Thibodaux minerva. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 18??-1858, 1854-07-15
A New Type-setting Machine.

A New Type-Setting Machine.
COPENHAGEN, May 1s.-Owing to the
politeness of the editors. | have now been
able to see the new composing machine as
in actual operation in the office of the
FRdrelandet. Instead ofthe usual cases and
composing sticks, and the compositor stand.
ing at his work, we see a person sitting be.
fore a machine with keys like a piano, which
he plays on necessarily, and every touch
on the tangent is followed by a click; the
letter already IN its place in the long ma.
hogany channel prepared for it. The whole
IS excessively ingenious. In fact, it is fairy
work. The most wonderful part is that it
distributes the already used types at the
same time that it sets the new page, aud
with an exactness perfectly sure. No mis-
take can ever occur. The compositor, by
this machine, does four times as much work
as another workman but as he requires an
assistant to line and page the set type, this
brings it to twice the amount of type set.
The whole is so clean and pleasant that ii
will probably soon be a %favorite employ
ment for women. The machine occupies a
very small space, not more than a large
chair, and is beautifully made of hard wood,
brass, and steel. Its success is now beyond
all doubt. The proprietors of the FGdre-
landet are so gratifed by the one they now
have, that they have ordered another. The
price is 2.4O0 Danish dollars. 1t will last
apparently for a century or two without re-
pair. Mr.. Sorenson, the inventor. himself a
composition all his life, kindly shows the
macine to any visitor. Of course, a com
positor canno set with this machine at once ;
ii will take a short time, a few days, for him
to become familiar with the details, but
he is then a gentleman compared to his old
comrades.
LEEcHEs.-The raising and propagation
of leeches for many years have been a ne
cessity in France, for the supply furnished
OF her marshes gave out 80 years ago. Out
by her abundance she used to export, and
now she is forced TO make up her deficiency
from abroad. Other countries have in their
turn been Enthusiastically, Germany and
Spain; and of late certain districts of Asia
have been laid under contribution. Still, all
over the world, the yield has been so serious
ly diminished, and prices have risen to such
a point that the poor cannot pay them; and
the hospitals even are alarmed. The Aca-
denny of Medicine has voted prizes to per-
sons who would discover methods of propa-
CATION and lately a sum was placed in the
hands of the perfect of the Seine, to make
experiments with a model leechery in the
suburbs. A M. Borne has just sent to the
Academy an account of his establishment
at Rambooillet, where he seems to have met
with extraordinary success in encouraging
the reproduction Of his pupils as he calls
them. They are fed three times a year
they bury themselves in the earth late in
the autumn. and pass the winter in a state
of torpor. They mate early in the spring
on St. Valentines Day, probably-and lay
their cocoons in May to hatch in September.
The young ones are fed upon the less SUBJ
%stantial' blood of calves. They are ex-
tremely yoracious, and in two years weigh
ten times their primitive volume. M. Borne
has built conveniences for the reception of
the c%ocoons, and for their artificial incuba-
ton. By care and tenderness he has sue
ceeded thus far in preventing any epidemic
or sudden mortality in his reservoirs. The
leech is very apt to be carried off by pre-
valent disorders, and history mentions the
loss Of a colony of $1,000 in one winter-of
the destruction of 10000 by a hard frost,
and Of the consumption of 200. 900 in Soloque
by a flock of wild geese. M. Borne has
taken extraordinary precautions against any
invasion of the sort. In the middle of his
ponds is Lighthouse or lookout, where a
man is constantly stationed, armed with guns
and other means of defence; the edges of
the ponds are guarded in such a way as to
keep out all aquatic enemies, such as water
rats, moles and frogs, traps are set for the
trochetes, g~Iossiphonies, hydrophiles and
dytisques, which nourish a traditional ami
mostly toward all leeches. M%arauders and
poachers are also keenly watched. In short,
NJ. Borne hopes soon to be in a position to
furnish France a supply sufficient to render
any further importation useless and later
he expects even to be able to export for his
own account.-Paris Cor. ofN. Y. Times.