"Good Mrs. Jones" came curtseying in-
They hadn't no rum, so I've brought you gin,"

With a whacking reward!" "No," says I; "it's Says she; "and the table is nicely laid,

CAVES OF ÆOLUS.

to the most unscientific understanding, that, in order | wigs of justice should be realised. We next proto effect this end, the requisite means must consist ceeded to the other current of fresh air which in a power of creating, regulating, and heating a rushes into the vacuum formed by the retreat of current of air. the vitiated dregs which have been cast into the draught. On its passage from the exterior it is drawn through a battery of innumerable thin zinc plates, radiating from a small centre-piece, heated by a current of steam from the boiler. These plates, by the rapid conduction of caloric through metals, are kept at exactly the same temperature as the

From the fatal facility with which draughts are formed everywhere where they are not wanted, is well known to all persons liable to aches of ear or tooth, and to the whole generation of stiff-necks (which is a large category), the above power may appear to many much easier of acquisition than it is. We all have vivid impressions of the uncer-centre-piece, and the air passing between them is tainty of the only ancient process of draught- exposed to an immense surface of heated metal, in creating from our experience in chimneys. What exceedingly small compass. One of these boxes, or hauberks of earthenware and helmets of zinc have batteries, for instance, being above two feet square, we not disguised our housetops withal, to guard contained 300 superficial feet of plate. Of course, the head of our own little domestic blast from the the current air can be made to pass through as many buffets of its purer brethren aloft, from before whom, of these batteries as are requisite to bring it up to too often retreating abashed, it recoils upon the the desired temperature; and if a less temperature family in whose service it was contaminated, and is required, one of the calorifiers, having its steamby them received with horror, dissolves in grimy pipe cut off, allows the air to pass through it untears upon the drawing-room furniture. A chim- affected. As we left the caverns we were shown, ney-draught, we are all aware, depends on the in a dark recess, a huge mass of cast-iron piping superior buoyancy of the volume of heated air of about four inches bore, contorted into a cumbetween grate and chimney-pot. The taller the brous framework some fifteen feet long by seven chimney the greater the bulk of lightened air or eight of breadth and depth. This monster which has to make its way through a given aper- mammoth of the pit exposed no more surface, ture, and therefore the swifter the draught. But and was therefore capable of doing no more work, tall chimneys cannot always be had where swift than one of Mr. Gurney's little boxes; and lies there, draughts are wanted, as in the case of the locomo-rusting, coiled in lazy slumber, a monument of Mr. ⚫tive engine, which is indebted for its applicability Reid's expensive and unwieldy genius for expeto railway purposes to the steam-jet draught, in- riment. vented by Gurry about thirty-five years since. On our way up stairs we put our noses into some This is simply a process of letting off bursts of of the courts (the air and temperature were, as steam up a large cylinder, which may be made to usual, perfectly satisfactory), catching in our prodrive out per minute any quantity of air before it, gress snatches of indignant eloquence from the creating an equivalent suction behind; and it is easy bar. Emerging on the leads, we were shown the to conceive the advantages which this violent eject-safety-valve system, by which all the more buoyant ment has over the mild persuasion which floats off the contents of the chimney at leisure. There is all the difference between balloons and bombshells. To return to Westminster. Midmost among the gloomy caverns is the iron bulbous root whence rises the hollow stem whose sap is an artificial guider of steam. This is the cast-iron trachea of Westminster Hall; of which the courts are the pulmonary cavities. The current here created can pull fresh air through them at any speed. Nay, as Eolus whispered in confidence, as we groped along the dark passage, he could blow the judges' wigs off their heads, if he chose to raise the wind. He led us along in safety till we got into the line of draught between the courts and the chimney. On one side, through wire gratings, came down the breath of litigation-an unsavoury gale, laden with the fierce snort of contentious barristers, the triumphant aspirations and desperate gasp of the respective suitors, the suspensive wheeze of puzzled jurymen, and the portentous puffings and gruntings of the bench. On the other hand, the current rolled away into the distance through half-open folding-doors along a dark abyss, which murmured as with the sound of rushing waters.

To show us his power of regulating the draught, he touched a valve, and, percussá cuspide, the breeze swelled into a hurricane, and we began to be seriously alarmed lest the threat against the

constituents of vitiated atmosphere are allowed to escape through the lanterns at the top of the courts, without allowing any cold air to be blown in. Two ends of the lantern are arranged with strips of muslin hanging like the flaps of a pocket over a light framework of wire. The slightest pressure from within lifts these flaps and lets out the air; but a wind from without blows them tight against the wire grating. However baffling the wind may be, it cannot at the same moment blow upon both sides, so that there is always an escape for the hydrogen and other volatile gases that gather in the lanterns. Towering far above us we beheld Mr. Reid's superseded waste-pipe-a gigantic zinc chimney, with a head larger than the helmet in the "Castle of Otranto," set on a pivot, and intended to turn away its great gaping mouth from the wind. But though, undoubtedly, in its palmiest days, when extravagantly fed with olive-oil, it might have been blown round by a good gust of wind, it must have gulped a great volume of the hostile element in the struggle, and, by the time it was fairly round, would be just prepared to swallow a similar dose from the other side.

Now, when the men of the law perceived that their breath was blown back upon them, and that, per force, they must swallow their own words (which oft-times were bitter), they flocked in numbers to the house-tops, and saw the great funnel of

As ventilation has at length become easy, it is a pity that it should not be applied, where it is most wanted, to the theatres. It is not only easy, it is also cheap. Having a loyal affection for the drama, we made inquiries as to what it would cost to get up efficient machinery for ventilating a theatre. We were informed that about 501. drink.

LITERATURE.

Companions of my Solitude. London: William | thought." Sound, practical, and philosophical

can tell us aught about them. Order, decency, cleanli- | of attention is the "Convict's Escape," founded on ness, propriety, and very often good sense, are to be seen in full force in Anglican churches once a week; but there is a deficiency of heartiness. The perfection to be aimed at, as it seems to me, and as I have said before, would be a Church with a very simple creed, a very grand ritual, and a useful and devoted priesthood. But these combinations are only in Utopias, Blessed Islands, and other fabulous places: no vessel enters their ports, for they are as yet only in the minds of thoughtful

men.

In forming such an imaginary Church, there certainly are some things that might be adopted from the Roman Catholics. The other day I was at Rouen; I went to see the grand old cathedral; the great western doors were thrown wide open right upon the market-place filled with flowers; and, in the centre aisle, not before any image, a poor woman and her child were praying. I was only there a few minutes, and these two figures remain impressed upon my mind. It is surely very good that the poor should have some place free from the restraints, the interruptions, the familiarity, the squalidness of home, where they may think a great thought, utter a lonely sigh, a fervent prayer, an inward wail. And the rich need the same thing too.

Protestantism, when it shuts up its churches, or allows discreditable twopences to be paid at the door, cannot be said to show well in these matters. In becoming so nice and neat, it seems to have brushed away a great deal of meaning and usefulness with the dirt and irregularity.

We have been so happy in our chance selections as quite to outrun our allotted space. We must therefore conclude our notice of this valuable little work with the assurance to our readers that, if they bestow on the author "a penny for his thoughts," they will not be defrauded of a fair pennyworth in exchange.

Poems, Essays and Opinions. By ALFRED BATE RICHARDS, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. 2 vols. London: Aylott and Jones. 1851.

CONSIDERING the nature and variety of the topics discussed by his able pen, Mr. Richards can scarcely expect to find that his readers, and we trust they are numerous, will be always prepared to adopt his views or share his opinions. There is not a single subject, either social or political, not one passing event, that has not found a commentator in the author of these works. A staunch Protectionist, a decided enemy to Free-trade, Mr. Richards expresses himself in terms so spirited and uncompromising that, whilst we regret he should have adopted views so erroneous, and consider his line of argument as unsound and inconclusive, still we cannot refrain from admiring the ability and energy with which he advocates a fallen party and exploded principles.

Now, although Mr. Richards's sentiments on the great questions of the day are so diametrically opposed to our own, still, on many points treated of by him in these volumes and unconnected with such questions, we go with him heart and hand. The zeal with which he denounces abuses, the charity and sympathy which he so feelingly and powerfully expresses for the afflicted and oppressed, would redeem far greater errors than a want of belief in the fallacies of the Corn-laws or the

an affecting incident narrated by the public journals.
It is far too lengthy for extraction, but the reader
will find it in the tenth page of the first volume.
Its pathos and simplicity are above praise, and we
must observe that simplicity is not always the
We will
strong point of the talented writer.
subjoin a specimen of Mr. Richards's poems, and
take our leave of him for the present.

To One unseen my prayer I raised,
And thought not how He should be praised,
My church the world around;
Alas! those prayers that only feed
The bigot's soul with envious creed
Fall poisoned to the ground.

Let him in dull polluted cell,

And him that mocks with book and bell
A worship pure and true—
Without one thought of God above,
Without one spark of heavenly love-
Go scent the hare-bells blue:

The birds his choir, the sun his light,
The stars his candles lit by night,

Not flickering vain through day;
The dark religion of his soul
Like vapours chill shall backward roll,
Truth crown him with her ray.
Ah! think they of a God at all,
In church cathedral, chapel small,
That quarrel o'er a name-
Things undefined or only guessed,
Mere forms of acting things unblessed-
But Heaven's great word defame?

Familiar Letters on Chemistry. By JUSTUS VON
LIEBIG. London: Taylor, Walton and Maberly.

1851.

Ir there be aught of truth or philosophy in the oft-quoted aphorism of the Mantuan bard, Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, then indeed is Professor Liebig endowed with an amount of bliss such as but rarely falls to mortal lot. It would be idle and superfluous at this the eleventh hour to speak in terms of commendation of these incomparable letters, which have been doubtless long since in the hands of all save the mere desultory reader. The votaries of science in every realm and in either hemisphere have recorded their ver dict in behalf of one who, in the words of a poet and brother philosopher,

multarum semina rerum docuit, quæ sint vitalia nobis. The third of these letters will be found of more peculiar interest to those whose scientific attainments will not permit them to follow the argu̟ments arising out of subjects more abstruse in their nature. The letter to which we allude treats of the history and progress of that science whose development is not only essential to the well-being but to the existence of life itself-chemistry. The learned professor exposes a fallacy that long existed amongst our French neighbours as to the study of chemistry, as a science, not being anterior to the Several poems of great merit are interspersed days of the great Lavoisier. He shows that that throughout the first of these volumes, and contri-eminent scholar imparted a new spirit, and introbute greatly to relieve the graver and heavier duced a fresh system to the previously-existing articles. To our thinking, the poem most worthy body of this noble science. The very vices of our

benefits of Free-trade.

such spiritual succour as might be gleaned from the perusal of "A Wonder in Three Worlds," "All's Well," "The Brazen Serpent," &c. His piety and patience met in many instances with, to him, the fondest reward he could have anticipated from his task of love. Drunkard and blasphemer, thief and prostitute, testified by their reformed lives to the efficacy of his teaching. Passers by were astonished as they heard hymns and psalms proceed from fetid alley and obscure passage whence formerly nought but ribald oath or obscene song disgusted their ears.

nature are oft made subservient to the loftiest | Tracts in hand, he visited the wretched abodes ends. It was that unholy lust after gold which which it were flattering to term hovels, and disswayed the minds of men thousands of generations tributed among their more than barbarous inmates back as powerfully as at the present day, that induced Indian, Arab, and Egyptian to waste their actual and tangible substance in the vain endeavour to acquire what they deemed within the scope of human art. Their labours and investigations, though profitless to themselves, yet produced results the most important. Whilst Nature baffled their particular views, still she was forced to surrender up many of her mightiest mysteries, until the inquiry into her secrets brought men acquainted with a new science. The gradual development of the principles of chemistry is related most minutely in the interesting chapter we refer to, and those which follow. We have abundant evidence to show that the Greeks and Romans recognised chemistry as a science. Without multiplying proofs, let us turn to the following lines of Lucretius:

Præterea manare aliud per saxa videtur,
Atque aliud lignis; aliud transire per aurum,
Argentoque foras aliud, vitroque, meare.
Now we cannot, of course, take upon us to say
that the poet here alludes to those powerful mens-
trua termed by us aqua regia and aqua fortis;
but there can exist little doubt that menstrua of
some description are referred to, whose action was
confined to a power of dissolving one or other of
these metals alone. But our space forbids us to
enter upon such inquiries as these, however inte-
resting they may be. The reader, scientific or
antiquarian, will find much curious information on
points connected with the history of chemistry in a
voluminous work published at Parma, in 1799, by
the Abbé Giovan, entitled, "Dell' Origine, Pro-
gressi, e Stato Attuale d'ogni Litteratura.' A few
hours spent in such investigations will still more
heighten his appreciation of the value of Professor
Liebig's researches. He will see how slow and
gradual has been the march of this mighty science
that is now, thanks to such men as our present
author and a host of kindred spirits, advancing
with such rapid strides.

Sic unum quidquid paullatim protrahit ætas
In medium, ratioque in luminis erigit oras.
Nanque alia ex alio clarescere corde videbant,
Artibus, ad summum donec venere cacumen.

A

Roger Miller; or, Heroism in Humble Life.
Narrative. By GEORGE ORme. London: C.
Gilpin. 1851.

THIS little volume contains the simple record of
the life of one who, having undergone the persecu-
tion attendant on poverty, ignorance, and vice, had
reaped not only mercy but wisdom from the lesson,
and who, after an escape not scatheless, but scarred
and singed, from the fearful ordeal, applied him-
self sedulously and successfully to deter others
from pursuing that path which leads to destruction,
even as the rescued mariner rears a beacon to warn
his fellows of those sands and shoals which to him
had well-nigh proved fatal.

Roger Miller was an earnest and active member of the London City Mission Society. As such, he was indefatigable in the labours imposed on him by the Mission to which he had devoted himself.

No terms of praise would be exaggerated when applied to a man who worked such goodly work. We admire his energy, we wonder at his patience and self-sacrifice, but we must remain silent if called upon to extol either his judgment or discretion. None can entertain a higher opinion than we of those who devote themselves with unflinching spirit and untiring zeal to the noble cause of philanthropy

not a number of our work has appeared in which some branch of social progress or reform has not been discussed; and therefore our motives will not be impugned if we fearlessly assert, with all due respect to the various missions and societies, that the indiscriminate distribution of tracts, at all times and places, without distinction of persons or character, is amongst the least efficient of methods for bettering the condition of a destitute population. The Religious Tract Society was, we think, established in the year 1790. In those times of comparative barbarism, the gallows and the gaol did the work of Government or Sundayschool. Punishment, not prevention, was the order of the day; and therefore was it that the institution of societies whose members were necessarily brought into close and constant contact with the distressed, illiterate, and profligate, was a step in the right direction. But the more enlightened policy, the widelydiffused spirit of kindness and sympathy towards the masses so eminently the characteristic of the present day, have, by adopting measures of unbounded practical utility, virtually superseded the very questionable labours of the tract-distributor. Dwelling houses on an improved scale, calculated to insure health and comfort by a sufficing supply of air and water, increased facilities for affording education, libraries and institutes, such are means far better calculated to reclaim the wicked and solace the suffering than the perusal of an unlimited issue of these, in too many instances, mischievous publications. Nor do we apply this term without due grounds. It so happens that many of these tracts have fallen under our notice, and we have been actually shocked at the strain in which they are written. Fanatical to an extent almost amounting to positive blasphemy, their object appears to be to startle the reader into compliance with their doctrines by practising on his worst fears, not by an appeal to that innate sense of devotion he may, perchance, possess. Now, with every respect to Roger Miller's pious biographer, we must beg leave to question the spirit of charity and religion