prifoners with fuitable and conftant work. This in moft counties will neceflarily vary, but may be easily obtained, efpecially if, by an allowance to the governor out of their earnings, it be made his intereft as well as his duty to look carefully to the performance of it. The allowance given at this houfe, is threepence in every fhilling of the nett earnings, and this is confidered as a part of his falary. I must not omit to inform you, that in this folitary confinement, and thus employed, it has not yet been found neceffary to punish any of the prifoners with irons; and that, fince the new erection and regulation of this prifon, the magiftrates in the vicinity; as well as the keeper of it, have obferved, that in no one equal period of time has there been fo few commitments to it. This preventive juftice, fo preferable to punitive juftice, moft fully evinces the propriety and humanity of the undertaking, and muft naturally excite a hope, that fimilar plans will be adopted in every county. This indeed I am ftrongly induced to believe will foon be the cafe, as I have already received letters from different gentlemen in Glocefterfhire, Oxfordshire, Wilts, Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Yorkfhire, Lancashire, Suffolk, Wales, and Scotland, requesting the plan, rules, orders, table of diet, and returns; informing me, that in their refpective counties they had determined upon building, and putting their houses of correction under fimilar regulations. The gentlemen of the city of Norwich have also fent a deputation of their magiftrates to view the prifon; upon to enter upon a reformation of their own prifons. If in this letter I may appear to have been either prolix, or frivolous, but should notwithstanding have been able to convey any useful hints to the public, I fhall be fatisfied in having facrificed the reputation of ability at the fhrine of duty, and with pleasure fubfcribe myself, &c. THOMAS BEEVOR. [N. B. In another letter, dated Feb. 18th, Sir Thomas Beevor has added the following remarks:- "In proof of the cleanlinefs, and healthinefs of this prifon, no perfon who entered it in health has hitherto fallen fick in it. I have never had any complaint against any one for immorality or prophanenefs. The effect of the folitariness and mechanical regularity of the place is fuch, as to render them fo contrite and fubdued, that it not only promises fair for a lafting reformation in thefe poor unfortunate wretches, but, what is a ftill better and more pleafing confideration, that it may prove a preventive of crimes in others. For, from an examination of the commitments to this houfe, before and fince the prefent regulation took place, it appears, that one-third fewer have been confined in it fince the latter period; and it is fomewhat remarkable, that, except in one inftance, no prifoner has been a fecond time committed to it."] On the use of steeping Seed-Barley in a dry feafon. By Mr. James Chapple; addreffed to the Secretary of the Bath Society. From the fame work. Sir, More fuccefs in making the fions my communicating an account of of it to you, for the benefit of the public, if thought worthy a place in the third volume of the Bath Society's experimental papers. The laft fpring being remarkably dry, I foaked my feed-barley in the black water taken from a refervoir which conftantly receives the draining of my dung heap and ftables. As the light corn floated on the top I fkimmed it off, and let the reft ftand twenty-four hours. On taking it from the water, I mixed the feed grain with a fufficient quantity of fifted wood afhes to make it fpread regularly, and fowed three fields with it. I began fowing the 16th, and finished the 23d of April. The produce was fixty bufhels per acre, of good clean barley, without any small or green corn, or weeds at harveft. No perfon in this country had better grain. I fowed alfo feveral other fields with the fame feed dry, and without any preparation; but the crop, like thofe of my neighbours, was very poor; not more than twenty bufhels per acre, and much mixed with green corn and weeds when harvefted. I alfo fowed fome of the feed dry on one ridge in each of my former fields, but the produce was very poor in comparison of the other parts of the field. I am, &c. JAMES CHAPPLE. Bodmin, March 12, 1784. [We confider this experiment as a very interefting one, and recommend general trials to be made, both in wet and dry fpring feafons.] An Account of a new kind of Cement, peculiarly hard and lafting, made from fome Red Earth or Puzzo lana, found in Jamaica. Extracted from Tranfactions of the Society inftituted at London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. IN N the year 1774, the fociety received from one of their correfponding members in Jamaica a cafk of red earth, a proper quantity of which was fent to several arehitects, for trial. The gentleman from whom it came thought it a kind of Puzzolana, and defcribed his method of ufing it as follows: "To one meafure of the red earth, add two of the fame measure of well flackt lime, and one of fand, and then let them be well mixed and wrought like common mortar, with fair water, and fo made up in a heap, but in about eight hours it will begin to acquire a hardness, and the heap must be cut down, and well wet with water, and smartly worked and mixed over again, and fo fmartly worked and wet morning and evening, for a whole week, before it is fit for ufe; and after it is laid on, it must be strictly attended while it dries and hardens, to clofe any crack that may appear in the drying, for about forty-eight hours, and then it is generally out of danger. But if any cracks, &c. fhould appear after it is quite dry, as fuppofe the covering of a building, ciftern, &c. a labourer, with a little fand or brick-duft, and a little common white-wafh, thrown over the crack and fmartly rubbed in with a brickbat, or fandy ftone, the crack will foon difappear, and the work will be as good as ever. Cifterns, refervoirs, canals, and all manner of conveniencies to colleft rain-water and retain it, of any reafonable reafonable dimenfions, may at a very fmall expence be made, and completely finished with this compofition, to contain and fecure rain water. By means of this compofition, a mortar may be made (far exceeding any other) wherewith to lay the foundation, and raise the fuperftructure of any dam, bridge, or guttering; and in fhort, any kind of building where water, or any kind of liquid, is to be concerned, because the foft new-made mortar will harden, and foon become like a ftone totally immerfed in water. Of this compofition may be made the best coverings for all mauner of buildings, witnefs my own houfe, that has been covered with this compofition (though not at that time brought to its prefent perfection) thefe twenty years, and is not a pin the worfe. In regard to matters of pleafure, terrace-walks, canals, flowerpots, urns, obelisks, ftatues, and even colloffal ftatues, and other ornaments for gardens, may be made of or with this compofition, as it resists rain, and every fort of moifture, and nothing but violence will make the leaft impreffion, fo that the five orders of architecture, with their various ornaments, may be moft elegantly expreffed on the outfide or infide of buildings, in the plaifterers way, and laft for ages, if no violence is ufed to them. In covering a building, I would choose to lay it on fix inches thick, upon a flat ftrong-framed well-lathed roof, as it will fhrink in drying, and is the best and cheapest coverI know of, as I have experienced ever fince 1747." The following are two letters from Mr. Mylne, addreffed to the fecretary of the above-mentioned jociety, relative to his experiments on the Red Earth. Sir, out a "I have made a fair trial of the Puzzolana earth, received fome years fince from the fociety for enCouragement of arts, manufactures, lain long by me, it turns and commerce, and although it has very good fubftitute to Dutch terras, or Italian Puzzolana, for works immerfed in water. As you have informed me, there ftill remains a quantity of it in the fociety's poffeffion, I fhall be glad of fome to make further trials in other fitua tions, and fhall be glad to know from whence it came, and the the particular place in Jamaica chriftian name of Mr. Brown, by whom it was fent. It was tried against fome British materials, and proved far better than any of them. I am, Sir, Your very humble fervant, New River Head, means of a friend, a quantity from Jamaica, which on comparative trials proved the fame as that you fent me, it is found in vaft quantities on the eftate of Mr. Brown, in the parish of St. Elizabeth, in Jamaica. There are many acres of it, for it lies on the furface of the ground; in this it is different from Puzzolana, which lies in ftrata under ground, like coal. Dutch terras is a tufa ftone, found on the rocky banks of the Rhine, and reduced to powder by mills in Holland. "Mr. Brown, who sent this Jamaica terras to the fociety, is now dead, and the eftate on which it is found is called Dettingen, and is now the property of his fon, a very intelligent gentleman. "On enquiry into the means of bringing it into this country, I find the expence of carriage to the water fide there, and freight to this country, will prevent the use of it here. I wish it however to be made as public as poffible. It may be of ufe to the inhabitants of the Weft India iflands and fome other of our colonies. I am, Sir, New River Head, ANTIQUITIES. ANTIQUITIE S. A description of Thebes, from Diodorus Siculus and Strabo. State of that city under the Perfians, Roman, and Turkish Emperors. The porticos, fphinx-avenues, edifices, and ruins of the great temple, near Carnac, in the eastern part of Thebes, which building and ruins are half a league in circumference. The plain of Carnac, leading to Luxor, which formerly was covered with houfes, cultivated at preJent. The remains of the temple of Luxor, and the magnificent obelisks, which are the most beautiful in Egypt, or the whole world, defcribed: Extracted from the tranflation of Monf. Savary's Letters on Egypt, Vol. II. ftill in being, will enable you to judge what degree of credit thofe recitals deferve. The dotted line in the map, paffing by Carnac, Luxor, Medinet-Abou, and Gournou, will indicate what the extent was of this once famous city. Bu "The great Diofpolis," fays Diodorus Siculus, which the Greeks have named Thebes, was fix leagues in circumference. firis, who founded it, adorned it with magnificent edifices and prefents. The fame of its power and wealth, celebrated by Homer, has filled the world. Its gates, and the numerous veftibules of its temples, occafioned this poet to give it the name of Hecatompylis. Never was there a city that received fo many offerings, in filver, gold, each cut from a fingle ftone. Four principal temples are especially admired there, the most ancient of which was surprisingly grand and fumptuous. It was thirteen ftadia in circumference +, and furrounded by walls twenty-four feet in thickness, and forty-five cubits high. The riches and workmanship of its ornaments were correfpondent to the majefty of the building, which many kings contributed to embel + Diodorus Siculus includes the fphinx-avenues, and the porticos, edifices, and courts which are built round the temple, properly so called; and we fhall find he was very near the truth, VOL. XXVIII. H lish. |