public spirit and liberality in communicating the discovery to the public without reserve. William Adams, Mount Nod, Streatham, Surrey, These are to certify to the Secretary of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c, London, and all whom it may concern, that having seen (at first to our asto. nishment) the Rev. James Hall, who has resided here for some time past, procuring hemp from common bean-straw, steeped some days in water, we steeped some also, and easily got hemp from it; there being no mystery in the matter, more than merely steeping the straw, peeling off the hemp, and then washing and cleaning it, by pulling it through a hackle or comb. These are also to certify, that having tried bean-hemp, and found it to take both wax and rosin, we have sewed with it, and find the fibres of which it consists in general so strong, that the leather never failed to give way sooner than the seam. We have only to add, that as hemp has of late become uncommonly dear, while much of it is bad, we anxionsly wish the prose cution of the discovery, and the appearance of beau-hemp in the market; and shall, so soon as we hear of its being spun and on sale, be among the first to purchase and use it. John Hounc, Shoe-maker," Thomas Alford, Shoc-maker. Letter from Mr. Hume, of Long Acre, to the Rev. James Hall. SIR, I enclose a specimen of the bean filaments or thread which have been submitted to the bleaching process. The texture and strength seem not in the least to have been impaired, but retain the primitive tenacity; and I am persuaded this substance will prove an excellent substitute for hemp and flax, for the manufacture of various kinds of paper, cordage, and other materials. I did not find more diff. culty in accomplishing the bleach. ing of this than in other vegetables which I have occasionally tried, and I believe this article is suscep. tible of a still greater degree of whiteness. I remain, Sir, Your very obedient servant, Jos. HUME Long Acre, Feb. 24, 1807. It seems to bear bleaching very well, and, as to chemical proper. ties, differs very little from hemp. The question, whether it is likely to be of useful application, is a m chanical one, and must be solved by experiments on its comparative strength. I am, Sir,pa tā a Your obedient humble servant, "H. DAVY. sa. 190 2.1 1703 963 Simple Means of correcting the Damp in Cal-mines. [From the Monthly Magazine.] SIR, I HAVE frequently noticed that coal-works in Wales are interrupt. ed by what the colliers term the Damp, but which is nothing else than an excess of hydrogen gas. This circumstance is often afflicting to humanity; for it is not unusual for the gas to take fire from the lighted candles attempted to be in. troduced into the work; the damp, on such occasions, burns with a blue flame; explosions* ensue, and very often the miners in the work, and the winders at the mouth of the pit, fall victims to this inevitable catastrophe. The coal-mines belonging to Lord Caw. dor, at Lanlash, in Carmarthenshire, were, about a month past, annoyed with this damp, which rendered the miners heavy and sleepy, and made it impossible for them to keep in their lights. Being informed of the circumstance by William Dafydd, of Tuyha, the present overseer of the works, I requested him to slacken a few lumps of fresh lime in the level, or subterraneous passage made by the miners in digging out the coals; having an idea that the carbonic acid gas, produced by throwing a few lumps of lime into a little wa. ter, would correct the air in the works, and make it more favour. able to inhalation and combustion. The overseer complied with my request, and sent me word next day, that the experiment was at. tended with success, and the miners enabled to go on with the works. The prevalence of the damp in coal-mines is so general, and its effects so dangerous, by privation of lives, that I conceived this success in applying a cheap and rational remedy should be known to the public; that knowledge cannot be better promulgated, than through the medium of your extensively-circulated, and most useful publication. Your's, &c. JOHN JONES. Holborn-court, Gray's-inn. On the Propriety of establishing Purochial Shops in Country Districts. [From the Universal Magazine for Aug. 1809.] SIR, AS the internal economy of labouring parishes cannot fail to be an object of general interest, permit me to mention one particular, in which, it appears, a consider. able improvement might be introduced to rural districts. Those who are in habits of familiarity with recluse parts of the country must be aware of the very The writer rather questions the propriety of the term explosion, or loud explosion, as the lectures on chemistry denominate the sound caused by the combustion of a combination of gases: he has sometimes set on fire, in a quart bottle, with a little water at the bottom to protect his hand, a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen gasses, and to determine whether the sound was from explosion, or from inpletion, has placed a small cork in the neck of the bottle; on every occasion, the cork has been driven in with violence into the bottle; he must therefore submit the circumstance to professed chemists; and, more particularly, as his present laborious profession is as distant from the subject as law is from physics. VOL. LI. H great debt which binds him more firmly to the necessity of expending his carnings with the village trader, and compels him to purchase, with. out a murmur, indifferent articles at a price still more exorbitant than before. The situation of a hopeless debtor is evidently unfavourable to the exercise of industry. Whe ther a debt, which there is no rational prospect of discharging, be five pounds or five shillings, is a matter of small moment among those who have not learned honour through the mean of education. The peasant flies to drinking, and his family experience the severe misery of receiving the necessaries procured by daily labour from the bands of a man who never trans. mits the adulterated pittance with. out alarming and degrading taunts. great difficulty the peasant finds in It appears that this grievance, really formidable to the most useful class of men possessed by the empire, might be totally remedied without any great exertion or it. convenience. I would propose a shop to be opened by the parish. officers of every country ueighbourhood, at which the poor might be served with unadulterated ar ticles, at a profit just sufficient to defray the expenses of the under taking. The comparatively ex tensive capital arising from the rates of a parish at large, would enable the proprietors to purchase goods at a desirable market. The charge of the establishment would be trivial. Some minor officer of the parish would be willing and able, for a small salary, to super. The village labourer's pay has not experienced an increase of above one third within the last fifty years. The price of the common articles of lite more than doubled in the same period. The increase of the poor-rates is a sufficient voucher for the inadequacy of the peasant's remuneration. intend intend the sale of articles in so limitted and unembarrassed a concern; and the whole might be periodically inspected, with little additional trouble, by the churchwarden or overseer. The benefits that must accrue to the humble purchaser are obvious. Without any compulsion, he would possess the opportunity of expend. ing his earnings in an advantageous manner. The impossibility of acquiring goods on trust, (as the parish shop would of course sell only for ready money,) is a circumstance that must be ultimately beneficial to him. Admitting that the profits of the institution might not, from the superficial accounts of the purchase and sale, altogether defray the expenses, the parish would certainly be gainers in the aggregate, independently of the amend ment of manners likely to take place from the system; for the debt of the pauper generally becomes an indirect burthen on the payers to the poor-rate, under the present order of things. This project is not entirely chimerical. A shop, in its essential point resembling that which I recommend to general adoption, has been established by a most amiable character in Oxfordshire,-the Bishop of Durham, whose seat, named Mungwell, is situated in the vicinity of Wallingford. The institu. tion of this philanthropic prelate is in every desirable shape successful. The peasantry of England will have reason to repeat his lordship's name with gratitude, should his private example find parochial imitators. The shops instituted by the proprietors of iron-works, in the recluse parts of Wales, likewise exhibit the propriety of the plan. These little marts are established for local accommodation, but they sufficiently prove the efficacy of public shops in neighbourhoods where a competition of sellers is unattainable. Wishing that these hints may obtain notice through the extensive circulation of your miscellany, I remain, Sir, Your's, &c. J. N. B: 10th August, 1809. ANTIQUITIES. Pacification of Lludd-Little Song. Translated from the Welsh of the Bard Thaliessin, who flourished in the Sixth Century of the Christian Era; with Notes in support of the Opinion, that this little Poem relates, not to the first Colonists of Great Britain, but only to the Invasion by Julius Cæsar. [From Mr. Davies's Mythology and Rites of the British Druids.] IN the name of the God Trinity,* exhibit thy charity! A numerous race, of ungentle manners, Repeat their invasion of Britain, chief of isles: + That was their mother. They made a devious course by sea. In their flowing garments, who can equal them? With design are they called in,¶ with their short spears,** those foes The Bard addresses himself to a Christian. The subject of the poem is Cæsar's second invasion. The particle dy, in Composition, conveys the sense of iteration. The district of Troy, whence the Romans deduced their origin, Dardanidæ duri, quæ vos a stirpe parentum Prima tulit tellus, eadem vos ubere læto Accipiet reduces; antiquam exquirite Matrem Virg. Æn. III. V. 93. We are informed, that they knew not where to find this parent region, and con sequently wandered through various seas in search of it. To this tale the Bard evidently alludes. The Roman toga, or gown. We learn from Cæsar, as well as from the British Triads and Chronicles, that the Romans were invited into this island by the princes of the Trinobantes, who were at war with Cassivellaunus. ** Such was the formidable pilum, as appears from a variety of Romant coins and sculptures. Of |