ementary Mechanics,-illustrated by Models of the Mechanical Powers and of their Combinations. Simple Machines for the ›urpose of exhibiting the various modes practised of changing the lirection of a force, and its application to produce certain effects. ementary Analytical Mechanics; being the investigation of imple Mathematical formulæ for computing the effects produced by the combination of Mechanical powers. Parallelogram of Forces. Elementary Mechanical Problems. near Drawing.

hemes. Descriptive Composition.

(The Lecturer having described the various functions of the separate parts of a mechanical contrivance, requires the pupils to write an accurate description of what he has been illustrating; these themes, of which the subject is continually increasing in difficulty, are preserved by the pupil, and at the end of the year, being neatly bound together, are subjected to public inspection.) atlines of General History.

lementary Botany and Vegetable Physiology. Comprehending the geographical distribution of Plants. Description and Geography of Vegetables used in the Arts. Classification of Vegetables;-1st. Into those applicable for food; 2nd. Clothing; 3rd. The Arts, Dyeing, &c.; 4th. Building; 5th. Ornamental Work; 6th. Medicine, Poisons, &c. The whole illustrated by specimens of vegetable production in their natural or raw state. lementary Comparative Anatomy.

lementary Zoology.

Minerals, &c.

Mineralogy, illustrated by specimens of

ements of Natural Philosophy.

organic Chemistry.

SECOND YEAR.

ure Mathematics continued. Algebra to theory of Equations. Conic Sections, (Geometry of two dimensions.) Analytical Trigonometry.

ractical Mathematics continued. Surveying. Mensuration. Mathematical Formulæ.

nalytical Mechanics continued. Equilibrium of Bridges, Roofs, Terraces, Domes, &c. Strength of Materials. Rigidity of Cordage. Friction.. Regulation of Variable Movers. Fly Wheel. Governor. Investigation of Mathematical formulae. Dynamics. Fundamental Equations of Motion. Gravity. Pendulum. Centre of Oscillation, Gyration, &c.

ractical Mechanics. Construction of Machinery. Maximum effect of Machines. The Tread-Mill, the Lathe, the Steam, Engine, &c. &c.

ydrostatics and Hydrodynamics. Equilibrium of Fluids. Floatation. Elastic Fluids. Motion of fluids through pipes and orifices. Resistance of fluids. Bramal's Press. Pumps. Archimedes' Screw. Conduit Pipes. Barometer. Condenser, &c. &c. Investigation of Formulæ.

The Steam Engine.

Engineering. Surveying. Levelling. Instruments used. Construction of Edifices, Arches, Piers, Bridges, Mill-dams, Harbors, Docks, &c. Draining, Sinking of Shafts, Mining, Artesian Wells, &c.

ractical Science. Special Instruction in the application and selection of Machinery. Rationale of the Mechanical and Chemical Processes used in the Arts:-1st. Dyeing; 2nd. Bleaching; 3rd. Brewing; 4th. Baking; 5th. Sugar Refining; 6th. Calico Printing; 7th. Assaying; 8th. Distilation; 9th. Tanning, &c. Manufactures of Flax, Cotton, Silk, Wool. Manufacture of Glass, of Paper, of Ropes, of Dyes, of Soap, of Starch, of Gums, of Caouchouc, of Stearine Candles, of Chemicals, of Pottery, &c. Art of Printing, Gilding, Working in Metals, &c. Manufacture of Textile Fabrics, of Carriages. Metallurgy. Mining operations, Lighting, &c.

stronomy continued.

Elementary Instruction in Navigation.

Fotany. Zoology continued..

Out

hemistry continued. Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis. Fermentation. Combustion. Ventilation. Poisons, &c. lines of Agricultural Chemistry.

atural Philosophy continued.

Geology and Mineralogy continued.

Clements of Particular History.

Human Physiology.

inear Drawing continued-From Models.

escriptive Composition continued.

THIRD YEAR.

he pupils are not sufficiently advanced in the studies of the second hey continue one year longer in the second year class.)

ure Mathematics. (Geometry of three dimensions.) Elements of Differential and Integral Calculus. Spherical Trigonometry.

COMMON SCHOOL LAW OF UPPER CANADA. The history of legislation in all educating countries shows, that of all legislation that which relates to elementary education is the most difficult. In several of the neighbouring States, we observe that their school laws are already nearly as numerous as the sections of the Common School Law of Upper Canada. Their mode of school legislation seems to be very judicious-passing short acts from year to year to remedy practical defects or to supply new wants in their school system, and then, after a few years, revise and embody all the useful provisions of their short acts into one, general statute.

The present Common School Statute of Upper Canada has been in operation a little more than two years; during which time it has been subjected to an ordeal of unparalleled severity. What is the result of practical experience in the judgment of that part of the community who are favourable to a public system of elementary education, and are anxious to render it as efficient and useful as possible, may be inferred not only from the entire silence of ninetenths of the District Councils, at their recent sessions on the subject, but from the statements of persons in different Districts having the best means of information. In the Report of the Education Committee of the Home District Council, adopted at its late session, the low condition of the Common Schools in that District is attributed to the want of efficient local supervision, the want of local information and enterprise, and the want of proper qualifications in School Teachers-increased by the provision of the School law

。

which authorizes School Visitors to give certificates of qualification, and prohibits the qualification of aliens as Teachers. These are the only provisions of the School law objected to by the presentHome District Council. In the report of the Rev. WM. CLARKE, (Congregational Clergyman,) Superintendent of Common Schools in the Talbot District, addressed to the Council at its recent sittings, we find the following remarks on the working of the School law :"Perhaps you will allow me to say, from personal observation and extensive intercourse, that there is a very general satisfaction with the leading provisions of the present law; while, at the same time, there is an almost unanimous desire for some alterations and amendments.

"The most active and energetic promoters of Education are very desirous that the present Rate-bill should be abolished; and that the additional amount of the Teachers' salary should be raised either by an uniform Ratebill upon all the children, whether in attendance at school or not; or that the whole amount for school purposes should be raised by the assessment of property, which should not only be taxed for the protection of all, but for the education of all. I have seldom met with an intelligent Trustee who has not uniformly condemned the present mode, and expressed a desire that it might be superseded by a more excellent one. Then it is also desirable that the power of Trustees should be somewhat enlarged. Great care however should be taken, that all moneys coming into their hands may be faithfully applied, and duly accounted for. I would further suggest the propriety of a more equitable distribution of the school money. The present system provides, that each section shall receive a sum in proportion to the number of children residing within its bounds, without any reference to the number in attendance, or the length of time the school may be open. I might point you to two sections, where the number of children is equal, and of course the amount is equal also, but in one of these sections the children attend school all the year round, while in the other only one-half attend, and that for only six months in the year.

"Your Hon. Body will perceive at once that some principle should be applied, perhaps by rendering aid from the school in proportion to the efforts actually put forth by the inhabitants themselves, thus giving encouragement to those who are in actual attendance, and withholding it from those who, through ignorance or indifference, do not avail themselves of the advantages they may enjoy."

The Rev. W. H. LANDON, (Baptist Clergyman,) Superintendent of Common Schools in the Brock District, in a Report printed by special order of the Council, remarks as follows, on the present School law :

"The effect of our present school system (though in several respects imperfect) has doubtless been to double the number of schools, while the pupils in attendance, and the amount of instruction given, have been augmented in a much greater proportion. An increasing disposition is manifested on the part of the people to employ a higher class of Teachers, and to give them reasonable. salaries; and by means of the Provincial Normal School such Teachers are being multiplied; and shortly, it is reasonable to expect, the influence and value of right instruction on right principles will be extensively perceived throughout the Country.

"Having taken much pains to ascertain what the views of the people are on the subject, I venture to assert that the School Law is not unpopular; but, on the contrary, the people almost unanimously regard it as the greatest boon ever bestowed by the Legislature upon the people of this Country. They are, however, equally unanimous in the opinion that it is susceptible of several improvements, and that some amendments are absolutely necessary. I trust your Honorable Council will not think me exceeding the duties of the office with which I have the honor to be entrusted by your suffrages, if I proceed to point out briefly some of the required amendments which the almost unanimous voice of public opinion seems most loudly to call for.

"The part of the act which most loudly calls for amendment is that which provides for raising a part of the Teacher's salary by a rate-bill. I do not recollect of having met with so much as one intelligent Trustee in the District who, if he expressed an opinion at all, did not condemn the present system, and pronounce it unsuited to the wants of the Country. On this subject I think I hazard nothing in asserting, that all who are capable of forming an opinion are unanimous. With respect to what ought to be substituted in place of the present rate-bill, the opinions appear to be somewhat divided. Some would prefer a uniform rate-bill upon all the children residing in the school sections (reserving the power of the Trustees to excuse any for good reasons) whether in attendance or not. Others, (and I believe they include among them our most enlightened and virtuous citizens) hold that the property of the Country ought to be held for the

education of all, no less than for the protection of a that an amendment of that part of the act, based up ciples, would be a most valuable improvement of th

"Another amendment that seems to be called f which ought to be entrusted to the boards of Truste considerably extended. They ought to be empowe in all cases, whether it were necessary to levy an own school sections respectively, and to what amo ing or repairing school-houses, for purchasing bool paying Teachers.

"Lastly, I beg to submit to the Council whether it to provide for the more equitable distribution of present each section receives an amount in propor children residing within its bounds, whether the school or not, and also without reference to the len is kept open. So that two school sections in which is equal the amount they will receive from the Schoo though in one, all the children may attend the school the other, only one half or one third may attend fo juster principle, it seems to me, would be one whi parties from the public fund, in proportion to the am forth by themselves, giving encouragement to childre the school, and withholding it from all who do not."

Substantially the same views have been expr munications from other Districts, and in person local School authorities. In some Districts the mally recommended that no certificates of qualif School Visitors.

During a tour of the several Districts of Up autumn of 1847, the Chief Superintendent of S ferred with persons best informed and deeply advancement of Common Schools; and he found unanimously in harmony with what is sugges extracts, with a most anxious desire that some made for the establishment of Common School L several months since, submitted to the considerat the results of his inquiries and experience, with ing the defects referred to in the details of th Law. It was hoped, in the first instance, that of the Legislature, held early in 1848, these wi those details of the School law which directly co Councils and Trustees, would be remedied. N portance was done during that session; and th having met last autumn, as had been expected, proving the details of the School law by passin clauses has been necessarily deferred until the p local wants and wishes of the people can be ea matters of practical detail without reference demerits of the general provisions or organic fea law, which may be modified at any time when expedient. Whatever may be the leading admin of the School law, experience has clearly shown, a strong and general conviction, that Common rendered efficient without more municipal power people in their several School Sections. We thin Section, through its own elected Trustees, power to support its own School in its own wa provision which trammels this discretion has pro interests of Common School Education in this confessedly heretofore proved in some of the ne

We hope the disadvantages and discouragem the Trustees of School Sections have so dee labouring, will soon cease to exist, and that suc sions will be made as will greatly lessen the t out the details of the School law, and proporti

efficiency.

OMMON SCHOOL INCOME BILL.-The whole country will rejoice ead the provisions of the following Bill, which was recently ght into the House of Assembly, as a Government measure, by Hon. Mr. PRICE, and which has already passed the second ing. For an account of what passed in the Legislative Assemwhen this important measure was introduced, see page 46, er the head of Educational Intelligence.

ACT to raise an Income of One Hundred Thousand Pounds out of the Public Lands of Canada, for Common School Education.

EREAS it is desirable that an annual sum of one hundred thousand ds should be raised from the Public Lands of this Province, for the tenance and support of Common Schools therein, and that so much e first monies to be raised by the sale of such Lands as shall be suffito create a Capital which shall produce the said annual sum of one red thousand pounds at the rate of six per cent., per annum, should be part for that purpose: Be it therefore enacted, &c., That all monies shall arise from the Sale of any of the Public Lands of the Province, be set apart for the purpose of creating a Capital which shall be suffito produce a clear sum of one hundred thousand pounds per annum, h said Capital, and the income to be derived therefrom, shall form a ic Fund to be called the Common School Fund.

And be it further enacted, That the Capital of the said fund shall, time to time, be invested in the Debentures of any public Company or panies in the Province, which may have been incorporated by an Act e Legislature, for the construction of works of a public nature, and -h said Company or Companies shall have subscribed their whole tal Stock, paid up one-half of such Stock, and completed one-half of work or works or in the Public Debentures of this Province, for the ose of creating such annual income which said fund and the income of shall not be alienated for any other purpose whatever, but shall be emain a perpetual fund for the support of Common Schools, and the lishment of Township and Parish Libraries.

I. And be it further enacted, &c., That the Commissioner of Crown Es, under the direction of the Governor in Council, shall set apart and opriate one million of acres of such public lands, in such part or parts e Province as he may deem expedient, and dispose thereof on such sand conditions as may by the Governor in Council be approved, and money arising from the sale thereof shall be invested and applied rds creating the said Common School Fund: Provided always, that e any appropriation of the monies arising from the sale of such Lands be made, all charges thereon for the management or sale thereof, be first paid and satisfied.

. And be it further enacted, &c., That so soon as a net annual me of fifty thousand pounds shall be realized from the said School , the public grant of money paid out of the Provincial Revenue for mon Schools, shall forever cease to be made a charge on such revenue: ided always nevertheless, that in the mean time the interest arising the said School Fund so to be created as aforesaid, shall be annually over to the Receiver-General, and applied towards the payment of the y grant of fifty thousand pounds now appropriated for the support of Common Schools: Provided further, that after the said annual sum of thousand pounds shall have been taken off the Consolidated Revenue, the income arising from the said School Fund, shall from any cause ever fall short of the annual sum of fifty thousand pounds, then it shall may be lawful for the Receiver-General of the Province to pay out of said Consolidated Revenue such sum or sums of money as may from to time be required to make up such deficiency, the same to be repaid on as the said income of the said School Fund shall exceed the said of fifty thousand pounds.

UBLIC SENTIMENT IN THE UNITED STATES ON COMMON SCHOOL CATION—The following remarks on this subject, by the CincinWestern School Journal for last month, touch the mainspring ocial advancement among our American neighbours, and suga practical lesson to public and all good men in Canada :How encouraging it is to those engaged in Educational labour, to rve the increasing degree of interest with which the object of their ts is viewed by the public authorities of the land. For many years, - the time when Washington said 'Promote, as an object of priy importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge,' a clauses on education have formed favourite-almost stereotyped

parts of public documents, such as our Governors' Messages, whose views and recommendations have too often been passed by, without very strenuous efforts being made to reduce them to practical application. Now, however, better attention is given to the subject. Our Governors' Messages, now, not only speak of what it is expedient to do, but of what has already been done, showing that their remarks on the subject are no longer mere empty words. The public functionary is, or ought to be, the exponent of the sentiments of his constituents, on this, as on other subjects; and public sentiment is re-acted upon, moulded and directed by him, in proportion to the extent and soundness of his views and his ability in unfolding them. These notions came to us from observing the ground assumed by the public officers and the leading papers, not only of the well educating States, but of many which have not at all distinguished themselves by zeal in the cause of Public Education. Of the Official Reports of Schools in New-York and New-Hampshire, we will, in another place, speak more at large. In those States and their immediate neighbors which have well matured systems of Education, we need here say naught. It is in those which are yet in their teens, as regards this kind of enterprise, that the slighest movement must attract attention..

Our readers are already aware of the manner in which the people of Indiana and Kentucky view the subject of Education. The people of the former State, by a large majority, have decided that they themselves should be taxed for the support of Free Schools, and their Legislature has passed laws in accordance with the popular vote; while in the latter, by a majority of thirty-seven thousand, the people have determined to provide in a similar manner for the permanency of a Common School system; and in his late message, Governor Crittenden calls the attention of the Legislature to the subject of Education, in connection with the above vote of its constituents. In like manner, in the State of of Missouri. the Governor in his message directs the attention of the Legislature to this subject, and recommends the thorough organization and establishment of a system of Common Schools.

In Georgia, too, and in North Carolina, there appears to be an awa kening on this subject. In leading papers published at the capitals of these States we often read able articles, directing the attention of the men of the South to the fact of their being so far behind their Northern brethren in many of the elements of prosperity, referring to the principal and obvious cause-the absence of those excellent means of Public Instruction which it is the privilege of the masses in many of the Northern States to enjoy; through which, their industry, skill, and capital are controlled, directed, and multiplied under the influence of intelligent, disciplined minds-and calling upon the people to meet this blight upon their prosperity boldly, face to face, and to remove it from

their midst.

Some months ago, Governor Johnson, of Louisiana, in a special message, called the attention of the State Legislature to the necessity for making proper provision for a system of Free Public Education for that State. Deliberation upon this important question, to judge from the reported proceedings, constituted, the greater part of the business at the late Legislative Session. The result of these deliberations is, that five hundred thousand dollars have been appropriated to the support of Public Schools throughout the State, except in the city of NewOrleans. And for the support of the public schools of that city, an additional appropriation of fifty thousand dollars has been made."

The Governor of New-Jersey, too, is urgent upon this matter. His message shows that a large portion of the children of that State are being but ill prepared for their future duties as citizens, since out of 102,412, between five and sixteen years of age, only 52,795 attended school during any part of the year preceding the date of the last School Report. He also suggests the propriety of establishing a State Normal School.

But we might go on and fill up our whole space with instances of this kind.

Miscellaneous.

The

THE TEACHER'S ABILITY AND DUTY TO AID THE PARENT. subject we are lamely discussing is as long as it is broad. We have considered parents' duties and teachers' duties; and a captious observer will find his hands full, if he sets about noticing the delinquences that may be seen in both classes.

The parent's field is at home. Almost all the physical and moral habits of the child begin at home. The mind-the intellect may bear the impress of the teacher; but the body, the soul-the affections and moral nature-are marked by domestic influences.

The history of the internal state of a family may often be read in the children's clothing. A parent's faithfulness may be tested by a child's language and gestures. A father's beastiality is often revealed, only by the ridiculously faithful miniature, presented in the son. A mother's want of refinement shows itself, often, in hoydenish, boyish daughters. Epicurism at the family table is revealed by a family of fat gluttons. Sordid narrowness may be concealed by any man, so far as himself is concerned; but it will be read in his children by any one who will study them.

Now if the parent, conscious of all this influence over the physical and moral nature, undertakes systematically to use it well, he

has a right to claim aid from the teacher. The six hours that a child spends at school should not dissipate the work of the ten hours of home education. If the parent labors to correct a bad posture of the body at home, it should be told to the teacher, that he too may correct it at school.

If a child is unamiable at home, and a parent by kindness is trying to develop heart-then, at school, the teacher ought to know it and labor to attain the same end.

In short, the simple idea we are now thinking of is, that an active educating parent should make the teacher a participant of his plans, that he may be able to aid in their accomplishment; and that the teacher should aid to complete, or, at least, carry on any enterprise that has been intelligently begun at home.-Hartford Courant.

more.

EFFECTS OF EDUCATION AND FREE SCHOOLS.-Out of universal education come gerius, skill, and enterprise, and the desire of bettering one's condition. Industry and frugality are their concomitants. Diversified labor secures a home market. Diligence earns much, but the absence of the vices of indolence saves Hence comforts abound, while capital accumulates. After the home consumption is supplied there is a surplus for export. The balance of trade is favorable. All the higher institutions of learning and religion can be liberally supported. These institutions impart an elevated and moral tone to society. Hence efforts for all kinds of social ameliorations. Temperance societies spring up. Societies for preventing crimes; for saving from pauperism; for the reform of prisons and the reformation of prisoners; for sending missionaries to the heathen; for diffusing the Gospel-all these, where a sound education is given, grow up in the order of Providence, as an oak grow out of an an acorn.

The Free-schools of the North lead to the common diffusion of knowledge, and the equalization of society. The private schools of the South divide men into patricians and plebeians, so that, in the latter, a nuisance grows out of education itself. In the public schools of New York there are libraries now amounting to more than a million of volumes. In the schools of Massachusetts, the number of volumes is relatively less, but the quality is greatly superior. In each of these States, within half an hour's walk of the poorest farm-house or mechanic's shop, there is a library, free and open to every child, containing works of history, biography, travels, ethics, natural science, &c., which will supply him with the noblest capital of intelligence, wherewith to commence the business of making himself a useful and intelligent citizen. With the exception of New Orleans, (whose Free-schools were commenced and have been presided over by a Massachusetts man,) and three or four other cities, all the libraries in the public schools of the slave states could be carried in a schoolboy's satchel.-Hon. Horace Mann.

CONVERSATIONAL POWERS.-Men of genius, and wisdom have often been found deficient in conversational powers. Adam Smith ever retained in company the embarrassed manners of a student. Neither Buffon nor Rousseau carried their eloquence into society. The silence of the poet Chaucer was held more desirable than his speech. The conversation of Goldsmith did not evince the grace and tenderness that characterize his compositions. Thompson was diffident and often uninteresting. Dante was taciturn, and all the brilliancy of Tasso was in his pen. Descartes seemed formed for solitude. Cowley was a quaint observer; his conversation was slow and dull, and his humor reserved. Hogarth and Smith were absent-minded, and the studious Thomas Parker said that he was fit for no communion save with the dead. The celebrated Hamilton, Franklin, and a host of others, of America, were deficient in that fluency which often fascinates a promiscuous circle.

"OUR YOUNG MEN."-How much is comprehended in the short and simple phrase "Our Young Men !" The hope of families, of churches, of nations-of the present and future generations, all centres there. When Cataline attempted to overthrow the lib-. erties of Rome, he began by corrupting the young men, and framing them for daring and crime; and in that he acted with true and keen discernment, for while they remained uncorrupted the foundations of social order were secure, and no attempt made against the commonwealth could prosper.-Rev. John Angell James,

QUADRATURE OF THE CIRCLE.-Mr. Sel ture in Portland, lately, on 66 'The Quadrat course of which he claimed that this proble has from time immemorial set at defiance th and been demonstrated to be impossible, ha rately solved by John A. Parker, formely New-York. Mr. Smith farther stated tha tronomical calculations have already resulted processes which led to this solution are in Į and will soon be published.-New York O

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS-THEIR ORIGIN.which vibrates in the air, every hollow t wind passes, taught man the use of instrum string or tube produces deep sounds ; a thi In this simple discovery lies the principle of instruments. If the string be stretched up

finger which presses upon the board dim consequently raises the sound. The same making holes in the iron tube or the wood or uncovering these holes with the fingers, of air contained in the tube longer or shorter by the wind, or by the mouth, gives higher notes which chance seems at first to produc and observation brought into connection, and of ascending and descending notes is establis

THE COAL FIELDS IN ENGLAND AND WALE pondent of the Chester Chronicle, signing him that the North Wales coal fields, measuring in Flintshire, to a few miles beyond Oswestry an area of 200 square miles, of ten yards in th of a cubic yard of compact coal is 19 cwt. 16 of the coal in this extensive area will thus be These coals, at 6s. per ton at the mouth of t £1,778,907,000. To exhaust this field i 2,000,000 tons be worked annually, for ne extent of the other coal fields in England an mated at the same thickness as the North Wa 177,890,700,000 tons, which would furnish tons of coals for nearly 4,000 years.-Engle

ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK.-After four year= of the astronomical clock at Strasburg are cor set in motion on the meeting of the Scien 28th. In this curious piece of mechanism sun, the moon, and the planets are marked exactness. Seven figures represent the sev each appearing in its turn on the day allotted come forward to strike the quarters, and the the hours. At noon the twelve Apostles ad bend down before the figure of our Saviour, benediction. At the same moment a cock crows three times. It is said to be one of th of clock-work in Europe.-Athenæum.

Science and Practical Arts.

THE STEAM ENGINE.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.

nding from time to time to furnish instruction and entertaino our junior readers in several branches of the Elements of l Philosophy and Mechanical Science, we will commence some account of a machine which is, more than any other, ied with the commerce and manufacturing industry of Europe nerica-a machine exhibiting a series of contrivances which, quisite and refined ingenuity, stand without a parallel in the of mechanical science," and producing a saving of labour productiveness of mechanical power without a parallel in the of Commerce and Manufactures. Our limits confine us to explanations and facts.

STEAM ENGINE is a mechanical contrivance by which fuel kind may be made, by means of water, to execute any kind our. The motive power of this mechanical contrivance, or wer by which the steam engine is put in motion, is that of 1, or vapour of water.

us consider, first, how this power is produced, and secondly, is applied in the working of the steam engine.

it expands most substances by separating the particles of they are composed. Thus it separates the particles of metals, zc. Its effects upon water are most remarkable. The particles tally separated; they are converted into an invisible gas or , called steam; and their extension is wonderfully increased. > temperature at which water is converted into steam under linary pressure of the atmosphere is 212°. The steam thus I has a bulk about seventeen hundred times that of the water is evaporated to produce it; or a cubic inch of water expands ut a cubic foot of steam.".

mechanical force which is developed by this conversion of into steam is very great, and is in proportion to the degree perature at which steam is formed. Steam formed at a temre of 212°, has a mechanical force equal to the pressure of mosphere-that is about 15lbs, on every square inch of surxposed to it; formed at a temperature of 251°, the elastic or nical force of steam is equal to the pressure of two atmos; formed at a temperature of 292°, it has a tension of about mospheres, or a mechanical force of 60 lbs. to the square inch face exposed to it. The only limit to the power of steam is ength of the vessel or boiler in which it is generated. The re of steam, as usually employed, is about that of two or atmospheres. When the tension of steam exceeds three heres, it is called high steam.

team engines when first brought into use were chiefly applied pumps for draining, and for mills which had been previously by horses, their power was estimated by a comparison with the horses which they superseded. Steam engine builders herefore, accustomed to contract to supply engines capable uting the same work as had been previously executed by a number of horses. It was found, on experiment, that a horse, working for eight hours per day, could perform a y of work equal in its mechanical effect to raising 33,000 lbs. t per minute, or 1000 lbs. thirty-three feet per minute. This unit of engine-power which is generally adopted.

the mechanical force which the evaporation of a given y of water is capable of producing, the following are a few many curious facts which writers on the steam-engine have

A pint of water may be evaporated by two ounces of coals. In its evaporation, it swells into two hundred and sixteen gallons of steam, with a mechanical force sufficient to raise a weight of thirtyseven tons a foot high. The team thus produced has a pressure equal to that of common atmospheric air; and by allowing it to expand, and by virtue of its elasticity, a further mechanical force. may be obtained, at least equal in amount to the former. A pint of water, therefore, and two ounces of coal, are thus rendered capable of doing as much work as is equivalent to raising seventyfour tons a foot high.

The circumstances under which the steam engine is worked on a railway are not favourable to the economy of fuel. Nevertheless, a pound of coke (charred pit-coal,) burned in a locomotive engine will evaporate about five pints of water. In their evaporation they will exert a mechanical force sufficient to draw two tons weight on the railway a distance of one mile in two minutes. Four horses working in a stage-coach on a common road are necessary to draw the same weight the same distance in six minutes.

A train of coaches weighing about eighty tons, and transporting two hundred and forty passengers with their luggage, has been taken from Liverpool to Birmingham, and back from Birmingham to Liverpool, the trip each way taking about four hours and a quarter, stoppages included. The distance between these places is ninetyfive miles. This double journey of one hundred and ninety miles is effected by the mechanical force produced in the combustion of four tons of coke, the value of which is five pounds. To carry the same number of passengers daily between the same places by stage. coaches on a common road, would require twenty coaches, and an establishment of three thousand eight hundred horses, with which the journey in each direction would be performed in about twelve hours, stoppages included.

The circumference of the earth measures twenty-five thousand milès; and if it were begirt with an iron railway, such a train as above described, carrying 240 passengers, would be drawn around it by the combustion of thirty tons of coke, and the circuit would be accomplished in five weeks.

The great pyramid of Egypt stands upon a base measuring seven hundred feet each way, and is five hundred feet high, its weight being twelve thousand seven hundred and sixty millions of pounds. Herodotus states, that in constructing it one hundred thousand men were constantly employed for twenty years. The materials of this pyramid would be raised from the ground to their present position by the combustion of about four hundred and eighty tons of coal.*. The great and peculiar property of steam on which these its amazing mechanical agencies depend, is its power of exerting a high degree of elastic force, and losing it instantaneously,

2. Let us now turn to the mechanism, by means of which the expansive force of steam is applied to useful purposes. The facts that mechanical force is produced in the conversion of water into steam-that a further mechanical power arises from the expansion of steam-that steam may be instantaneously reconverted into water, contracting its dimensions from a cubic foot to a cubic inch, and thereby producing a vacuum-are discoveries; but the mechanism on which the useful application of those natural forces depends, is an invention. The discovery of the several facts relative to the mechanical powers and properties of steam is due to several discoverers; and the different parts of the various and complicated mechanism by which these forces are rendered universally available as a

* Lardner's Steam Engine, Steam Navigation, and Railways.