and Portland, from lakes Huron and Superior. This road, it is expected, will be in full operation early next year.

At St. Mary's, with a branch to London in the Great Western Railway, connecting at that station with that company's line to Sarnia and Detroit.

The Grand Trunk Railway Company have completed arrangements whereby passengers and goods can be booked through from all points in Europe to any place along the lines of the Grand Trunk and Great Western railways, and the railways connecting with them, to the valley of the Mississippi-and, in fact, to all the chief places on this continent. By making one payment in Britain, tickets will be issued for any of these places. No further charges will be incurred for passing goods at Portland or Quebec but a fee of 2s. 6d. per package. Especial arrangements have been made for emigrants, so that tickets for extra baggage and all other charges can be had from the place of departure to the place of destination. These important changes, which will, beyond all doubt, divert the travel from Europe to the great West from New York and other American ports to the St. Lawrence River, will be in full operation next year-thus enabling the emigrant to be conveyed, without change of carriage, from Quebec to Detroit, if the place of destination be further West than that point. The cars will be conveyed across the St. Lawrence, between Longueuil and Montreal, in the steamer, until the Victoria Bridge is finished, and will then afford to the emigrant the cheapest, speediest, as well as the most direct route to the West.

From this brief sketch of the grand provincial railway of Canada and its extended connections, comprising a total length of nearly 1,500 miles now in operation, it will be seen that this province can compare very favorably, the difference of population being considered, with any of the most flourishing States in the adjoining republic; and if, as Washington has observed, it is an object of legislative concern and highly beneficial to the country, to give every facility to the means of traveling for strangers and of intercourse for citizens, the people of this province will never have cause to regret their having assisted the Grand Trunk Railway to the successful completion, which they have now in such numbers met in this city to celebrate, at the invitation of our merchants and other citizens.

CLEARING-HOUSE FOR ENGLISH RAILROADS.

The annexed interesting account of a clearing-house for railroads, established in London, in which seventy-three companies are represented, is from a pamphlet published by Mr. Charles Babbage. It is worthy the attention of our railroad managers :

Soon after the establishment of railways it was found that great inconvenience occurred, both to the public and to the proprietors, from the change of carriages, trucks, &c., at the junctions of different lines belonging to different companies. "While the measures best adapted for obviating these admitted evils were under consideration, it occurred, about the same time, to Mr. Robert Stephenson, and to Mr. K. Morison, the present manager of the railway clearing-house, that a central office, constituted on the principle of the city clearing-house, would furnish the remedy sought. When the idea was suggested to Mr. Glyn, he saw, at a glance, its practical bearing, lent the whole weight of his great influence to procure its being realized in practice, and was mainly instrumental in accomplishing that object."

It was quite natural that such an idea should have occurred to the minds of men of business; but the complicated conditions necessary to be fulfilled in adapting it to the use of railways required the undivided and untiring energies of a mind exclusively devoted to the subject. Fortunately, Mr. K. Morison, who had the charge of the audit department of the London and Birmingham Railway, and who had also drawn up an outline of the system he proposed, was intrusted with its execution.

On January 2d, 1842, the system of the railway clearing-house came into operation on the railways extending from London to Darlington in one direction, and from Hull to Manchester in another.

"The main

At the present time (1856) it unites seventy-three companies. principles of the system thus widely diffused are-first, that passengers shall be booked through at all the principal stations, and conveyed to their destination without change of carriage; that horses and cattle shall likewise be sent through without change of conveyance; and that goods shall, in the same way, be carried through without being shifted or reassorted.

"Secondly. That the companies respectively shall pay a fixed rate per mile for such carriages and wagons, not their own property, as they may use; and a further sum per day by way of fine or demurrage for detention, if kept beyond a prescribed length of time.

"And lastly, that no direct settlement shall take place between the companies in respect of any traffic, the accounts of which have passed the railway clearinghouse.

"The portion of the clearing system which relates to the settlement of accounts consists of arrangements which are simple in character, and capable of unlimited extension. From each of the clearing-house stations there are sent daily to the central office in London :

"1. A return of the passengers booked through.

"2. A return of the horses, private carriages, and cattle booked through. "3. A return of the parcels booked through.

"4. A return of the goods traffic invoiced through.

"5. A return of all the carriages, wagons, &c., which have arrived or been dispatched, either loaded or empty.

"6. Along with these returns are sent all the through tickets collected, and all the parcels' way-bills received during the way.

"From the returns thus transmitted, after they have been examined, compassed, and analyzed, other returns are drawn up in the railway clearing-house, and forwarded to the respective companies in a form which admits of their being verified by the parties receiving them, and exhibiting in detail the portion of the receipts of the through traffic to which each company is entitled, and the liabilities it has incurred by using the carriages and wagons of others. The final settlement of the accounts is effected by the railway clearing-house paying, or receiving, the balances, as the case may be, through the hands of the bankers who act as agents in London to the several companies. In this way all the transactions of one company with all the other companies, amounting frequently to many thousand pounds per week, are cleared weekly, by the remittance of sums seldom exceeding a few hundred pounds.

"The railway clearing-house is under the control of a committee, composed of a delegate from each railway company which is a party to the clearing arrangements. The committee holds four general meetings in the course of the year, and special meetings as often as there may be occasion. The resolutions of the company are passed in the form of recommendations to the companies to adopt the measures proposed, and have no force until they obtain the confirmation of the respective boards. The expense of maintaining the establishment is divided rate. ably among the companies, in the ratio of the extent of business transacted for each, after a fixed sum has been first carried to the debit of each company, for each of its stations from which accounts are sent to the clearing-house.

"The great, the crowning achievement of the clearing system is the facility, the economy, and the expedition with which it enables the railway companies to work the through traffic. It had its origin, as has been shown, in the desire of railway companies to promote their own interest, in the only way in which they can be effectually promoted, or placed in a position of permanent security-that is, by consulting public opinion. It has grown with the growth of the railway system, and unless the public accommodation be restricted, and the exigencies of the commercial, manufacturing, and agricultural interests disregarded, it must advance to the limits to which continuous communication by railway extend."

The following statement shows the very large increase of business which has taken place during the last ten years ending June, 1845 and 1855 :-Number of railroads, 16 in 1845, 73 in 1855; length of joint lines, 6,410 miles in 1855;

number of carriages of all kinds, 219,658 in 1845, 987,178 in 1855; number of goods wagons, 180,606 in 1845, 4,101,066 in 1855; amount of accounts cleared, £401,651 in 1845, £4,819,649 11s. 10d. in 1855; number of miles the rolling stock of the companies ran on lines other than their own, 168,544,234 miles in 1855; number of stations sending returns to the railroad clearing-house, 2,439 in 1855.

A brief summary of what the clearing-house accomplished in 1855 will give a tolerable correct idea of the important part it plays in the railway system.

In that year the accounts cleared amounted to nearly £5,000,000, or one-third of the gross receipts of the associated companies. This large amount was taken in sums which did not exceed a few shillings on an average, at 2,500 stations, on 73 railways. The routes of the traffic, a matter of great intricacy, had to be traced.

The returns of traffic forwarded from and received at each of the 2,500 stations had to be examined and corrected. Allowance had to be made for terminal ex

penses, working expenses, postages and tolls, and the receipts of each kind of traffic between each two stations of the 2,500 had to be divided into three parts on the average, and frequently subdivided under complex agreements.

Yet, on the 31st of January, 1855, an account was rendered to each company, showing one sum, commonly a small one, to be due, either by it to the clearinghouse or the contrary, which sum, when paid, would close all the accounts of that company with all the other united companies for the whole year; and this was done at a cost of about £26,000. Further, it was done without direct communication between companies, and without disputes. The due execution of numerous and complex agreements was watched over, and the system of accounts in use gave the companies the means of putting their accuracy to the strictest test. Again; in the same year, the vehicles of the companies were traced through 7,192,212 journeys on lines other than their own, over an aggregate distance of nearly 177,395,216 miles, and payment was obtained for each of these lines, as well as for 283,165 days that they were detained contrary to regulation. The sum thus recovered was £263,609 8s., and the final accounts of the year were rendered on the same day as those of the traffic. The cost was about £13,000, which includes the wages paid to the number of men placed at the junctions; a sum which is about half of what the companies would have paid for the same work, as they must have employed, and did at one time actually employ, two sets of men for each set now in the pay of the clearing-house.

JOURNAL OF MINING AND MANUFACTURES.

THE MANUFACTURE OF FRICTION MATCHES.

A recent writer, who appears to be well informed on the subject, thus describes the manufacture of friction or lucifer matches:

"Among articles of great demand that have become of importance, though apparently insignificant, in our own day, there is nothing more worthy of notice than the friction or lucifer match. About twenty years ago chemistry abolished the tinder-box; and the burnt rag which made the tinder went to make paper. Slowly did the invention spread. The use of the match is now so established, that machines are invented to prepare the splints. In New York, one match manufactory annually cuts up a large raft of timber for matches. The English matches are generally square, and thus thirty thousand splints are cut in a minute. The American matches are round, and the process of shaping being more elaborate, but four thousand five hundred splints are cut in a minute. We will follow a bundle of eighteen hundred thin splints, each four inches long, through its conversion into three thousand six hundred matches. Without being separate, each end of the bundle is first dipped into sulphur-when dry, the splints adher ing to each other by means of the sulphur, must be parted by what is called dusting.

"A boy, sitting on the floor with a bundle before him, strikes the matches with a sort of mallet on the dipped ends till they become thoroughly loosened They have now to be plunged into a preparation of phosphorus, or chlorate of potash, according to the quality of the match. The phosphorus produces the pale, noiseless fire; the chlorate of potash the sharp, crackling illumination. After this application of the more inflammable substance, the matches are separated, and dried in racks. Thoroughly dried, they are gathered up again into bundles of the same quantity, and are taken to the boys who cut them, for the reader will have observed that the bundles have been dipped at each end. There are few things more remarkable in manufactures than the extraordinary rapidity of this cutting process, and that which is connected with it. The boy stands before a bench, the bundle on his right, a pile of empty boxes on his left. The matches are to be cut, and the empty boxes filled, by this boy. A bundle is opened; he seizes a portion, knowing by long habit the required number with sufficient exactness; puts them into a sort of frame, knocks the ends evenly together, confines them with a strap, which he tightens with his foot, and cuts them in two parts with a knife on a hinge, which he brings down with a strong leverage. The halves lie projecting over each end of the frame; he grasps the left portion and thrusts it into a half-open box, which slides into an outer case, and he repeats the process with the matches on his right hand. This series of movements is performed with a rapidity almost unexampled, for in this way two hundred thousand matches are cut and two thousand boxes filled in a day by one boy.

THE IRON OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

The superiority of Lake Superior iron over that obtained from any other locality has been often proved in our pages to our readers, but our attention has again been called to it by an article from the pen of one of our cotemporaries, whose scientific knowledge has contributed not a little to the interest of our pages, and the enlightenment of our readers. The article in question speaks for itself, and we will now only refer to tenacity and strength of this iron as compared with that of other localities. The following results, obtained by Professor W. B. Johnson, will show the exact position of the different metals :—

Iron from Salisbury, Connecticut, by means of 40 trials

Strength in lbs. per

8q. inch

Russia,

66

5
5

"

58,000

58,084

58,400

58,061

58,912

59,105

76,069

89,582

Carp River, Lake Superior, determined by Major Wade..

Thus it will be seen that the Lake Superior iron is about one-third better than all other kinds but one, and that one kind is far inferior. There is no doubt but that when once the most perfect mode of manufacturing it is attained by experience, it will prove better than the above estimate; but even should it not, the present position which it occupies is a sufficient guaranty of its excellence.

In speaking of this, the Buffalo Express says some of this iron was recently tested in Shepherd's Foundry in that city, with a view to try its tenacity. A piece of rolled-iron, of the thickness of one's wrist, was subjected to various processes, and, after bending it across an anvil, twisting it in opposite directions, and in fact employing upon it all possible force and skill, the experimenters were compelled to acknowledge that they never before had known any iron capable of such stubborn resistance to breaking forces. The fracture of the pig metal glis

tens like steel, and the fiber of the rolled-bars is tougher than that of any other iron known to the trade. Of the different qualities found there it is not necessary to speak, as it varies in the same mines, yet it can be reduced to about the same average in nearly all of them. We learn, on good authority, that the Eureka ore, which has generally been considered of inferior quality, makes the best iron manufactured at the Wyandotte Mills; and that it improves the other ores materially when mixed with them. The increased demand for the Jackson and Cleveland Mountain ores is sufficient ground for the assumption that they are the best to be obtained without the aid of the comparison given above, but with the addition of scientific tests there is no longer room for doubt. It has frequently been placed in the most trying places, and subjected to the severest tests, but we have yet to learn that it has been found wanting. A chemical analysis of the ores of this region make them yield about 70 per cent, though in many instances they will far exceed that, and of the quality we need no further evidence than that heretofore given in our pages.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE BRITISH COMMISSIONERS OF PATENTS.

These publications, which are of incalculable value to the industrial arts in this country, have recently been presented to the Astor Library, by the British Commissioners of Patents. The magnitude and importance of the gift will be best explained by the following account, originally furnished for the Evening Post by Dr. CoGSWELL, the learned librarian of that institution. Dr. Cogswell examined every page of the princely work in question, and his statement, which we give below, is worthy of permanent record in this department of the Merchants' Magazine :—

By virtue of an act of the British Parliament, 15 and 16 Queen Victoria, the Commissioners of Patents were required to cause the specifications for patents to be printed, and plates of the corresponding drawings to be made. They began with the patents granted in 1852, and, in due time, they published all the specifications for that year, amounting to 1,211, with nearly as many plates of drawings belonging to them. The specifications are bound in twenty volumes, royal 8vo., the drawings in the same number of folios. The lettering on the back of the octavo volumes shows the number of the specifications found in it, and the folios of the same year the numbers of the corresponding drawings. A single example will make this clear. Vol. 20th, in octavo for 1852, is marked 1,135 to 1,211, being the numbers of the specifications. Vol. 20th, in folio for 1852, is also marked 1,135 to 1,211, being the numbers of the drawings. The same system of lettering extends throughout.

The specifications for 1853 are 3,045, making forty-three royal octavos; the drawings belonging to them make the same number of folios.

The specifications for 1854 are 2,764, making thirty-seven royal 8vos.; the corresponding volumes as many folios.

In 1855 the specifications and drawings make the same number of royal 8vos. and folios as 1854.

For the four years the whole number of volumes of specifications and drawings is 137 royal 8vos., and 137 folios. In addition to the above, and 3 volumes of the Commissioner's Journal, there are twenty volumes of indices, which render this very extensive work as easy of consultation as a common dictionary. The following are the various kinds of indices with which it is furnished :—

Ist. An alphabetical index of patents granted from 1617 to 1853, with supple mentary indices for each year since.

2d. Subject-matter index for the same period, with the supplement.