labour of picking out, which is necessary where a single tom. Heat is thus gradually taken from the mass, and the whole cools uniformly. The casting was 10 inches thick, and weighed 7 tons. It took from three to four days in cooling. The best charcoal pig iron was selling in Pittsburgh at 45 dollars per ton, having risen within a short period from 30 dollars per ton." This iron required a force of 45,000 pounds to tear asunder a bar an inch square. In the process of 'pickling castings,' the diluted acid, consisting of 24 parts of water to 1 of acid, is poured over the castings (instead of being immersed as in England) by hand from a long ladle, and when they are dry, the operation is repeated as often as necessary. The castings are afterwards cleansed by a powerful stream of water directed upon them from a hose pipe. In section 9, Annealing Railway Wheels,' it is said, "The leading and trailing wheels of locomotives, and railway carriage-wheels, are commonly hollow cast-iron disc wheels. The process of annealing adopted in a large manufactory in Philadelphia is as follows:The wheels are taken from the moulds, as soon after they are cast as they can bear moving without changing their form, and before they have become strained while cooling. In this state they are put into a circular furnace or chamber, which has been previously heated to a temperature about as high as that of the wheels when taken from the mould; as soon as they are deposited in this furnace or chamber, the opening through which they are passed is covered, and the temperature of the furnace and its contents is gradually raised to a point a little below that at which fusion commences. All the avenues to and from In section 22, 'Clock-making,' it is said "The celebrity the interior of the furnace are then closed, and the whole attained by New England in the manufacture of clocks mass is left to cool gradually as the heat permeates through gave a peculiar interest to a visit to one of the oldest the exterior wall, which is composed of fire-brick 44 inches manufactories of Connecticut; 250 men are employed, thick, inclosed in a circular case of sheet iron inch thick. and the clocks are made at the rate of 600 a day, and at By this process the wheel is raised to one temperature a price varying from 1 to 10 dollars, the average price throughout before it begins to cool in the furnace, and, being 3 dollars. The frames of the clocks are stamped as the heat can only pass off through the medium of the out of sheet brass, and all the holes are punched wall, all parts of each wheel cool and contract simulta- simultaneously by a series of punches fixed at the neously. The time required to cool a furnace full of required distances. The wheels also are stamped wheels in this manner is about four days. By this process out of sheet brass, and a round beading is raised by a wheels of any form, and of almost any proportions, can be press round their rims for the purpose of giving them made with a solid nave." "In another establishment lateral strength. They are cut by a machine having 3 the wheels while hot are lifted from the mould, horizontal axes, carrying each a cutter placed about 4 and the centre part is placed in a hole communicating inches apart. The first cutter is simply a saw, and the by means of a flue with a high chimney, and the edge second rounds off the teeth. In cutting an escapement is packed round with sand. A draft is thus created wheel, the first cutter is made to cut each tooth entirely which cools the mass of iron near the centre of the wheel, round, and then either the second or third axis with its and in some measure prevents it from contracting unequally cutter is used for finishing. The pullies on the three during the operation. At a foundry, in Worcester, the axes are driven by one driving pulley with three straps wheels when cast were taken hot from the moulds, and working over and in contact with each other. The immersed in a pit of white sand, where they were left to plates forming the clock faces, and other discs, are cut cool gradually. In order to obtain the best chill, it is con- out by circular shears. The beaded rims intended to go sidered necessary to use cold blast iron made with char-round the clock faces, varying in size from 15 inches coal." In a manufactory, at Pittsburgh, a machine was at work which made railroad spikes, each weighing half a pound, at the rate of 50 per minute; and in another establishment, 2000 kegs of nails, each weighing 100 lbs., and containing all sizes, from fourpenny up to tenpenny nails, are made in a week. A rivet-making machine was also at work, which made rivets, weighing seven to the pound, at the rate of 80 per minute. downwards, are stamped in concentric rings out of a disc, and then made of the required form by means of dies and a stamping press. The ogee form given to the wooden framing of the common clock is formed by a revolving cutter of the required shape, making 7000 revolutions per minute, over which the piece of wood is passed by hand,-the requisite pressure downwards being given at the same time. A circular cutter fixed on a In the Third Chapter, buttons, daguerreotype frames, horizontal axis is also used for roughly planing the back hooks-and-eyes, cutlery, &c., are treated of. At Water-parts of the wooden clock. Its diameter is about 18 bury, in the Naugatuck valley, there are, besides other inches, and it has 4 lateral projections, carrying 4 cutters, firms, 28 joint-stock companies engaged in these manu-2 gouges and 2 chisels. These revolve round a fixed factures, whose capitals vary in amount from about 1,2001. circular centre plate, of about a foot in diameter, against to 50,000l. The principle of limited liability produces which the work is pressed as it is passed along. Each most beneficial results, especially in the case of the intro- clock passes through about 60 different hands; more duction of a new invention, or a new manufacture; and than half of the clocks manufactured are exported to an Act of Incorporation for a company, whose capital England, and of these a large portion are re-exported to amounted to 120,000l., was only 2s. id.!!! other markets. And it is worthy of remark, that the superiority obtained in this particular manufacture is not owing to any local advantages; on the contrary, labour and material are more expensive than in the countries to which the exportations are made; it is to be ascribed solely to the enterprise and energy of the manufacturer, "The round-shaped button is formed by two punches, one working inside the other, each being driven by a separate eccentric, and the inside punch having the longer stroke. By this arrangement the disc is forced through the die, and drops into a box, thus saving the and his judicious employment of machinery." In a large manufactory of revolving pistols at Hartford, self-acting machinery and revolving cutters are used for making all the separate parts, and the tools are made and repaired in a machine shop which is attached to the works. the revolving cutters shape from the block a surface exactly corresponding to the surface of the pattern, and the copy occupies relatively to the cutters the same position which the pattern does relatively to the knob of iron. About 18 men are employed, who make 100 pair of lasts The fifth chapter is devoted to wood working, the per day, exclusive of boot trees." For furniture making, places visited being Lowell, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Balti-labour saving machines of all kinds are very advanmore, Worcester, and New Haven. After referring to tageously employed. An apparatus of a very simple the attention which is paid in America to labour-saving character is used for shaping the arms and legs of chairs. machinery for the working of wood, the report proceeds "In a plough manufactory at Baltimore eight machines are to describe the saw mills at Lowell and Buffalo; at employed on the various parts of the woodwork, by which the former trees are dragged up an inclined plane seven men are able to make the wooden parts of 30 ploughs from a dock-basin into the interior of the mill, to per day." The prices of these ploughs vary from 24 to 7 dols. the spot where two circular saws are ready to A mowing machine drawn by 2 horses, mowed on an operate on them. "Many works in various towns are average 6 acres of grass per day. "The machine is similar occupied exclusively in making doors, window frames, in its construction to the common reaping machine, but or staircases by means of self-acting machinery, such as it has only one wheel, furnished with projections to preplaning, tenoning, morticing, and jointing machines. vent it from slipping. This wheel gives motion to the They are able to supply builders with the various parts of cutters, and supports one side, the other rests on a runner the woodwork required in buildings at a much cheaper like that of a sledge." "The churns (made at a manurate than they can produce them in their own workshops factory at Worcester) consist of a double case, the inner without the aid of such machinery. In one of these one being of zinc, which receives the milk or cream, and manufactories twenty men were making panelled doors at in which the arms revolve, the outer one being of wood. the rate of 100 per day." In planing-mills for flooring It is found by experience that butter is formed most boards at Philadelphia, four of Woodworth's machines rapidly when the milk or cream is churned at a certain "were working in one room side by side; they have three temperature, and in order to obtain this temperature, cutters on each horizontal axis, having a radius of 6 inches, which is indicated by a thermometer inserted in the and making 4,000 revolutions per minute. The cutters churn, warm or cold water is introduced between the are said to be capable of planing from 2,000 to 3,000 feet inner zinc and outer wooden casing, as may be required." of work without being sharpened with the oil-stone, and The sixth chapter treats of stone-planing works-brick from 20,000 to 30,000 feet without being ground. They making from dry clay, the places visited being Staten plane boards 18 feet long, varying in width from 3 to 9 Island, New York, and Washington. Considerable difficulinches, at the rate of 50 feet per minute. At the same ties have hitherto attended the employment of machinery time that the face of the board is planed, it is tongued and for planing stone such as granite, but these have been grooved by cutters revolving with a radius of about 3 successfully surmounted. At Washington, "the planing inches, on vertical axes on each side of the board. The machine consists of an upright frame, in which revolves chips made by the four planing machines are driven a vertical shaft, carrying 3 horizontal arms. At the exthrough large pipes, and fall into a trough about 20 inches tremities of these arms, are fixed circular cutters inclined wide, running across the room immediately under the outwards about 45° from the perpendicular, or about the cutters. In this trough works an endless chain, on which angle at which the workman would hold his chisel. They are fixed wooden scrapers that carry along the chips as are about 10 inches in diameter, and inch thick, made of they fall, to a recess at the side of the room. Here they steel, and bevilled on both sides, leaving a sharp edge. They are carried off by the scrapers of another endless chain are fitted upon axes, and are at liberty to revolve loosely running up an inclined plane. The pulleys on which in their bearings as their edges strike the stone. The this side chain works are larger in dimensions than those cutters are carried round by the shaft at the rate of about of the transverse chain which works inside. The trans- 80 revolutions per minute when planing freestone, and verse chain thus deposits its chips in the trough of the 60 when planing granite. The stone is moved forward inclined plane, and they are carried up to a hole in the on a bed to which it is keyed; the cutters strike its ceiling of the fuel room, adjoining the boiler honse surface obliquely as they are carried round on the revolvthrough this hole they fall into the fuel room, and fill it ing arms turning at the same time on their own axes, and up, if necessary, to the top. Where an accurately smooth chipping and breaking off the projecting portions of the surface is required, Daniel's planing machine is employed. stone at every cut. The machine planed the face of a It consists of an upright frame, in which a vertical shaft stone slab, 4 feet long and 2 feet wide, in seven minutes. revolves, having horizontal arms, at the ends of which are Another modification of this machine, which is not so fixed the cutters. The work is carried along on a travel- economical, is employed when it is necessary that the ling bed under the cutters, which are driven at a very high face of the stone be left in lines as it came from the tool." speed." The spill or match-making machine makes 900 In the Stone Polishing Machine, "The stone is polished round spills, 15 inches long, inch diameter, per minute; by a flat circular disc of soft iron, which is made to reand its cost would not exceed 207. A line of 15 tubular cut- volve horizontally." In Brick Making with Dry Clay, ters, or long, sharp-edged punches, is fixed to a horizontal the clay is collected in dry weather " by slicing it from bar, to which motion is given by a crank, which impels the surface with a kind of shovel having a sharp edge, the cutters against the timber. This bar is depressed at which is drawn by two horses, and will hold about two each stroke, sufficiently to allow each cutter to cut out its barrowsful. In wet weather the surface of the clay is spill, which passes through and falls out behind. In a harrowed to the depth of 2 or 3 inches by a triangular Last and Boot-tree Manufactory, "a pattern last, and the wooden frame carrying 9 teeth, a process which in the block of wood from which another last is to be cut, are powerful rays of an American sun soon causes the moisfixed upon, and revolve round a common axis, being con- ture to evaporate. It is then taken off by the scoop or nected with the centres of a headstock fixed on a frame shovel before described." After being screened, the clay made to oscillate from below. As the pattern revolves it is raised, by elevators, to the height of about 12 feet, and is kept continually pressed against a knob of iron by a is then conveyed to rollers, where it is ground, and is spring, and as the block of wood revolves it is shaped by afterwards shovelled into hoppers which feed the moulds, a circular cutter, revolving on a fixed axis, with its cutting placed six in a row. The bricks are powerfully comedges in a line with the face of the knob. The pattern pressed by presses, or rams, raised by a cam, and are and the copy revolving simultaneously on a common axis, then burnt. The best burnt bricks equal in quality to the as the surface of the pattern is pressed against the project- best English stocks, were selling at 12 dollars per 1000. ing knob, the oscillating frame is made to move, so that In the seventh chapter, India rubber manufactory, fishing-net making machine, flour mills, and elevators, are treated of, and it is stated that, by a new process of hardening India rubber that substance becomes of the consistency of horn, and is then manufactured into combs, walking sticks, and other articles. In the manufacture of India rubber overshoes, "the India rubber in its rough state is first cut up by shears into small pieces. It is then put through a machine similar to that used for tearing and cleaning rags intended to be made into paper. The water used in the operation is drawn off from time to time through a wire grating." It is then ground, kneaded, and worked with the necessary composition, and is passed through rollers in the form of an endless web. "The India rubber cloth is cut out from the sheet by workmen, in the shape required to form shoes. The parts so shaped are put together by women, who form them on lasts, closing the joints by cohesion after touching them with camphine. Each woman finishes an entire shoe, and about 1400 pairs are made daily. The shoes are then covered with a coat of varnish, and taken to the stove drying room, where they are subjected to a heat of from 250 to 280 degrees, and allowed to remain a night." The fishing net machines at Baltimore combine the general features of the power loom and the lace machine, and one machine can net from a 4-inch mesh to 14 inch to 2 inches mesh. The meshes are made rectangular, in the direction of the length of the net, and not diagonally, as in the hand-made nets. One woman can do the work of upwards of 100 hand netters. The cost of the machine is about 1601." The manufacture of sailcloth is carried on in the mill where these machines are at work. The throstles for spinning yarn for the sailcloth spin six hanks to the pound. The carding engine sliver is carried by the railroad system along a trough to the drawing frame. The main cylinder of the carding engine is 36 inches in diameter, and the doffing cylinder 13 inches, the former making 135 revolutions and the latter seven revolutions per minute. In the fly-frame the front roller makes 200 revolutions per minute, and the flyer from 1,900 to 2,000. By some shipowners sailcloth made of cotton is preferred to that made from hemp. Fishing nets made by hand are here also manufactured of cotton." The corn and flour mills at Pittsburgh produce 500 barrels of flour per day, each containing 196lbs. The grain is lifted into the mill by means of an elevator. It is next allowed to descend into a large hopper, where its weight is registered. It is then allowed to descend to a lower story, from whence it is raised to the highest story of the mill, where it is cleaned by passing through three different machines. It is then conducted to the stock-hoppers, which feed eight pairs of grinding-stones, and when ground, the meal is conveyed by means of a spiral conveyor to the cooling chamber, where a rake, revolving horizontally, is substituted for the old hopper boys.' The meal is raked from the circumference to the centre, where it falls through a hole and is taken to the bolting machine; it is there sifted, and separated into different qualities of flour. It is then conveyed to hoppers, from which it descends by spouts into the barrels in which it is packed." In the eighth chapter the manufacturing companies, civil engineering, cotton mills, carpet manufactory, woollen and felt cloth making, sewing machinery, and cotton gin are considered, the places visited being Lowell, Lawrence, Holyoke, New Haven, and Waterbury. At Lowell there are twelve large manufacturing establishments, eight of cotton goods, two of woollen goods, carpets, rugs and broadcloths, one is a bleaching concern, and one is a machine shop, their total capital amounting to 2,800,000. Water power acting through powerful turbine wheels is used for driving the machinery in all the mills, the gearing being exceedingly well constructed. At Lawrence there are seven large incorporated cotton mills; and a new cotton mill, for the purpose of manufacturing mousselines de laines, barèges, and other light fabrics, has lately been erected." The whole waste from the (woollen cloth) mills is worked up in the manufacture of felted cloth. A new The felt-making machines occupy but a small space. A sliver of wool is taken from the carding engine and passed between two endless cloths; these carry it over a narrow steam box, where it is steamed, and it is then passed under a vibrating pressing-plate, which operations cause the fibres to curl and interlace with each other, and so form a cloth." At Holyoke there are two cotton mills, a machine shop, and a paper mill, all of which have been established since 1847. In some mills, gearing is employed for driving the heavy shafting, but generally belts are much preferred." A large establishment at Waterbury is occupied exclusively in the manufacture of under-vests and drawers. The cloth waistbands of the latter are stiched by sewing machines, working at the rate of 430 stiches per minute. These machines have been worked with entire success for the last eighteen months. The manufactured goods and the sewing machines are all that are shown to visitors. No stranger is ever permitted to see the hosiery looms; workmen, directors, and president all enter into a bond not to disclose anything connected with the machinery of the company." In a shirt manufactory at New Haven, entire shirts, excepting only the gussets, are sewn by sewing machines, and by their aid one woman can do as much work as from twelve to twenty hand sewers. cotton gin is thus described:-"This gin has, instead of saws, a card cylinder 8 or 9 inches in diameter, covered with coarse wire teeth, with considerably more bend or hook than the ordinary card tooth. The cylinder revolves against a spirally fluted cast-iron roller, the tooth being about one-tenth inch, and the space between the teeth three-tenth inch broad. To save the expense of turning and fluting the roller, it is cast in lengths of about six inches, which are bored and turned at the ends, and then put together, the tooth and space being left as they are cast. In contact with the card cylinder, a cylindrical brush, 28 inches diameter, is made to revolve. The card cylinder makes 200 revolutions, the fluted stripper 400 in a contrary direction, and the cylindrical brush 800 revolutions per minute. When the raw cotton is introduced with its seeds between the card cylinder and the stripper (which are placed so far apart as to stop the seeds from passing), the hooked teeth of the card take hold of the fibres and pull them from the seed, which is held up against the roller as long as any fibres cling to it for the card teeth to hold by the seeds are then released, and fall to the ground. The spirally fluted roller causes the position of the seed and cotton to be continually changing. The cotton fibres, as they are taken round by the teeth of the card cylinder, are brushed off by the rapid revolution of the cylindrical brush, and carried to the bin. The machine is about 60 inches wide, and can gin 1,500 lbs. of cotton per day. Its cost is 70%." The next chapter treats of railways-railway carriages large four-masted ship--fire companies-and fire engines. The first of these subjects has been frequently described, but a "contrivance has been lately tried for excluding the dust (from railroad carriages) by connecting the different carriages together by india-rubber curtains at the ends, the air being admitted through the roof of the first carriage. The object sought to be obtained is, a current of air running through the entire train, and always setting outwards from the interior of the carriages. The results did not appear to answer fully the expectation which had been formed." "A four-masted clipper ship, of 4,000 tons, was being built at Boston; the length of keel was 287 feet, length on deck 320 feet, extreme breadth of beam 52 feet, and depth of hold 30 feet. Her keel is of rock maple in two thicknesses; the frame is of seasoned white oak, dowelled, and bolted together through the dowelling with 1 inch iron. The frame inside is diagonally cross-braced with iron, the braces being 4 inches wide and inch thick, bolted through every timber: these braces extend from the floor-heads to the top timbers, and form a perfect network of iron over all her frames fore and aft." She has five depths of mid-ship keelsons, three full decks, and a hurricane-deck over all, merely for working the ship. When loaded ready for sea her draught of water will not exceed 23 feet, a common draught for ships half her size. "The fire companies are formed in many towns of volunteers, who do not receive pay, but enjoy certain immunities from taxes and militia service." On a parade day an engine with a 10-inch cylinder threw a stream of water over a pole 150 feet high. in use are those of Morse (12,124 miles), Bain (1,199 miles), and House (1,358 miles). "Professor Morse employs receiving magnets which close local circuits attached to each telegraph office, and so charge another magnet called the register magnet; this acts upon an armature attached to a lever which presses down a metallic point upon a cylindrical roller, a strip of paper is passed at an uniform rate between the The Government works at New York, Boston, Wash- metal point and the roller, and by the indentation of ington, and Springfield, are described in the tenth chapter. lines and dots, representing letters of the alphabet, the At the Navy Yard, at the former place, a vessel may be message transmitted is registered at the rate of about 20 docked in a capacious dry-dock in four hours, though the words per minute." "The cost of a Morse Register is about quantity of water to be removed is about 610,000 cubic 8. The system patented by Mr. Bain is called the feet. At the Boston Navy Yard "a set of machinery is Electro-chemical Telegraph. He employs a metal disc, used for making sheaves for ship blocks. An ingenious carrying a prepared sheet of paper, on which lines and machine was employed for boring the sheaf, and recessing dots are marked by the decomposition of a metallic it on both sides for receiving the bush. Two lathe head-point, acted upon by an electric current. The metal stocks are mounted on a frame, and carry the small redisc revolves at an uniform rate by the agency of clockvolving cutters for making the recesses. An universal work, and the point or pen is made to move over the concentric chuck with three jaws,' having a large hole paper laid on the disc in the direction of a spiral. No in its centre, is mounted between the headstocks. This receiving magnet is necessary, and a comparatively weak carries the work, and has a vertical adjustment." At the current of electricity, traversing long wires, leaves instantaneously a mark upon the prepared paper." * * * Springfield armoury machines are employed in the manufacture of musket-stocks, involving 16 distinct machine In Mr. House's system the message is printed by the operations, occupying together 28 minutes 454 seconds.telegraph instrument itself. The electric current is made Two hand operations are required, occupying 2 minutes to act by rapid pulsations on an axial magnet' that 17 seconds, making a total of 31 minutes 24 seconds; opens and closes a valve connected with a pneumatic but an allowance of 8 minutes 58 seconds has to be made printing-machine. The machine, which is ably confor double simultaneous operations during turning, leaving trived, is worked by manual power, and prints messages 22 minutes 4 seconds as the man's time given to the at the rate of about 20 words per minute; its cost is whole operations of making a complete musket-stock. Grove's batteries are generally used in all the systems." "The general principle adopted in the construction of Messages are charged at the rate of 50 these machines is that of guiding the cutter in its course, cents (2s. 1d.) for 10 words, and 5 cents (2d.) for every by a shaper or former,' that is, a pattern made exactly additional word, for transmission from New York to of the form in which it is required that the work should Washington, a distance of 270 miles." be shaped." The stocks are purchased rough from the "The cost of erecting telegraph lines varies accordsaw for 1s. 2d. each. The barrels are made in mills. The ing to localities, but the expenses upon the whole complete musket is made (by putting together the separate are estimated to average about 351. per mile throughout the States; the moderate amount of this estimate parts) in 3 minutes. afforded by the general telegraph laws for the formation is, in a great measure, to be attributed to the facilities of companies and the construction of lines." *** to the transmission of messages from one part of the "The application of the electric telegraph is not confined States to another: in the form of a local or municipal telegraph, it is employed as an important instrument of of towns. No adaptation of the system can be more inregulation and intelligence in the internal administration about 50%. * * * The Coast Survey Office, at Washington, supplies the capital of every State in the Union with a full set of standard weights and measures, consisting of "1. A set of standard weights from 1lb. to 50lbs. avordupois, and 1lb. troy; 2. From 1oz. down to 1-10,000th oz. troy; 3. A yard measure; 4. Liquid measures-the gallon and its parts down to half-pint inclusive; 5. A half-bushel measure." And, in addition, with three very accurate balances, constructed to weigh from 50lbs. down to 10lbs.,-from 10lbs. to 1lb.,—and from 1lb. to 1-10,000th oz. The esti-teresting and useful than that which is made for the mated cost of the three latter is about £900. "The United States standard yard has been obtained from a seven feet standard procured from England. It is made of gun-metal, about 2 inches broad and three-eighths of an inch thick, and has a thin strip of silver, one-fifth of an inch broad, let into it through its entire length. It is divided into small divisions, each being an aliquot part of an inch." Monetary accounts are kept, and calculations are made with the greatest facility in dollars and cents, the dollar (4s. 2d.) being divided into 100 cents (a cent d.). Convenient coins called "dimes" are in circulation, 10 cents being equal to one dime, and 10 dimes making a dollar." "It is a matter of surprise that while the people of the United States have long felt and appreciated the benefits of their decimal monetary system, the old English system of weights and measures has not yet been abolished by the Legislature." purpose of conveying signals of alarm and intelligence in the case of fire. This system has been very completely developed in Boston." The city is divided into seven districts, comprising 42 stations, all of which are connected with a central office, to which intelligence of fire is conveyed, and from which the alarm is given. At each of these stations there is a cast-iron box, kept locked, containing a handle which "turns a wheel that carries a certain number of teeth, arranged in two groups, the number of teeth in one representing the district, in the other, the station; these teeth act upon a signal key, closing and breaking the circuit connected with the central office as many times as there are teeth in the wheel. Signals are thus conveyed to the central office, and, by striking the signal bell a certain number of times, the district and station from which the signal is made is indicated." An attendant at the central office "immediately sets in motion his alarm apparatus, and by depressing his telegraph-key, causes all the alarm bells of the seven districts to toll as many times in quick succession as will indicate the district where the fire has occurred, the alarm being repeated at short intervals for as long a time as may be necessary." The eleventh chapter is devoted to the Electric Telegraph, which was so promptly appreciated by the United States, and by which distances are to be measured by intervals, not of space. but of time. In 1844, Congress made a liberal grant in order to put in operation the first telegraph line that was erected in the States-that between The Patent System of the United States forms the conWashington and Baltimore-and in 1852, there were up-cluding chapter. The office is at Washington, where wards of 15,000 miles in operation, belonging to from 20 to there are model-rooms which "contain upwards of 23,000 30 different joint-stock companies. The systems generally models, arranged in large glass cases; but there is no cata A report has just been presented to Parliament by Sir Stafford Northcote and Sir C. E. Trevelyan. The report commences by calling attention to the importance of the permanent Civil Service, and its generally acknowledged merits, admitting its defects, and that it offers little attraction to the ambitious. The comparative lightness of the work, and the certainty of provision in case of retirement owing to bodily incapacity, furnish strong inducements to the parents and friends of sickly youths to endeavour to obtain for them employment in the service of the Government; and the extent to which the public are consequently burdened, first with the salaries of officers who are obliged to absent themselves from their duties on account of ill health, and afterwards with their pensions when they retire on the same plea, would hardly be credited by those who have not had opportunities of observing the operation of the system. The result naturally is, that the public service suffers both in internal efficiency and in public estimation. logue to assist or guide those who search for any particular THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CIVIL SERVICE. model that may be required for inspection." The official staff comprises a commissioner, a chief clerk, six examiners, twenty assistants, a librarian, a machinist, an agricultural clerk, and twenty temporary clerks; whose salaries amount to about 11,200. The amount of business transacted in the office in 1852 will appear from the following statement:-Applications for patents pending January, 1852, 155; Applications received during 1852, 2,639; Patents issued, 1,020; Rejections and suspensions, 1,293; Applications undecided, 481." "An original inventor only is entitled to apply for a patent; the mere introducer of an invention has no claim whatever." "In other respects there is not much difference between the law of England and that of the United States." "With regard to prior use, an inventor has very extensive privileges in the United States. He may, during the period of two years, publicly use, and even sell his invention, without invalidating a patent obtained at the end of that time; but a public use for a longer time is considered as an abandonment of his discovery to the public. A prior discovery will not invalidate a subsequent patent if it can be shown that it was laid aside without being perfected or reduced to practice." "The specification differs but little in its character from an English specification. It is not, however, construed with the same rigid severity." "Drawings, models, and specimens are always absolutely requisite whenever the case admits of their being supplied." The examination of the documents furnished to the Patent Office with the application is very strict, and the claims in Those who enter it generally do so at an early age, respect of novelty undergo long consideration; all claims when there has been no opportunity of trying their fitness savouring of a double use' being rejected." If, the for business, or forming a trustworthy estimate of their applicant is dissatisfied with the decision of the Com-characters and abilities. In other professions there is a missioners of Patents, he may appeal to the District corrective, wanting in the Civil Service, viz., a Judge of Columbia, on paying 51., and a still further sharp competition on the part of one's contemporaries: appeal may made by a bill to a court of equity. "When the able and energetic rise to the top; the dull an application for a patent is refused or withdrawn, two- and inefficient remain at the bottom. In the public thirds of the fees paid are returned, unless a caveat fee establishments, on the contrary, the general rule is that had been reckoned in the amount." all rise together. After a young man has been once appointed, the public have him for life, unless he is idle or inefficient, or grossly misconducts himself. The feeling of security which this state of things necessarily engenders tends to encourage indolence, and thereby to depress the character of the Service. "The following is the scale of fees payable in connection with the grant of letters patent in the United States: On application for a design a patent in the case Addition of improvements Dolls. £ 15 (about 3) 30" 500 (" 300 10 4) 6) 105) 63) 2) 3) LIVERPOOL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.-At a special meeting of the Commerce, at Liverpool, on Monday, called for the purpose of considering the expediency of modifying the present state of the law in respect of the unlimited liability of partners, the following motion was agreed upon by a majority of 11 to 8:"That this Council, having given full consideration to the report of the sub-committee on this subject, hereby affirm the principle set forth, viz. That the present law, in so far as it prohibits the formation of partnerships with limited liability is unsound, and an alteration in this and other respects is urgently required." Before the close it was agreed to have another special meeting, to adopt any practical measures in regard to it that may be desirable. There are, however, numerous honourable exceptions to these observations, and the trustworthiness of the entire body is unimpeached. The difficulties of the Civil Service in obtaining a good supply of men, as compared with other professions, are partly natural and partly artificial. The character of the young men admitted to the public service depends entirely upon the discretion of the heads of departments and others entrusted with the patronage. Where the patronage belongs to the chief for the time being, the appointments are either those of junior clerks, with unimportant duties in the first instance, or of persons for responsible and highly paid situations above the rank of the ordinary clerkships. In the first case, the o tice is bestowed upon some one having personal or political claims, without any very minute inquiry. The young man thus admitted is commonly employed upon duties of the merest routine. His official life can only exercise a depressing influence on him, and renders the work of the office distasteful to him; he not only begins with mechanical labour as an introduction, but often ends with it. In the mean time his salary is gradually advancing till he reaches, by seniority, the top of his class, and on the occurrence of a vacancy in the class above him he is Thus while promoted to fill it, as a matter of course. no pains have been taken in the first instance to secure a good man for the office, nothing has been done after the clerk's appointment to turn his abilities, whatever they may be, to the best account. The result naturally is, that when the chief of the office has to make an appointment of visible and immediate importance to the efficiency of his department, he sometimes has a difficulty in finding a clerk capable of filling it, and he is not unfrequently obliged to go out of the office, and to appoint some one of high standing in an open profession, or some one distinguished in other walks of life, over the heads of men who have been for many years in the public service. This is necessarily discouraging to the Civil Servants, and |