prominent of the advantages to be derived from Dr. Payerne's discovery we extract from a paper which he has circulated among his friends. « It has, to the present day, been impossible to make researches in the depths of the Ocean, because there have been no means of existence for the crew of a submarine boat, without communication with the atmosphere. The employment of diving-bells, or divingdresses, for the purpose of submarine surveys, has been impracticable inasmuch as the divers cannot go out of the bell, or beyond the range of the air-pipe attached to their habiliments. "By Dr. Payerne's process submarine researches may be prosecuted with nearly as much facility as similar works upon land so far as regards supplying the crew with the means of existence during an indefinite period in a submarine boat, which can be directed at any depths like other vessels upon the surface of the water. His method is to place glass illuminators in the boat, by means of which', and by the aid of a lamp which gives a brilliant light, burning as well though surrounded by the water, as in the atmosphere, of which it consumes not the minutest quantity, its progress is illumined, and any object that is near may be distinctly observed. This boat by mechanism fixed in the interior, may be propelled at the rate of from 1 to 10 miles an hour; it is under the government of the helm, and is so constructed as to be made stationary at will, at the greatest depths, the divers quitting it to perform their operations with no more cause for alarm at the tempest that may be raging above and agitating the surface, than at the most delightful calm, drawing a sufficient supply of the vital fluid for respiration through pipes communicating with the interior of the boat. By the same means, they can re-enter the vessel without once being obliged to ascend to the surface. « Under the present system of salvage operations, difficulties are met with which are frequently insurmountable-always very expensive and very dangerous. A derangement in the apparatus of the air-pump, the twisting or breaking of the air pipes, &c. &c. inevitably give rise to many accidents of a most serious character. Such operations, indeed, are not only difficult and dangerous, but when required to be performed at very profound depths, are altogether impossible; and they are so for these reasons. 1st. Because a mau cannot descend in a diving-bell to more than 120 feet below the surface of the water, as he is unable to support the pressure. 2ndly. Because the air-pump is incapable, when the bell is at a greater depth, of conveying fresh air of a greater density than two or three atmospheres; the air thus conveyed would only serve to repel that which had been vitiated by respiration, and that, thus confined, would immediately suffocate the unfortunate diver. It can not be otherwise, for, as it is well known, one part of vitiated air renders unfit for respiration ten parts of pure air; when this deleterious mixture has taken place, and that under a pressure of several atmospheres, the pump would be required to furnish the divers with at least fifteen times the quantity of air that they respire, or nearly 12,000 quarts per hour, instead of 800, that is 480 cubic feet instead of 32. The dangers thus indicated are so real and formidable, that but few men can be found with nerve sufficient to encounter them. «In the new method, to which attention is now invited, the divers are exposed to none of these evils, nor to any of the inconveniences inseparable from the old system; the air in the bell is renovated in proportion as the original supply becomes impure: there are no pipes conducting air from the water's surface, consequently there can be no accident from the twisting or rending of such, or a derangement of the pump. Further than the depth of 120 feet, the divers' operations are carried on by the aid of a submarine boat; and to the diving-dress a double tube is attached, in length only a few feet, for inhaling and exhaling, communicating with the interior of the boat, and which conveys to the divers, whatever may be their number, the purest fluid for respiration. The apparatus is so dis-. posed, that the pressure of the air in the diving-dress never surpasses that degree which it is proper he should have. This facility of respiring and working in the lowest depths of the ocean permits the application of enormous cramp-irons, or other machinery, to the foundered vessel, by which it may be raised to the surface entire, with the whole of its cargo. The improved diving-bell has the advantage, we will venture to repeat, of affording air to several divers in diving-dresses, while they are at a distance from it at one and the same time, and to others in the interior a perfect security from the intrusion of the water, which is restrained at the very edge of the bell, thus enabling them to proceed without interruption in recovering wrecks, cleansing harbours, laying the foundations of bridges, docks, or other places surrounded by water. In a national point of view, the submarine boat adapted to this process must be of the highest importance, as its application extends to the examining of sunken rocks, shoals, reefs; to the ascertaining of under-currents, surveying the bottoms of rivers, harbours, the outline of coasts, &c. &c.; and to the forming of submarine charts, which hitherto has been deemed an impossibility, owing to the very defective means employed. « In time of war, this submarine boat must become one of the most formidable engines of destruction which modern science has given forth; but, in the hands of a powerful and peace-seeking nation, the most effectual for repelling foreign aggression, and preserving the universe from the evils of warfare." (MECHANIC'S MAGAZINE.) MISCELLANEA. A TENDER FAREWELL. A Frenchman, looking at a bas-relief representing Justice embracing Peace, exclaimed: Look! they are saying their last adieux, for they are parting for ever. » A Parisian fishwoman, who was one of the audience at the opera on a day of free admission, listening to the chorus, said: See these rascals, they know that only the common people are here, and so they are singing all together to finish the sooner! » SINGULAR DISCOVERY-A few days since, whilst two sawyers were engaged in cutting a log of rough elm timber, upwards of 3 feet in diameter, to make the gripe (a piece of wood that is fixed at the lower end of the stem, and fore part of the keel, and materially helps the ship to work to windward) for the Albion, 90 guns, building at Plymouth dock-yard, there were discovered five pieces of oak, about 2 inches thick by 4 inches wide, and each piece about 1 foot in length, lying in a direction towards the centre of the log; the pieces were closely and firmly united to the tree, and quite sound, and overgrown by the bark so as to render them entirely hid from sight. SUIT THE ACTION TO THE word. A clown, employed to carry a present of two fine figs, could not resist the temptation of eating one of them: the person to whom they were sent, aware that there should have been two, asked the messenger what he had done with the other. The rustic took the remaining fig, and swallowing it, said: I did as I do now.. STEAM PILE-DRIVER. Among the many improvements in machinery which are daily taking place, we notice with pleasure the introduction recently, at the harbour works, of a self-acting machine for driving piles. The moving power is taken from a cylinder connected with the engine erected for pumping out the water in the dock, which does its work in a most admirable manner. There are two other pile-driving machines, wrought by manual labour, in operation alongside of it, requiring nine men to each; and this self-acting machine, attended by one man, gives seven strokes for every one that the others give, so that it does the work of sixty-three men. It can be extended in the same proportion to any power. It is the invention of Mr. James Milne, engineer at the dock. NOT AT HOME. A stingy citizen had a country house with à terrace, on which he used to walk, so contrived that when he saw anybody coming to dine with him, he could escape by a back-door. A gentleman sent him word that he would come to dinner on a certain day. Tell your master," said our cit to the servant; that I am much obliged to him for letting me know, and that I shall not be at home. ་ "O THE WONDERFUL WORKS OF PROVIDENCE! A methodist » preacher remarked how benevolent Providence was, in putting death at the end of life: « for otherwise," said he " : we should not have been able to prepare ourselves for it. » A LONDON FOG. A foreigner described the climate of Lon"Eight months of winter, and four months of bad don as : weather. " THE MELOPHONIC GUITAR, is the very appropriate name of a new instrument which was introduced to the musical public, a few days ago, by the inventor, M. Barelli, at a Soirée musicale given at the Hanover Square Rooms, purposely to ascertain the effect it would produce upon a numerous audience. Sig. Regondi the well-known and accomplished guitarist, performed on it four times with extraordinary applause. The audience (about 700 persons, the large Concert room being full,) accustomed to the insignificant sound of the common Guitar were taken by surprise and delighted by the sweet and full-bodied tones of this new instrument. Of its speedily superseding the old guitar there can be no doubt; or as we should rather say, perhaps, there can be no doubt of its occupying the place, once held by that instrument in popular esteem, for so much has it gone out of fashion that the town of Mirecourt in France, the chief seat of the guitar manufacture, and which used to export annually about 20,000 instruments, has at present only two or three hands employed in it. M. Barelli, the inventor of the Melophonic, is about to establish a manufactory in London, and we should not wonder if this becomes ere long, instead of France, the guitarexporting country. Just SECOND THOUGHTS. A blockhead wrote to one of his friends: "My dear Friend, I have left my snuff-box at your lodgings: pray do me the favour to send it me by the bearer. as he was going to seal his note, he found his box and added the following postscript to the note. «P.S. Do not trouble yourself to look for the box, for I have found it. » and sent off his letter. : LONGEVITY OF TREES. The following trees are calculated to live about-elm, 335 years; cypress, 350; cheiros-lemon, 400; ivy, 450; larch, 575; orange, 630; olive, 700; ornamental plane, 720; cedar, 800; lime, 1147; oak, 1500; yew, 2830; baobah, 5150; and the taxodium, 6000 years! PERMITTED TO BE PRINTED, St. Petersburg, October 1st, 1842. P. KORSAKOFF, CENSOR. Printed at the Office of the Journal de St. Pétersbourg. » " |