per day; to produce which, seven hundred weight of cannel coal is required in the retort. The price of the the best Wigan cannel (the sort used) is 13. per cwt. (22s. 6d. per ton), delivered at the mill, or say about eight shillings for the seven hundred weight. Multiplying by the number of working days in the year (313), the annual consumption of cannel will be 110 tons, and its cost 1251. "About one-third of the above quantity, or say forty tons of good common coal, value ten shillings per ton, is required for fuel to heat the retorts; the annual amount of which is 201. "The 110 tons of cannel coal, when distilled, produce about 70 tons of good coke, which is sold upon the spot at 1s. 4d. per cwt. and will therefore amount annually to the sum of 931. "The quantity of tar produced from each ton of cannelcoal, is from eleven to twelve gallons, making a total annual produce of about 1250 ale gal. lons, which not having been yet sold, I cannot determine its value; but whenever it comes to be manufactured in large quantities, it cannot be such as materially to influence the economical statement, unless indeed new applications of it should be discovered. "The quantity of aqueous fluid which came over in the course of the observations which I am now giving an account of, was not exactly ascertained, from some springs having got into the reservoir; and as it has not been yet applied to any useful purpose, I may omit further notice of it in this statement. The interest of the capital expended in the necessary apparatus and buildings, together with what is considered as an ample allowance for wear and tear, is stated by Mr. Lee at about 550l. per annun: in which some allowance is made for this apparatus being made upon a 550 paratus making the total expence of the gas apparatus about 600l. per annum. That of candles, to give the same light, would be about 2000!. For each candle consuming at the rate of 4-10ths of an ounce of tallow per hour, the 2500 candles burning upon an average of the year two hours per day, would, at one sbilling per pound, the present price, amount to nearly the sum of money above mentioned. "If the comparison were made upon an average of three hours per day, the advantage would be still more in favour of the gas light; the interest of the capital, and wear and tear of the apparatus, continuing nearly the same as in the former case; thus, 1250 × 3 = 3750 cubic feet of gas Leaving the expenditure in coal, after deduction of the coke, and without allowance for the tar, at duction of successive improvements in the construction of the apparatus, as the work proceeded. But since its completion, and since the persons to whose care it is confided, have become familiar with its management, this inconvenience has been obviated, not only in the mill, but also 30 in Mr. Lee's house, which is most brilliantly illuminated with it, to 218 the exclusion of every other species of artificial light. 140 78 Adding to which the interest and wear and tear of apparatus, as before, the total annual cost will not be more than 650l. whilst that of tallow, rated as before, will be 3000l. "It will readily occur, that the greater number of hours the gas is burnt, the greater will be its comparative economy; although in extending it beyond three hours, an increase of some parts of the apparatus would be necessary. "If the economical comparison were made with oils, the advantages would be less than with tallow. "The introduction of this species of light into the establishment of Messrs. Philips and Lee, has been gradual; beginning in the year 1805, with two rooms of the mill, the counting-houses, and Mr. Lee's dwelling-house. After which, it was extended through the whole manufactory, as expeditiously as the apparatus could be prepared. "At first, some inconvenience was experienced from the smell of the unconsumed, or imperfectly purified gas, which may, in a great measure, be attributed to the intro "The peculiar softness and clearness of this light, with its almost unvarying intensity, have brought it into great favour with the work people. And its being free from the inconvenience and danger resulting from the sparks and frequent snuffing of candles, is a circumstance of material importance, as tending to diminish the hazard of fire, to which cotton mills are known to be much exposed. The above particulars, it is conceived, contain such information, as may tend to illustrate the general advantages attending the use of the gas light; but nevertheless the Royal Society may, perhaps, not deem it uninteresting, to be apprised of the circumstances which originally gave rise in my mind to its application, as an economical substitute for oils and tallow. "It is now nearly sixteen years since, in the course of experiments [ was making at Redruth in Cornwall, upon the quantities and qualities of the gasses produced by distillation from different mineral and vegetable substances, I was induced, by some observations I had previously made upon the burning of coal, to try the combustible property of the gasses produced from it, as well as from peat, wood, and other inflammable substances. And being struck with the great quantities of gas which they afforded, as well as with the brilliancy |