AMERICAN RA ILRO AD A J URN AL.

Correspomlemts will oblige us by smcling in their
communications by Tuesday onorning at lalesl.

PRINCIPAL CONTENTS.

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212
First Principles of Chemistry for the Use of
Schools and Colleges . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21’?
Travelling Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217
TheCentralR.ailroad............ . . . . . ......21‘’/
Great "Western (English) Railway . . . . . . . . . . . .218
Cincinnati and Hamilton Railroad, and Im-
provements in Ohio .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218
Boston and Providence Railroad Report. . . . . . .219
Portable Cottages....     
Magnetic Telegraph....     ....22O

Items.....   ..........220

ADIERICAN RAILROAD JOURNAL.
Published by n. K. MINOR, 105 Chestnut St., Pliiladelphia.
Saturday, April 3, 1847.

MISSING NUMBERS
OF '1‘!-IE RAILROAP ‘JOURNAL.
Subscrihers, who wish to obtain Jllissing Numbers of
Bach Volumes of this Journal, will do well to apply
ivatntcclietcly.

Q’ One or two COMPLETE Srrrs of the RAILROAD
Jounzun may be had in a few weeks-—-or as soon as two
members can be reprinled—b_2/ application to the Editor.

Boston and Providence Railroad.

The Fifteenth Annual Report of this road will be
found in this number. In its details it is in the pre-
scribed form required by the Legislature. ‘We shall
continue to publish these reports, in their new form,
that they may hereatter be refered to for comparison.

Baltimore and Ohio Rullroatl Repoi-la.

We give in this number——and owe an apology for
having so long de1ayed——the “ Twentieth Annual
Report of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co.”
It was duly received, in duplicate, and should have
been published before the close of the volume for
1&6; but, like many other things that deserve im-
mediate attention, was laid aside fora careful perti-
sal, and thus thrown out of itsproper place. It, how-
ever, loses nothing of its value by losing its proper
position in the Journal. As usual, and indeed more
than usual, it contains valuable statistics in tabular
form, which will be mainly found in this or the next
number.

The increase of receipts in 1846, over those of the
previous year, have been greater--by 5la‘143,084——
than at any previous period, and we hazzard little

_ in saying that the increase for 1847 will be slill

greater.

The tabular statements, showing the comparative
cost of construction, repairs and working a railroad
with the plate and edge rail, prepared fromthe chief
engineer’s report, are well worthy of attention, and
so are those prepared by the ‘engineer of machinery
and repairs, for the years 1845 and 1846. We give
the report, including most of thetables, and wish we
could add that the eiforts of the company to obtain
the right of way through Virginia to the‘ Ohio had
been successful.

 

New Mortising Machine. .

Messrs. Davenport do Bridges,railwaycarmakers,
ot'Cambridgeport, Mass., have recently put in opera-
tion a mortising machine, operated by water power,
and which will cut with ease and facility a mortise
of any required width and depth. The machine
can be adapted equally well to light or heavy work,
only requiring a stronger frame and gearing when
heavy work is required, than for’ light. . It works

equally well in hard or soft timber, requiring only
one hole to be bored in the centre of the mortise,
to give the chisel a chance to make the first stroke,
and this is done by machinery.

 

Impr/Bvement for the Telcgrapli.

Mn. L. SWAN, of Rochester, says the “American”
of that city——suggested, several months ago, an im-
provement in the manner of maintaining the Gal-
vanic Battery, which will prove of no inconsiderable
benefit to the telegraph companies, inasmuch as it
is a great saving of labor and expense.

The improvement consists in furnishing an ex-
citing liquid which produces an electric or galvanic
current of uniform power and intensity, without the

217

Illinois-—the bill to grant the right of way through
that State, having been defeated by a voteof 524 to
15. This result is attributed in part to a determina-
tion by northern members to oppose any measure.
which shall not regard Springfield as a point through
which such road shall pass, and in part to the oppo-
sition of the citizens of Alton, who will not listentto
a proposition to terminate the road in St. Louis in-
stead of their own city. ' ‘
Public meetings, it is stated, are being holden in
the central counties, protesting against the action
of the Senate, and urging the passage of abill to
grant the right of way on the route from St. Louis
to Terra Haute direct, '

rapid decomposition of the metals and acids hereto-
fore supposed unavoidable. The solution does not
act chemically on the mercurial amalgam, and with
such trifling action on the zinc as to be scarcely per-
ceptible.

Mr. Barnes, the operator in the telegrapliofiice in

First Principles of Chemistry for the Use of
Schools and Colleges.
BY race. 13. SILLIMAN, m., YALE. COLLEGE. .'
We are indebted to the publishers for a copy of
this excellent text book. Ascientific gentleman has
recommended it to us as a good book, not only for

this city, informs us that previous to adopting this bfiginnérs» bl“ as dwell Suitfid to th‘3,W‘1¥1t5 Of P1" 0535‘
improvement, he was obliged to amalgamate the zinc 5101131 _men Wh° are a“Xi°u"3’ t° understand Chemis‘
cups of which the battery is composed, with mercu- fry a5_ 1" is faught at 1fre5ent"‘and this: by the W33’:
,3, ‘gvegy day, and ,5 renew the acids twice a week, 15 quite a different thing from the chemistry of by-
Since then he has used the battery constantlyfor five 3°“ years‘ I _ ‘ t — l __' l
0, 55¢, weeks’ without doing eithen ‘ To the engineer and mechanic a knowledge of
This improvement will doubtless attract the atten- chemistry is every day found to be‘ne°e55‘"7' Much
tion of telegraph companies throughout the country, “Cable and many e"°rS might ‘be avoided by ‘me

not only on account of the reduction of expense, but
also for the reason that it ensures greater uniformity
in the action of the battery. It has now been sulfi-
ciently tested to remove all doubts in regard to its
efficacy. The discovery is eliciting the attention or
the scientific, as it is understood that some new prin-
ciples are developed. '

Pennsylvania. Central Railroad.

The election held on Tuesday for the choice of
Thirteen Directors of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, resulted in favor of the ticket previously
agreed upon by a majority of the Stockholders and
approved by the City Councils. The following are
the names of the gentlemen elected:

Thomas P. Cope, Richard D. Wood,

S. V. Merrick, Stephen Colwel_l,{ ,

Robert Toland, , George W‘. Carpenter,

Thomas T. Lea, Christian E. Spangler,

‘ David S. Brown, Williani C. Corbit, '

J ames Magee, Henry C. Patterson,

John A. VVright. C

This, we deem an able and responsible Board of
Directors—and, if they are as fortunate in the se-
lection of their Engineers "and Superintendants as,
we think, the Stockholders have been in selecting
Directors, we anticipate an early ‘cornmencement

and a speedy completion of this important work.

Nexv Use for the Telegrapli.

A novel project is on foot in the Common Council
of New York to run a Telegraph line from the fire
lookout on the City Hall, to each of the 18'police

every fire, so that on hearing the great bell, a person
in any part of the city can ascertain at the station
house where it is. " ~

fin

_ Ciinclxnnatl and St. Louis.-‘ Q ,
We learn," says the Cincinnati Gazette, from St.
Louis, that the Missouri, Legislature have passed a
bin so amending the city charter that the Councils
shall have power to aid theproject of a railroad be-
tween St. Louis and Cincinnati, by loan, or other-
wise, to the amount of half a million of dollars. ‘

stations, to give intelligence of the whereabouts of citizens ~

possessing the amount of information to be obtained
from the work before us. A ‘
It is often the case that professional men, aware

of the usefulness of the science of chemistry, have
been deterred from making any attempt to study it,
by the necessity of wading through treatises,«excel-
lent to be sure, but too voluminous for the beginner,
and needing too‘ much previcus knowledge of the
subject to be read to‘ any advantage. . The present
book is not liable to these obj cctions, and will pre-
pare the student for more extensive works on the
science, or for those special works on professional
subjects,—which require from the reader ageneral
knowledge of chemistry. - ' _

' Travedlling Facilities. '~ ' . '

“ ‘We are informed, says an exchange, that the abuse
of privilege so long complained of by travellers be-
tween New York and Philadelphia, are about to be
removed; that a cheapfreiglit and passenger train
is to be started from Trenton to New York, and that
the accommodations on the Amboy line aretto be
improved.” Z ' ' ' ' .  2

Very glad to hear of this! There has’ long been
“ room for improvement” upon this line, i'n'tlIe mat.
ter spoken of--and we shall be happy to learn that
the above statement, andmore too, is fact.

i 'I‘h.e’Cent'ral Iiluilroatl. ‘ ‘
Vile cut from the Scwamtah Georgian of the 8th

4 ult., the subjoined article in relation to the Central

railroad, in order that our readers may know what
the citizens in different parts of the Union, think of
the great enterprize about to be

Another reason which induces us to the
article is, because it speaks inghigh praise *oi:._a gen-'

tleman, whose communication in, the milled Slates ’
‘ ,Gr'a::elle, and in this Journal also, some time since,

in relation to the-fCent-raltrailroatyattracted 'ou‘r.'at-_
tention and the attention of other gentlemen deeply ‘V
interested in the success of‘ the enterprize: ‘ , _
The‘cit'1'zen§_'~‘vof Philadelphia are bestiring them-'
selves in the great contest for the trade of the far
west to some purpose. _
title them to a charter having been subscribed, and

commenced by our

The requisite amount to en‘-;

The enterprize, however, has received the C0161 the charter obtained,they are about proceeding tvith,

shou1de,- in the upper branch of ’the‘Legis1ature of alliprudent despatch upon the construction of “this,