centres of rotation-O and F, should continue in contact without any other than a rolling motion one on another, appear to be, that if we assume any two points, B and C, such that the arcs AB, AC,

measured from the original point of contact A along the periphery of each curve, be equal in length:

1st. The sum of the vectors FC, OB, must be equal to FO; and, 2nd. That the sum of the angles FCH, OBK, made by the vectors with tangents at the points B and C, must be equal to TM, or 180°.

For unless the first of these conditions be fulfilled, it appears plain, that when, by the motion of the axis at O, the one curve shall have assumed the position represented by the dotted periphery, the point B having been brought to the position B', the point C would not be, as it should be, in contact; and if the second were not fulfilled, the curves would intersect at some other point, instead of having a common tangent at B'.

I need not take up your valuable space by entering into any detailed proof that these conditions are fulfilled by equal and similar ellipses working on foci, as a very slight acquaintance with the properties of the ellipse is sufficient to show that such is the case. That they may not possibly be fulfilled by some other more complex curves, I do not venture to assert, as the problem would be one of such extreme intricacy with regard to any other than equal, similar, and symmetrical forms; but I do not regard it as probable that any such curves can be found.

This principle would enable us to obtain motions of rotation of different degrees of variation, but of the same character-viz. with one maximum and one minimum velocity in the course of each revolution, according to the excentricity of the ellipses made use of. The revolution of the one wheel is necessarily conterminous with that of the other, but is described at a variable rate; the nature and amount of which variation may be readily ascertained, either analytically by means of the formula subjoined, or by the merely mechanical process of drawing an ellipse of the assumed excentricity, and drawing right lines from any point on the periphery to each of the foci; since it will appear plain, on consideration, that, for any assumed point C, CFA represents the angular motion at F due to the angular motion CGA, or BOA,

at O.

in which a semi-major axis, and c = the linear excentricity. Hence we find that the angle CFA, or 4, representing the angular motion round F, due to the angle CGA, or e, round O, must be such that a2-c2 a2-c2 a-c.cos a-c.cosp since, in order to fulfil the first of the conditions which we have shown to be required, H or Gm + Ge must be equal to FO or 2a. From this we can readily derive, by ordinary algebraical processes, the expression,

$ = cos-1

+

= 2a;

a form easily calculated for any given values of the constants. This action is far more simple, both in theory and practice, than

that which has been already made use of-elliptical wheels working from the centres-the major axis of the one being placed at the commencement in the same straight line with the minor axis of the other. By combinations of the two, a variable motion of almost any regular periodic character may be attained, by due care in assigning the proportions of the constants; and great facilities thereby afforded for counteracting the effects of any irregularities in the motion of machinery which other circumstances may have induced.

In many cases it would be possible to economise power and space by such application; and in the hope that these hints may prove serviceable to some of your many readers, I have been induced to trouble you with this trifling communication, which you are welcome to deal with in whatever manner may prove convenient.

P.S. Since writing the above, I have seen a small planing machine at Mr. E. P. Smith's engine factory, in this town, to which elliptical wheels, acting in the manner described, had already been applied, with ingenuity and success, to retard the forward motion, and accelerate the return motion, of the cutting tool. I was not aware that the principle had been applied; but as it is certainly being applied in many ways with advantage, the publication of the far from being generally known, and as it appears to me capable of above sketch, thus divested of all pretensions to being the first notice of the principle involved, may still prove useful.

Southampton, March 12th, 1850.

THE SMYRNA STEAM FLOUR MILLS

AND

THE WATT AND WOOLF STEAM-ENGINES. WITH reference to an article on these subjects in our last number, we have received a communication from Messrs. Joyce & Co., of Greenwich, which we now insert, and to which we shall append a few observations. It is as follows:

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. SIR-In your number for last month, which contains an account of the steam-engines and flour mills recently constructed by us for Smyrna, you have questioned the fact of those engines consuming "less than 3lb. of coals per horse-power per hour;" and add, that you cannot believe such a statement to have been made with our sanction; we should manifestly be wanting as well in a natural desire to do justice to ourselves as in a proper regard for our professional reputation, did we not avail ourselves of your pressing invitation, or challenge as we may rather call it, to verify or disclaim that statement through the medium of your columns. We shall therefore begin by saying that such allegation was made with our entire sanction. So far, however, from its being so extraordinary and unprecedented a performance as to have furnished grounds for your unqualified scepticism, we find you have long since borne testimony of having witnessed "the gratifying fact" "that a rotatory fly-wheel engine for land purposes can be made to do with 3lb. of coal per horse-power per hour;" for if you will turn to your Journal, Vol. V., p. 109, you will find an article emanating from your pen, in which you report a double-cylinder engine constructed by Messrs. Rennie, and erected on the premises of Mr. Thomas Cubitt at Pimlico, to be working at 2 lb. of Graigola coals per horse power per hour; neither is this "the full indicated power," but the actual duty, you yourself having deducted from the indicator diagrams an ample allowance for "friction, the power consumed by the pumps, &c.," a deduction which you seem to infer may not have been made in our case.

As the Smyrna engines could not have been put to work until after their erection at Smyrna, we cannot furnish you with any indicator cards of their performance; but we can, if you think it necessary, after reference to your notice of the Pimlico engine, hand you indicator cards of other engines constructed on this principle by us, from which you will see that the statement made by the public journals was a very moderate representation of their rate of consumption.

We do not profess, as you suppose, to have made any new or important discovery in the principle of double-cylinder expansion. All we claim is the simplification of the arrangements by which the number of parts, the weight of material, and amount of workman

ship are proportionately reduced. Besides an obvious decrease of cost resulting from these improvements, it is manifest that the dispensing with several working parts, as the parallel motion, beam and its gudgeons, connecting-rod, &c., must, to some extent, (by reducing the friction, vis inertia, and momentum), economise power; and we think it requires no great stretch of credulity to believe that some economy of fuel must arise by these reductions from the arrangement in the Pimlico engine, and which you report to be working with 24 lb. per horse-power per hour-certainly an excellent performance, but not in any way superior to our best engines.

Having said thus much in justification of our claim to notice, and in confirmation of some of the facts given in the public journals, we think it will not be out of place to advert, as an interesting matter of history, to some of your remarks when treating of double-cylinder expansion, especially as regards the first introduction of expansive steam, both in the single and double cylinder, or in what you have termed the "Watt and Woolf engines," as well as to some other observations you have made on the subject.

It ought to be more generally known than it appears to be, that the credit of having first propounded "double-cylinder expansion" is due to Jonathan Hornblower, and not (as you have assumed, and is very frequently supposed) to Arthur Woolf. Hornblower patented the system, with ample and efficient details, in 1781; that is to say, twenty-three years before 1804, the year in which you have stated Woolf published the discovery. The following abstract from Hornblower's specification will show that he fully describes this species of engine.

"First, I use two vessels in which the steam is to act, and which in other engines are called cylinders. Secondly, I employ the steam after it has acted in the first vessel, to operate a second time in the other by permitting it to expand itself, which I do by connecting the vessels together, and forming proper channels and apertures whereby the steam shall occasionally go in and out of the said vessels, &c." The description and illustrations of Hornblower gave a complete arrangement of valves and other details, and rendered the system perfectly practical, so as to leave nothing wanting to the full development of the double-cylinder expansive engine. Most of what has since been done is due rather to the progressive advances towards a more perfect system of manipulation, and to that simplification and just proportioning of the parts which experience only could have warranted. What Woolf did was to bring a mind of a highly practical turn to bear on Hornblower's system, and in this he was so successful as to be fully entitled to rank as one of the first on the list of eminent constructors; for, although commencing as he did under a delusion and a fallacy, as regards the rate at which steam decreases in pressure while expanding, there is no doubt that it is entirely owing to his ready appreciation of the value of high steam when used expansively, and to the practical skill by which he made it available in the mining operations of Cornwall, in despite of practical difficulties and (more formidable still) of a powerful and prejudiced opposition, that Cornish mining has continued to be of its present extent and importance-since, but for the large reduction in quantity of fuel consumed by pumpingengines from what it was in the days of Watt, many now profitable mines must have been abandoned or remained unworked, as the cost of fuel would have exceeded the value of the ores, and precluded those further researches which have from time to time led to the discovery of the most valuable mining treasures. We may add also the more important fact, that it was in a great measure owing to the economical results as regards fuel, resulting from Woolf's success in Cornwall, that the expansive system has obtained so generally the sanction of our best practitioners, as is evinced by its almost universal introduction.

The pumping-engines of Cornwall are, with scarcely an exception, constructed on the principle of expanding steam in one cylinder; and you are quite right in stating, that the double-cylinder system is inferior for pumping purposes.

There is no question that single-cylinder expansion, IF the load can duly be proportioned to the effort of the steam from its first impact on the piston to its minimum of effective attenuation, will produce a greater absolute impulse, or, as it is termed, a better duty for the volume of steam consumed, than if the medium were a double cylinder. It is thus that the power of the single cylinder is given out in the pumping-engines of Cornwall; and whereby the consumption of coal has been brought as low as 1.75 lb. per horsepower per hour in the best example, for by the introduction of the plunger-pump, the power of the engine is, when the piston is subjected to the highest steam pressure (that is to say, before the supply from the boiler is cut off), exerted to overcome the vis

inertia of the pit work, besides its unbalanced weight, the column of water being then at rest. Once in motion, the duty is that of overcoming little more than mere gravity; and ultimately the extreme expansion of the steam, as the piston approaches the bottom of the cylinder, serves to check the momentum of the pitwork. The column of water is raised on the return stroke, not by the direct effort of the steam, but by the gravity of the unbalanced weight of the pitwork. The piston of the engine ascending in equilibrio, as regards steam pressure, it will readily be perceived, that by these arrangements, the efforts of high steam at, and a little beyond, the commencement of the descending stroke, its subsequent expansion as the vis inertiæ is being overcome, and its gradual attenuation as it approaches the termination of its course (where the efforts of momentum and pressure should both be exhausted), is better and more simply, as well as more philosophically employed than it could be by the double cylinder; wherein the main distinctive feature is an approximation to uniformity of effort, and which is, on that account, so far inapplicable to the moving a load presenting the changes of resistance just stated.

It will be corollary to the preceding conclusions, that the importance of preserving a due relation between the power and the load, renders it as desirable that the power of a rotatory machine should preserve its uniformity, as that the power of a pumpingengine, under Cornish arrangements, should be unequal. Hence

it is solely owing to this approach to uniformity of effort, that double-cylinder expansion possesses any advantages over the single cylinder whenever the power is employed to produce rotation.

We believe you will find you are wrong in stating, that singlecylinder expansion "is very commonly adopted in cotton spinning;" for, on the contrary, IF we are correctly informed, the employment of double-cylinder expansion is becoming very extensive in the cotton factories; and manufacturers are thereby enabled to spin cotton thread as fine as can be produced by water-power-a result wholly unattainable by single-cylinder expansion.

It is common to call the Hy-wheel a reservoir of power, and it is quite true that it is so; but this property, imperfectly understood, leads to a popular mistake. The notion that revolving bodies must rotate uniformly, is so closely allied to our impressions regarding circular movement, that it is difficult to divest the mind of the idea that it is otherwise; and hence it is seldom duly considered, that to be a reservoir of power, the fly-wheel must have an intermittent velocity.

The fact, however, is, that so far from being, in any instance whatever (as it is frequently supposed) a perfect equaliser of unequal efforts, it is entirely owing to the necessary changes in its velocity that it becomes the reservoir of those excesses of power which arise from unequal impulses; since, as is obvious, such excesses can only be absorbed into the fly-wheel by the fly-wheel acquiring an increased velocity; and that they can only be given out again when required to overcome the load or resistance by losing the momentum due to the increased velocity, and consequently losing the excess of velocity the fly-wheel had acquired. Or it may be more clearly stated thus: the velocity, and consequent momentum of the fly-wheel, are conjointly increased or diminished, in an assigned proportion, as either the load or the effect to increase it are in excess.

We see, therefore, that however the dynamic efforts of expanding steam may economise fuel, its great inequality of effort, when given through the medium of a single piston, would forbid us to avail of that property to such an extent as to be of an appreciable practical value in cases where great uniformity of motion, as in cotton spinning, grinding corn, and several other delicate operations, are the prime consideration.

Even a perfect uniformity of effort on the piston, must, in all cases when applied to a reciprocating engine, entail some inequality of motion in the mill work. Such inequality, however, is reduced to a very small amount, by the employment of a pair of either single-cylinder non-expansive steam-cylinders, or of double cylinders acting expansively. We need not add, however, that the double-cylinder system must (as you have properly shown in your notice of the Pimlico engine) prove by far the most economical as regards fuel. We are, &c.

in part, it accords with the opinions we have expressed; and, in part, it gives a tone and colouring to our observations, not justified by the statements we have made. Divested of extraneous matter, Messrs. Joyce and Co. candidly acknowledge to the following:

That it was with their entire sanction and approval, our contemporaries asserted that in engines constructed by them, the consumption of fuel is less than 3 lb. per horse-power per hour; while, under the old system, it is about 12lb.

That the Smyrna Steam Flour Mills had not been put to work in this kingdom (which, of course, is what we expected)-therefore, that the given rate of consumption, per horse-power per hour-equal to 3 lb., as above-was not the result of experimental tests made with those engines, but of other steam-engines made by the firm.

That they do not profess to have made any new or important discovery in the principle of double-cylinder expansion (nor did we suppose that they had contemplated making any such profession, notwithstanding their assumption to the contrary):-they state, therefore, all that they claim is, the simplification of the arrangements by which the number of parts, the weight of the material, and the amount of workmanship, are proportionably reduced; and, by which, there is a decrease in the cost of construction, and a diminution of friction, vis inertia, and momentum. Messrs. Joyce and Co. acknowledge, that we are "quite right" in the statement we have made, that the double-cylinder system is, for pumping purposes, inferior in effect to the single-cylinder engine; and they append the following remarks:-"There is not a question that single-cylinder expansion, if the load can duly be proportioned to the effect of the steam, from its first impact on the piston to its minimum of effective attenuation, will produce a greater absolute impulse, or, as it is termed, a better duty, for the volume of steam consumed, than if the medium were a doublecylinder."

After these candid admissions, there are but few differences of opinion between Messrs. Joyce and Co. and ourselves. Those differences, however-few though they be-are of such importance, practically, that we must be permitted to make some comments.

Corroborative of the correctness of their statements, as to the superior yield of power by double-cylinder expansion, by a given consumption of fuel, over single-cylinder expansion, Messrs. Joyce and Co. bring to their aid some statements, published by us, in the Journal for April, 1842.

We feel much indebted to the Messrs. Joyce, for having drawn our attention to that article, published by us so far back as eight years ago. Messrs. Joyce and Co., however, in making reference to that article, have made an ex parte statement. They have, in that instance, and in others, when alluding to our remarks, shown more ingenuity than ingenuousness, by making it appear that our observations are as they could wish them to be, rather than as what they are. In illustration, we will make a few extracts from the paper published by us in 1842, which will develope a wonderful coincidence of opinion as entertained by ourselves, and impart quite a different character to the remarks we made, than what the extracts made by Messrs. Joyce and Co. would have a tendency to impress. Those extracts are as follows:

"A certain quantity of the power which an engine exerts is exerted in overcoming its own friction, lifting the water which has accomplished the condensation of the steam out of a vacuum, &c. The term, horse power, is used to denote the available quantity of power which an engine is capable of furnishing for any useful purpose, and is, therefore, the excess of the power produced, over the power consumed by the engine itself. Any estimate of the power of an engine, based on the assumption that the whole power exerted by the piston is the true measure of the engine's beneficial exertion, is, therefore, fallacious. An allowance of one-eighth of the power as being consumed by the engine itself, is a usual and moderate allowance.

"The amount of economy to be obtained from steam working expansively is precisely the same, whether the expansion takes place in one or two cylinders. The use of two cylinders serves to equalise the action, and to diminish the strain thrown upon the moving parts; but it is questionable, whether the greatest fluctuation of pressure, when only one cylinder is used, might not be rendered equally instrumental in the production of a regular motion, simply by using a larger fly wheel, or driving the fly-wheel at a greater velocity; and whether it is not quite as simple to increase the strength of the moving parts a little, as to add an additional cylinder and piston, to prevent them from being subjected to so great a strain."

Again :

"In common rotative engines, which operate without expansion, the ordinary consumption of coal is 10 lb. per horse-power per hour. But the horse power" (of an engine, practically) "is usually found to be about 52,000 lb. raised one foot high, in a minute, which is equivalent to 26.208 millions raised one foot high by a bushel of 84 lb. of coal. Some good engines,

however, operate with an effective pressure upon the piston of 13 lb. per square inch 60,000 raised one foot high for a horse power; and a few ascend as high as 66,000 per horse power, without employing high-pressure steam. The engines consume about 8 lb. of coal, per nominal horse power, or 4 lb. of coal per horse power of Watt. The consumption of coal, in this engine" (the Messrs. Rennie's, or the Pimlico engine) "is 132-3 lb. per hour 2.5 lb. per horse power, per hour."

132 =

In the preceding extracts, it will be perceived that we have made a marked, and an unerring distinction, between the nominal and the actual duty of steam-engines, and the quantities of coal consumed in either case; and that we have stated the average consumption of coal, in the best engines, to be 8 lb. per horsepower per hour when estimated on the nominal, and 4 lb. when estimated on the actual power. And we have further qualified our statements, with respect to the duty of Messrs. Rennie's engine, by stating that when, for the actual duty of the singlecylinder engine, the consumption is 4 lb. per horse-power per hour, it is at times when the steam is not expanded, and not at high pressure, both of which, when combined, would reduce the amount of fuel as usually consumed.

These statements are very different to those made with the expressed sanction of Messrs. Joyce and Co., which make it appear that their engines consume less than 3 lb. per horse-power per hour, "while engines under the old system consume about 12 lb.," and which, as it was likely to mislead the public, called forth our remarks and animadversions. If 12 lb. per horse-power per hour be given on the nominal power of the single-cylinder engine, so also ought the 3 lb. on the double-cylinder. It ought, also, to be borne in mind, that the consumption of fuel, as given by Messrs. Joyce and Co., is for double-cylinder expansion, with high-pressure steam, and for single-cylinder non-expansion, with steam of lowpressure a statement much in their favour. We therefore cannot accord with the final observation in the Messrs. Joyce's letter, "that the double-cylinder system must prove by far the most economical as regards fuel." Nor can we give our sanction to the statement made by them, that we have very properly shown that it is so. Our opinions, as published in 1842, and those recently avowed, forbid any such interpretation of our thoughts, and are diametrically opposed to any such construction of them.

The Treatise on Mechanics,' by Dr. Olinthus Gregory, is in the libraries of most engineers; therefore, the merit due unto Hornblower, and the controversy between him and Messrs. Boulton and Watt, are well known. Still, as Woolf brought the double-cylinder engine into practical operation, it is customary with practical men to denominate such construction, the "Woolf-engine." In the article to which Messrs. Joyce and Co. have referred, as published by us in 1842, we have given unto Hornblower his full meed of praise for that invention. We think, therefore, it is scarcely fair of Messrs. Joyce and Co. to assume that we were ignorant of the matter, with that article before them. In the papers of several of our contemporaries on the Smyrna Steam Flour Mills, which appeared with the express sanction of the Messrs. Joyce, and which we reviewed in our last number, it is called the "Woolf-engine," not the Hornblower; therefore, out of deference to them, and to public opinion, we gave unto the double-cylinder-engine its usual denomination.

Messrs. Joyce and Co. must pardon us for giving an unqualified contradiction to their construction of our statement, "that singlecylinder expansion is very commonly adopted in cotton-spinning." We said nothing of the kind. What we did say was this:-"the expansive system is now very commonly adopted to rotatory fly-wheel engines by our best engineers; and we ourselves were principally instrumental to its first adaptation to the delicate processes of the cotton manufacture." Our language, therefore, will not admit of any such twisting. We are aware that Mr. MacNaught, as stated in our last number, and that highly eminent firm, Messrs. Benjamin Hick and Son, of Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire, are re-introducing, with certain modifications, the double-cylinder expansive engine, and applying it to cotton-spinning processes. But we must be permitted to entertain the opinions we avowed in 1842, and reiterated in our last number, as to the relative merits of the Watt and Woolf steam-engines, until we be furnished with data of the most unquestionable kind, as to the superiority of the latter. In concluding, we must state our opinion that, although we differ from them in opinion, and they have, in some instances, given a tone and colouring to our statements not warranted by facts, we think much merit is due to Messrs. Joyce and Co., as constructive engineers and makers of steam-engines, and for the candour of their present communication.-ED. C.E. & A. JOURNAL.

REVIEWS.

Bombay Cotton, and Indian Railways. By Lieut.-Col. C. W. GRANT, Bombay Engineers. London: Longman, 1850.

It seems hard to say that this book is a good one, and that we set ourselves against it; and yet it is what we are bound to say. Colonel Grant advocates a line from Bombay by Poona, in preference to that by the Malsej Ghaut: but we withhold ourselves from going into that, for though the fight may seem to be about one Ghaut or another, in truth, the whole business of railways in Western India is at stake.

The great evil hitherto has been the standing still: the government have at length been got to give leave for something being done: and it would be nothing short of madness to open the business again. The government are bound to the Great Indian Peninsula Company, and a line has been laid down for the Malsej Ghaut; and now, after so many years lost-aye, even this year lost-a beginning must be made. It may very well be said that the line by the Malsej Ghaut is the worst that could be chosen; but it has been chosen, and we must stand by it. The Colonel says―

"Sera nunquam est ad bonos mores via:"

but though it may never be too late to mend, we must say this time, it is never too early to begin. Already, a Hindoo king has undertaken a tramway from Baroda to Tankaria Bunder; and once get a railway going, other kings and other monied men will be brought to take a share in carrying out Indian railways. If the Colonel be followed, we shall have, as before, several years lost; and what may be the end no one can tell. Perhaps his railway by the Bhore Ghaut might go on-perhaps, after all, that by the Malsej Ghaut would stand good: but what is most likely, railway men in England and India would be so sickened, that no money would be forthcoming.

What was to be looked for has happened; once hold out a hope of railways for India, and every one wishes to have them in his own neighbourhood, and nowhere else, if he can help it. Col. Grant speaks out for Poona, one of the greatest towns in the west-the next to Bombay, and, as it may be said, the first step inland. We think there ought to be a Bombay and Poona railway-we strongly believe there will be one; but nevertheless, we do not wish the Malsej Ghaut line to be stayed to forward a railway to Poona. Indeed, we believe the making of the Malsej Ghaut line the best way for hastening one to Poona. Colonel Grant himself throws some light on this. Make the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, and a Poona line will be made. If, indeed, the business be opened afresh, and Poona should win the day, still five or six years will go by before anything is done; whereas, if the Great Indian Railway be opened in that time, such a start will be given, that railways must be made to Poona, and wherever they are wanted.

Colonel Grant is a man of high standing, and of great knowledge, and has fought well for his side; but we shall neither step in for him or against him. We shall leave Mr. Chapman, the founder of the Great Indian line, to answer for himself and his undertaking. All we care for is, railways for India; and that we think is best got by upholding the East Indian and Great Indian Peninsula Railways. Holding back, as we do, from the Colonel's plan, we must not be misunderstood, and thought to withhold our meed from his book. It is one of the best which has been written on Indian railways, and one our engineering brethren ought to read, as the writer having a deep knowledge of what he is about, has thrown great light upon it. He is wholly for cheap works and light engines; and he goes at some length into the details of building and working, not being one of those who pull down without setting up something in its stead. His is a book, indeed, which upholds the credit of the Indian engineers, and shows how ready our eastern brethren are to keep up their professional knowledge, and carry out everything which is new and good.

What Colonel Grant says when writing about cotton, will be read with some interest, as showing the great income got from the water-ways of India. Colonel Grant himself shows how cheaply a water-way could be made in Guzerat, between the Taptee and the Nerbudda, so as greatly to further the growth of cotton; though, as the Malsej Ghaut Railway has been put forward as a cotton railway, the Colonel, on behalf of the Poona people, wishes to show that the great cotton field is not inland, but in Guzerat. After all, he allows that railways would do some good for cotton.

The Geography of Great Britain. Part I. England and Wales. By G. LONG, M.A., and G. R. PORTER; the Statistical Division by HYDE CLARKE. London: Baldwin, 1850. Octavo. An exceedingly cheap and perfect work, containing a complete physical geography and political topography of England and Wales. It is of great consequence that an engineer should be acquainted with the physical geography and geology of a country, more particularly of that one of which he may be an inhabitant. In this work the rivers, valleys, mountains, and other physical characteristics are fully described. The climatology of the country has not been forgotten, and several interesting tables are given. The importance of this subject has been recently impressed on our readers by a writer in the Journal. Each county, with its principal places, is described with great clearness, while at the same time a full description of the trade, antiquity, and population of each place is given.

We cannot speak too highly of the statistical portion, which contains a complete view, in a condensed form, of the whole body of statistics relating to England and Wales, brought up to the present time. The population of every town, including all the new ones, is given, which is very useful. The ordinary returns merely give that of the parish, which is generally of no service, it being very different from the actual town population, which is what is required for statistical purposes. Every department of trade is attended to, the imports and exports of every article being mentioned, with the number of persons employed. The number of professional men returned for England is 117,697, architects and engineers bearing the respective proportions of 1,458 and 828. The index is well arranged, which is a point of considerable moment in a work of general reference.

Suggested Legislation, with a View to the Improvement of the Dwellings of the Poor. By G. POULETT SCROPE, Esq. M.P. London: Ridgway, 1849.

Mr. Poulett Scrope has distinguished himself by the promotion of practical measures for the benefit of the working-classes, and particularly with regard to dwellings. Certainly, one of the first things to be done is to have good house-room for the whole people, and it is quite within the power of our lawmakers to do this, if they honestly wish it. Brick, stone, and lime are to be found all over the land; there are workmen enough; and, so far as that goes, a palace might be built for every one in England. There is the same plenty of material for schools and churches. There is no industrial stumbling-block.

Mr. Poulett Scrope proposes three measures-First, to exempt small tenements from rating; next, union rating; and third, facilities for granting cottage sites. The first has become a purely political discussion, and is beyond our bounds; the next may be considered a measure affirmed by the common wish, and on its way to accomplishment; the third is a step which nothing but the blindness of lawmakers can long hinder.

At length the duty has been taken off bricks, which will do something for carrying out Mr. Scrope's wishes; and we have great pleasure in congratulating the profession on the putting-down of this hurtful tax. Not only was it a hindrance in the way of enterprise and of art, but it kept thousands out of employment. It will be none the least benefit from getting rid of the excises on bricks and glass, that a great field of employment has been opened; and the next steps are abolition of the taxes on paper, carriages, and men servants-all of which, instead of being levied on luxury, are in truth levied on industry. The trade of cariage-building however high it stands in this country, is much kept down by the taxes on carriage-owners, to the great loss of masters and workmen.

Architectural Sketches-Italy (drawn on the spot by the Author);
comprising Villa Outlines, Doorways, Gateways, &c.
By T. C.
TINKLER, Architect.

We presume from the title that it is Mr. Tinkler's object to give other illustrations of his architectural tour, besides Italy. The present part contains many designs of interest; but we would suggest to the author, as there are so many inquirers into authorities for Italian villa architecture, that it would add much to the value of the work if more details were given, and, in some cases, plans.