It has been our invariable practice to notice, _by extract only_, such
works as we are connected with, or to which we have contributed; and in
the present case we shall do little more.
Now, the reader need not be here told that the plan of an Annual
Register of Inventions and Improvements originated in _The Mirror_ about
four years since. Our intention there was to quote an occasional page or
two of novelties of popular interest in science and art, and leave more
abstruse matters to the journals in which they originally appeared. This
plan led us through most of the scientific records of the year, in which
we began to perceive that the reduction of all subjects of importance
was not compatible within a few pages, and sooner than allow many papers
of value to every member of society to be locked under the uninviting
denomination of _philosophy_, we undertook the abridgement and
arrangement of such papers, upon the plan of an "Annual Register,"
intending our volume specially to represent the progress of discovery
just as the general "Register" is a contribution to history. The cost
of the journals for this purpose proved to be upwards of Twelve Guineas,
but this outlay only made us more pleased with the design. A single
instance will suffice. The _Philosophical Magazine_, a work of high
character, numbers among its purchasers but few general readers: it
contains many mathematical, theoretical, and controversial papers, all
of which may advance their object, but are not in a form sufficiently
tangible for any but the scientific inquirer. Still, in the same
Magazine, there may be papers of practical and directly useful
character, and of ready application to the arts and interests of life
and society. A person wishing to possess these popular papers must
therefore purchase with them a quantity of matter which to him would
be unintelligible, and the value of which could only be appreciated
by direct study, a task of no small import in these days of cheap
literature. That the plan has succeeded, and that its intention has
been fully recognised, is borne out by the testimony of a score of our
contemporaries. Of their praise we have no disposition to make an idle
boast; and our only object in the present notice is to do for ourselves
what we could not perhaps expect a weekly or monthly critic to do for
us, viz. to quote the subjects of a few of the valuable papers in the
present volume, and then leave the reader to form his own conclusions
of its intrinsic value.
In _Mechanical Science_ there are 100 closely-printed pages, or 90
articles. Among these are papers on novel applications of the gigantic
power of _Steam_ in Navigation and Agriculture, and especially in
Railway Carriages; the grand invention of the Air Engine; improvements
in Printing; machinery in manufactures; and contributions to
experimental as well as practical mechanics.
In _Chemical Science_ there are upwards of 60 New Facts. Among these is
a valuable paper on Arsenic, by Dr. Christison, (from the _Philosophical
Magazine_;) a method of ascertaining the vegeto-alkali in Bark; the
influence of the Aurora Borealis on the Magnetic Needle; Lieut.
Drummond's Plan for illuminating Light Houses by a ball of lime, (from
the _Philosophical Transactions_); Laws of electrical accumulation, and
the decomposition of water by atmospheric and ordinary electricity;
the new Indigo; the spontaneous inflammation of charcoal; the nitrous
atmosphere of Tirhoot, one of the principal districts in India for the
manufacture of salt-petre; Discovery of a mass of meteoric iron in
Bohemia; the chemical composition of cheese; Berzelius on the power of
metallic rods to decompose water after their connexion with the galvanic
pile is broken; an alkaline principle in Box-wood; Professor Davy on a
new method of detecting metallic poisons; Mr. Bennet's new alloy for the
pivot-holes of watches; experiments with Aldini's Fireproof Dresses;
Dr. Ure on the composition of Gunpowder, and on Indigo; Dr. Bostock
on the spontaneous purification of Thames water; Abstracts of Berzelius'
statement of the progress of Chemical Science for 1829; Mr. Broughton
on the effects of oxygen gas on various animals, &c.
In _Zoology_ are papers--on the Fern Owl; Mr. Rennie's interesting Notes
on the Cleanliness of Animals; Mechanism of the Voice in Singing; the
Vision of Birds of Prey; New species of British Snake; Animalculae in
Snow; Habits of the Chameleon; Peculiarity of the Negro Stomach; Growth
of Spanish Flies; British Pearl Fishery on the Conway; the cause of
Goitre; seat of the sense of touch and taste; stones found in the
stomach of Pikes; Learned Poodles at Paris; Faculties of Domestic
Animals; Increase of Mankind; Larva of the Gad-fly, which deposits its
eggs in the bodies of the human species; Luminousness of the Sea, a
valuable contribution; Motions in water caused by the respiration of
Fishes; Cannibalism in New Guinea; Heron swallowing a Rat; Mr. Vigors
on American Quails; Mr. Yarrell's experiments to preserve White Bait;
On the fascination of Serpents; Notes on the Zoological Society, &c.
In _Botany, Mineralogy, and Geology_, are--a valuable paper on the
Flora of Sicily; Supposed sub-marine banks from Newfoundland to the
English Channel: Mr. Bakewell, Jun. on the Falls of Niagara: Mr. Bicheno
on the Shamrock of Ireland; Effect of Light on Plants; Immense Tree in
Mexico; Mr. Murray on Raining Trees; Forms and Relations of Volcanoes;
Cuticular Pores of Plants; Volcano of Pietra Mala; Milk Tree of
Demarara; Productiveness of Plants and Animals; Height of the Perpetual
Snows on the Cordillera of Peru; Gerard's Botanical Journey in the
Himala Mountains; Changes of temperature in Plants; Humboldt's account
of the Gold and Platina district of Russia; Sir H. Davy on the
durability of Stone; Dr. Hibbert's account of a Natural Rocking-stone;
Notices of Fossil Organic Remains discovered within the year;
Instructions for collecting Geological specimens, &c.
The _Astronomical and Meteorological_ division contains some important
observations on Atmospherical Electricity, by Dr. Brewster; a note of
the recent Visitation of Greenwich Observatory; Snow of the winters
1829-30; Account of a Water-spout on the Lake Neufchatel; Mr. Herapath
and Sir James South on the Comet; On the Rending of Timber by Lightning;
Curious account of Hay converted into Glass by Lightning; The Occupation
of Aldebaran by the Moon; Aurora Borealis observed during the year;
and a Journal of the Weather of the year, by Mr. Tatem, the ingenious
meteorologist, which paper we regret is not acknowledged from the
_Magazine of Natural History_; appended to this is a tabular
Meteorological Summary of 1830, communicated to the _Arcana of Science_
by Dr. Armstrong.
In _Rural Economy_ there are Abstracts from papers of considerable
value and extent--on Pasturages, Chlorides applied to diseased Animals,
Quality of Waste Land from the plants growing in it, Malt Duties, Beet
Root Sugar, Aliment from Straw, Planting and Pruning, Indian Corn,
Mangold Wurzol, &c. In _Gardening_ are upwards of 40 similar Abstracts.
In _Domestic Economy_ are some practical papers on Milk, Bread, Sugar,
Storing Fruit, Beer from Sugar, &c. In _Useful Arts_ are about
half-a-dozen, pages. To these heads are added a List of Patents, Notices
of Expeditions of Discovery, and a copious Index. The Illustrations,
about twenty in number, represent such inventions as are most attractive
by their ingenuity; and by way of Synopsis we may state that the whole
contents of the volume are nearly 400 abstracts, including probably
three times as many _new facts_.
The utility of such a yearly volume speaks for itself, and however
ungracefully a recommendation might come from our pen we could not
refrain from thus introducing it to the readers of the _Mirror_
especially as the _Arcana of Science_ contain scarcely half-a-dozen
pages of facts which have been detailed in our weekly columns.
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