Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1833-05-21
MISCELLANEOUS.

my oil Machinery and Manufactures, is a volume that has
been already, more than once, noticed in this paper. We
perceive by the late London Journals that a third edition
has been lately published, although three thousand copies
oil me hrst impression were sold in less than two months,
ana the whole OF the second in less than three. The RAJ
pidty with which these large editions were disposed of,
shows that MIR. Babbage owes his success more TO the in
,erest oil Its materials, and to the talents Of its author, than
to any adventitieus aid. A brief synopsis, in illustration
OF the subjects of which it treats, may ecommend il to
valuable work.
The advantages of the Economy Of Machinery and Ma.
nuiactnres, are classed by the author under three heads :
1. The addition 10 human power.
2. Economy Of human time.
o. The conversion OF substances, otherwise worthless.
into valuable products. ~
The first is illustrated by EXAMPLES we bave beforo
seen stated. MIR. B. is good authority for its correctness.
l0S0 lbs. are required to be moved over a roughly chissel.
ed foor. "A force equal TO 1853 lbs. is necessary-cover
the floor with plank and 652 lbs. will do il. By means of
a wooden platform and rollers, % lbs. will accomplish il.
by the contrivance Of a platform and rollers, one man will
move a larger stone than thirty four without il. IL is sci
ence brought TO operate OH matter that gives all this adj
vantage, and which the nuliiiers of the South cannot
bring TO any considerable extent, in aid of slave labor.
The proceeds OF their labor must for ever be insigni6-
cant, compared with that oil the free intelligent population
OF the North.-South Carolina, with a population six times
as great as Rhode lsland-and though cotton is her great
staple-sull does not realize as much from cotton as Rhode
Island. The annual product OF Rhode Island, from the
manufacture oithat article, after paying full prices for the
raw cotton, is greater than the product of the whole cotton
crop OF South Carolina. Money is power; and the improve
ments IN machinery are spreading their influences, and
enriching and strengthening the whole country where the
TNJ 'S N'SSS Va NV W. III DICuOHIudtc. heDeal
the protecting duties under which so many fourishing es-
abiishments have sprung up and you subject our manu-
lecturers to all the vicissitudes OF a country three thousand
miles OIL, beyond our control, and whose interest will be
promoted by our ruin. If the Nullifiers are correct. we
are at the mercy of Great Britain, tettered by our consti.
tuition.
The economy Of human time is illustrated in the manu-
iacture of needles. 10000 promiscuously thrown in a
case-in all directions, are required to be placed parallel
10 arrange them with thumbs and fingers would reau' re
a long time, and great patience. 1t is accomplished in a
lew minutes by means OF a simple tool. 1t is a small fiat
a 4 q ieNn -ltl II :.
which they are shaken in q peculiar manner, and
in a few minutes they are all arranged lengthvise.
: is still necessary to have them all point in one
direction. The child who does this is provided with
a small cup or finger stall which is pressed gently
against their ends; those pointing in one direction stick into
the cloth and are taken away; those remaining, of course
ai point IN the contrary direction. They may then be
adjusted in masses.
Under the third head showing the conversion of sub.
stances otherwise useless, into valuable products we shall
extract a section verbatim.-ssTh skins used by the gold
beater are produced from the ofal OF animals. The hoofs
Oh horses ana cattle, and other horney refuse, are employ
ed IN the production OF the prussiate of potash, that beau.
tiul chrystallized salt, which is exhibited in the shops of
some OF our chemists. The worn out saucepans and tin
ware OF our kitchen when beyond the reach of the tinker's
art, are not utterly worthless.
We sometimes meet carts loaded with old tin kettles
and worn out iron coaiscut:les traversing our streets.-
these have not yet completed their useful course; the
less corroded parts are cut into strips, punched with small
holes, and vanished with a coarse black varnish, for the
use OF the trunk maker, who protects the ends and angles
oil his boxes with them; the remainder are conveyed to
the manufacturing chemists in the outskirts of the town,
who employ them, in conjunction with pyroligenous acid,
In making black dye for the use OF calico printers"
The bones OF animals might be added. Mr.. Huskisson
stated several years since, that one hundred thousand
pounds worth were annually imported into Great Britain,
employing forty thousand tons of shipping. Add to these
the domestic supply, and the value which labor and skill
superadds to the whole, and a total amount would be pre-
sented that would astonish us.
These are examples of British skill and economy Elm.
ployed on objects comparatively insignificant; but when
her immense machinery of productive industry is b brought
to bear on any of the great staples of the world, then In.
deed we are overwhelmed with the results. All the bread
stuts we export 10 all parts OF the world, amount, at the
most only to about five or six millions per annum.
The British Quarterly Review estimates the annual pro-
duct oil her cotton factories at three hundred millions of
dolIars-an extra importation of on%e-fftie.h part of which
thrown into our markets for five years, would stop every
factory IN the Union. Is it wisdom to open the way to
such ruin Isl possible that the free laboring population
OF the North will tamely submit to such wanlon des,ruc-
ton ~. Y. Com. .ddu.
WHIRL OF THE TENNESSEE RIvER.-The Tonnes
see River is the largest branch Of the Ohio. 1t rises in
Virginia and runs south westward about 1000 miles, then
wheeling to the north about go miles from its junction with
the Ohio. Its current is so uniformly rapid, that it reouires
eight men to proceed with a boat ten miles a day.-This
cannot be done better than by pulling the boat forward, by
the bushes on the shore. Its general width is so to 100
rods. a boat will descend by the rapidity Of the steam,
90 to so or even 100 miles in a day, according to the sea.
son. In summer, the water of the river is so warm that il
is unpleasant, unless cooled on the deck of tho boat
by the air of the night.
The Muscle Shoals are about 300 miles from its entrance
into the Ohio. At this place, the river spreads to the width
Of three miles and forms a number of islands. The pas.
y VhNh hO
water is high.
From these shoals TO the place called the Whirl or Suck.
zoo miles, the navigation all the way is excellent 10 the
Cumberland Mountain; where the river breaks through,
This mountain is sometimes so steep, that even the In
dams cannot ascend il on foot. In one place, particularly,
near the summit OF the mountain, there is a remarkable
ledge oil rocks, Of about 30 miles in length and 200 feet
high, with a perpendicular front facing the south east, more
noble and grand than any artificial foriihcatioD i'm the
known world, and apparently eqnal in point Of regularity.
The Whih, as tits called, is about at So deg. IL is reck-
oned a greater curiosity than the bursting Of the river Po-
iomac through the Blue Ridge, so well described by Mr..
Jefferson.
The river, which above is half mile wide, is there COM
pressed TO 100 yards, or 1S rods. Just at the entrance of the
mountain a large rock projects from the northern shore, in
an obllq1e direction, which renders the channel still mar.
roweT.-This causes a sudden bend, by which the wa
ters are thrown with great force against the opposite
shore. From thence they rebound about the point of the
rock, and produce a whirl OF so yards, or 240 feet in cir.
eurnlerence. By the dexterity of the rowers, canoes
drawn into this whih have sometimes escaped without
damage. In less than a mile below the whirl, the river
spreads TO is common width, down 10 the Muscle Shoals.
aud thence runs in a regular and beautiful stream TO is
confluence with the Ohio.
SURVEYING-The subscriber having lately receiv.
~ ed a correct new Surveyors Compass, tenders his ser.
wees to the public as a practical Surveyor.
THOMAS JEFFERSON CLARKE.
Powhatan County, April 22d, 1888. II7-u4w