I believe the trade has not again been revived: those two merchants complained that they could no more procure the cloths suited to their markets. No exports of it are mentioned in the returns of the Hydra chowkey. The quantity the country is capable of exporting under an improved management would be very large, for it forms at present the dress of the poorer classes at all seasons, and is used by the highest for winter wear. "I have been unable yet to ascertain the quantity of this silk obtainable from one acre of land; no man can tell me the extent of his plantation, or even the quantity of Eria thread he got in a year beyond this, that he had enough for the use of his family. Every ryut has a few plants round his house or farming hedges, which would at most amount to the twentieth part of an acre; so that for this to afford clothing for a family the produce must be very large indeed." individually have not the means of getting reeling ma- "Little eria is exported, but the mooga forms one of the principal exports of Assam; the average of the quantity passed at Gowalpara during the two last years that duties were levied, was two hundred and fifty-seven maunds, valued at fifty-six thousand and fifty-four rupees; it leaves the country principally in the shape of thread. Most of it going to Berhampoor, it is probable that the cloths made from it pass under the name of tussur; the latter, as far as I recollect, appears to have less gloss. The Hydra chowkey returns comprise only the products exported by water. The total quantity that leaves the province may, I think, be estimated at upwards of three hun-reeling, instead of spinning these cocoons; but, from their dred maunds, for mooga forms also a portion of the traffic with Silhet (across the hills), the Cassyas, Bhotias, and other hill tribes. The Assamese generally keeping more for their own use than they sell, the total quantity produced in the province may be reckoned at six or seven hundred maunds. It has been in great demand in Bengal, for within the last few years, although the production has been greater from the more settled state of the country, the price has risen 20 per cent. When I first arrived in this district, it could be obtained without difficulty from the ryuts, at three-and-a-half to four rupees the seer; now it is difficult to procure it at five rupees. The competition is so great, that the traders pay for it in advance, not, as with other products, to get it at a lower rate, but merely to secure their getting it. This competition is also owing to the greater number of small traders who resort to the province since the abolition of chowkeys, which may have caused a rise on the price of the product in Assam without a corresponding increase in the exports. "No gradual improvement can be traced in the mode of rearing the several worms or winding their silk-it is now what it was a century ago, there being no European speculators in Assam, nor it being probable that when any venture so far they would readily risk the capital in quite a new branch of industry. This important product of the country is likely to remain for years unimproved, unless the subject should again be taken up by Government. The small factory set up by the late Mr. Scott, to which I have before alluded, was kept up too short a time to have had any perceptible effect. Mr. Scott's declining health and numerous duties never allowed him to give it a moment's personal attention, nor could his assistant do it, having then the same work to do which now employs several officers; the factory was therefore left entirely under the direction of natives. These, to add to their own importance, rather increased than alleviated the fears that the Assamese (who had laboured under so many restrictions) naturally entertained of imitating or using any thing pertaining or appropriated to the Raja,' such a presumption in the good old times might have cost a man his ears or his nose. The residence of European officers in different parts of the country having undeceived the people as to those restrictions, there would be now great facilities in introducing improvements; although the ryuts “Another object of great interest, which might become of great importance to this province, is to ascertain the possibility of rendering the eria marketable in some shape or other. The way of preparing it (already described) is such that the cloth made of it, when new, looks as rough as "taut" (or gunny); it is only by repeated washings that it attains a softness of feel and gloss which approach that of silk. It is highly improbable that amongst the natives repeated trials should not have been made of failing, it would be wrong to lay it down as an impossibility; they have merely tried it as other cocoons, and given it up when they found that the fibre "did not come," as one of them told me. I had it tried before me with a few cocoons, but with the greatest care the fibre could not be drawn off beyond a few yards without breaking. The cause of this appeared to me to be a greater adhesiveness in the fibre than with other cocoons. It was drawn off with difficulty, and with a crackling noise, until it brought several layers with it, from which it could not be detached without breaking; something may perhaps be hereafter found to reduce that adhesiveness. It is, I think, unlikely that the worm should spin in a different way from all others; allowing this to be the case, great improvements could be made in the spinning, by, no doubt, the introduction of the process in practice in Europe to spin perforated cocoons; from its cheapness it would perhaps be advantageously used with woolespecially in stockings. It would add softness and gloss without taking from the warmth, the cocoons costing only one rupee, the thread two rupees per seer. แ Although I have been unable to form an estimate of the land taken up on the cultivation of the "hera" or total quantity of eria silk produced by referring to the palma-christi, a very rough one could be made of the population; it being the daily wear of the poor, and, besides, being used by every class in winter. The population is reckoned at 455,000, therefore, estimating the yearly consumption of each individual at the lowest, the total quantity produced would be upwards of 1000 maunds. Most of this could be exported if it acquired the least additional value, by better management, and be replaced by other manufactures and by an increase in the growth of cotton. The product would keep pace with any increase of demand, for there is hardly a house in the country where these worms are not reared." In a memorandum upon the specimens of silk and silkworm from Assam, by W. Prinsep, Esq., given in the same journal, the eria is thus spoken of: The eria cocoon, thread, and cloth are all new to us; I have never seen them in Bengal, except now and then a few pieces of the cloth imported from Rungpur. It appears to be more cottony than the tussur, and to make a web warmer and softer than the tussur cloth, but it is not so strong." Table annexed to Mr. Hugon's paper, and there referred to: List of the Cloths made in Assam of Mooga and Eria Silks. Price of Cost of Names of Size in Weight. Thread. weaving. Total. Mooga. Cubits. Seer Chk R. A. P. R. A. P. R. A. P. Soorias Ditto Mekla 7 byl 16,, 2 5,, 14 1 000 2 189 0 Remarks. 0 Petticoats. 0 Scarfs. always greater than the supply; and that really the roughest stuff of the Arrindy silkworm is appreciated in England, may I be permitted to conclude the present article with the following fact: “Mr. John Glass, the surgeon of Baglipur, sent, in the beginning of this century, some of the Arrindy silk home, and he wrote: "I understand that some manufacturers to whom it was shown seemed to think that we had been deceiving them by our accounts of the shawls being made from the 1 Dhoties. wool of a goat, and that this silk if sent home would be made into shawls equal to any manufactured in India.' "This will be sufficient to show the importance of this article, and that it merits highly the attention of the paternal Government of India, and of all patriotic institutions, particularly of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta, which has done hitherto so much for the promotion of science and knowledge, and consequently for the welfare in winter. of all nations." 0 Worn as or round 00 6 0 2 6 0 Made of the floss, and worn 30 00 8 0 3 8 0 Worn in winter, & Used on poorer classes. ASSIMILATION OF THE COMMERCIAL AND A meeting of the merchants and manufacturers of ly by the Leeds, called by the Chamber of Commerce, was held in the Court-house of Leeds, on Thursday last, to hear a paper "On the Currency Laws," read by Edward Wurtzburg, Esq.; and to hear an address by John Gilmour, Esq., barrister-at-law, of London, " on the assimilation of the commercial and bankruptcy laws of the United Kingdom." The Mayor (John Wilson, Esq.,) presided. Dr. Helfer, in a paper read before the Asiatic Society and published in their journal, in speaking of the variety of indigenous silkworms in India, thus notices the Eria :"It is reared over a great part of Hindostan, but more extensively in the districts of Dinajpur and Rangpur, in houses, in a domesticated state, and feeds chiefly on the leaves of Ricinus communis. Mr. GILMOUR said,-The committee of London merchants, on whose behalf I have the honour to address this important and influential meeting, consists of many of the leading merchants of the metropolis trading with Scotland. The object they seek to attain is a uniform and improved code of commercial and bankruptcy law for the United Kingdom. In many of the departments of mercantile jurisprudence, the law of England differs more materially "The silk of this species has hitherto never been wound off, but people were obliged to spin it like cotton. "It gives a cloth of seemingly loose coarse texture, but of incredible durability; the life of one person being seldom sufficient to wear out a garment made of it, so that the same piece descends from mother to daughter.'-in principle and practice from that of Scotland than it Atkinson's Letter to Roxburgh. "It is so productive as to give sometimes 12 broods of spun silk in the course of the year. The worm grows rapidly, and offers no difficulty whatever for an extensive speculation. "On account of the double profit which would be derived from the same area of land cultivating it with castor oil plant, which produces oil and feeds the worm, an extensive cultivation of this species would be highly recommendable; and if also the cloth is of the coarsest nature, it is, on the other hand, very valuable on account of its durability. May it not be particularly well adapted to mix it in certain textures with cotton? "It is likewise an inhabitant of Assam, and Mr. Hugon's observations about this species form an interesting paragraph in his memorandum." Dr. Helfer estimates that there are not less than 150 species of moths in India which form cocoons, more or less adapted for use in manufactures. He adds "Many have made the objection that the silk of the Indian species is much inferior. This is yet an undecided question. The mulberry silkworm degenerates if not properly attended to. What has been done to raise the indigenous species from the state of their natural inferiority? Very much depends upon the cultivation of the worms in houses; 2, the method of feeding them, selecting that vegetable substance, not which gratifies the best their taste, but which contributes to form a finer cocoon; and 3, from the first chemical operations employed before the working of the rough material. But even if the raw material would not be capable of a higher degree of cultivation, the demand for it would, notwithstanding, never cease in Europe. All silk produced in Hindostan has hitherto found a ready and profitable market in Calcutta, and the demand is does from any other commercial nation. For instance, a nership estate, and then to claim for the balance pari passu the most eminent statesmen, judges, merchants, and with the private creditors, on the private estate of the lawyers of the day, lent their valuable aid in co-operation partners; whereas in England the partnership assets are with the London committee of merchants, and summoned divided among the partnership creditors, and the private a conference of delegates from the different commercial assets amongst the private creditors of the partners, to the bodies in the United Kingdom to consider the propriety exclusion of the creditors of the partnership. When it is of assimilating the law in the three kingdoms, which was considered how many mercantile houses have establishments held in London on 16th November, 1852. At that conboth in England and Scotland, and the number is daily ference, in which Leeds was most ably represented by the increasing, questions must, and do constantly arise, of the Right Honourable M. T. Baines, M.P., and Sir Geo. most preplexing character. Suppose that the Scotch Goodman, M.P., its two representatives in parliament, seedsman had had an establishment in England and I am resolutions were passed highly approving of the principle of not sure that he had not, and that the seeds had been assimilation. Immediately after these resolutions were forwarded from his warehouse in England, to his Scotch passed, the London Committee of merchants proceeded customers, I do not venture to say whether the English with great vigour to carry the principle of assimilation or Scottish law of warranty would have regulated the into practical effect.-After carefully collecting informatter, but I am quite sure of this, that it would have mation on the subject, the committee prepared a bill to raised a very nice question for the lawyers. In the ad- improve the administration of bankruptcy and insolvency ministration of bankruptcy and insolvency the two systems in Scotland. In that bill, the principle of assimilation differ in a very eminent degree, so much so, that the plan was studiously carried out, borrowing the best parts of of winding up a bankrupt estate on the one side of the each system, and discarding whatever was defective in Tweed is almost unintelligible to the merchants and law- either. The principle established throughout the proyers on the other. In England there is perhaps too much visions of this bill, is local judicial control,-that is to of judicial control-in Scotland, certainly too little. In say-that each mercantile community shall be enabled the Scottish system there is too much of secrecy,-in by a mode of procedure at once simple and effective to England, perhaps too much of publicity. Very great transact its bankruptcy and insolvency business on the abuses have risen under both systems, which require to be spot, giving to the local judge original jurisdiction to deal remedied, and those on whose behalf I have the honour to with every question that can possibly arise in the winding appear before you, have formed a very decided opinion up of a bankrupt or insolvent estate, without the interthat the time has now arrived when one uniform and im-ference of the superior courts. The bill was introduced proved system of admistering bankrupt and insolvent into the House of Lords by Lord Brougham last session, estates should be established for the United Kingdom. and read a second time, and petitions were presented in The method of procedure for the recovery of debts in the favour of the bill from many mercantile constituencies two countries differs essentially, especially upon bills of in England and Scotland. I have already drawn your attenexchange. In Scotland, the law holds a man's signature tion to the mode of recovering on dishonoured bills of to a bill of exchange, to be a warrant of attorney to sign exchange in Scotland, as a more speedy and economical judgment against him in the event of his not paying process than that known in England. The subject has, when the bill becomes due, whereas in England the holder already excited great interest in Liverpool and Manchesterof a bill of exchange is in no better position than if his from whence the question has been pressed on the attent claim stood upon an open account for goods sold and tion of the London Committee; and I am quite sure thas delivered. Then, with respect to issuing excution upon its introduction into England will have the unanimouc judgments, there is a mischievous defect common to both approval and hearty support of the, commercial publi systems. When a debtor against whom a judgment has of Scotland, where the system has been satisfactorily been pronounced in England or Scotland, removes to either tested by the daily experience of more than a century country, the creditor is obliged to follow him thither, and a half. Before leaving this branch of the subject of and not only to commence proceedings de novo, but to find assimilation I have further to state that at a general security for his debtor's costs. These contiicts and discrepan- meeting of the Society for Promoting the Amendment of cies in the principles and practices of commercial and bank- the Law, at which Lord Brougham presided, on Monday ruptcy law in the two divisions of the island, give rise to last, a report by a committee of that very learned body great inconvenience and perplexity. When questions arise recoin mending the extension to England of the Scottish out of them in which the English or Scottish merchant system of summary procedure on bills of exchange, was requires to take proceedings on the other side of the taken into consideration; and the meeting unanimously border, he is altogether at a loss, and it is more than approved of the report, which report not only declared probable that his own legal adviser is unable to direct the introduction of the system into England to be desirable him. Nor is it to be expected that he should, because not but pronounced it to be eminently practicable. I cannot only the law itself is conflicting, but the technical lan- but regard this as an important fact, because it is not only guage of the law in England and Scotland is so different, necessary to satisfy the legislature that any proposed that even professional men in the two countries experience measure is desirable, but that it is also practicable; and great difficulty in understanding the nomenclature of each certainly no higher sanction could be obtained of its legal other. It was for these reasons that the merchants of practicability than that of the Society for the Amendment London whom I have the honour to represent, associated of the Law. A bill has already been prepared for extending together more than two years ago, for the improvement that cheap and speedy mode of recovering payment on of the commercial and bankruptcy laws of England and bills of exchange, into this country. Lord Brougham Scotland, and the assimilation of those laws throughout has been urged by a large number of mercantile men to the United Kingdom. There are now associated with bring in the bill, and I understand there is good reason to them for the purpose of carrying out this great object, hope that his lordship will be induced to lay it on the influential committees in Glasgow, Paisley, Dundee, table of the Upper House in the course of a few days. Aberdeen, Carlisle, and Liverpool. A deputation from With regard to the proposal that a judgment pronounced the London Committee consisting of Mr. John Porter in England, Ireland, or Scotland, shall be of equal force Foster, of the firm of Foster, Porter, and Co., of London, and effect in either country by means of registration or and Mr. James R. Jeffery. of the well-known house of indorsement, I have much satisfaction in informing the Jeffery, Morrish, and Co., of Liverpool, is now in Man-meeting, that a bill for this purpose is now in preparation, chester, for the purpose of organizing an influential committee in that city, and they are desirous to have a similar committee established in Leeds. The Society for the Amendment of the Law, which is presided over by Lord Brougham, and embraces within its membership many of and will probably be brought into the House of Commons in the course of a few days by the honourable and learned member for the Ayr Burghs, Mr. Crauford, who is a member of the London Committee, and who so ably and manfully last session of parliament fought the battle of cheap and speedy justice in the County Courts of Scotland. I have now stated to you as briefly as I could, consistently with the importance of the subject, some of the grievances felt from the conflicting laws of England and Scotland. I have submitted to you an outline of the remedies proposed which are now in the course of preparation : and I shall only add, that should a favourable opinion of the principle of assimilation, and of the method proposed for carrying it out, be pronounced on the present occasion by the highly important manufacturing and commercial community of Leeds, it will carry much influence with the legislature, and greatly strengthen the hands and encourage the efforts of the London Committee, and the other committees with whom they are associated, in promoting the great national object of a perfect assimilation of the commercial and bankruptcy laws of the United Kingdom. Some discussion then ensued, when the following resolutions were unanimously passed: 1. "That this meeting regards with great interest the important movement now going forward for the desirable object of an assimilation of the Mercantile and Bankruptcy Laws through out the United Kingdom." 2. "That this meeting having heard the principles illustrated on which Lord Brougham's Bankruptcy Bill for Scotland is founded, and its leading features explained, is of opinion that this bill is the first and greatest step in the direction of assimilation that has yet been taken. That this meeting is further of opinion, that the measure, while assimilating the administration of the Bankruptcy law of Scotland in principle to that of England, introduces a variety of improvements on the latter system, by which it is rendered more simple and more economical, and that the adoption of this measure in Scotland will lead to important reforms in the administration of bankruptcy in this country. That this meeting, therefore, approves of the principle of the bill, reserving the details for consideration, and resolves to take all necessary steps in conjunction with Lord Brougham and the London Committee, and with the other Committees throughout England and Scotland, for having its provisions rendered as perfect as possible, and passed into law without delay.' 3. " That this meeting having had under consideration the mode of recovering by summary diligence on dishonoured bills of exchange in Scotland, is of opinion, that the adoption of this system in England would be productive of great advantages to commerce, that the present mode of recovering by action is dilatory and inexpedient, and that looking at the nature and object of bills of exchange, the principles of justice and the interests of commerce require that the party who signs his name to such a security should not have the power of compelling the holder to have recourse to circuitous, expensive, and uncertain proceedings for the purpose of realising it. That the sum due on a bill of exchange being a constituted and ascertained debt, it is expedient that after proper notice to the party liable, its payment should be enforced by summary legal process, and that the sound principles of jurisprudence throw the burden both of the proceedings and the proof on the party who seeks to question its legal character and effect." 4. "That this meeting regards the present state of the law as defective and inexpedient by which, upon the removal of a debtor from England, Ireland, or Scotland, to either country, after judgment obtained, it should be imperative to commence an action de novo, and that the creditor should be compelled to find security for his debtor's costs; that a statutary provision, declaring that a judgment pronounced in England, Ireland, or Scotland, shall by a registration or endorsement be of equal force and effect in either country, would be a great boon to the mercantile community, and this meeting resolves to support any bill which shall be brought into Parliament for this purpose." 5. "That considering the success which has already attended the efforts of the London Committee of merchants, the zeal and ability with which they have pursued the cause of the assimilation of our mercantile laws, and the facilities which they possess of pressing their views on the Legislature, this meeting regards the London Committee as eminently qualified to advance this important reform, and hereby expresses its confidence in them, and its willingness to co-operate with the London Committee, and with the other Committees associated with them throughout the United Kingdom, and to render the London Committee every aid and assistance in its power." 6. "That this meeting recommends the Chamber of Commerce to appoint a Committee, with power to add to their number, for the purpose of communicating and co-operating with the London Committee of merchants, and the local Committees already appointed, and to be appointed in other towns, with a view of carrying out these important objects." NEW YORK INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION. SPECIAL REPORT OF MR. JOSEPH WHITWORTH. (a) that he was prevented, by unavoidable circumstances, In the introduction to this Report, Mr. Whitworth states from making a report upon the machinery exhibited in the New York Industrial Exhibition, and that he has therefore drawn up the results of observations made while visiting the principal seats of those manufactures which came within his department, and which it appeared desirable should be known to those engaged in mechanical and industrial pursuits in this country. In doing this he says "I could not fail to be impressed, from all that I saw there, with the extraordinary energy of the people, and their peculiar aptitude in availing themselves to the utmost of the immense natural resources of the country. "The details which I have collected in this report show, by numerous examples, that they leave no means untried to effect what they think it is possible to accomplish, and they have been signally successful in combining large practical results with great economy in the methods by which these results are secured. ber, but this is counterbalanced by, and indeed may be "The labouring classes are comparatively few in numregarded as one of the chief causes of, the eagerness with which they call in the aid of machinery in almost every department of industry. Wherever it can be introduced as a substitute for manual labour, it is universally and willingly resorted to; of this the facts stated in my report contain many conclusive proofs, but I may here specially refer, as examples, to plough-making, where eight men are able to finish thirty per day; to door-making, where twenty men make 100 panelled doors per day; to lastmaking, the process of which is completed in 14 minutes; to sewing by machinery, where one woman does the work of 20; to net-making, where one woman does the work of 100. It is this condition of the labour market, and this eager resort to machinery wherever it can be applied, to which, under the guidance of superior education and intelligence, the remarkable prosperity of the United States is mainly due. That prosperity is frequently attributed is doubtless true that in certain districts the alluvial deto the possession of a soil of great natural fertility, and it posits are rich and the land fruitful to an extraordinary degree; but while traversing many hundred miles of country in the Northern States, I was impressed with the conviction that the general character of the soil there was the reverse of fertile. "It is not for a moment denied that the natural resources of the United States are immense, that the products of the soil seem capable of being multiplied and varied to almost any extent, and that the supplies of minerals appear to be nearly unlimited. The material welfare of the country, however, is largely dependent upon the means adopted for turning its natural resources to the best account, at the same time that the calls made upon human labour are reduced as far as practicable. tails connected with which I have included in the report, Majesty, in pursuance of their Address of February 6, 1854. Wood thus became with them a universal material, reads, and thought and intelligence penetrate through and work-people being scarce, machinery was intro- the lowest grades of society. The benefits which thus duced as far as possible to supply the want of hands. result from a liberal system of education and a cheap The character thus given to one branch of manufactures press to the working classes of the United States can has gradually extended to others. Applied to stone-dress-hardly be over-estimated in a national point of view; but ing, for example, one man is enabled, as I have shown, to it is to the co-operation of both that they must unperform as much work as twenty masons by hand. So doubtedly be ascribed. For if, selecting a proof from great again are the improvements effected in spinning among the European States, the condition of Prussia be machinery, that one man can attend to a mule containing considered, it will be found that the people of that 1,088 spindles, each spinning 3 hanks, or 3,264 hanks in country, as a body, have not made that progress which, the aggregate per day. In Hindoostan, where they still from the great attention paid to the education of all spin by hand, it would be extravagant to expect a spinner classes, might have been anticipated; and this must certo accomplish one hank per day; so that in the United tainly be ascribed to the restrictions laid upon the press, States we find the same amount of manual labour, by im- which have so materially impeded the general advanceproved machinery, doing more than 3,000 times the work. ment of the people. Wherever education and an unreBut a still more striking comparison between hand and stricted press are allowed full scope to exercise their united machine labour may be made in the case of lace-making influence, progress and improvement are the certain in England. Lace of an ordinary figured pattern used to results, and among the many benefits which arise from be made" on the cushion" by hand, at the rate of about their joint co-operation may be ranked most prominently three meshes per minute. At Nottingham, a machine the value which they teach men to place upon intelligent attended by one person will now produce lace of a similar contrivance; the readiness with which they cause new kind at the rate of about 24,000 meshes per minute; so improvements to be received, and the impulse which they that one person can, by the employment of a machine, thus unavoidably give to that inventive spirit which is produce 8,000 times as much work as one lace-maker by gradually emancipating man from the rude forms of hand. labour, and making what were regarded as the luxuries of one age to be looked upon in the next as the ordinary and necessary conditions of human existence." "The results which have been obtained in the United States, by the application of machinery wherever it has been practicable to manufactures, are rendered still more remarkable by the fact, that combinations to resist its introduction there are unheard of. The workmen hail with satisfaction all mechanical improvements, the importance and value of which, as releasing them from the drudgery of unskilled labour, they are enabled by education to understand and appreciate. With the comparatively superabundant supply of hands in this country, and therefore & proportionate difficulty in obtaining remunerative employment, the working classes have less sympathy with the progress of invention. Their condition is a less favourable one than that of their American brethren for forming a just and unprejudiced estimate of the influence which the introduction of machinery is calculated to exercise on their state and prospects. I cannot resist the conclusion, however, that the different views taken by our operatives and those of the United States upon this subject, are determined by other and powerful causes, besides those dependent on the supply of labour in the two coun tries. The principles which ought to regulate the relations between the employer and the employed, seem to be thoroughly understood and appreciated in the United States, and while the law of limited liability affords the most ample facilities for the investment of capital in business, the intelligent and educated artizan is left equally free to earn all that he can, by making the best use of his hands, without let or hindrance by his fellows. The Report is divided into 12 chapters. The first treats of" steam-engines and machinery," and states that upwards of thirty establishments were visited at New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Boston, Lowell, Lawrence, Holyoke, Worcester, Hartford, and Springfield, employing, in the aggregate, from 6,000 to 7,000 men. In section 4, River Steamers for Shallow Waters, it is said that "a steam-boat running on the Ohio from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, had a pair of direct acting engines with 32 inch cylinders and 8 feet stroke. There was no main crank shaft connecting the two paddle-wheels, but each engine worked its own wheel independently of the other. This arrangement enables the boat to be steered with greater facility round the sharp turns encountered in the tortuous course of the river. The framework and outer bearings of the paddle-wheels are supported by suspension rods, which are, as it were, slung over beams and framework strongly constructed and fixed in the centre of the vessel. The main deck is 280 feet long, and 58 feet wide. The paddles are 38 feet in diameter, having twenty-four floats, 12 feet wide by 28 inches in depth. For shallow rivers, flat-bottomed steamers propelled by a paddle-wheel at the stern are commonly used. Two were being built of iron in New York, drawing only 24 feet of water, which are intended for the passage across the isthmus of Panama by the Nicaragua route.' The propellers of steamers intended to run in shallow waters are made with four, and sometimes six blades "It may be that the working classes exhibit an un-each, and revolve with rather less than half their diameter usual independence of manner, but the same feeling insures the due performance of what they consider to be their duty, with less supervision than is required where dependence is to be placed upon uneducated hands. It rarely happens that a workman who possesses peculiar skill in his craft is disqualified to take the responsible position of superintendent, by the want of education and general knowledge, as is frequently the case in this country. In every State in the Union, and particularly in the north, education is, by means of the common schools, placed within the reach of each individual, and all classes avail themselves of the opportunities afforded. The desire of knowledge so early implanted is greatly increased, while the facilities for diffusing it are amply provided through the instrumentality of an almost universal press. No taxation of any kind has been suffered to interfere with the free development of this powerful agent for promoting the intelligence of the people, and the consequence is, that where the humblest labourer can indulge in the luxury of his daily paper, everybody immersed in the water. The second chapter treats of the process of casting, cooling, &c., railway-wheels, and annealing-railroad spike making-nail and rivet making-cast steel worksengine tools; and the places visited were Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Lawrence, and Worcester. "The iron castings in some of the establishments were very good, and cylinders from 8 to 14 feet in diameter were well bored, with a finishing feed of cut of about three-eighths of an inch per revolution, which is at a width of cut at least three times as great as that ordinarily given in English works. At Pittsburgh a large casting for a hydraulic press was cooled by the following method:Water is introduced into the interior of the core by a pipe, which extends to the bottom, and fills it previous to casting. Provision is made for the escape of the air by making the core fluted. When the metal is poured into the mould it immediately heats the water, which is then drawn off by an escape pipe at the top of the core, and a supply of cold water is continually running in at the bot |