part of the thirteenth century as the period of their invention, popular opinion has pronounced in favour of Alexander de Spina, a native of Pisa, who died in the year 1313. In the Italian Dictionary, Della Crusca, under the head of "Occhiale," or Spectacles, it is stated that Friar Jordan de Rivalto tells his audience, in a sermon published in 1305, that "it is not twenty years since the art of making spectacles was found out, and is indeed one of the best and most necessary inventions in the world." This would place the invention in the year 1285. On the other hand, Dominic Maria Manni, an eminent Italian writer, attributes the invention to Salvino Armati, who flourished about 1345-(See his Treatise, Degli Occhiali da Nuso, inventati da Salvino Armati, 4to. 1738.) On the authority of various passages in the writings of Friar Bacon, Mr. Molyneux is of opinion that he was acquainted with the use of spectacles; and when Bacon (Opus Majus) says, that "this instrument (a plano-convex glass, or large segment of a sphere) is useful to old men, and to those who have weak eyes; for they may see the smallest letters sufficiently magnified," we may conclude that the particular way of assisting decayed sight was known to him. It is quite certain that they were known and used about the time of his death, A.D. 1292.

TIME MEASURE BAROMETER

Was introduced by Scipio Nasica, 159; King Alfred's timekeeper was six large wax tapers, each 12 inches long; as they burnt unequally, owing to the wind, he invented a lanthorn, made of wood, and then scraped plates of ex-horns, glass being a great rarity, (887.) The ancients had three sorts of time measures; hour glasses, sun dials, and a vessel full of water with a hole in its bottom.

SAILING COACHES.

We have heard much of propelling coaches by steam, but it appears from the following article, that sailing coaches, or coaches propelled along by the wind, were known to our neighbours long ago. They were invented by Simon Sterinius, a Fleming.

"Purposing to visit Grotius (saith Gassendus,) Peireskius went to Scheveling, that he might satisfy himself of the carriage and swiftness of a coach, a few years before invented, and made up with that artifice, that with expanded sails it would fly upon the shore as a ship upon the sea. He had formerly heard that Count Maurice, a little after his victory at Newport, had put himself thereinto, together with Francis Mendoza, his prisoner, on purpose to make trial thereof; and that within two hours they arrived at Putten, which is distant from Scheveling fourteen leagues, or two and forty miles. He had, therefore, a mind to make the experiment of it himself, and he would often tell us

with what admiration he was seized, when he was carried with a quick wind, and yet perceived it not, the coach's motion being equally quick."

STEAM ENGINES.

We have often heard of the utility of steam being derived from its effect on the lid of the tea-kettle; be that as it may, it was first employed to produce motion by Brancas, a philosopher at Rome, about the year 1628. But the first real steam engine for raising water, is described in a small pamphlet, published in the reign of Charles the Second, in the year 1663, entitled, "A Century of the Names and Scantlings of the Marquis of Worcester's Inventions, written in the year 1655." No use was made of this invaluable hint until Captain Savary, in 1698, obtained a patent for an engine which operated both by the expansive and condensive force of steam, to be employed in drawing mines, serving towns with water, and for working all sorts of mills.

Thomas Newcomen, ironmonger, and John Cowley, glazier, of Dartmouth, obtained a patent in 1705 for improvements made in the steam engine, and in which Captain Savary was admitted to participate. But it was reserved for James Watt, a mathematical instrument maker at Glasgow, to bring the steam engine to perfection. He obtained a patent for his great invention of performing condensation in a separate vessel from the cylinder. Many inventions have, since that time, been made by him for effecting a saving and better application of steam. Watt often acknowledged, that his first ideas on this subject were acquired by his attendance on Dr. Black's Chemical Lectures, and from his consideration of latent heat, and the expansibility of steam. The name of George Dodd deserves a prominent place in the history of steam engines, as being the first to undertake a considerable voyage by sea in a steam vessel. The boat was built on the Clyde by Messrs. Wood, and was launched in 1813, under the name of the Glasgow, but subsequently called the Thames.

HORSE'S POWER.

This term, used as the name of a measure of power, is an expression which had its origin in convenience. In its first application no great nicety was necessary; but as the value of mechanical power became better understood, an exact measure, nearly coinciding with the power of a horse, and uniformity in the practice of engineers, became desirable. Mr. Watt has fixed the elementary horse power at 1,920,000lb. raised one foot per hour, or 32,000lb. raised one foot per minute, or 533 raised one foot per second. Mr. Watt further assigned a proportion for the low-pressure steam engine, equivalent to a horse's power, which is 55 times the square of the diameter of the cylinder, in inches,

multiplied by the velocity of the piston, six feet per minute, and the product divided by 32,000, the result is the number of horse's power. The advantage of steam power is apparent; the horse can work at that rate only eight hours; the engine may be kept at work as long as wanted.

WINNOWING MACHINES.

These very useful machines were a Chinese invention, brought to Europe by the Dutch, and first made in Scotland by Rodgers, near Hawick, in 1733, from whence they were soon after brought into Northumberland, where they were first used in England.

SPINNING JENNIES.

The Spinning Jenny, to which this country owes so much of its commercial greatness, was originally invented by Hargreaves in 1767, but ultimately improved by Richard Arkwright, a barber, but who afterwards became an eminent manufacturer, and ultimately Sir Richard Arkwright, Bart.

The term Jenny, was derived from his wife, whose name was Jane, but whom he used to address by the familiar name of Jenny; thinking, no doubt, as the latter had been very prolific (which was the case), that his new invention would be equally so, under a similar appellation. The result justified such a conclusion.

AIR BALLOONS.

As balloon ascensions seem quite the rage, it may not be amiss to state, that Mr. Lunardi accompanied by a cat, a dog, and a pigeon, ascended in one from the Artillery Ground, Moorfields (the first attempt of the kind in England), September 15, 1784. For some account of the recent improvements in aerial machines, see the Reports of the Juries of the Great Exhibition, p. 309.

LANTHORNS

Were first used in England by king Alfred, in 890, as is noticed in Asser's Life of Alfred. See also John xviii. 3.

DIORAMA, PANORAMA, &c.

Diorama is from the Greek, and means to "see through," and is a mode of painting and scenic exhibition of recent invention by two French artists, Daguerre and Bouton. It possesses some advantages over the Panorama, in being equally suitable for architectural and interior views as for landscape. The Panorama is neither more nor less than a large picture, the Diorama is a transparency, and the Cosmorama and Poecilorama

a couple of galanta shows for grown up ladies and gentlemen. The Diorama in the Regent's Park, London, was first opened in 1823, and was erected after the plans of Messrs. Morgan and Pugin. The Diorama at Berlin, executed by Carl Gropius, an eminent scene painter, is somewhat on the same plan.

KALEIDOSCOPE.

This ever-varying optical instrument derives its name from naños beautiful, Eidos a form, and axons to see. The novelty was so enchanting, that opticians could not manufacture kaleidoscopes fast enough to meet the universal desire for seeing the delightful and ever-varying combinations presented by each turn of the magical cylinder. It was invented by Dr. Brewster, to whom, had its exclusive formation been ensured, it must have produced a handsome fortune in a single year. Unhappily, that gentleman was deprived of his just reward by fraudful anticipation.

WATER CARRIAGE.

Floats, or rafts, are believed by most authors to have been the first kind of water carriage. To these succeeded canoes, made of one large tree excavated, to secure its freight from being wetted or washed away.

"Then first on seas the hollow alder swam.'

As uncultivated natives wanted proper tools for sawing large trees into planks, the most ancient vessels or boats in several countries were made of osiers, and the flexible branches of trees interwoven as close as possible, and covered with skins. The sea which flows between Britain and Ireland, says Cæsar, is so unquiet and stormy, that it is only navigable in summer, when the people of these countries pass and repass it in small boats made of wattles, and covered carefully with the hides of oxen.

SHIPS OF WAR.

The art of ship-building was first invented by the Egyptians; the first ship (probably a galley) being brought from Egypt by Darius, 1485 B.C. The first ship of 800 tons was built in England, 1509. The first double-decked one built in England was of 1000 tons burthen, by order of Henry VII.: she had three masts, carried 80 guns, measured 138 feet in length and 36 in breadth; it cost £14,000, and was called the Great Harry. Down to the year 1545, the "Great Harry" was the only ship of that description in the British Fleet. She was accidentally burnt at Woolwich in her sixty-fifth year; before this, 24 gun-ships were the largest in our navy. Port-holes, and other improvements, were first

F

invented by Descharges, a French builder at Brest, in the reign of Louis XII., 1500.

BASKETS.

Baskets were first made by the ancient Britons, who exported vast quantities of them. Julius Cæsar particularly alludes to them in his Commentaries.

MARINER'S COMPASS.

The Mariner's Compass was invented by Flavio Gioia, or Goya, a Neapolitan, and from which period we may date the general intercourse among nations. It was discovered early in the fourteenth century.

FLEUR-DE-LIS ON THE MARINER'S COMPASS.

Those who have seen the mariner's compass, or indeed a drawing of it, must have observed the fleur-de-lis at the point of the needle. From this circumstance the French have laid claim to the discovery; but it is much more probable that the figure is an ornamental cross, which originated in the devotion of an ignorant and superstitious age to the mere symbol.

BRIDGES.

Bridges were originally called Bows. Stow says, at Stratford by Bow is a bridge, the first that was built of stone in England. It was built by orders of queen Matilda, relict of Henry I., over the river Lea, and called Stratford Bow from its arch, which was a piece of architecture then probably new to the British nation. It was built in 1087. It is related that queen Matilda, being closely pursued by her enemies, forded the river Lea below Old Ford, on which occasion, the waters being much out, some of her favourite attendants were drowned, and which afflicted her so much, that afterwards she caused the bridge above alluded to, to be built over the said place. The oldest bridge now existing in England, is the triangular bridge at Croyland in Lincolnshire, which is said to have been erected about A. D. 860. The oldest suspension bridge is believed to have been the Winch Chain Bridge, suspended over the Tees, supposed to have been erected about 1741.

CANALS.

The first canal in England, with locks and sluices, was made A.D. 1563, near the city of Exeter. The inventor was John Trew of Glamorgan. In 1755, an act was passed for constructing one eleven miles long from the mouth of Sankey Brook, in the river