RUFUS PORTER, EDITOR.

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TERMS.--$2 a year--$1 in advance, and the remainder in 6 months.

[Illustration: hand pointing right] _See Advertisement on last page._

=The New Roman Road.=

[The present Pope has given his consent to build railroads in his

dominions, which the former Pope was averse to. The following lines

are predicated on his consent.]

Ancient Romans, ancient Romans--

Cato, Scipio Africanus,

Ye whose fame's eclips'd by no man's,

Publius AEmilianus,

Sylla, Marius, Pompey, Caesar,

Fabius, dilatory teaser,

Coriolanus, and ye Gracchi

Who gave so many a foe a black eye,

Antony, Lepidus, and Crassus;

And you, ye votaries of Parnassus,

Virgil, and Horace, and Tibullus,

Terence and Juvenal, Catullus,

Martial, and all ye wits beside,

On Pegasus expert to ride;

Numa, good king, surnamed Pampilius,

And Tullus, eke 'yclept Hostilius--

Kings, Consuls, Imperators, Lictors,

Praetors, the whole world's former victors,

Who sleep by yellow Tiber's brink;

Ye mighty names--what d'ye think?

The Pope has sanctioned Railway Bills!

And so the lofty Aventine,

And your six other famous hills

Will soon look down upon a 'Line.'

Oh! if so be that hills could turn

Their noses up, with gesture antic,

Thus would the seven deride and spurn

A Roman work so unromantic:

'Was this the ancient Roman Way.

With tickets taken, fares to pay,

Stockers and Engineers, perhaps--

Nothing more likely--English chaps

Brawling away, 'Go on!' for Ito,

And 'Cut along!' instead of Cito;

The engine letting off its steam,

With puff and whistle, snort and scream;

A smell meanwhile, like burning clothes,

Flouting the angry Roman nose?

Is it not Conscript Fathers shocking?

Does it not seem your mem'ry mocking?

The Roman and the Railway station--

What an incongruous combination!

How odd, with no one to adore him,

Terminus--and in the Forum!'--[Punch.

=Good Advice.=

Somebody lays down the following rules to young men in business. They

will apply equally well to young and old. 'Let the business of every

one alone, and attend to your own.--Don't buy what you don't want. Use

every hour to advantage, and study even to make leisure hours useful.

Think twice before you spend a shilling; remember you have another to

make for it. Find recreation in looking after your business, and so

your business will not be neglected in looking after recreation.--Buy

fair, sell fair, take care of the profits; look over the books

regularly, and if you find an error, trace it out. Should a stroke of

misfortune come upon you in trade, retrench--work harder, but never

fly the track; confront difficulties with unflinching perseverance,

and they will disappear at last, and you will be honored; but shrink

from the task, and you will be despised.'

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In Russia, coffins are generally brown, but children have pink, grown

up unmarried girls sky blue, while other females are indulged with a

violet color.

[Illustration: Barnum's Safety Apparatus]

INTRODUCTION.--Much has been said of late in and about New York on the

subject of the adoption by steamboat proprietors of some apparatus

that will in some measure secure the passengers against such

casualties as have occurred on board the Excelsior and several other

boats. There have been a great variety of inventions introduced for

the purpose of preventing explosions; but from the best information we

can obtain on the subject, we are of the opinion that Mr. Barnum's

apparatus takes a general preference over all others. It consists of

an arrangement of machinery, partly within the boiler, and which is

constructed on such a self-regulating principle as to keep up a supply

of water within the boiler, without any attention from the engineer;

and in case that the apparatus itself should become impaired or cease

to operate regular, the engineer becomes instantly notified thereof.

EXPLANATION.--It is inexpedient for us to give a full and minute

description of the several points and peculiarities of the mechanism

of this apparatus; but we may so far explain as to say that a

horizontal lever inside of the boiler, being mounted on a pivot near

its centre, and connected to a buoy or float at one end, as

represented in the engraving, (a part of the surface of the boiler

being omitted for that purpose, and not, as some might infer, to

represent the apparatus attached to a boiler already burst by an

explosion.) One of these floats is placed within a small enclosed box

within the boiler, that it may be secure from the effect of foam which

sometimes pervades the surface of the water in a steam boiler.--This

lever, near its bearing, is connected to a short valve-rod, which

governs the valves in a small valve-chamber, whereby the steam is

occasionally admitted to operate a small steam engine, placed directly

over the boiler; and this engine puts in motion a pump, by which the

water in the boiler is replenished. This engine, it will be

understood, is never put in operation except when the water in the

boiler becomes too low: and when the water rises, the elevation of the

encased float closes the valve and stops the engine. The ball on the

end of the lever acts as a counterpoise to the float, (which is of

stone) that it may be freely influenced by the rising or falling of

the surface of the water.

The small engine constructed by Mr. Barnum for this purpose, is well

adapted to its place, and has several peculiarities whereby the

valves, and consequent reciprocal motion of the engine are regulated

without the use of a crank or fly-wheel: but of these we cannot at

present give a minute description. The whole of this apparatus evinces

much scientific ability of the inventor, Daniel Barnum, Esq., resident

at present in this city, and who has received many certificates from

the first scientific men in the Union, in commendation of his

invention.

=A Piggish Parvenue.=

A proud porker, fancying that it was degrading to his dignity to root

in the gutter, came upon the sidewalk, and full of his consequence,

promenaded from morning till night, leaving his humbler companions to

munch corn, husks and potatoe parings. He fared as people usually do,

who from vanity assume a station they are not qualified to fill. In

the gutter he would have lived in unnoticed enjoyment. On the walk he

got kicked by every passenger and bitten by every cur, till hungry and

bruised he was glad to return to his proper station.--[Ex, paper.

=Wanting Workmen back Again.=

The proprietors of the cotton mill in Schuylerville, N. Y., who

reduced the wages of their hands, a week or two since, says the

Schuylerville Herald, twenty-five per cent., are now, and have been

for several days, endeavoring to induce them to return to their work,

at the old wages; but they are too late, as most of them are engaged

to work in other mills.

=Hard Climbing.=

A man in Orange county was found one night climbing an over-shot wheel

in a fulling mill. He was asked what he was doing. He said he was

'trying to go up to bed, but some how or other these stairs won't hold

still.' There are many unlucky wights who are laboriously endeavoring

to climb fortune's ladder on the same principle.

=Power of Imagination.=

An amusing incident recently occurred at Williams College, which is

thus related by a correspondent of the Springfield Gazette:

The professor of chemistry, while administering, in the course of his

lectures, the protoxide of nitrogen, or, as it is commonly called,

laughing gas, in order to ascertain how great an influence the

imagination had in producing the effects consequent on respiring it,

secretly filled the India rubber gas-bag with common air instead of

gas. It was taken without suspicion, and the effects, if anything,

were more powerful than upon those who had really breathed the pure

gas. One complained that it produced nausea and dizziness, another

immediately manifested pugilistic propensities, and before he could be

restrained, tore in pieces the coat of one of the bystanders, while

the third exclaimed, 'this is life. I never enjoyed it before.' The

laughter that followed the exposure of this gaseous trick may be

imagined.

=True Policy.=

Under all circumstances there is but one honest course; and that is,

to do right and trust the consequences to Divine Providence. 'Duties

are ours: events are God's.' Policy, with all her cunning, can devise

no rule so safe, salutary and effective, as this simple maxim.

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Six thousand pounds of Saxony wool have been purchased in Pennsylvania,

at sixty-two and a half cents per pound.

Scientific American magazine Vol 2. No. 3 Oct 10 1846 The Advocate of Industry and Journal of Scientific, Mechanical and Other Improvements · 第 2 / 29 题