making a revelation of his will to man, reading is the means to be employed to acquire this knowledge. Next, that a man may be able not only to profit from the past, but also profit those who are to come; that each man may record his own views and feelings, and communicate them where or to whom he pleases; there ought to be added the faculty of recording his own thoughts and observations, namely, that of writing. These are universals; these ought to be taught every man; from these all may derive much guidance and consolation through life, and it seems to me that of this guidance and consolation the poor have the most need. Their life is a scene of burden and incessant toil; they have much to depress them to the earth, and little to elevate them; they have no fa cility, like the rich, to move to and fro, and behold the various works of Nature and of Art, and to make those discoveries which are calculated to lift up the head of man. I say, the poor, who are bound to a given place-who have no history, but a few tradititions-who have no wisdom, but in a few proverbswho have no hope for age, but an almshouse;

these have the best right, by having the greatest need, to reading and writing, those wittiest helps of invention, by which the past and the future are made to appear before the eye-by which the learned are brought down to the lowest capacity-by which the good are introduced to the fireside-by which the godly are made on a level with their quality by which all that is great is made as free and blessed to the cottage, as it is to the palace or university. I would have it cried from the northern to the southern pole-from the rising to the setting sun, in language far less improperly accommodated than it is very frequently- Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to these waters; and he that hath no money, let him come and obtain these gifts of reading and writing, without money and without price.'

SAFETY OF THE MAILS.

The American Congress have passed a resolution for the adoption of a plan for the better securing of the letter-mails, submitted by an ingenious individual named Imlay. The Editor of the " Washington Gazette" states his belief, from actual inspection, "that Imlay has completely succeeded in producing a strong iron case, with a springlock, that will, in future, bid defiance

to robbers." He has also effected an improvement in respect to the

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The body is calculated to secure the driver from the weather perfectly; his seat is thrown back two feet; the front of the body is within the end of the sills, instead of projecting forward in the usual manner; a neat roof, with lamps and curtains of leather; also a large boot or apron to protect the driver, with side boxes for way-bills, arms, &c. leaving a large birth for mail bags under the driver, secure from storms or injury. Behind baggage is secured by a new method, under lock and key, perfectly dry; within the body is placed the iron cases for securing the letter mails. The cases are composed of wrought iron, made in a superior manner, with locks and hinges of great strength; the cases are bolted fast to the body. If necessary, the body will contain two cases, each holding three bushels of, letters. Within the iron cases are placed portable copper or leather cases to contain the letters, all with inside locks. The body of the chariot is calculated to hold six passengers, and the cases are not the least in the way. The body is equal, if not superior, in point of room and convenience, to any, for the conveyance of passengers and mails, ever used in this country, and for summer or winter, perfectly calcu lated for heat or cold, having blinds with curtains and glasses. A new and much improved method for raising or lowering the body, and tightening the braces, called a rolling-jack, which removes the great difficulty of taking up the braces of stages, particularly in winter. A great improvement in the boxes and axles for carriages of this description, by which the friction is much reduced, and they run a greater distance without greasing, and require but little attention, consists in a thorough box, plated with steel at each end, and steel plates on the arm of the axle, each fitted in the most perfect mauner, with a feeder in the centre for oil or grease.

2. MAIL WAGGON.

The Mail Waggon is on an entirely new plan, and is calculated to secure the mail in the same way as the chariot, having the same description of cases, and the mails perfectly secure from storms; made in every respect strong and substantial, at the same time not too heavy, and can be drawn in most roads by two horses. The waggons are calculated to hold the largest mails; the body is placed on springs, with braces to prevent the injury so common to papers and letters, owing to transporting them in waggons on the axle without springs.

BELL'S MARINE CRAVATS.

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SIR,-I am convinced that my namesake and former acquaintance, Mr. Thomas Hindmarsh Bell, is, like the renowned Marquess of Worcester, actuated by too honourable motives to knowingly put down other men's inventions, without nominating likewise the inventor;" he will therefore not be displeased to learn that his Marine Cravat is only another name for "Scheffer's LifePreserver," the utility of which was so well exemplified by the ingenious inventor last year in the Thames, and witnessed by thousands of admiring spectators. Mr. Scheffer's contrivance does not depend on cork for its buoyancy, being composed of skins without seam, and perfectly air and water tight; it is, when wanted for use, instantly inflated by blowing into a small aperture left for that purpose, and furnished with a stopcock to prevent the egress of the air. This apparatus is of signal service to persons learning to swim, and would, if generally adopted, prevent those painful accidents so prevalent in the bathing season, particularly in the vicinity of the metropolis. It is a common practice for the young swimmer to throw himself upon the cord connecting two pieces of cork-wood; but this is a plan replete with danger, as, in case the float passes down towards the feet, that part of the body will be kept at the surface of the water, whilst

the head will descend. I have known two or three valuable lives lost in this manner.

I am, Sir, yours heartily, TEASDALE BELL. 2, Commercial-road, Whitechapel, June 20, 1825.

CAPTAIN MANBY'S FIRE-ENGINES. SIR,As your Correspondent from Newcastle, under the signa

ture of J. H. Z., requests to be informed "where the engines or vessels for the speedy extinction of fire, described in the 58th Number of the Mechanics' Magazine,' may be had, and the price of them; also of the condensing syringe, from an opinion they may be of infinite service;" I beg leave, in reply, to say, that the person who made them for me, and to whom I paid 201. for the set, is not now in the kingdom: but, as many improvements were found necessary while constructing them, such alterations consequently increased the expense; I therefore have no doubt but they now may be perfected much under that sum.

My object in producing the Fire Curt, containing apparatus for the speedy extinction of fire, is thus stated by me to a Select Committee of the House of Commons:"To avert the dreadful calamity arising from fires in London, from a persuasion that the day will arrive, perhaps when I am no more, that a prompt method to check the progress of the flames for the preservation of life and property, will be hailed as important from motives of humanity and policy." Under in view the desire to derive benefit this conviction, and, as I never had from this or any of my productions, the public are at full liberty not only to apply them, but to make any or all for sale for their own advantage.

I must avail myself of this occasion to call the attention of the public to the evidence of the late Mr. Fielding, one of the Magistrates of Queen Square Police Office (a copy of which is herewith enclosed), on the subject of a firepatrol in London and in all large towns. With that most intelligent gentleman I had many conferences, and felt, with him, that a wellorganized fire-police would be of the greatest imaginable good. To adduce proofs that some more effectual protection to life and property, from fire, is required than is at present in use, I shall not deem it necessary, in confirmation of the present insufficient system,

h;

"Principally my thoughts have been turned upon the efficience of such a superintendent character forming the most beneficial preventive imaginable of crimes, at once simple and most powerful. May I take the liberty of suggesting another thing, which I communicated to Mr. Perceval very shortly before his death I likewise did so to a Captain Manby, who has been much noticed for his mathematical exertions, desiring him to make use of the idea, or avail himself of it as his own. The suggestion was this: There are upwards of fifteen insurance offices against fires in London; I suggested, that if two firemen from every one of those insurance offices were to traverse up and down the streets of the metropolis every night, they would cross one another often and often. Let every

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man be provided with his axe and his link or flambeau; then this would be such effective means of security from fire, that the public would be highly pleased with such an establishment. It would be equally beneficial to the offices themselves, for it would be a vast provision against the accidents of fire; for these men, upon the discovery of a fire, might proceed with their axes, and with their lights, into the houses where the accident occurred. Another thing I shall take the liberty of suggesting, is, that these two men, in their walks about the town, should have, under the authority of the Magistrates in the different districts, the office or power of constables."

EGYPTIAN ORE.

SIR,-In your 91st Number, page 111, your Correspondent 'Quibus' wishes to know whether the metal manufactured into various articles and sold by Mr. M'Phail, under the name of Egyptian Ore, answers the description given of it by the inventor. I can assure him that it does not, as I will prove. Having heard of the excellent seals which were made of this metal, I was induced to purchase a small one for trial, for which I paid 7s., which, certainly, for five or six days, had every appearance of fine gold; at the expiration of which time it began to change colour, and finally put on the appearance of common brass.

If, through the insertion of the above, I may be the means of preventing your Correspondent from being deceived, I shall be much gratified.

I am, Sir, yours truly,
R. FARLEY.

P.S.-I have enclosed the seal above alluded to, in order that you may pass your own opinion upon it.

[It is exactly of the description given of it by our Correspondent.-EDIT.]

B, the filtering vessel.

C, the vessel to contain the filtered water.

A leaden pipe, of small bore, communicates from A to B, in the manner represented in the drawing, in which, at D, is a cock, to regulate the quantity of water passing through it in a given time. By having the handle of this cock a lever, six inches or a foot long, and the end which is farthest from the cock terminating in a point, and a scale fixed behind it, to show how far it is turned, the rate of filtration may be regulated with great exactness.