It is due to Mr. Ibbetson to add, that within the range of powers which his chuck embraces, it certainly excels any thing of the kind which has yet appeared. We can imagine nothing more geometrically beautiful than some of the specimens which we have seen of its workmanship, and cannot help expressing our surprise that it has not, ere now, been turned to some practical account, in the ornament. ing of watch-cases, snuff-boxes, lockets, and other fancy articles. The construction of the chuck has, indeed, been kept a secret, and Mr. Ibbetson is, we believe, only an amateur; but we should hope he would not refuse to give the arts, under some arrangement or other, the benefit of his ingenuity.

NATIONAL REPOSITORY.

as

There was a daily paper once started under the title of The Nation, but it was so 'nation bad, Mr. Rogers (the father of all good puns) declared, that the nation would have nothing to do with it. Much after the same fashion we have now a "National Repository," which, as The Times truly observes, can no more be called national "than any other toy-shop in the kingdom." Not the least curious part of the affair is, that a principal party in the present experiment on national gullibility was a principal sufferer by the former; illustrating forcibly, the old adage, that

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there are many harder things to accomplish than teaching a pig to cry enough." As the nation disowned "The Nation," so doth it now disown this "National Repository." The protest which we published in the name of the ma

nufacturers and artisans of the United Kingdom, against its being considered as furnishing any fair representation of their industry and skill, has received ample justification in the paltry character of the last and present exhibitions. Were it possible to view them in the light of national exhibitions, it would be necessary to add that the nation never before exhibited itself in so contemptible a light. When it is remembered that such public displays were first had recourse to in France and Holland, in order to excite a manufacturing spirit in the people of these countries and to enable them to dispense with the wares of Englandthat they were among the plans by which our arch-enemy, Bonaparte, sought to close the Continent against us, and bring ruin on our trade and manufactures-and that in spite of them, and of all, either enemies or rivals have done, or can do, the British manufacturer has still maintained his envied ascendancy: --when these facts, we say, are remembered, it cannot seem surprising that they should of themselves suffice to make the English people frown on this attempt to introduce a similar institution among them. Every one sees that it would be but adopting the stale device of an enemy-a de

vice which, now that feelings of enmity have given way to a system of free and enlightened rivalry, that enemy itself is on the point of abandoning, as not only unprofit able but pernicious.

The Times has, out of compliment to the "high respectability" of the committee of management of this soi disant National Institution, stated in detail the reasons, which make it impolitic to natu ralize such a system of exhibition in this country. We scarcely think this was necessary, but lest there should be a doubt on the subject, in the minds of any one of our readers, we shall quote what that able journal says in regard to it :

"Supposing the Repository were as splendid in its character, and as universal in its range, as our national ingenuity and enterprize could make it, we should still object to its pretensions on other grounds. The utility of such shows, in a country like England, we think, extremely questionable-let the scale on which they are conducted, or the patronage with which they are honoured, be what they may. An exhibition of the products of manufacturing skill and mechanical invention, in one great show-room, so arranged as to attract the gaze of the public, can only be beneficial in one of two cases; either when industry is so degraded and discouraged as to require a counterbalance in the admi. ration of the great public of the metropolis for general neglect, or when the means of communication between the different districts of a country are so inadequate as to prevent the rapid spread of improvements, and to confine the knowledge of invention, or the reputation of inventors, for a long time to the place of their primitive display. Is either of these the case with Great Britain ? Is the manufacturer so degraded as to require to be raised in his own estimation by seeing crowds of curious idlers, or fashionable loungers, assembled to admire his productions? Does he need the criticism of the public, who must be less skilful than himself, to improve those arts on which his existence,

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reputation, and fortune depend? Is his competition with his rivals in trade not sufficiently stimulated by the desertion, or the increase of his customers, unless he likewise sends samples of his handicraft to stand a comparison with theirs in the same gallery? Is any invention or improvement likely to remain long neglected in a country where the rage for novelty is so great, and the means of communication are SO cheap and rapid-which has so many stage-coaches and commercial travellers; so many Mechanics' Magazines and Philosophical Journals; so many facilities of adver, tising in reviews and newspapers ? In seeing a manufactured article, the process by which it has attained its perfection cannot be learned by a rival manufacturer; and to appre ciate its excellence the taste of the purchaser or consumer does not require to be cultivated or purified, as in the case of the fine arts, by the repeated exhibition of masterpieces. One does not require to be a con noisseur in the treasures of a "Repository," patronized by Lords and Members of Parliament, to select a good piece of cutlery, or a strawbonnet; a pair of waterproof shoes, or even a periwig on the new plan, which is exhibited at the King's Mews.

"But it may be said, that as no manufacturer, artisan, or inventor, is obliged to send his contribution to the Repository, and as no passenger is compelled to come in and examine it, the enterprize is at least harmless and innocent; that it forms another mode of advertising, another bond of connexion between the manufacturer and retail purchaser or consumer; and that if one purchase is made, or one meritorious man encouraged, in consequence of the public display, there is so much gained. Even this negative merit we are disposed to question, without such a drawback as would, perhaps, equal its value. The admiration bestowed on a choice piece of art exhibited in a public collection, may often have the effect of leading the manufacturer to bestow upon specimens entered for the show, a degree

ing small quantity of solid matter, in respect of the fluid ether, is so disposed by the Almighty wisdom, as to yield as great a surface for the use of living creatures, as can consist with the conveniency and security of the whole?

"But still, it may be said, that without light there can be no living; and therefore all this apparatus of our inward globes must be useless. To this I answer, that there are many ways of producing light, which we are wholly ignorant of the medium itself may be always luminous, after the manner of our ignes fatui; the concave arches may, in several places, shine with such a substance as invests the surface of the sun; nor can we, without a boldness unbecoming a philosopher, adventure to assert the impossibility of peculiar luminaries below, of which we have no sort of idea."

I am, Sir, Yours, &c.

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down upon a plan, to any convenient scale, as in the figure. Draw two right lines I M, IN, at right angles, to intersect in a point, as I; the point of intersection, as well as the two lines, being exterior to the several groups. From the respective centres of these groups let fall perpendiculars A a, Bb, Cc, Dd, E e, F, upon the line I N, and other perpendiculars A a', B b′, C c′, Dd, Ee, Ff', upon the other line I M; and let their respective lengths be measured upon the general scale of the diagram.

Then take the sum of the products of the number of inhabitants in each group of houses into the distance of the centre of that group from the line I N, and divide that sum of the products by the number of inhabitants in all the groups or hamlets; the quotient will give the distance of the required point, or centre of mean distances, from the line I N.

Proceed similarly to obtain the distance of the said point from the line I M.

That is, if A, B, C, D, &c., denote the number of inhabitants in

the respective groups, then (A.A a +B Bb+C.Cc+D·Dd+E.Ee F·Fƒ)÷(A+B+C+D+E+F)= Im; and (AA a'+B·B b'+C•C c +D D d'+E E e'+F•Fƒ)÷(A+ B+C+D+E+F)=I n.

Set off the distances I m, In, agreeably to the numerical results thus obtained. Through m draw m G parallel to I N; and through n draw n G parallel to I M; their point of intersection G is the point required.

This operation is altogether so simple, that I regard it as unnecessary to occupy more space in your pages, by giving an example in Numbers.

I am, Sir, Yours, &c.

› Feb. 10, 1829. 1

O. C. F. 1

NEW PUBLICATIONS]

Connected with the Arts and Sciences.

Farther Remarks on the present Defec tive State of the Nautical Almanac: to which is added an Account of the

New Astronomical_Ephemeris, published at Berlin. Extracted from the Appendix to Astronomical Tables and Formula. By FRANCIS BAILLY, F.R.S. &c. 24 pp. 8vo. London: Jan. 1829, The "Nautical Almanac" of England has long been a byword among the literati of Europe (so Mr. Croker, the Admiralty Secretary,bas himself attested) to denote anything superlatively defective in science; and though the Board of Longitude, which had the blame of casting this reproach on the country, has been abolished, it is the same byword still. Mr. Bailly, who is so honourably known for his persevering endeavours to rouse the government and the nation te a sense of the importance of having a more correct and comprehensive Ephemeris; and whose exertions may be said to have been so far crowned with success, when the Board of Longitude was abolished; has here presented us with some "Farther Remarks," which have for their object to show that there still remains something more to be done, and that the "Nautical" is nearly as much as ever a constant charge upon the nation without any equivalent advantage."

The apologists of the Astronomer Royal and his associates have attempted to account for the defects of the "Nautical Almanac," by saying, that it is not meant to be a complete Astronomical Ephemeris, but merely one which may serve the purposes of the navigator. Mr. B. grapples with the case on both suppositions; and shows, successfully, that it is as little calculated to supply the wants of the navigator as of the astronomer.

"If it is intended solely for navigation, or if its object be the promotion of na vigation at all, surely it ought to contain all the requisite facilities for determining the problems necessary at sea, Why, then, are the distances of the moon from the planets omitted? And why do we not see a list of all the occultations that will occur? * * * As to occultations of the fixed stars by the moon, it has now long been discovered, that they may be observed, with a common telescope, at sea (even from the unsteady deck of a vessel), down to the sixth magnitude; as may be easily verified by any one that will take the pains to look out for them. They are the most perfect of all lunar distances; and it is sufficiently well known, that they afford the best means of determining the longitude. Again; if the 'Nautical Almanac' really has the advancement of navigation in view, why does it not contain a more enlarged ephemeris of the places of the four principal

planets (Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) for every day in the year, instead of the almost useless summary which it now exhibits; so that their accurate positions may be, as before, ready for immediate use, when required, as those of the Sun and Moon. For these stars (and particularly Venus) can frequently be seen in broad daylight; and their altitudes,consequently, taken on the meridian, when unfavourable circumstances prevent an observation of the Sun or Moon: an instance of which lately occurred in one of the American packets, where an observation of Venus on the meridian (soon after the passage of the Sun, which was unfortunately obscured at the time) was the means of determining the latitude of the ship. An Ephemeris, pretending to be for the use of nautical men, should contain every thing that can at all diminish the labour of computation at sea; or that will at all tend to help an enlightened sailor in pursuing his adventurous and doubtful path across the trackless ocean. He is frequently placed in situations of great difficulty, where every means that can be made available for relieving him ought to be ready at hand. It is but a small return we make him for the perils he encounters."-Pages 3, 4.

It has been gravely asserted, year after year, in the advertisement prefixed to the " Nautical Almanac," that as far as the existing Tables of "the Sun and Moon have been examined, they appear to be already sufficiently accurate for every purpose of practical astronomy.' Let us see how Mr. B. disposes of this assertion :

"Why, so far from this being the case, there is not one purpose of practical astronomy for which the Tables of the Sun (setting aside those of the Moon) are sufficiently accurate ;" and, if the Directors of the "Nautical Almanac" had ever condescended to look through a transit instrument (even of ordinary construction) they would readily have been convinced of the fact; and would soon have learned that they are not "sufficiently accurate" even to regulate a common chronometer. Indeed, the truth itself is tacitly acknowledged in the Supplement for 1829, where they have inserted Professor Airy's Table of Corrections of the Solar Tables for every Fifth Day of the Year, from the recent investigations of that profound mathematician; thus virtually contradicting the bold assertion which they had so incautiously, and so repeatedly made."Page 13.

The peculiar deficiencies of "The