been held, had it limited its investments to the amount of its permanent means, leaving its temporary means in the form of bullion, increasing or decreasing in amount, as its customers thought fit to deposit, or to recal it. The whole business of the institution would then have been regulated by the community, it being a perfect automatic machine. While the amount of its securities was regulated by the quantity of circulation in use, the amount of its bullion would have been determined by its deposits, and they, like the circulation would have been nearly a constant quantity, fluctuating perhaps between five and seven millions, instead of rising to eleven and falling to two.

We will now briefly show the working of the proposed system. Let us suppose that on a given day the bank has a circulation of twenty millions, for which she holds sccurities, and deposits to the amount of ten millions, for which she has bullion-that in the course of the following week she has returned to her, notes to the amount of £200,000, to be placed to the credit of depositors, and that in the next £200,000 are withdrawn in bullion for exportation. The following is the state of affairs at the two latter periods.

its vaults. If corn were needed, the owners of bullion would exchange their commodity for the one they wanted, and the bank would have no occasion to know that any such transaction had taken place. Perfect steadiness in the currency is perfectly consistent with variations in the crops. They have no necessary connexion with each other. It may be asked why the use of the money of individuak depositors can be more calculated to produce unsteadiness than that of the East India loan above referred to. The an swer is that the East India Company could not use its own capital, and therefore placed it in the hands of the bank until the time should arrive when it could do so; whereas individual depositors never willingly permit their capital to lie unproductive, and are always seeking the means of investing it. The man who has £1000 in his desk and is seeking to employ it, produces a certain effect upon the market; but if, while thus engaged, he places it for safe keeping with a man who uses it, a double effect is produced. His £1000 is invested while he is in the market sceking for an opportunity to make it yield him interest. Prices riso in consequence of this double action.

The fact of the return of any part of the circulation is evidence of the existence of an excess in that proportion of the currency, requiring correction, which correction is now being made by the public. Its conversion subsequently into gold for exportation is evidence of the existence of an excess in the currency generally. To re-issue the notes thus returned would be to re-produce the excess, and with it a necessity for farther correction. As fast as issued they would be brought back and gold would be demanded for them, the public thus enforcing the remedy just as steadily as the bank directors were producing the disease. If the latter persisted for any length of time, they would find themselves drained of bullion, in consequence of a constant effort to compel the public to keep on hand a larger amount of notes than they wanted, precisely as they have been on recent occasions.

The remedy for an excess of currency is a reduction of the amount. Had the directors at the close of the first of the two weeks above given, sold £200,000 of their securities, they would thereby have absorbed £200,000 of the unemployed capital remaining on deposit, and re-established the equilibrium, thus preventing any necessity for the exportation of capital in quest of employment. The account would then have stood thus,

19,800,000 19,800,000 10,000,000 10,000,000

If, on the other hand, deposits were converted into circulation, it would be evidence of a slight deficiency of the latter, and the bank might, with propriety, exchange an equal amount of its gold for securities.

Under such a system there would have been no revulsions to alarm the prudent and drive them from trade. On the contrary, steady action and profitable business would have tended to increase the number of persons among whom to select its customers, to increase the permanent value of capital, and to increase the dividends of the stockholders. While the proprietors of the bank were thus benefited, the people of England would have been enabled to avoid losses, to the extent probably of fifty millions of pounds, resulting from the violent revulsions in the United States, Canada, South America, India, and in almost every other part of the world, produced by the extraordinary unsteadiness that has been displayed. The directors on their part would have avoided the anxiety resulting from the existence of large liabilities accompanied by small means; and they would have been spared the humiliation of seeking aid from the Continent. All would have been benefited.

It is usual to attribute the difficulties of the institution to a necessity for importing corn, but a moment's examination of the above table will satisfy the reader that if it retained in its possession, in bullion, all that portion of its means that could be considered temporary, it would be entirely unimportant whether the owners thereof withdrew it, or left it in VOL. V.-20

the land offices of the west. As fast as it was accumulated at the first it was lent out to the merchants to enable them to extend their importations, and thus increase the surplus revenue. In the west, it was lent to land speculators who paid it to the Government on one day, and on the next borrowed it from the bank to buy more land. The Government parted with its land for which it held the engagement of a deposit bank, and the latter held the note of the land-jobber. In the same way, the surplus of the British revenue being lent out to the merchants of Liverpool and London must have the tendency to stimulate importations and increase the surplus to be lent out by the bank.

England is the great market for gold and silver of the world, and there is, consequently towards it a constant stream of those commodities. They are arrested on their way from the place of production to that of consumption, and pass from hand to hand for a short time, but their tendency to the crucible of the goldsmith is constant, and their termination there inevitable. That country is to the monetary world what the ocean is to the physical, and the tendency of water to the latter is not greater nor more steady than would be that of bullion to England, were the level preserved as steadily. The slightest excess of water in any quarter is mark. ed by an increase of that tendency-while with a diminution in the supply its movements become more sluggish. Were the ocean to change its level 40, 50, or 100 feet at a time as does the currency of England, we should then not only see the usual flow arrested, but a contrary current would be established, producing ruin in all parts of the earth. Precisely such is the effect produced by England when she compels the export of bullion to the countries which produce gold and silver-a trade as unnatural as would be the export of cotton to the United States, or of tea to China.

It may be said that even were the bank regular in her operations, she could not control the movements of the other Banks. Such is not the case. She has been unable to regulate them in time past, because, from her own irregularity of action, she has been unable even to control her own movements. With perfect steadiness on her part, every change in every part of the kingdom would be as readily observed as are variations in the temperature, by the nicest thermometer. Column 12 gives a view of the total circulation of the United kingdom, for 25 quarterly periods, the average of which has been £37,838,005. Eighteen of these averages show a variation, upwards or downwards, of less than £750,000. The greatest excess is £2,267,000, and the greatest variation in the contrary direction is £1,454,000. If allowance be made for the increase of population, and the gradual extension of trade and of banks throughout Ireland, the excess will be reduced to a million and a half, showing a variation, from the highest to the lowest point, of three millions, or about eight per cent. Much of this has been pro

Review of the Weather, etc., for August, 1941.

While many parts of our country have been parched by drought, during the month just closed, this city and vicinity have been blest with seasonable and refreshing rains during the whole season, so that at no period, has vegetation suffered. In referring to our record of the quantity of rain which has fallen here, we find we have had, during the eight months of the year which have elapsed, more than the average quantity which generally falls during a whole year. The quantity which has fallen since the first of January last, being forty-one and a quarter inches. Forty inches being about a yearly average.

It rained more or less during the month just closed, on eleven different days; and the quantity which fell, was a fraction over nine inches. That which fell during the corresponding month of last year, was five and a half inches. The temperature of the month was very moderate. The medium or average was 71 degrees, viz: at sunrise, 66; at 2 o'clock, 80; and at 10 P. M., 71. In no instance did the mercury rise above 87 in the shade, in the open air, where it received no improper influence from the rays of the sun. The medium temperature of the corresponding month of last year, was 74. The three summer months which have just closed, were in the aggregate, healthy, pleasant and delightful, in this city and vicinity.

During the thunder storm of the 21st, two houses were struck by lightning in this city, but not materially injured. On the same evening, two barns were burnt in Bucks county, and another in Chester county, all full of hay and grain. The Revenue Cutter Gallatin, at Cape May, was also struck, and her mast shivered. On the same evening, several houses were struck in New York city; and a Brooklyn paper saya, the effect of the electric fluid was experienced almost all over Long Island, by entering buildings, &c.; and cattle grazing in the fields, were thrown violently down, apparently lifeless, but resuscitated in a short time uninjured.

About the middle of the month, a tremendous rain storm was experienced in South Carolina and Georgia, which carried away many bridges, did great injury to the cotton crop,

&c.

It is worthy of particular remark, that the medium or average temperature of the months of July, 1839, '40, and '41, were exactly the same, viz:-74. The thermometer from which the state of the mercury was recorded, having hung in the same place for fourteen years, and regularly marked down at sunrise, and at 2 and 10 o'clock, P. M.— The summer of 1838, being uncommonly warm, the average of said month was 78.

The latest accounts from Pittsburg say, that copious rains have caused such a rise of water in the Ohio river, that it has become in good navigable order.

Previous to the 20th of August, the drought in New York State, above Albany and Troy, was very great; but the late copious rains have so revived vegetation, that there is a fair prospect of a good crop of potatoes, but corn will be very short. A like drought was experienced in a part of this State, particularly in Dauphin and the adjacent counties.

It is said that there will be an abundant crop of potatoes in Connecticut, and a part of Massachusetts; but owing to the great drought in New Hampshire and Maine, the crop will be small, and that Indian corn will be very short.

The late news of short crops of wheat in England, has caused a further advance of wheat and flour in this country. A Baltimore paper says that "peaches are very abundant, very large, very fine, very delicious, and very cheap. The report of the failure of the crop was only raised to keep up the price as long as possible." We wish they would export a few thousand bushels to this city, to reduce the exorbitant price which is demanded for them here; as it is said that there are more spoiled by keeping them over from day to day, than there are sold. A dollar a peck is too high a price for even the best peaches; but to demand it for the middling, or common size, is too bad.

The past month was one of melancholy and distressing steamboat disasters in the western waters. C. P. Philadelphia, September 1, 1841.

[U. S. Gazette.

Remarkable Hail Storm.

About three o'clock yesterday afternoon, clouds were shooting up from various points, indicating that rain so long needed, was about to refresh the earth. Speedily a few large drops came patting down, and then all was still again. But the repose was speedily broken-the windows of heaven seemed open, and such a descent of hail we never witnessed for the space of about fifteen minutes. The severity of the storm passed over the south-eastern part of the city,-stones, clear as crystal, of the size of musket balls, literally covering the ground. The windows in that section unprotected by blinds, were left without scarcely a pane of glass. One hundred were broken in the house where we were at the time. The bark of young peach trees was beaten off and the wood itself considerably bruised. Everything in the shape of vines was destroyed, while the cabbages looked as though they had been assailed by musketry. Three hours after the cessation of the storm, we passed along Monroe street where we saw a winrow of those messengers from the upper regions. Much damage must have been done in the line of this extraordinary storm.

A gentleman, Mr. Adams, just from an adjacent town, says that in one building in which he was, there were from sixty to eighty panes of glass broken, and that a great many of the hail pebbles, which penetrated the windows, were near the size of a hen's egg.-Rochester D. Adv. Aug. 30.

Defence of the Delaware.

Mr. Breck, from the Special Committee on the defenceless condition of the Delaware, submitted to Council the following Report:

In the month of May last the following resolution was referred to a joint Select Committee, and reported upon in part on the 3d of June:

Resolved, That a joint Select Committee of two members from each Council be appointed, for the purpose of preparing a memorial to Congress on the defenceless condition of the river Delaware, and particularly of the city and port of Philadelphia; and asking that Fort Millin may be repaired and suitably garrisoned, until more sufficient defences can be erected at the Pea Patch or elsewhere, on said river, and that said committee present the memorial to Councils at their next stated meeting, for their consideration and action thereon.

The committee appointed under that resolution, beg leave again to report, more in detail, that after going to Fort Mifflin, which they visited in order to become acquainted with its present condition, they prepared a memorial, which having been adopted by Councils, and duly authenticated by the signatures of their respective Presidents and the Corporate Seal, was sent in four copies to each House of Congress, to the President and Secretary of War, by Isaac Roach, Esq., as special messenger to Washington.

That gentleman was furnished with letters, written on behalf of the committee by their chairman, to the President and other officers of Government, and to several members of Congress, to whom Major Roach explained the subject of the memorial, with the intelligence which his knowledge as former commander of Fort Mifflin fully qualified him to do.

Since then the committee has been in correspondence with, and received efficient aid from Messrs. Toland, Ingersoll and Brown. By them it was informed of the appropriation by the House of Representatives of seventy thou sand dollars [liable, however, to a contingency] for the reconstruction of Fort Delaware, on the Pea Patch.

Mr. Ingersoll, in one of his letters to the chairman, writes thus: "I paid the President an official visit, with your letter in my hand, requesting a particular interview with him.— He requested, whereof I would not object, that he might keep the letter, promising all attention to the business."

A few days after another letter was received from the same gentleman, in which he says: "The President has taken occasion to inform me, that the subject of your letter to me, having been referred by him to the Secretary of War, a body of Marines will be stationed in charge of Fort Mifflin, until a company of soldiers can be spared for the purpose."

REMARKS

Relative to the Fossiliferous Ore of Pennsylvania, and its Employment in the Manufacture of Iron. By PROFESSOR J. C. BOOTH.

In the course of a recent tour on the Susquehanna, I had an opportunity of making a few observations relative to the iron manufacture, some of which I believe to possess sufficient value to be laid before those who are interested in this foundation of national wealth. Indeed it is desirable that a freer interchange of sentiment should be maintained on this subject, and as many iron masters have made important observations in the course of their practice, I would suggest to them that their own interest lies in communicating such knowledge to the public, by its inducing a reciprocity on the part of others; for competition is less to be feared in this manufacture than in all others, since the consumption of iron will increase, at least, in proportion with its production. The hematites, and other ores of Pennsylvania, having been worked advantageously for a great length of time, I paid more particular attention to the "fossiliferous ore," which is beginning to be more appreciated than formerly, and for very good reasons. It is regularly stratified, easy of access, always lies in the vicinity of limestone, and is, in all probability, of very great extent. For a more full and comprehensive view of this deposit, I refer to the excellent series of Geological Reports, particularly the 2d, 4th and 5th, presented to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, by Frofessor H. D. Rogers, which are based upon the extensive series of observations made by that gentleman and his assistants.

At the Duncannon iron works, I was shown a portion of chilled iron, from the hearth stone of a furnace in which the soft variety of the fossiliferous ore had been employed. Besides pure silica, which separates, and appears sometimes to have suffered fusion in this situation, a considerable quantity of pure metallic titanium was disseminated through the iron, and in a few points, it had separated somewhat in the form of a crystalline efflorescence, in which the cubical form could readily be detected with a microscope, and in many cases even with the naked eye. Upon referring to the analysis of this ore, (Report 2nd, p. 44; 4th, p. 191 to 195; 5th, p. 115 to 117,) no trace of titanium being mentioned, should not excite surprise, when we recollect the difficulty of detecting it, unless its presence should be suspected, and when we reflect on the small amount in the ore that might be requisite to precipitate an appreciable quantity of it on the hearthstones. Beside, since this metal does not appear to combine with iron, nor to affect its quality, its detection in the ore is a matter of inferior moment, and I have merely introduced a notice of its presence from the interest with which it is regarded by those engaged in scientific pursuits. Another method by which it may be detected is to observe when the slag assumes a fine blue color, for Karsten has lately discovered that this color of the slag is due to the oxide of titanium.

A few hints may not be considered irrelevant in regard to the reduction of iron, which occurred to me in observing the ordinary processes, particularly at Danville. In roasting ores, which is generally regarded as an important preparatory step to their reduction, it is inadvisable to employ too strong a heat, for then the earthy materials and metallic oxide enter into a state of incipient fusion, which can be but imperfectly reduced in the furnace, and generally flow to the hearth in the state of slag. For although the carbonic oxide will act reducingly on its exterior surface, the inner, being completely enveloped in a compact cinder, can scarcely be affected. Probably the hard siliceous ore requires less heat than most of the other ores of iron, and indeed I give it as my conviction, that if the cost be not too great, it would be infinitely better to subject it to a coarse pulverization by mechanical means, since there is so small an amount of volatile matter in it, that simple roasting will not render it sufficiently porous. If roasting the ore be still adhered to, nothing should be more strictly watched than the object in view, which is to drive off volatile matter, and render the ore brittle and porous, and nothing can be more injudicious than to apply a heat which

1

will cause the ore to cake together, or become cindery, since it is then more difficult of reduction than the ore in its origi nal state.

Another point that cannot be too much insisted on is the due and proper mixture of ores, and it might almost seem as if nature pointed out the propriety of this, in presenting the three varieties of ore in the same locality. It is a well ascertained fact, that a very large quantity of lime is requisite to bring silica into a fusible state, such as is necessary in the operations of the iron furnace, while a small proportion of alumina, in addition to those substances, requires less lime, and a much less intense heat, to form a perfect slag, or glass. Now it appears, from analysis, Report 5th, p. 116, that the siliceous ore consists almost wholly of peroxide of iron and silica, with only one-half per cent. of alumina, and that the calcareous variety contains none, and Report 4th, p. 102, the hard ore contains a mere trace of alumina. In Report 2d, p. 44, the porous and soft ore contains five per cent. alumina, and in Report 4th, p. 191 and 192, a similar ore includes five and six per cent. of the same earth. Hence it appears that the chief deficiency of the hard and calcareous ores lies in the want of alumina, which is contained in the soft ores; and that they should, therefore, be mingled in due proportion. If it is not always practicable to obtain a sufficient amount of aluminous ore for this purpose, the importance of having alumina present is such that it would become advisable to employ an argillaceous limestone as a flux, or even to use a clay, or other argillaceous material. If these points were to receive the attention they merit, I am convinced that iron masters would not so often complain of the difficul ty of reducing hard varieties of ore.

A

Journal of the Franklin Institute.

ARCHITECTURE.

Description of the Philadelphia County Prison, and the Debtors' Apartment. Designed and executed by TнOMAS U. WALTER, Architect.

The Philadelphia County Prison is situated on the Passyunk road, about one mile south of the city. It occupies a space of 310 feet front by 525 feet in depth, with an addition on the north of 150 by 340 feet.

The façade consists of a centre building of fifty-three feet in width, with receding wings on either side, of fifty feet, flanked by massy octagonal towers. Beyond these towers, receding wing-walls are continued to the extremities of the front, and terminated with embattled bastions.

The whole exterior is composed of a blue sienite, obtained from Quincy, in the State of Massachusetts.

The style of architecture is that of the castles of the middle ages, and its decorations are in the Perpendicular or Tudor style of English Gothic.

The centre building is three stories in height, diminishing at each story in regular offsets, capped with a projecting belt. The corners are finished with circular warder towers of five feet four inches in diameter, commencing at ten feet below the top of the front wall, and extending five feet above it; these towers project three-fourths of their circumference over the corners of the building, and are crowned with embattled parapets, supported by corbiels. The front wall and both the flanks are also finished with battlements, pierced with embrasures, thus forming an embattled screen between the towers, and imparting a tower-like effect to the whole centre building.

The wings are two stories in height, and contain the gates of entrance, each of which is ten feet wide, and seventeen feet high. These wings, and the octagonal towers which flank them, are pierced with slip windows, and finished with embattled parapets, in the same manner as the centre building.

The bastions, on the extreme angles of the front, are also crowned with pierced battlements corresponding with the rest of the design. They project two feet from the wingwalls, and measure, on each face, fifteen feet in width at the base, and thirteen feet at the top.

The centre building is surmounted by an embattled octag