Oldalképek
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

heat the leaves; some fire is put into it, either of grass or bamboo, so that the flame may ascend high; the pan is put on a square wooden frame, that has wooden rollers on its legs, and pushed round and round this little room by one man, while another feeds the fire, the leaves on the top being occasionally turned; when they are a little whithered, the fire is taken away, and the leaves brought down and manufactured into tea, in the same manner as if it had been dried in the sun.

In a conversation which Mr. C. A. Bruce had with some Chinese black-tea makers, the following facts were elicited respecting the management of the plant in China:About a seventh portion of the tea produced in that country grows on the mountains, and a third portion in the valleys. It grows amongst the snow, which hurts it very little. Most of the plants live about fifty years; but some live only ten. They throw off a great number of leaves in the winter, but they always retain some. The Chinese never plant from slips; but always from seeds. The seeds are sown in a hole about four fingers deep and eight inches in diameter, two handfuls of seeds being put into it, and then covered up. Some are sown in November and December, and some in January; and when the rain sets in they come up. If the seeds are good, from a tenth to a twentieth portion of them come up, in general. These plants are very seldom transplanted, and then only during the rains, when from four to six plants are planted here and there, three or four feet apart, on small ridges of earth about a foot high, a hollow space being left

between them to allow the rain-water to run off. To prevent the plants being washed away, many trenches are dug, the form of them depending on the ground and situation. No care is taken to shade the plants, though in some plantations they are in the shade for nearly half the day, The leaves of those which grow in the shade have the most juice when rolled, and therefore require more drying in the sun; but those which grow in the sun produce better and more tea than the former. Some China merchants pretend to be able to tell by the smell which tea was grown in the shade, and which in the sun, and give their preference to the latter. The Chinese cultivators weed their plantations twice a year, once in the rainy season, and once in the cold. The plants are fit for plucking in the third or fourth year, according to the soil. In the third year they are from one to two cubits high, but they would grow higher if it were not for the constant plucking. If the weather be warm and fine, and the season has not been a very cold one, the Chinese commence plucking the first crop of leaves in May; the second crop about seven weeks after the first; and the third crop about the same time, or, perhaps, six weeks

after the second. Some cultivators never gather a third crop for fear of exhausting and killing the plants. The quantity of tea which a single plant will yield, varies greatly. Some plants will produce each two rupees' weight, while others produce each a pound and a half; but in the first crop, the produce of each generally averages a quarter of a pound, and in the second crop a little less. Plants which have been cut down and then grown up again, produce twice as many leaves as they would otherwise. The leaves of the Chinese plants are much smaller, and seem to have more juice than the Assamese, although the soil is the same. Tea is manufactured in the same manner in China as in Assam, and in neither country do the manufacturers use anything to give it a flavour. It is not fit to be used until it has been kept about a year; for if drank before then, it has an unpleasant taste of the fire, and it affects the head. It will keep good for three or four years in boxes, from which the air is excluded.

MODE OF EMPLOYING SERVANTS

THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
(For the Mirror.)

The Janizaries.-Turkey.

THE Janizaries, or Janissaries, are the Turkish infantry, and they form the Grand Signior's guard; and are the main sinew or strength of the Ottoman Empire. Their antiquity may be deduced from Ottoman, the first king of the Turks. They were originally composed only of sons of Christians, who were paid as a tribute every fifth year to the Grand Signior, for the liberty of conscience, and were educated in the Mahometan rites, to the end, that forgetting their country and religion, they might know no other parent than the Sultan. This custom has been entirely abolished for many years, and the Janizaries are now composed wholly of Turks; and he who wishes to become one, must, before he is enrolled in the register as such, perform his noviciate, in which station they are called Azamoglans; (for the description of whom see the article under that bead, p. 148). Their pay is from one to twelve aspers a day, according to their behaviour. They have besides this allowance, a daily provision, fixed by the Grand Signior. Their dress comprises a linen gir dle, girt about the middle of the body, variously striped with gold and silver fringe at the ends; in room of a turban they usually wear a felt cap, with a long hood hanging over their shoulders: on particular occasions they deck their Tarcola or cap, with a quill full of long feathers tied on the forepart. Their arms, in war-time, consist of a sabre, and carbine, and a cartouch-box, hanging on their left side; and at Constan

tinople, in the time of peace, they carry in their hands merely a staff. In Asia, for the most part, they wear a bow and arrow, with a poniard, which they call a baniare: for merly they enjoyed such great privileges throughout the empire, and were so highly respected, that many persons prevailed on the officers, through bribes, to make them pass for Janizaries, which exempted them from the payment of taxes. They seldom marry, though they are not prohibited from so doing, being then sure never to be promoted. Some years since, when they committed any great crime, the offending party was either privately strangled or drowned. Some of them are very exemplary, and live more like religious persons than warlike soldiers.

C. P. S.

bleesed holy martyr, Saint George, is patrone of this roiaume of Englonde, and the crye of men of warre, in the worshyp of whom is founded the noble order of the garter, and also a noble college in the castle of Wyndsore, by Kynges of Englonde, in whyche college is the harte of Saynt George, whyche Sygysmunde, the Emperor of Almeyne, brought and gave for a great and precious relique to Kynge Harry the Fifthe; and also the sayd Sygysmunde was a broder of the sayd garter; and also here is a heyre of hys hede; whyche college is nobly endowed to the honour and worship of ALMIGHTY GOD and his blessed martyr Saynt George."

Arts and Sciences.

ST. GEORGE.

THE following ancient legend of the tutelar saint and patron of England, is from the Legenda Aurea, preserved in the British Museum:-"Saynt George was a knyghte born at Capadose. On a time he came into the province of Libya, to a cyte whyche is sayd Sylene, and by this cyte was a stayne or ponde lyke a sea, wherein was a dragon whyche envenymed alle the contre, and the people of the cyte gave to him every day two sheep to fede him, and when the sheep fayled, there was taken a man and a sheep. Thenne was. an ordaniunce made in the toune, that there should be taken the chyldren and yung peple of them of the toune by lotte, and that it so happed the lotte fyl upon the Kynge's daughter, whereof the Kyng was sory, and sayde, for the love of GODDES, take golde and silver, and alle that I have, and let me have my daughter; and the peple sayd, how, syr, ye that have made and ordayned the lawe, and our chyldren be now dead, and now ye wolde do the contrarye; your daughter shall be gyven, or else we shall brenne you and you holdes. When the Kynge saw he might no more doo, he began to weepe, and returned to the peple, and demended eight dayes respite, and when the eight dayes were passed, thenne dyd the Kynge arraye his daughter lyke as she should be weedded, and ledde her to the place where the dragon was. When she was there Saynt George passed by, and demanded of the ladye what she made there; and she sayde, go ye your wayes, fayre young man, that ye perish not also." The legend then relates that the dragon appeared," and Saynt George, upon his horse, bore himself against the dragon, and smote him with his spere, and threw hym to the ground, and delivered the ladye to her fader, who was baptized, and all his peple." It says further, "that Saynt George was afterwards beheaded by order of the Emperor Dacien, in the year of our LORD 287," and concludes, "This

THE BUDE LIGHT.

lamp, supplied as usual with oil, to the comMR. GURNEY's adaptation of the Argand for ingenuity, simplicity and effectiveness. bustion of oxygen gas, is equally remarkable Pure oxygen gas is introduced in lieu of flame: this is the general principle of the common air to feed the inner surface of the adaptation, and in itself sufficiently simple, -but the scientific arrangement of means, has required indefatigable exertion during three years, so as to satisfy that rigid scrutineer, Mr. Farraday.

One result of this patient course of trial, deserves particular mention. To obviate the perpetual choking by deposits of carbon, the oxygen-feeder is formed analogously to the elementary form of flame.-This form is conical, and so also is that of the deposited carbon.

the Polytechnic Institution, Regent Street; A specimen of this light may be seen at and it will, at once, be conceded that Mr. Gurney's aim in fitting this new disposition of flame for LIGHT-HOUSES has completely succeeded; for within 3 inches by 1 in. we now have a compressed light 24 times more brilliant than that of the Argund, and intensely reflected to the greatest possible distance.

The mere mechanical contrivances to ren der the supply of oxygen perfectly safe, are not less worthy of admiration than other parts of Mr. Gurney's plan. As to the cost,-the New Light has a decided advantage-for the oxygen reduces the consumption of oil two-thirds, creating at the same time its entire consumption. Thus, the long red flame produced by common lamps, is compressed one half on the introduction of the oxygen, and becomes an intense white light.

The mariners of England, nay Englishmen generally, cannot be too grateful to Mr. Gurney for the practical result of so many beau tiful and scientific combinations. M.

་་་

Front View.

AN ANCIENT POWDER FLASK.

A FEW years since, a chimney-sweep was em ployed to clean a chimney in a house occupied by Mr. Chipperfield, High Street, Canterbury, nearly adjoining the Chequers Inn, spoken of by Chaucer, as being the resort of the Pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket in Canterbury Cathedral; and after he had been in his sooty abode for some time, fears were entertained for his safety, and it was intended to break a passage through into the chimney to rescue him, but on this project being carried into effect, the little urchin made his appearance through another apartment of the house. It having soon been found necessary, from the dilapidated state of the premises alluded to, to remove the chimney, when an apartment was discovered, evidently intended, from its situation, to contain fire-arms and other weapons used in those troublesome days, which the ancient City of Canterbury have formerly so unfortunately witnessed; and in this apartment four ancient Powder Flasks were discovered, one of them being that of which we have given the above representation: it is made of wood, and the ornaments of steel. It is now in the possession of Richard Friend, Esq. of Canterbury.

We are indebted to the kind attention of Mr. Ward, bookseller, of Canterbury, for the drawing and particulars of the above curious antiquarian relic.

THE NEW ART.-PHOTOGRAPHY.

(Continued from page 263.) HAVING in our last number presented our readers with a concise and impartial account of the origin and principle of the art of photography, we shall now proceed to furnish them with every information respecting the

Back View.

several processes necessary for the various applications of it. For the sake of convenient reference we shall arrange the subject under several different heads.

1.- How to prepare the Photographic Paper.

The photographic inks (as we may call them,) required for this purpose consist merely of separate solutions of common salt and of nitrate of silver.† Mr. C. T. Downing, by a tabular exposition of the atomic numbers of these two substances which are subsequently to be brought into contact (on the paper,) for the purpose of exact mutual decomposition, shows us that the relative proportions should be thirty grains of nitrate of silver to one ounce of distilled water, and ten grains of common salt to one ounce of distilled water.

Sir J. Herschell observes that, in the carbonate of silver, nitrate of silver, and acetate of silver, the acids (carbonic, nitric, and acetic,) being more volatile than in the chloride, they adhere to the metallic particles by, a weak affinity, and therefore impart much greater sensibility to the paper on which they are applied. The nitrate of silver should be perfectly neutral, for the least excess of nitric acid in it diminishes the susceptibility of the paper in a remarkable degree.

Pour the solution of common salt into a dish, and immerse each sheet of paper in it, and saturate every part of it by means of a sponge. The paper must then be taken out, drained of its superfluous moisture, and nearly dried by pressure between clean linen or

* Common salt is chloride of sodium, usually called muriate of soda.

+ "Nitrate of silver is prepared by immersing silver in a glass vessel containing one and a-half

times its weight of uitric acid, diluted with an equal bulk of water, and evaporating the solution to dryness."-(Reid's Elements of Practical Chemistry, 1831, p. 385.)

"

white blotting paper. When the paper is dry, sponge one side of it with the solution of nitrate of silver, and do not omit to have the corner of that side marked with a pencil, so that when the paper is fit for use the prepared side may be distinguished. Hang the sheets of paper upon lines in a dark room to dry, and when they are nearly free from moisture, let their marked sides be once more sponged over with the solution of silver, and then be permitted to dry thoroughly. The sheets of paper must be preserved from the light by being wrapped up in several sheets of brown paper, or kept close in a portfolio until they are wanted for use.

Note.-When too much sált has been used in the solution, the paper is less sensitive, and gives but a faint representation. This may be rectified by silvering the paper again, and drying it as before. The paper should be prepared by candle or gaslight, after daylight is withdrawn. "This paper," Mr. Talbot observes, "if properly made, is very useful for all ordinary photogenic purposes. For example, nothing can be more perfect than the images it gives of leaves and flowers, especially with a summer sun: the light passing through the leaves delineates fication of their nerves. 22 2.-To prepare another kind of Photographic Paper.

every rami

Sponge the surface of superfine smooth writing paper with the above solution of nitrate of silver, and then dry it before the fire; then sponge it with bromide of potassium, and dry it as before; and then, again, sponge it with the solution of nitrate of silver, and dry it as before. The great difference in this receipt is, that common salt is altogether dispensed with, and in its stead is used the bromide of potassium. According to Mr. Downing, nearly twenty-one grains of the bromide of potassium should be dissolved in an ounce of distilled water, if the proportion of the nitrate of silver to the water be, as in the former receipt, thirty grains to an

ounce.

Mr. Talbot says that this kind of paper is very sensitive to even the feeblest daylight, but insensible to radiant heat, and, therefore, undergoes no change in drying before the fire. He adds that it is first of a pale yellow colour, but on exposure to the light it changes to bluish green, olive green, and finally becomes almost black. Mr. Downing, however, says that besides its not becoming so black as the former kind of photographic paper, the shadow it receives is more liable to change after washing it with the iodide of potassium for the purpose of fixing or retain ing it, a process of which we shall speak hereafter. But so sensitive is this kind of photographic paper, that, when exposed to broad daylight (but not to sunshine,) the

time it took to receive a distinct impression from the light was repeatedly observed with a second's watch, and found to be sometimes two seconds, and sometimes three. At five o'clock in the evening, a piece of it was placed perpendicularly in a camera obscura, the lens being turned towards the window, and a picture of the bars was obtained in six minutes. Shortly after sunset, when there was even less light, a piece of this paper being exposed near a window, became sensibly changed in colour in from twenty to thirty seconds. M. Biot, wishing to ascertain whether the change of colour was in any degree influenced by the paper itself, spread some of the solutions of nitrate of silver and bromide of potassium on a piece of white unglazed porcelain, taking care to operate by night, and to dry it in the above manner at the fire, thus obtaining a solid coating upon the porcelain, which he then shut up in a dark place. On the following morning he took it out, and found it of a pale sulphur yellow colour, and, although the weather was very cloudy, yet he had no sooner presented it to the daylight at an open window looking north than it turned green, and it soon afterwards became nearly black. Wishing, also, to know whether the preparation would succeed equally well if not dried at the fire, he mixed the two solutions together in a darkened room. A precipitate fell, which he spread on a porcelain plate, and allowed it to dry in the dark. The next day he wrapped it in several folds of paper, and brought it into another room, to exhibit its original pale lemon yellow colour to a friend; but on removing the paper covers it instantly became green, and he had hardly time to present it to the light of a window looking to the north, before its colour had changed to dark olive green, after which it almost immediately became black.

then

3.

To take Photographic Drawings of Landscapes, Trees, Buildings, Sculpture, &c.

Provide yourself with a common camera obscura,* having a lens of 5, or not more than 6, inches focus. Then place a piece of cardboard in the box, a little beyond the true focus of the lens, and when you have suc ceeded in getting a well-defined bright representation (which will of course be upside down,) upon the card, let the camera rest perfectly still. Then place a piece of the photographic paper immediately in front of the card, close the lid, and let it remain so for at furthest half an hour, but for a few minutes if the sun be strong. A beautifully accurate outline of the object will thus be received on the photographic paper. It is

A camera obscura quite good enough for the purpose may be purchased at almost any optician's shop for three or four shillings.

obvious that if the objects are not perfectly still they cannot be copied accurately. 4.-To take Photographic Copies of Prints, Manuscripts, Dried Plants, &c.

Place the subject on the marked side of a sheet of photographic paper, and put a clean plate of good window glass over it to press it close, and then let it lie unmoved and exposed to the light until the discolouration has ceased. If the subject copied be a print or a manuscript,* this first copy will be a reverse representation, exhibiting a transposition of the lights and shades of the original picture, and white letters instead of the dark ones in the manuscript. Mr. Havell having attempted to copy Rembrandt's powerful etching of an old man reading, found that the photographic proof made a most ludicrous metamorphosis, for, instead of a white man with black hair, it exhibited a black man with white hair and white eyes. But to obtain precise copies, a very simple proceeding is requisite, and which for convenience sake we shall

term

5.-Correcting the Shadow. To do this, place the first photographic copy or photographic proof, over another sheet of photographic paper, put the plate of glass over it, and expose them, as before, to the light. This second drawing, and all others obtained by substituting the photographic proof, will exhibit the lights and shadows again transferred, but in their proper places, as in the original engraving or manuscript.

(To be continuded in our next.)

GILDING OF THREAD FOR EMBROIDERY. THIS process is thus described by Reaumer as practised in his time. A cylinder of silver, 360 ounces in weight, is cased with a cylinder of gold at most 6 ounces in weight. This cylindrical mass of 366 ounces of metal is then drawn by a powerful force through a series of circular holes in a plate of steel continually diminishing in diameter, until it

attains the state of a wire so thin that 202 feet in length weigh but the sixteenth of an ounce the whole length of the wire into which it is now drawn being 1,182,912 feet, or

about 98 leagues. This wire is then passed between rollers, which in the act of flattening it elongate it one-seventh, and its total length thus becomes 112 leagues. The width of

Engravings and manuscripts of which photographic copies are required, must have no printing, writing, or other marks on the back of them, because such marks will also be copied, and thus produce confused representations on the paper. Mr. Talbot observes that, to make photographic copies of manuscripts is so very easy, and each copy takes so short a time, that he thinks it may prove very useful to persous who wish to circulate a few copies of anything which they have written; more especially since, if they can draw, they may intersperse their text with drawings, which shall have almost as good

an effect as some engravings.

the flattened thread is now gth of a line, or

th of an inch; and supposing, with Reaumer, that a cubical foot of gold weighs 21,220 ounces, and a cubical foot of silver 11,523 ounces, it may readily be calculated that the thickness of this gilded thread is very nearly the sloth part of an inch. Now what is the thickness of the plate of gold which envelopes it? Calculating on the same principles as before, we readily arrive at the conclusion, that the thickness of this plate of gold 713136th of an inch. Now gilded threads are made by a process similar to this, in which only d the proportion of gold is used. There is spread over these, therefore, a continuous plate of gold less than the twomillionth part of an inch in thickness. The silver may be taken out of its gold case by plunging the thread in nitric acid, by which the silver will be attacked through the extremities of the gold case and dissolved, whilst the gold will remain untouched by it. This being done, and the hollow gold case being examined, it is found to be a perfectly continuous plate, and to possess in this state of extreme attenuation all the sensible and all the chemical properties which belong to the metal.-Moseley's Illustrations of Science. Biography.

ROBERT MILLHOUSE.

and not at all to fortune, was born of poor THIS talented author, scarcely known to fame, parents, at Nottingham, the 14th of October, 1788; and was put to work, when he was only six years of age; and at ten he was set to work in a stocking frame.. It appears that his taste for poetry was developed when he house of a friend, on a statue of Shakspeare, was 16 years old, by reading, when at the the inscription,

"The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples," &c.

[ocr errors]

the beauty and solemnity of which excited in him the highest admiration. In 1810 he enlisted into the Nottingham Militia, and had not been long in that, to him, novel situation, before he made an attempt at composition. "I was," says his brother, "agreeably surhad just received from him, at the sight of prised one day, on opening a letter which I his first poetical attempt, Stanzas addressed to a Swallow,' which was soon followed by a small piece written On finding a Nest of Robins.' Shortly afterwards the regiment embarked for Dublin, from whence, in 1812, he sent his brother several of his effusions, but few of which have been published. Being now desirous of ascertaining whether any of his productions were worthy of being printed, the Review was selected for that purpose; and in this paper the productions of this ill-fated Child of Genius first appeared. In 1814 the regiment was disembodied, and he again re

« ElőzőTovább »