even soil. This consists of an elastic regulating lever, which has its fulcrum under the axle of the beam. This lever has the extremity of its short arm fixed under the same beam, and the long arm attached by a chain or simple plough-handle, which takes the place of the double plough-handle formerly used to guide the plough.

"By this means the labour is much facilitated to the animals, the action upon the ground is rendered regular, and all sudden jars and shocks prevented; finally, the management of this plough is so much facilitated that, without any previous knowledge of its principles, any man of moderate muscular strength may open a furrow in a perfectly straight line. I pass over the other improvements; they are, undoubtedly, of great value, although of minor importance compared with the one we have just mentioned."

This precious invention was the result of long and patient research. The young labourer possessed an observing mind, and a perseverance seldom met with. His first endeavours were the laughing-stock of his companions. But Grangé struggled against all difficulties. Finding no ploughwright to put his new plans into execution, he became a ploughwright himself, and thus sacrificed to this purpose all the little he had saved from his wages. After numerous endeavours, he at last succeeded in constructing a plough, which, without loss of power, economizes the labour of both man and beast. Numerous rewards have been sent to the modest inventor by the various agricultural societies. In 1834, the committee on the exhibitions of national industry adjudged to him the highest prize, the gold medal; finally, the king presented him the badge of the Legion of Honour.

At first M. Grangé took out a patent; but he generously renounced his privilege, and spread the use of his plough throughout all the provinces.

T

CHAPTER LXVII.

FIRE ARMS.

HE fabrication of fire-arms has made great progress, during the last few years, in France. Not only are they now distinguished for the elegance and precision of their forms, but also for their skilful execution and exquisite finish.

M. Robert received, in 1834, the gold medal, as the inventor of a new gun, which is charged by the breech. His system is considered, beyond all comparison, the best for arms of every kind. In it one single piece is substituted for the numerous parts of the gunlock plates.

M. Lepage, the royal armourer, has obtained the silver medal several times for his beautiful fire-arms, which have maintained him at the head of his profession for the last half century. In this branch of art, one man, as the inventor of ful innovations, deserves an especial mention.

many use

Beatus Béringer was born at Hangenbieten (Lower Rhine), on the 20th of January, 1801, and began his labours as a gunsmith and mechanician. At that time hunters complained with reason of the inconvenience to which they were subjected in the use of their gunlocks. M. Béringer sought to remedy this. He studied the nature of fulminating powder. Formerly, this substance had never been used, for it was considered impossible to make it take the desired direction. After numerous experiments, M. Béringer ascertained the contrary fact.

In 1832, he took out a patent for a gun and pistol, to be charged with fulminating powder. This skilful armourer arrived at this result by leaving a space of from six to eight inches between the charge of fulminating powder and the ball. Without this 27*

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void, no gun, however solid, could resist the action of the powder; whilst with it the gun is less injured than with ordinary powder. This principle is exactly opposed to that which governs the use of ordinary powder; for every one knows that, in loading a gun, care must be taken that no space exist between it and the ball.

M. Béringer was then the first who introduced the use of fulminating powder. Previously, all attempts of the kind were unsuccessful.

It was necessary, in order to prevent the escape of gas, to mould a capsule of red copper, of some flexibility, and of dimensions capable of containing the powder, and at the same time of filling the chamber, and closing it hermetically. It was also indispensable to find a resistance-point upon which the percussion of the charged capsule could operate, and at the same time establish a void between the powder and the ball. M. Béringer has provided for all these necessities. The copper capsule used in these arms prevents the escape of the gas; this has been proved by numerous experiments. It is also easy to understand that if, at the moment of explosion, the edges of the capsule are pressed against the sides of the chamber by the expansion of the gas, they thus render its escape impossible.

Although M. Béringer obtained a patent, many people took advantage of his discovery, and profited by it without scruple, knowing that the inventor, then a mere workman without fortune, was unable to have recourse to a legal process.

Far from being discouraged, M. Béringer redoubled his zeal, and laboured with great success at his original invention. His new researches produced the gun which is now so very profitable to him, and which is considered superior to all others: it is the gun without a touch-hole. Its principal merit consists in a case enclosing the tinder-priming, and secluding it from external communication. This case not only prevents the escape of the gas, but protects the inside of the chamber from its destructive effects. Enclosing the priming, powder, and ball, it supplies the

place of a powder-box. It is also a protection against dampness, that enemy to fire-arms.

For this last-mentioned invention, M. Béringer obtained a patent for ten years.

It will not here be out of place to mention an invention of modern days, which we owe to two painters of distinction. This is the Diorama, a spectacle of a novel kind, imagined and invented by MM. Bouton and Daguerre. The diorama presents to the eye of the spectator, placed in the centre of a circular apartment, a representation of the great phenomena of nature, of a city, a picturesque landscape, the interior of a Gothic church, &c. By the effects of perspective and clare-obscure, the illusion is complete. The room is moveable upon a frame like a wind-mill, so that, instead of the pictures succeeding one another, it is the spectator who is carried from one to another. The opening of the diorama dates from the 11th of July, 1822. Canterbury Cathedral, and the valley of Sarnen, were the first views exhibited. Subsequently, a number of others, especially the port of Brest, the interior of the cathedral at Chartres, of the chapel at Holyrood, of Roslyn Chapel, Mount Saint Gothard, Venice, Edinburgh, the Black Forest, &c., were displayed to the public.

CHAPTER LXVIII.

CHEMICAL DISCOVERIES.

ESIDES a number of chemical discoveries which do honour to our epoch, those of M. Gannal deserve the public attention, and what is still more, public gratitude.

Since 1816, M. Gannal has made great im

provements in chimneys, introducing the current of heated air, which has given rise to all other improvements since effected. In 1819, he made, in conjunction with M. Frederic Hébert, the native borax, and this important discovery delivered France from an annual exportation of more than 1,000,000 of francs. Consequently the current price of borax is now seventy-five centimes the pound, instead of the old price of six francs.

M. Gannal occupied himself with discovering a method of melting tallow, and hardening it by the action of acids and alkalis. In 1823, he took out a patent for making a glue called gelatinous. At the same time, he contested the alimentary nature of gelatine, and liberated France from the necessity of importing foreign glue, for which he obtained the bronze medal at the exhibition of 1827.

In the same year, M. Gannal received the Monthyon prize, for having, by numerous experiments, ascertained that the action of the vapour of chlorine is extremely beneficial in chronic catarrhs, and some kinds of consumption. At the time of the expedition into Egypt, he obtained from linen a substance capable of replacing the common lint, and but one-third as expensive; but the government not offering him a sufficient preliminary indemnity, he preserved the secret of his process, and the public continued to make use of the old lint.