frames, with collars either screwed or rivetted on their ends, to prevent their slipping out. The rein levers, which are made hollow to a certain extent, are connected to the bridle frame by means of spiral springs, that they may, on the application of force, deviate a little from the rectangular position, and rest upon a projecting circular shoulder. [Ib. FRANKLIN INSTITUTE. · Quarterly Meeting. THE twenty-eighth quarterly, or seventh annual meeting of the Institute, was held at their Hall, on Thursday, January 22, 1831. JAMES RONALDSON, president, in the chair. Mr. SAMUEL J. ROBBINS, was appointed recording secretary, pro tem. The minutes of the last quarterly meeting, and also of the meeting held this day, at 3 o'clock, to appoint the tellers, and to open the poll of the election of officers and managers of the Institute, for the ensuing year, were read and approved. The annual report of the Board of Managers was read and accepted, when, on motion, it was referred to the committee on publications, with instructions to publish such parts as they may deem expedient. The annual report of the Treasurer was read and approved. The tellers appointed to receive the votes of the members for the officers and managers, made their report, when the president declared the following gentlemen duly elected officers and managers for the ensuing year. JAMES RONALDSON, President. THOMAS FLETcher, Vice Presidents. JAMES H. BULKLEY, Recording Secretary. S. J. ROBBINS, Recording Secretary, pro tem. Seventh Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Franklin Institute. To the Franklin Institute of the state of Pennsylvania, for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, the Board of Managers respectfully present their seventh annual report. THE return of our anniversary meeting calls upon the Board to present to the Institute a general view of the condition of the institution, of the objects which have been accomplished or promoted during the past year, and of those which will require the active exertions of the new Board. It is pleasing to add that our efforts have met with a due share of success. Education was the first object of the Institute, as they considered it the corner stone of the edifice which they wished to raise to the promotion of the mechanic arts. With this view it attracted their earliest attention, as well as the uninterrupted solicitude of each succeeding Board; and as far as we have been concerned, it is hoped that every opportunity has been improved to consolidate the excellent system originally adopted. The lectures on chemistry and natural philosophy, with its applications to mechanics, have been productive of that additional degree of usefulness which was to be expected from the increased experience of able professors. These lectures are to be considered as the ground work of instruction in an institution of the nature of ours. Motives of prudence imperatively required, in the origin of the society, that our plans should be limited, in order to be successful; but it is a question which presents itself, in our more mature condition, whether further extension may not be given to our system of education, without endangering its permanency or its usefulness. It is probable that such might advantageously be attempted, and it is a subject to which we would earnestly invite the attention of our successors. Much good has undoubtedly been done; but this reflection, however gratifying, would be productive of little advantage, if it were not followed up by the inquiry, how far this good may be extended? It is not difficult to point out the branches which require attention; the only embarrassment is in the selection of those of most urgency. In this enumeration of desiderata in general education, we propose to avoid every thing like a competition with other institutions. Our city is not yet sufficiently populous to require, or perhaps even to justify, a competition on many branches of science, but there are some which naturally belong to our institution, and in which the public confidently expect us to take a lead. Foremost among these we would suggest the subject of machinery, or practical mechanics, as contradistinguished from the theory of mechanics, usually taught in lectures on natural philosophy. Experience clearly shows that the subject is too vast to be embraced in one course; and while it is evident that the rudiments of the science of mechanics are indispensable, it is equally clear that a practical acquaintance with the details of the construction of machines, is an object not less to be desired. Nor is it to be believed that this point can be satisfactorily obtained by neglecting the other branches of natural philosophy, to concentrate our attention exclusively upon mechanics: for who that was not acquainted with the properties of heat, or with the laws of pneumatics, could pretend to understand the operation of the steam engine, or even of the common pump? &c. and to take an instance from one of the noblest and most recent applications of science to the useful arts, who can pretend to judge of, or justly to appreciate a locomotive engine, that has not first mastered the leading principles of natural philosophy, and then made himself familiar with the construction of machinery? It appears to us that this subject is one which the Institute is now able to undertake, and we would earnestly recommend it to the early attention of our successors. Again, at a moment when the greatest interest has been manifested by this city in the promotion of mining, when much capital is embarked in the search after favourable deposits of mineral wealth, or in the extraction of it from the earth, is it not a subject of regret that there should not be at this moment, in this city, a public course of lectures on mineralogy, and that the able and enterprising individuals, who have manifested an anxiety to lecture on geology, should have met with no cheering on the part of the community to which they were willing to devote their gratuitous services? Such lectures, we are aware, cannot be duly encouraged, unless brought before the public under the patronage of institutions resting upon an independent foundation; but it is from these that men of science have a right to expect assistance; it is to these that our liberal and patriotic citizens look to direct them in their anxiety for the promotion of all that can contribute to the welfare of our community. Other branches, perhaps equally important, naturally present themselves; but enough has been said to show that the great field which the Institute had appropriated to itself, has as yet been but very partially cultivated. Next to our lectures, and closely connected with them, are our public schools; upon this subject the Board have nothing to add to the reports of their predecessors. The same solicitude for their prosperity was felt and displayed. The same gratifying popularity attended the drawing school; the same failure was again experienced in the attempt to enlist the attention of the public in favour of the mathematical school. Again baffled in their wishes, if not in their hopes of success in the latter, the present Board deem it their duty to state that their opinion of its usefulness remains unimpaired; and while they believe that the present plan has been sufficiently persevered in to justify a conclusion that, on its present foundation, it is not likely to receive adequate encouragement from the community, they would earnestly invite the attention of their successors to this object, that they may consider whether some more popular plan may not be devised, or whether the project is to be abandoned as wholly hopeless. The high school, of which the Institute may proudly boast as an offspring of theirs, continues to flourish and to be useful. The Board have much pleasure in stating that the experiments upon water wheels, which were projected and prepared in 1829, VOL. VII.-No. 1.-JANUARY, 1831. 6 have, during the last year, been continued with unremitting zeal and attention by a committee of the Institute. The experiments are now completed; the report is in preparation; and, as it may be expected to be published shortly, the Board will not anticipate at present the information which it is intended to embrace. They will, however, state their conviction, that the results will be found highly interesting to science and the arts, whether in confirming certain theories hitherto resting upon doubtful observations, or in correcting the errors resulting from imperfect and unsatisfactory experiments. The majority of the Board feel themselves perfectly justified in expressing their opinion on this subject, without the fear of rendering themselves obnoxious to the charge of arrogance, as they deem it a duty to add, that the whole credit of it is due to the committee of the Institute to which the investigation was entrusted. Another important inquiry was commenced and prosecuted by the Institute, during the present year. Its object is to examine into the causes of the frequent explosions of steam boat boilers, and into the remedies which may be proposed to obviate them. This inquiry, which has been continued for several months, has led to the accumulation of much information, collected from various sources, and which the committee, to whom the investigation was entrusted, hope to be able soon to embody into a preliminary report. It was at first believed that, however valuable a series of experiments on this subject would prove to be, it was not in the power of the Institute to undertake it at this time; as it would involve an expenditure too great for the limited funds of our association, and which we did not feel ourselves at liberty to expect from the friends of the Institute, who had so recently, and so liberally, contributed to the experiments upon water wheels. It has, however, occurred in this case, as in all the preceding ones in which the Institute has found itself in pecuniary difficulty, that assistance would never be denied to disinterested and judicious efforts to promote the public good; a fund was placed at the disposal of the committee, which will enable them to extend their inquiries much further than had been originally contemplated. The apparatus for the experiments is now nearly prepared, and it is hoped that they will be soon commenced. If any thing could have added to the pleasure which the Board experienced at the receipt of this fund, it was the knowledge that the efforts of the Institute to promote the success of the mechanic arts, had met with the general approbation of our fellow citizens, as is manifest from the high source by which this proof of unsolicited liberality has been extended to them. Another of the objects which may be considered as having received the particular attention of the Board, is, the extension of the facilities of the reading room and library. These had hitherto been postponed, from the impossibility of furnishing sufficient accommodations for them. By a fortunate concurrence of circumstances, the officers of the United States' courts were induced to propose that heir lease should be cancelled, under certain conditions, which were deemed sufficiently advantageous to the Institute, to justify us in the acceptance of them. The rents from our building have, it is true, been partially reduced by this circumstance, but we consider the loss as fully compensated by the increased accommodations we enjoy. The Institute have now the use of the two lower stories of their building, with the exception of the front offices. A new spirit has been infused into the society. A handsome contribution of books, minerals, and money, was immediately raised among the members, and the reading room was opened, under its new organization, on the 23d of September last. The library now consists of upwards of 500 volumes, and is receiving daily accessions. In it are already to be found many valuable works on the mechanic arts; and it is the firm belief of the Board, that with a little attention on the part of our successors, it may soon acquire a value in this department of bibliography which no library in this city, and perhaps none in the country, now presents. In examining into the character of our libraries, it will be seen that among the many public ones in Philadelphia, (not less than 20 or 30 in number,) there is none that possesses any especial value as a technological one. While the city and Loganian libraries, by their extent, and by the rarity and value of their contents, are just subjects of pride to our citizens; while those of the American Philosophical Society and of the Academy of Natural Sciences contain vast treasures in science; while the libraries of the hospital and law society are rich in the departments which they were intended to promote; there is not in Philadelphia a single institution, in which the formation of a collection of books relating to the applications of science to the arts has been deemed worthy of special attention. In a city like ours, this is undoubtedly a great desideratum, and nowhere is it so proper that such a collection should be formed, as within the walls of this institution. With this object, we would beg to suggest that every means be taken to cultivate this department; though not to the exclusion of others, yet giving it a decided preference. It has been asked whether we intended to exclude donations of books not connected with science or the arts? Our answer is evident. By no means. It is desirable to create a taste for books among the members, and particularly the younger ones; who, from the want of opportunity, have been hitherto, perhaps, precluded from extensive reading. This taste we all know is gradually acquired. It must be cherished by giving them works that shall not fatigue their attention, and by affording them that variety which refreshes the mind and stimulates the intellectual as well as the physical appetite. But every opportunity should, we think, be taken to exchange duplicate works, or such as may be deemed irrelevant to the purposes of the Institute for valuable works on the arts, whenever such can be obtained. In doing so, it is believed that we in no manner interfere with the intentions of the donors, who may in all cases be safely presumed to have desired to manifest, by their liberality, their interest in the welfare of the Institution. In effecting exchanges of books, the Board have, hitherto, adopted the rule of carrying those obtained in exchange, to the credit of the donors of such as were parted with. This plan, it is believed, must satisfy all, that the Institute |