torture as his safety rein from the national gallery, and cancel the same for ever. Mr. G- is aware that safety of the human species is the object of the invention, but he begs leave to ask what protection has been provided against the breaking of the poor animal's jaws by so violent a mechanical power? the force of which, the driver or rider himself would most probably not understand or be aware of." The following answer was received, with permission of its publication.

"In reply to Mr. L. Gompertz's extraordinary note, Mr. Messer begs leave to assure that gentleman, that while he requires neither tract nor preceptors to instruct him in the sacred duties of rational humanity," he is at the same time a decided enemy to all spurious and frivolous pretensions.

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"The purest zeal, however, frequently originates in the most profound ignorance, and therefore, it is perhaps that Mr. L. Gompertz has thought proper to pronounce a gratuitous libel on Mr. Messer's safety bridle.

"For had he really understood its principle, action, and truly innocent effects on a living horse, he would surely not have tortured a perfectly safe, and peculiarly humane invention into a barbarous instrument of cruelty. The inclosed card, further reflection, and a minute inspection of the bridle itself, may probably induce Mr. Gompertz to withdraw his hasty sentence." This note concludes with testimonials from a gentleman in its favor, whose name, however, perhaps we are not at liberty to quote.

After some further correspondence, Mr. Messer and his friend honoured Mr. Gompertz with a visit, in their chaise driven with a safety rein, and it is but justice to state that they fairly and candidly discussed its merits. Their arguments in favor were in effect as follows:

That it was never intended to be pulled but on an emergency, or when a horse might run away, and become unmanageable; and in which case it would, they observed, save human life, which was of more importance than that of horses, and would also save horses from dashing themselves to pieces, the objects of humanity to both being thus effected. A power to injure the horse they admitted it established, but not the necessity. Even a knife, they remarked, might be in the hand of a person, but such person would not therefore be compelled to wound. They also observed, that its price would put it beyond the reach of the lower class, while the higher would not abuse its power.

With every wish, however, to do justice to the inventor, our objections are unmoved, no friend of humanity can wish a horse to be deprived of the little liberty he possesses. The power of a barbarous rider or driver, by means of common English bits is already far too great, and what is wanted, is that which would decrease rather than increase their severity. If some danger should result to man from undue severity, so much the better, and the more we reflect and consult practical men, the more are we convinced that the chief safety-rein man here requires, is a curb-rein to his ungovernable passion for cruelty. A steam-engine may want a throttle-valve, but a steam-engine has no nerves, and for an intelligent being God has provided in kind usage more clever means. Sometimes we grant this may fail, but too seldom to allow all horses to be thus tortured for faults not their own.

Were men as they ought to be, they might hold these reins and inflict no pain, but as they are just what they ought not to be, rich as well as poor, the direct reverse would obtain, and a rein of oppression would thereby be established to render their tyranny the more complete.

We freely admit that it might sometimes save life of both man and beast,

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but that it would oftener produce their destruction appears yet more plain and thus it would undoubtedly arise.

The little restraint to cruelty offered by fear of the just resentment of the animal which may follow, on being removed by this bridle, would cause many riders or drivers to torture their horses without mercy, which on receiving the injury would naturally attempt to escape, while the riders or drivers feeling alarmed would pull the bridle rather too hard, so as to choak the horse, which would suddenly fall in the midst of his career, and thus probably in an instant, produce a violent death to the man as well as to the horse.

Men are generally more fond of attaching blame to others than to themselves, accordingly when they have rendered a horse desperate by violent lashing so that it runs away, a wonder is raised as to why it should not have stood still and borne the trifling smart, one person attributes it to one cause, one to another, at last is the fault frequently laid on a poor little fly, which, with its terrible sting had frightened the horse out of its wits, while the sting of the lash is held harmless. But be this as it may, more leniency instead of increased severity, we are persuaded, will prove the best remedy.

Many are the cruel devices to increase the power of bits, among which, we have been particularly struck by that adopted to Horne's Guildford Stage, 1541. The horses' mouths of which were completely filled with the iron composing the two bits, and beyond that the curb-chain itself inside of the mouth: the foaming and wasting of the saliva thus produced (which fluid is wanted to digest the food) attracted the notice of many persons who saw its effects.

WHIPS ON A NEW CONSTRUCTION.

A correspondent to the Mechanic's Magazine, signed E. B., who has wisely omitted his name, observes, Before I conclude, I will just advert to an invention of mine in the whip-way; I have just finished a whip, wholly composed of ***. I expect it will prove more durable, and may be applied. more effectually than the common thong." We hope the noble and benevolent inventor may one day enjoy its scarifying powers on his own back.

SIR,

To the Editor of the Animals' Friend.

The following case I think my duty to send to you, as it was witnessed by one of my own servants.

ATROCIOUS CRUELTY.-A poor old horse in the last stage of pain and misery, was seen by my servant, and a crowd of spectators, who, without an exception, were horror struck at the inhumanity of its drivers. One gentleman, ready to come forward, if called upon, gave his card to policeconstable 3 of the D division, who very praiseworthyly interfered to save it from the blows it received from a large stick, and finally from being dragged on by ropes, although without shoes; glandered, with its thigh broken, starved, and totally unable to stir.

My servant got it some water, as it licked the pavement to cool its tongue. All this cruelty was exercised to get it to Battle Bridge, a distance, I believe, of nearly two miles, to prevent the trouble of killing it at Mr. Hedge's, in the Edgware-Road, a knacker, who no doubt, is in the habit of doing this to save further trouble of putting a horse in a cart to carry it

to Battle Bridge. It was three hours going a quarter of a mile. After much abuse to the gentleman, police, &c., present, it was finally killed on the spot to end its tortures, perhaps owing to my interference.

SIR,

I remain, Sir,

Your's respectfully,

FRANCES MARIA THOMPSON.

To the Editor of the Animals' Friend.

The cause of humanity having, I conceive, suffered so much from the services of a person named Charles Wheeler, that I feel it my duty to explain what has come under my knowledge relating to him, and without comment, to let all persons judge for themselves.

This person undertook more then a twelve month ago to establish an Omnibus with four horses, to be called "The Humanity Omnibus," and for which purpose I advanced him more than fifty pounds, but this most desirable and humane carriage has never made its appearance, and the re-payment of this sum I have in vain endeavoured to regain, of course, I left no more in his power. On another occasion, I lost my favourite dog, and Wheeler offered his services to find it, if I would advance £2 5s. Od. for this purpose, as a bonus to begin his search with, he promised most solemnly, that if the dog was not produced by him the money should be returned, but to this day no money has been returned; and my poor dog was restored to me by a man of the name of Anderson, from one of the disgraceful receptacles for stolen dogs, when after being tied up, with their mouths bound with cords to prevent their owners from hearing their well-known voices, starved, beaten, &c. &c., they are returned half dead, from no further reward being offered. Our Humane Societies should surely put an end to this horrid traffic, if possible. After explaining to my friends Wheeler's transactions, his subscriptions naturally fell off, and this caused him to raise several calumnies relative to those subscriptions too ridiculous to occupy your pages, such as my applying for them and appropriating them to my own use, &c. &c. Neither myself nor you Mr. Editor, I am sure wish to injure any one, but it does not therefore follow, that we are to let our means be diverted from the good of the cause to his benefit, whether he be an interested or disinterested agent in its affairs, it being undeniable that his exertions have disappointed his patrons and patronesses.

I remain, Sir, &c. &c.,

FRANCES MARIA THOMPSON.

WHEELS WHICH CARRY THEIR OWN RAILROAD, OR,

ESCAPE OBSTACLES.

THE Science of locomotion now engaging so much public attention, and being so deeply connected with the interests of mankind at large, as well as with the comfort of the labouring brute creation; we have been induced to treat on the subject in describing some mechanism relative to carriages, by which the labour of horses, &c. or the expenditure of steam in steam carriages is much reduced, while a more equable motion is afforded to the passengers or goods, and the roads saved from much wear. Hitherto steam, and rail-roads have been the two principal means of the improvement in this science, but what we have to describe, will we hope prove the third: being a species of carriage wheels invented by Mr. LEWIS GOMPERTZ, for common roads,

some of which wheels carry an endless rail-road with them, and travel upon it ; and others being contrived by different means to step over the obstacles and asperities of the road which impede the motion of common wheels, and render rail-roads necessary. Several of these machines (called scapers from their escaping obstacles) have been described by Mr. G.: the first plans in the "Repertory of Arts" for March 1815, improved ones in that of June, 1821, and others in his work "Moral Inquiries;" the whole of the two last descriptions having been re-published in Dr. Jamieson's well-known "Dictionary of Mechanical Science." The following however are some plans of Mr. G's latest improvements; the first of these being the most simple, and possesses some other advantages over the rest, though on the whole inferior, and this one has already been given in a scarce and valuable publication "The Register of Arts, and Journal of Patent Inventions" nearly in the following words "This is more properly an appendage to a wheel than a substitute for one: it may be entirely executed by an ordinary workman, and applied to a common cart, coach, &c. without the slightest alteration of those carriages, or scarcely of the wheels. It consists merely of eight straight bars (more or less) A, A, Figs. 2 and 3, Pl. 2, moveably jointed by an axis to each other, so as to envelope the wheel forming a polygon around it, the wheel rolling within, while each foot sucessively comes to the ground: the polygon continually changing its shape as it goes (see the figs.) which polygon must therefore be a little larger than sufficient to contain the wheel, and so that it can admit three feet at times to touch the ground at once, the wheel must have a deep rim on each side to keep the polygon on it, or the bars must have rims instead. The feet are quite flat on the bottom, but the external parts should be rounded off to prevent their rubbing the ground while coming to their bearing, and the bars must be only half their other thickness where they join so as to present an even surface to the rims of the wheel. One of the disadvantages of this plan under the others, is, that the scaper has eight feet, and the others only four : consequently encountering double the number of the inequalities of the ground and it also possesses some friction between the rims of the wheel and the bars, as well as causes some noise as it proceeds, but it has also its advantages, among which is that of bearing with the feet quite flat on the ground, without their turning round while they bear; as the others in a degree do.

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This plan might be varied by having two small wheels in the envelope instead of one which then instead of forming a polygon would resemble a chain going round two rollers, but this plan would present great difficulty in turning" The following is an improvement on the plan described in "Moral Inquiries” Figs. 1 and 2, Pl. 1, show this scaper in two positions attached to a cart. and Fig. 3 is a kite view of Fig. 1, the same letters applying to all three, UU is the frame and A C, D F, G I, and J L are four iron bars jointed at A, C, G and I. K E is a cross bar, and BH another jointed at B. H. E and K, and are turned square at the ends as shown at A C Fig. 3, to admit the wheel R, bar G I, being in this figure hidden. M Q, is an iron attached to the frame, which together with the frame itself

Mr. L. EDGWORTH has, he informs us, been 40 years engaged in making above 100 models of self-acting Rail-roads, but could not, he observes, unite sufficient strength, lightness, and regular motion, and after having obtained a patent, found his whole plan developed in a Memoir of the French Academy. Mr. RICHARD BARRY, of the Minories, also, 7 years after Mr. G.'s patent, took out one for his ingenious chain of double rollers, which partially escaped obstacles, but possessed it appears, in its best form, a difficulty in turning and a great inconvenience from the axles passing in succession over the machine. (See the London Journal of Arts and Sciences, No. XVIII.) And this seems to be an improvement of Mr. PALMER'S chain of single rollers to save the friction of axle-trees.

holds an axle Q, upon which goes the wheel R, which is large and wid. with a rim on each side; and one in the middle is also recommended. This wheel then travels in turn upon the four bars A C, D F, G I, and J L as they present themselves to it and these form the rail-way: the parallelogram each composes opening and shutting as it goes, and to prevent its striking on the top of the wheel as it contracts, we recommend the feet to restrain this by their stopping against each other when the machine is in the position of fig. 2 to require it. S M Q is a lever with a tube V at one end, and a tube Qat the other: the tube V going on an axle attached to the frame and the tube Q going on a smaller tube in one of the cross pieces K E which last tube works upon the main axle in the other cross piece B H, thus are the parallelograms allowed not only to open and shut, but to rise and fall about the centre V as they work; during which the shape alters from that of fig. 1 to fig. 2, and in order to prevent the irregularity which would otherwise occur from the rising and falling of the centre of gravity of the parallelogram (but not of the carriage) there is a spring TT which raises the weight, and in order to adjust this spring to its exact strength it fits in an iron a. which has an axis above upon which it can be turned more or less. Behind this is another

iron b. through which goes a screw S, (with a counter nut) and which by screwing more or less, tightens or loosens the spring. But as the action of a spring itself is too irregular, the following contrivance is adopted. The lever has a grooved roller d. and the spring another e. underneath the former, between which two goes an iron N. of a peculiar curvature called a regulator, turning about a centre (z.) at a short distance off, keeping the spring and the lever apart, and turning about its axis as the lever and spring work, so that these two rollers rest against it where they meet with a considerable change of surface on the regulator, which is so shaped as to cause the spring and the lever to approach each other as the spring bends, and thus lessens its otherwise increasing force; the proper shape of the regulator being found by repeated trials. Its controul is perfect and it might even be so formed as to reverse the power of the spring (viz ;-the less resisting the more bent) its advantages indeed do not appear confined to this use, but to springs generally, and particularly to those of common carriages, as by which means a degree of elasticity would be given to them far beyond what can in the usual way be conceived, some modification however would be required to prevent their being too susceptible of difference of loads. The spring TT should not be in leaves, as that causes friction nor should its reduction of size towards the small end be much in thickness, but chiefly in breadth. It should be taper almost to nothing edgewise.

The action of the machine is thus: the wheel R, the axle of which is fixed in the carriage, runs along the side G I, while the two feet I and G remain stationary on the ground both at the same time, and till the scaper fig. 1 has nearly acquired the form of fig, 2, when foot F relieves foot G, soon after which another foot comes down and acts in the same manner with foot F as foot G had done with foot I, while the carriage proceeds to the right, or to the left if reversed; the centre of the parallelograms rising and falling as the carriage goes. Now suppose an obstacle should be immediately under the foot G, Fig. I. the foot would then stop upon it, and act with foot I in the same manner as before described; excepting that the wheel R and carriage w. would then have to travel up an inclined instead of an horizontal plane. The joints K A B C E of the feet not on the ground, then describing a different curve to what they do on level ground; and thus this machine lays down its railway and rolls over it. The form of the bottom of the feet must be a circle