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FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

DESCRIPTION OF THE "VIEW ON THE ST. LAWRENCE."

THE shores of the St. Lawrence, one of the most noble rivers in the world, are rich in beautiful and picturesque scenery. Its majestic breadth, interspersed with numerous woody islands, the train of glittering towns and villages that adorn its banks, and the diversified appearance of the adjacent country, present a perpetual succession of grand and varying prospects to the voyager of taste, whom pleasure or business may lead to navigate its waters.

The annexed view, which by the favour of a friend, we are enabled to present to the readers of The Port Folio, exhibits the appearance of the river near Berthier, or Barthier, a small place on the northern shore between Montreal and Quebec; and only a few miles below the head of that remarkable expansion of the river, usually called Lac St. Pierre. Above this the stream is so crowded with islands as to render the passage, between, for large vessels, very intricate. The greatest breadth of this expansion is twelve miles, and its length twenty-four. The tide ebbs and flows within a few miles of Lac St. Pierre ; but the great breadth of the water there, and the strong current titat sets out from it, prevents its farther progress,

THE USEFUL ARTS.

IN consequence of a masterly publication in the Edinburg Review, the public have been recently apprized of a very valuable discovery of a mode, by which coal gas is substituted for the oil, commonly consu med in lamps. The experiment of gas lights, which has been fairly tried and fully verified both upon an ample and a contracted scale in England, we hope will be successfully tried in America. The economy of illumination, in great manufactories and in the public edifices, and public streets of a capital, is certainly a fine subject for scientific scrutiny. If factories, churches, theatres, the highway and public places could be at once safely, cheaply, wholesomely, and brilliantly illuminated; no prejudice, in favour of unsavoury oil or wax and tallow candles, ought to preclude the trial of the gas lights. It is dis tinctly stated by some of the experimentalists, that the flame of the gas is much superior to that of a lamp, urged to intensity for the purpose

of soldering, and that the flame is quicker and sharper, and is constantly ready for use. Radiance like this surely ought to be diffused, which, without poetical exaggeration, would emulate the silvery gleam of September moons.

EDITOR.

Description of an Apparatus for producing inflamable gas from pit coal, constructed by Mr. S. Clegg, Steam Engine Manufacturer, Manchester.

The apparatus, which Mr. Clegg has described in his communication to the Society for the cncouragement of arts, manufactures, &c. is designed for producing gas to light manufactories on a large scale.

The cast iron retort, or vessel in which the coals are put to produce the gas, is of a cylindrical form, and is enciosed horizontally in a brick fire-place with one end opening outwards, in a similar manner to the iron ovens in common use; a semicylinder of cast iron is placed beneath it, to preserve its being injured by the intensity of the fire, and to make the heat more equable; the grate for the fire extends inwards about one third of the length of the retort, and the flame, after circulating over it, passes upwards through a flue above the front part of the vetort; it is supposed that the cast iron shield placed beneath the retort, joins the brick work at each side, though this circumstance is not stated in the description, because this would be necessary to make the flame pass on round the further end of the retort; the mouth of the retort is closed by a lid ground to fit it air-tight, which is fastened by a screw in the centre (but what this screw turns in to draw the lid close is not mentioned) near the retort, a well or pit is sunk and filled with water for the gas-holder, or vessel for equalizing the delivery of the gas, to move in; this gas-holder is made of wrought iron plates. and is counterpoised by two weights, acting by chains, passing over pullies, fixed in a frame, at a due height above; it is of a cylindrical shape and has two frames of iron, formed like coach-wheels, placed at its extremities to strengthen it. A vessel of cast iron is placed at the bottom of the well, into which the gas passes by a pipe that proceeds from the upper part of the retort, and in it deposits the tar, oil, &c. which Occasionally are pumped up from it by a pipe that rises above the well; from this vessel the gas rises upwards, by a straight pipe, into an inverted vessel, closed at top, but open below, most part of which is be low the surface of the water, where it is pierced with numerous small holes through which the gas passes outwards through the water, and rises up into the gas holder: this inverted vessel is about eighteen inches diameter, and two feet long in a large apparatus; it causes the gas to be washed in the most effectual manner, and prevents all danger

of the water being drawn into the condenser or cooling the retort, as might happen if the gas pipe terminated in the water. The gas at the lower part of the gas-holder, not being so pure as that at the top, it is made to pass from the top alone by a vertical pipe in the centre, which rises and falls with the gas-holder, and reaches from the upper part to the water, and passes over a fixed pipe, rising from a second vessel at the bottom of the well, (represented in the plate, but not mentioned in the description) whence another pipe ascends close by the side of the well to convey the gas to the lamps, where it is burnt. The gas enters the movable pipe through small holes near its top, and thence is conveyed through the other pipes last described.

The seams of the gas-holder are luted to make them air tight, and the whole is well painted inside and out; it is sunk to a level nearly with the top of the well, before the retort is heated, but when the gas comes over on applying the fire, it gradually rises, and moves higher or lower, according as the gas is produced more or less abundantly.

The lamps, in which the gas is burned, are formed in the same manner as Argand lamps; the gas passes into the space between their inner and outer tubes by a pipe at one side; a flat ring closes the upper part of each, which is perforated with a number of small holes, through which the gas rises to the flame surrounded by a glass funnel; a small stopper, like a button, is placed so on the top of a vertical wire within the glass that it may be brought nearer or farther from the aperture of the internal tube, by which the air passes, and regulate the velocity and direction of its current; for which purpose the wire slides upwards through two cross bars placed across the inner tube. This little addition is found to assist the combustion very much and increase the light

The dimensions of the apparatus are not mentioned in the description, but assuming the length of the inverted vessel as a standard, which is the only part whose capacity is noted in any case; the proportions of the different parts, as taken from the place, will be thus: the gas holder six feet in diameter and six and a half feet high, the retort about five feet long and one and a half in diameter, the first condenser two feet in diameter, the second immersed vessel one and a half in diameter; and the inverted vessel, or gas washer two feet long and about one foot broad: the pullies, over which the chains work, which raise the gas holder, one and a half in diameter, the well seven feet deep, the flue of the chimney nine inches across, and the space between the retort and the brick work six inches, except over the fire-place, which is eighteen inches long and ten deep.

Mr. Clegg's communication has the merit of being the first complete description of an apparatus of English construction, for producing coal gas, which has yet been made public, from which one might be

made without leaving the formation of any part to conjecture; with the exception of the mode in which the screw is to be applied for fastening the lid of the retort.

The gas holder alone in this apparatus seems objectionable in being made needlessly strong, as it is stated to be formed of wrought iron plates; and is besides strengthened by two very powerful iron frames inside, when it is not liable to any great pressure internally or externally, or to any friction which would require all this strength. For a common apparatus on a small scale, a cask would probably do very well for this part, as the water with which it would be always in contact, would keep it stanch. From this description an apparatus of any size, small or great, may now be constructed.

*** The public, who may wish for farther information on this intere esting subject are referred to Cook's descriptions inserted in Dr. Aikin's Athenæum, passim; to the Transactions of the Society for Arts, where Mr. Clegg's plate may be found; and to the Philosophical Magazine. It should be remembered that the silver medal of the society for arts, &c. was presented to Mr. Clegg for this communication.

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CELEBS IN SEARCH OF A WIFE.

A truly pious and moral work, attributed to Miss MORE, has recently appeared in London, and has been republished here. It describes a sort of religious courtship, though in language much purer than that of De Foe. Charles Calebs, which, being interpreted means a rich young bachelor, is in quest of a spouse, and what will astonish the lewd rake and the mercenary fortune-hunter, he is in search of a serious good woman, who believes her Bible, and combines faith, good works, and charity. Miss More's plot is very thin. Her book is a religious exhortation, in the guise of a novel. Though the story may seem dull and tiresome, yet even the infidel man of taste may read it through for the pleasure he will derive from the originality many of this christian lady's thoughts, and for the beauty and elegance of all her expressions.

of

EDITOR.

The Edinburg Reviewers thus criticise the work.

Celebs wants a wife; and, after the death of his father, quits his estate in Northumberland to see the world, and to seek for one of its

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