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horse-block-it had been the base of the village
cross langsyne-whilst Owen, the crier, after ring-
ing his bell three times, announced in sonorous
accents that a 'Sais' had been lost on the Sarn
Helen, and that, if brought to Mr Rowlands' house
alive, a reward of a hundred pounds would be paid.
Cant punt!' exclaimed the Hen Doctor, who
stood loafing there with his hands buried in his
pockets. Yah! where will he get the money?
Yah! it will break the bank; yes, by Jupiter.'
'Doctor,' said a sweet voice behind him, 'you
must come with me in the carriage now, at once.
I am going to look for the poor young Englishman,
and we should have a doctor at hand.'

'Cant punt, cant punt!' the doctor muttered to himself. I'll go, Miss Winny; yes, by Jupiter.'

CHAPTER XII.

But that it eats our victuals, I should think
Here were a fairy.

'Who are you, and what are you doing here?' said Owen, sitting upright, and looking at the man who was groaning. Water you want, do you? How will I get any down here? Where do you keep

it?

Have you a cask of bragat here, or any mead? Are you a Roman, perhaps, or one of the Gwylliaid Cochion,† and have you been here a hundred years, or more, perhaps?'

'I'm an Englishman,' said a faint husky voice. ‘I've had a fall, and am dying, and I want water, water!'

His voice was lost in the gurgle in his throat; and Owen, recalled to the actual existing world, began to look about him, to see if he could find any water. There was in one corner a small well, inclosed by shaped stones, full to the brim with clear, cold, pellucid water. He brought some water in the palms of his hands, and moistened the lips and bathed the face of the man who was lying

there.

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Gerard Robertson groaned with pain, but, placed in a more easy position, his arm straightened out, his back supported by a stone, began to feel more comfortable-almost happy. Was there not plenty of water to be had now? No longer would he be

tormented with the trickle of the stream he could not reach.

What may your name be, young man?' said Owen after he had tended him, and where do you

come from?'

'My name is Gerard Robertson.'

reward at all, it belongs to me, to say nothing of your being the richest man in Caerinion, and I only a poor parson.'

But Winny Rowlands now descended into the cave, and put a stop to the squabble as to the reward.

'How shall we get him out of this?' she cried. 'Owen, run and bring your dog-cart; there is a track almost all the way. If we take out the seat, and let him lie on the bottom, it will be better than putting him in the carriage, where he would be all doubled up. Come, Owen.-Come, doctor!'

THE MONTH:
SCIENCE AND ARTS.

STAFF-CAPTAIN EVANS of the Admiralty has made
a communication to the Royal Society, which is
well worth the attention of all who are interested
in navigation. It is, On the Present Amount of
Great Britain, and its Annual Changes. This mag-
Westerly Magnetic Declination on the Coasts of
netic declination is commonly known as variation
of the compass, that is, the amount by which the
compass needle varies from the true north. At
present, the variation is to the west of north, and
Captain Evans, taking his facts from recent Admir
alty surveys, makes known that the rate of vari
ation is rapidly increasing, and is greatest in
amount in the highest latitudes; for example,
on the north-east coast of Scotland, and thence to
the Shetland Islands. This being the case, it is
clear that the compass-bearings, as laid down on
charts and sailing directions, must be rectified, if
ships and seamen are to escape disaster. Of course
the Admiralty will take care that charts properly
corrected shall be published; and Captain Evans'
will be printed in due time in the Philosophical
paper, with a chart corrected up to January 1872,
Transactions, so that mariners may provide them-
selves with safe guides.

The variation, as above mentioned, is not only greater in the north than in the south, but is greater in the east than in the west; thus shewing remark further, that the westerly variation is now, a difference on all our coasts. We may perhaps and has been for some time, decreasing: the needle the next century, another mysterious oscillation is going back to the north and east, whence, in will bring it back to the west.

The new Society of Telegraph Engineers have commenced the publication of a Journal, in which the progress of telegraphy as a science and as an art will be duly recorded. The first number contains a paper on Automatic Telegraphs by Mr R. S. Culley, from which we gather a few particulars 'Cant punt yrwovr!' (A hundred pound reward.) of general interest. Without the automatic appar 'I've found him, Miss Winny, bach. Cant punt!'atus, it would be impossible to supply the infor shouted a voice above their heads. A moment after, a dark ungainly form came sliding down the loose gravel into the cave. 'Hollo! Owen, are you lost too in the mountains! Diaoul! I'll find you for nothing, as you're such an old friend; but I'll have a hundred pounds for finding the young Sais. Think of that, Owen, bach.'

6

I found him first,' cried Owen. If there's a

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mation required by newspapers all over the kingdom. From the central station in London as many as 400,000 words are transmitted in a single night, and through five or six stations simultaneously, whereby it happens that the quantity of matter telegraphed is equal to a thousand columns of the Times. All this is accomplished while one half of the world are asleep. The rate of transmission varies to Aberdeen, it is 60 words a minute; to and Cardiff, it is 120. The messages are punched Sunderland, 90; while to Manchester, Liverpool, in strips or ribbons of paper, and these can be

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multiplied to any extent when pressure of newspaper work requires. The punching of the strips is greatly facilitated by the use of a pneumatic apparatus, in which the levers are struck by pistons actuated by compressed air. Three keys like those of a pianoforte open the valves, and the touch is so light that three or four ribbons can be perforated at the rate of forty words a minute by a female clerk. Expedition is, of course, the object kept in view; and it is satisfactory to learn on good authority that it is one great point with Mr Scudamore, and those engaged in the management of the Post-office Telegraphs, that anybody going into a telegraph office could feel sure that his message would be forwarded for delivery within five minutes.' It is worthy of note that more than twelve million messages were sent in the year ending March last.

In the working of the telegraph, some curious facts have been observed. A message sent through land-lines and an undersea cable travels quicker to the place which has the long land-line than to the shorter. From Amsterdam to London, a signal is transmitted at greater speed than in the reverse direction; the reason being, that on the English side there is a wire of one hundred and thirty miles, then a cable of one hundred and twenty, and on the Dutch side a wire of twenty miles. This difference, however, can be rectified by a scientific contrivance. Another fact arrived at by observation is, that on wires stretched east and west the speed is decreased every day about noon. The cause, we are informed, is not clear; but it is supposed to be due to the diurnal variation in earth-currents.

It is a fact worth knowing that gutta-percha decays rapidly, and becomes brittle and porous when dry and exposed to the light, but under water appears to undergo no change whatever. Gutta-percha sunk in the sea for twenty years shews no sign of decay, which must be regarded as a condition in which nature comes to the aid of mechanical and electrical science.

Many attempts have been made to devise a telltale to shew whether a watchman has gone his rounds faithfully during the night; but not many have succeeded. Among the latest and best is the one now in use at the Penitentiary, Lausanne, invented by Mr Cauderoy, which effects its object by electricity. A disk of paper, divided into twelve hours, is set in movement by clockwork. A number of electro-magnets are fixed in front of the disk, and these are connected in the usual way with buttons or keys placed in different parts of the building. These buttons indicate stations on the watchman's round, and he is expected to push each one as he passes it. The push excites the electro-magnet, and releases a pricker, which starts forward and makes a hole in the paper disk. This disk may be placed in any part of the building; in the inspector's office or governor's room; consequently, any neglect or evasion on the part of the watchman is immediately detected.

Some of our scientific men are of opinion that good will arise out of the high price of coal, inasmuch as invention will thereby be stimulated to seek other means of lighting and warming. If coal, they say, were ten pounds a ton, a way would soon be found of concentrating caloric, and of having good fires in the middle of a room, free from smoke or noxious gases. But it is clear that this can

never take place while coal is cheap. And some among those savants believe that the time will come when practical men will be able to precipitate sound, and so at once get rid of all the tremendous noises that annoy a great city. As Voltaire said, les jeunes gens verront de belles choses.' Mr C. W. Siemens, F.R.S., who ranks among the foremost of electricians and mechanical engineers, has lately shewn that the steam-jet hitherto used only to quicken the fire in a steam-engine, is capable of improvement, and applicable to many useful purposes. The efficiency of the jet depends on peculiarities in the construction of a tube which cannot be popularly described in few words; suffice it, that the steam rushes forth as a ring enveloping a core of air, and this, with steam of only three atmospheres' effective pressure, will exhaust air as thoroughly as an air-pump. The jet occupies but little space, and is moderate in cost, and therefore can be used in many places where an air-pump would be too bulky or too expensive. The Pneumatic Despatch Tube by which despatches are sent underground from the City to Charing Cross, is in the whole of its circuit nearly four miles long. The engine and air-pump by which the tube was worked cost three thousand pounds; three of the steam-jets now do the same work, and maintain so good a vacuum, that the 'carriers' in which the despatches are inclosed travel at the rate of nearly fifteen miles an hour.

By adapting the jet to a double chamber and exhausting the air, Mr Siemens shews that water can be raised as readily as by pumping. The chambers are so constructed that as the one empties the other fills, and so the flow of water is continuous. The contrivances made use of for economising power and multiplying effect are singularly ingenious; and to prevent the noise that would be occasioned by the combined jet of steam and air rushing from the open top of the delivery funnel of the exhauster, a 'sound-killer' is placed on the top. This sound-killer is a cylindrical metal vessel, containing a series of perforated wooden diaphragms, which have the effect of deadening noise. Have we in this a step towards the precipitation of sound above referred to? Here the question arises, could not railway companies have sound-killers fixed to the locomotives that roar so intolerably while waiting at a station?

In any case where exhaustion is required, the jet may be employed with advantage, and already the manufacturers of sugar see that it will render them profitable service in evaporating cane-juice when in the vacuum-pans. There can be no doubt that it will be largely made use of in the West Indies, where its simplicity will recommend it to a population unaccustomed to complicated machinery. It will also be used for separating the molasses from the sugar; and thus supersede the present expensive and troublesome process.-Another application of the jet is in the production of gas for heating purposes: the blast is admitted under the fire-place, and with such economy, that coaldust of the most inferior quality can be used, while, all other things being equal, the production of gas is doubled, and its quality improved.

In the discussion that followed the reading of Mr Siemens' paper before a meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, suggestion was made that the jet could be used to draw off the noxious dust in Sheffield grinding establishments, and in

exhausting the foul air from the lower part of ships. If the foul air is sucked out, fresh air must of necessity find its way in.

Authors who have been accustomed to indulge in funny remarks about the slowness of the bucolic mind will now have to change their note, for, as was exemplified by the recent agricultural gathering at Cardiff, the farmers are by no means slow in making use of the best implements and machines for the cultivation of their land, to say nothing of their persevering endeavours after improved breeds of horses, sheep, and cattle. At the gathering referred to, a twin wagon was exhibited, which is eighteen inches lower, and will carry a one half greater load than an ordinary wagon, with the further advantage, that it will travel equally well in either direction, and has a tipping movement for unloading. Other wagons, to be used with a tractionengine, are so constructed that they can be unloaded on either side, or behind, or through the bottom, whereby labour will be saved and business facilitated. A potato-digger was shewn combining a ridge-plough with revolving forks which pick out the potatoes, and thus do the work commonly done by women and children.-An improved drill is so constructed that it will deposit one, two, or three seeds at pleasure, and the economy thereby effected is such that in sowing seeds of mangel-wurzel (which the British farmer persists in calling mangold), there is a saving of eight pounds out of each ten pounds of seed commonly required, with the further saving of the labour of chopping out surplus plants with the hoe.-The thatch-making machine which we noticed some months ago has been improved and brought out in a cheaper form by the inventor, Mr Gooday, of Stanstead:-a new centrifugal pump, driven by an engine of twohorse power, will lift twenty-one thousand gallons of water ten feet in one hour; and a machine to heat water uses waste steam to surround a large number of ring-spaces through which the water is driven, and heated in the shortest possible time. Steam traction-engines on common roads are objected to because they frighten horses. Aveling & Co. of Rochester get over this difficulty, and when the driver sees passing horses, he opens a valve, through which nearly the whole of the exhaust steam immediately passes into the watertank. The hoarse coughing of the engine is thereby silenced, and the chief occasion of fright is done away with.

We have more than once called attention to the Fairlie locomotive engine, and the facilities it affords for railway traffic. Since then, its capabilities have been increased, and it has been tried on difficult lines in foreign countries, particularly in Russia and Belgium. In the last instance, the engine drew a train of four hundred and eighty tons up a steep gradient with perfect ease.' The facts brought out by the experimental trials are so remarkable, as to make it clear that an enormous saving could be effected, especially in goods-traffic, were the Fairlie engine set to work on all our principal lines of railway. The waste of power and material in the haulage of coal is almost incredible. Owing to the present system of loose coupling, so much strength is needed in the trucks, that one ton of truck is required for every two tons of coal, and by reason of this superabundant weight, the train not unfrequently comes to a stand-still. A double-bogie Fairlie engine, on the contrary,

will draw a train twice as heavy, screwed tightly up, and make no difficulty of starting, even up an incline. The Iquique Railway in Peru, by which nitrate of soda is brought down to the coast, is full of sharp curves, and ascends for eleven miles 1 foot in 25, and 1 foot in 28. Yet the Fairlie engine pulls up a load of one hundred and eighty tons at ten miles an hour, and the wagons which carry seven and a half tons of the mineral weigh not more than two and a half tons. A calculation has been made that three million pounds sterling could be saved every year in the transport of coal to London by the use of the Fairlie; and any one who will take into account the saving of weight, of material, of time, of drivers and other train-servants, may verify the calculation. At a time when coal is alarmingly dear, and likely to be dearer, it is eminently worthy of consideration.

Another solution for the vexed question of sewage has been offered by General Scott, whose name is well known in connection with the Albert Hall and other works at South Kensington. The general explained his views and his method to a meeting of competent persons, held at the residence of the Duke of Sutherland, and from these it appears that he proposes to perfectly clarify the liquid part of sewage before discharging it upon land or into a river; and the solid part or 'sludge' he would treat by a chemical process, and burn it into lime or cement. The general holds that the chief manurial value of sewage passes off with the liquid, and that the advantage of converting the worthless solid into good and valuable lime or cement is therefore the greater; and he points to works at Ealing, where his process is carried on without annoyance to the neighbourhood. The sewage its ordinary state is there admitted to a receiver; lime and clay are freely mixed therewith, all the matters held in suspension fall to the bottom, and the liquid flows off clear. The solid matter is then burnt in a kiln, and finds a ready market at thirtyfive shillings a ton, which, as the general states, yields a profit of more than ten shillings a ton.

From an American chemical journal, we learn that, in a family wash, borax is more useful than soda, and effects an important economy of soap, One handful of powdered borax to ten gallons of boiling water is stated as the proper quantity. A solution of borax is also said to make an excellent wash for the hair or teeth; and, to many persons who live in cellars or kitchens, it may be an advantage to know that cockroaches forsake the place where borax is sprinkled.

The Publishers of CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL beg to direct

the attention of CONTRIBUTORS to the following notice: 1st. All communications should be addressed to the

'Editor, 47 Paternoster Row, London.'

2d. To insure the return of papers that may prove ineligible, postage-stamps should in every case accom pany them.

3d. All MSS. should bear the author's full CHRISTIAN name, surname, and address, legibly written. 4th. MSS. should be written on one side of the leaf only.

Unless Contributors comply with the above rules, the Editor cannot undertake to return rejected papers.

Printed and Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, 47 Pater noster Row, LONDON, and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH. Also sold by all Booksellers.

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POLICE.

PRICE 13d.

highest moral rectitude. Almost all are married men, the fathers of families, the regularity of whose manners contrasts singularly with the life they are compelled to lead.

Their first object is to know by sight every bad character that roams about Paris like a bird of prey, where are their resorts, and the particular line of life they adopt; so that, when they hear of a crime, they can form an estimate of the number of those who would be likely to commit it. They study every thief's plan of attack, so that when they hear the account of a robbery, they say: 'That is done by such a man; we shall catch him to-night, and in such a place.' They acquire a sort of instinct and a taste for their occupation; they are like hunters, with the same keenness for sport. When they have succeeded, their eyes sparkle, they speak volubly, their cheeks glow with pleasure. Their courage is unequalled: it is exercised in presence of a certain amount of danger, the form of which is always unknown, without any of the glory which leads a soldier into battle. This is an example:

THE SECRET EVERY one knows the police of Paris dressed in uniform, perambulating their different beats, and looking after all evil-inclined persons. With these the secret police have no outward connection; they have no mark embroidered on their collars, and are dressed like common citizens. Yet the search after and arrest of malefactors belong in a special manner to this brigade, composed of men whose devotedness has been proved in every way. It was the celebrated Vidocq, who, in 1817, first organised this police, and for a long time held to the false idea that to know criminals you must have been one yourself. He was himself liberated from the galleys, and carried on his work by setting thieves to catch thieves, according to the old proverb. When his agents appeared in the assize courts, the accused often reminded them in their slang that they had mown such a meadow together.' The witnesses were worth no more than the criminals, the jury hesitated which to believe, and the barristers made fine game of both. In spite of his boasting, his insupportable vanity, and his wicked antecedents, In 1848, M. Nicolai received a letter saying that, Vidocq had considerable success, and placed in the if he did not wish his house to be set on fire, he hands of justice thieves that it had sought for must lay down a sum of three thousand five hunduring many previous years. Dismissed from the dred francs in a certain place which was described. service in 1827, he was succeeded by another thief, The police, on being informed, sent its secret Coco Lacour, who had obtained great celebrity by agents. Soon a man arrived, who, after having his boldness in crime. The same path was pur-assured himself that no one was in the street, went sued, and shameless thieves were charged to watch to the place where the apparent packet had been over their acolytes. The revolting immorality of such a system annoyed M. Gisquet, and he it was who, breaking through the absurd tradition, dissolved the famous brigade in 1832, and reconstituted it on the basis that no one who had ever been committed should be enrolled.

Its members are chosen with the utmost care from the non-commissioned officers, who, when leaving the army, ask to be received into the police. On a principle diametrically opposed to the one which guided M. Vidocq, the conclusion has been arrived at, that men exposed by their occupation to the temptations of drunkenness and debauch should be possessed of the

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deposited. The policeman darted upon him, but the robber dodged and ran off. He was again caught, and before the other policemen could come up, he presented a round cold object to the cheek of his assailant, which the policeman took for a pistol. But his courage did not forsake him. Fire, you wretch!' he cried; 'my comrades will soon catch you.' Though he spoke thus, he was fully persuaded that the next moment he would be a dead man. What he thought to be a pistol, proved to be a bottle of chloroform, by the help of which the thief, little versed in its use, hoped to throw the man into instant sleep. Though the policeman escaped this time, he was destined to a

violent death, as he was shot dead at Brussels in the act of seizing a murderer.

Nor is patience less required than courage. To hide behind a wall, or lie under a bench through the cold winter's night, exposed to twelve hours of frost and rain, or to look through a window all the day long, are not among the pleasant things of life. Lately, the most populous barriers of Paris were the favourite resorts of robbers who relieved drunken men of their purses. Two or three agents went there, and, hidden by the darkness, lay down in the shadow; the same number, stretched on benches, feigned the sleep of inebriety. From seven o'clock in the evening to midnight nothing occurred. Small steady rain fell the whole evening, wetting the men through and through. About two in the morning, a band of thieves approached, and began to rifle the pockets of the apparent sleepers; but these were equal to their task, and the capture of no less than seventeen rewarded their perseverance.

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The intellectual faculties may be developed exactly like the muscles of the body by exercise; thus these agents acquire a wonderful memory, and never forget a face after it has once been seen, whatever disguise may be attempted. One day, an inspector noticed a man whose appearance awakened in him a confused remembrance; followed him, which the man perceived, and got into an omnibus. The inspector did the same, and sitting down on the opposite side, looked steadily at him. The poor fellow trembled, and said in a low voice: Do not arrest me before all these people.' When the omnibus reached one of the police stations, the inspector got out with his prisoner and went in. He turned out to be a thief who, that very morning, had managed to escape from one of the courts of the prefecture just when the inspector met him. When the famous robbery of the medals from the Royal Library took place, in which a certain viscountess was implicated, it was sufficient for the police agents to examine the saw, the lantern, and the cord left by the robbers, to name Fossard and Drouillet as the authors of the crime; which turned out to be the fact. When the head of the staff was called in to see the frightfully mutilated body of the Duchess de Praslin, who had been murdered by her husband, he said to M. Delessart, who was overcome by emotion: "That, Monsieur le Préfet, is the work of an amateur;' which contained the key to the revela

tion of the whole drama.

It is very rarely that the agents adopt any disguise. There existed formerly a special wardrobe for their use, but the costumes have become worm-eaten for lack of use. They are left quite free to choose; and, provided their mission is accomplished, they may wear anything. It is not long since two inspectors were desired to make a very important surveillance in one of the hotels in Paris, exclusively frequented by distinguished foreigners. The affair was difficult, and required much skill. One of the police appeared in the disguise of a former ambassador, the other dressed as his servant. Nothing betrayed them during a

residence of a fortnight. The one behaved with a gracious and condescending mien, like a man who had tried all the greatness of the world; the other humble, anxious to do his work, spoke of his good master, and served to perfection. Their mission terminated with perfect success. They returned to their proper position; but the great lord had become so identified with his part, that when his colleague addressed him as his equal, he was seized with a fit of anger, and cried: What are you saying? Why this familiarity?'

Sometimes a chain of very natural circumstances leads to a result which seems almost miraculous. police office, and gave their names to the superA few years ago, three Englishmen entered the intendent. One was a detective in the London police; the other two were rich jewellers in the City. They said that four days before, one of their travellers had robbed the shop, carried away many thousand pounds of valuables, that he had been traced to Paris, and requested help in searching for him. The superintendent replied: 'I know all about your business.' Then, at a sign from him, they brought from the station a man who had been taken, and who proved to be the culprit, at the same time shewing the Englishmen three boxes, which contained the recovered jewels. The emotion of one of the owners was so great, that he fainted. They thought the affair a prodigy; yet it was really very simple. The police had been informed that a young man had taken up his of his arrival pawned articles at five monts-de-piété. abode at a good hotel in Paris, and the very day They paid him a visit; found his trunks, where the jewellery was thrown in a heap; and suspecting a crime, they arrested him, and seized his property.

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which

In all such affairs, the administrative service gives great help. The prefecture of police is a most careful office; it loves order for its own sity. Thus it loses nothing, registers everything; sake, and experience has demonstrated its necesand there is not the smallest bit of it does not carefully preserve, and knows how to make useful when the moment comes. The reports of the inspectors of furnished lodgings are docketed and arranged alphabetically, so that any inquiries can be certain, quick, and easy. All the drivers of cabs and omnibuses are known, the number assigned to them, and the company they serve. It is the same with the commissionaires, who can only exercise their numerous functions after having been authorised by the prefecture, and received a medal. There are more than two thousand of these; and though their relationship with the préfet is not a very strong one, yet they can always be found when wanted. Passports also furnish a very powerful means of investigation.

Not to wander too far into the labyrinth of crime, where the number of individuals would create almost insurmountable difficulties, it is necessary to know the antecedents of every criminal. This is how the prefecture of police arrives at such wonderful certainty, owing to what they call the sommaires judiciaires, an organisation so complete, larly kept, that it is an institution unique in the world. Let the reader imagine three or four large rooms, faded and dusty, so dark in some corners, that the gas is lighted at noon; tables of black wood, over which the clerks lean who are engaged in writing; and from the floor to the ceiling

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