the rack and wheel-work before mentioned. The halves of the moulds are then separated, and the pipe moved along in the mould, so that only an inch or two of its end remains in the mould, the halves of which are again fastened together, with the core between them, and its end entered an inch or two into the first piece of pipe. The mould is now filled with melted lead, the heat of which fuses and unites it with the end of the first piece, so as to double its length. The core is again drawn out a second time, and another length cast to the former. This method produces pipes of any length in one piece, but they are liable to have air-bubbles in them, which produce holes when the metal is thin, and the joining of the different lengths are not always perfectly sound.

metal; in the centre of this boiler a force-pump is fixed up, its suction-valve drawing in the melted lead contained in the boiler: the forcing pipe of the pump proceeds through the side of the boiler and conducts the lead to the mould, which is fixed on the end of the pipe outside the boiler: It consists of a tube, bored perfectly smooth and cylindrical, its interior diameter being equal to the outside of the pipe intended to be made; the end of the mould nearest the boiler expands into a conical mouth, larger than the mould itself, and across this widest part a cross bar is fixed, to support a core or mandrel, of a diameter equal to the bore of the intended pipe, and situated exactly in the centre of the mould, leaving an equal space all round between them: the core is slightly conical, being rather less at its extremity, which terminates at the same length with the external mould. There must be sufficient openings left at the sides of the cross bar supporting the core to allow the lead to pass freely by, that it may unite again after passing the cross, and completely fill the mould. The mould passes through one of the fire flues surrounding the boiler, that it may be kept so hot as to procure the lead in its fluid state, till it arrives nearly at the point of the mould, which is immersed in a cistern of hot water. The operation is simple; the pump, being worked, forces the lead through the mould, the heat and length of which are so regulated that the lead may chill a little before it quits the extremity of the mould and issues forth in a solid state into the water cistern, forming a pipe of any length.

The method which is now very generally adopted is to cast the lead in an iron mould, upon a cylindrical iron rod of the size for the bore of the intended pipe, the lead being three or four times the thickness of the intended pipe, and in short lengths which are then drawn through holes in pieces of steel, till the pipe is reduced to the intended thickness, and drawn out to the proper length. Another method is to reduce the pipe by repeatedly passing it through the two rollers of a flatting-mill, in each of which a number of semicircular notches are formed all round, so that the two rollers, when put together, have a number of circular cavities between them, which gradually diminish in diameter from one end of the rollers to the other. The pipe is first rolled between the largest of these cavities, then in a smaller, and so on to the last, which extends the Solder is used by the plumber for the purpose of pipe to its proper length, and diminishes its sub-securing the joints of leaden work in cases in which stance to the proper thickness, at the same time by a lap or roll-joint cannot be employed. It is a condensing the metal hardens it, and makes a very general rule with respect to solder that it should strong tube with very little metal. Mr. John Wil- always be easier of fusion than the metal intended kinson, of Brosely, England, the celebrated iron to be soldered by it. Next to this, care must be manufacturer, took out a patent in 1790 for the last- taken that the solder be as far as it is possible of the mentioned method, which he practised on a very ex- same colour with the metal intended to be soldered. tensive scale: he was not, however, the original Technically, the soft solder is that which the plumber inventor, the same thing having been proposed, in makes use of, on account of its melting easily. This 1728, by M. Fayolle. Since the expiration of this solder is composed of tin and lead, in equal parts, patent many manufactories of this article have been fused together, after which it is run into moulds in established, some employing rollers, and others the shape not unlike the common gridiron. In this state draw-bench, for extending the pipes. it is sold by the pound by the manufacturer. In the operation of soldering, the surfaces of the metal intended to be joined are scraped and rendered very clean; they are then brought close up to each other, and, to secure them, they are held by one plumber while another lays a little resin or borax about the

In 1801 Mr. Alderson took out a patent for lead pipes which were to be lined with tin, for the conveyance of beer, water, or other fluids which were in danger of receiving a taint from the corrosion of the lead. This he accomplished by casting a lead pipe in the manner above described, then withdraw-joint. This is done to defend the metal, while soling the core, and throwing into the pipe a small quantity of powdered resin. Another core smaller than the former was next inserted into the centre of the pipe, and melted tin poured in to fill up the space. The pipes were cast in a vertical position, and the resin melting by the heat, and floating upon the surface of the tin, acted as a flux to unite it with the lead. This pipe of lead, lined with tin, is to be drawn or rolled at length, as before mentioned. We are informed that Mr. Alderson purposed to employ rollers to extend them instead of the draw-bench.

Mr. Bramah's method of making lead pipes is very ingenious; it is performed by a process of pumping or forcing the metal in its fluid state through proper moulds. A boiler or kettle is fitted up over a fire-grate, with flues for the fusion of the

dering, from oxidation. The heated solder is then brought in a ladle and poured on the joint to be soldered, and is smoothed and finished by rubbing it about with a heated grozing-iron, and, when complete, it is filed or scraped off, and made even with the joint and contiguous surface of the lead

The method usually pursued for laying sheet-lead consists, if it be for terraces or flat surfaces, of covering such places with a bottom as even as possible, either by boarding or plastering; if by the former, observing to have the boards thick enough to prevent their warping and twisting upwards, as, when this is not attended to, the lead work is soon cracked, and becomes very unsightly. The sheets of lead not being more than about six feet in width make it necessary to have joints when a large surface is to

to doubt that the original form was preserved; for| The Mujelibe was first described, in the convic not only would it have taken enormous labour and tion of its being the Tower of Babel, by Della Valle, expense to alter it, but the form it afterward bore is who examined the ruins in 1616, and characterises that which would hardly, in such comparatively late this mass as a mountain of ruins," and again, as a times, have been thought of, being in its simplicity" huge mountain." The name means overturned;" and proportions characteristick not only of very and as either this or the Birs Nemroud must afford ancient but of the most ancient constructed masses the remains of the famous tower, if such still exist, which have been known to exist on the earth. Our we shall give a short description of both from the earliest authentick information concerning this tower" Memoir on the ruins of Babylon," compared with is from Herodotus, who however did not see it till the accounts furnished by Sir Robert Ker Porter thirty years after the Persian king Xerxes, in his and Sir John Macdonald (Kinnier.) The latter genindignation against the form of idolatry with which tleman concurs with Della Valle, D'Anville, Rennell, it had become associated, did as much damage to it and other high names, in considering it the Tower as its solid mass enabled him, with any tolerable of Babel; but it is to be borne in mind, that none of convenience, to effect. Herodotus describes the them, except Macdonald, had any distinct informaspot as a sacred inclosure dedicated to Jupiter Be- tion concerning the Birs Nemroud. lus, consisting of a regular square of two stadia (one thousand feet) on each side, and adorned with gates of brass. In the midst of this area rose a massive tower, whose length and breadth was one stadium, (five hundred feet;) upon this tower arose another and another, till the whole had numbered eight. He does not say how high it was; but Strabo, who concurs with him in the dimensions of the basement-flat, adds, that the whole was a stadium in height. Taking these proportions of five hundred feet high, on a base of five-hundred feet on each side, we have a structure as high as the greatest of the Egyptian pyramids, but standing on a much narrower base; as the dimensions of the pyramid may (on an approximation from various statements) be reckoned at four hundred and eighty feet in height, on a base of seven hundred and fifty feet each way. Herodotus goes on to say, that, on the outside, steps were formed, winding up to each tower; and that in the middle of every flight a resting-place was provided, with seats. In the highest tower there was a magnificent chamber, expressly sacred to Belus, furnished with a splendid couch, near which was a table of gold. But there was no statue, the god being supposed to inhabit it at his will. About two centuries after the devastations committed by Xerxes, Alexander, among his mighty projects, conceived the idea of restoring this famous tower to its former condition; and, as a preparatory step, employed ten thousand men, for two months, in removing the rubbish which had fallen from the superstructure in consequence of the Persian king's dilapidations. This circumstance alone would induce us, at this distant time, in looking for the remains of this earliest great work of man, to be content with very faint traces of what we may suppose the original structure to have been. The distinction of being a remain of the Tower of Babel has been claimed for three different masses; namely, for Nimrod's Tower, at Akkerkoof; for the Mujelibe, about nine hundred and fifty yards east of the Euphrates, and five miles above the modern town of Hillah; and for the Birs Nemroud, to the west of that river, and about six miles to the south-west of Hillah. The Tel Nimrood, at Akkerkoof, has already been mentioned as denoting the site of Accad. Many travellers have believed it to be the Tower of Babel, having perhaps their imaginations excited by the name of Nimrod attached to it: but the people of the country certainly do not believe it to be the Tower of Babel, the site of which they always indicate by a reference to Hillah, on the Euphrates.

The Mujelibe is second only to the last named pile, in being one of the most enormous masses of brick-formed earth raised by the labour of man. Its shape is oblong, and its height, as well as the measurement of its sides, very irregular. Its sides face the four cardinal points; the measurement of that on the north being two hundred yards in length, the southern two hundred and nineteen, the eastern one hundred and eighty-two, and the western one hundred and thirty-six; while the elevation of the highest or south-east angle is one hundred and forty-one feet. The summit is a broad uneven flat. It ascends towards the south-eastern point, and forms an angular kind of peak, sloping gradually down in an opposite direction upon the bosom of the mound to a depth of about one hundred feet. The mass of the structure, as in that at Akkerkoof and the other Babylonish remains, is composed of bricks dried in the sun, and mixed with broken straw or reed in the preparation, cemented in some places with bitumen and regular layers of reeds, and in others with slime and reeds. In most Babylonish structures, several courses of brick intervene between the layers of reeds; but in this the reeds are interposed between every single course of bricks. The outer edges of the bricks having mouldered away, it is only on minute inspection that the nature of its materials can be ascertained. When viewed from a distance, the ruin has more the appearance of a small hill than a building; and the ascent is in most places so gentle, that a person may ride all over it. The bricks are larger and much inferiour to most others; nor indeed do any of those in the ruins near the Euphrates equal those in the ruins at Akkerkoof. Deep ravines have been sunk by the periodical rains in this stupendous mass, and there are numerous long narrow cavities, or passages, which are now the unmolested retreats of hyenas, jackals, and other noxious animals. Quantities of kiln-burnt bricks are scattered about at the base of the fabrick, and it is probable that this, as well as the other recesses which only now exhibit the inferiour material, were originally cased with the burnt bricks, but which, in the course of ages, have been taken away for the purposes of building -a practice which is known to have been in operation for more than two thousand years.

Every one who sees the Birs Nemroud feels at once, that of all the masses of ruin found in this region, there is not one which so nearly corresponds with his previous notions of the tower of Babel; and he will decide that it could be no other, if he is

not discouraged by the apparent difficulty of reconciling the statements of the ancient writers concerning the temple of Belus, with the situation of this ruin on the western bank, and its distance from the river and the other ruins. That this difficulty is not insuperable has been shown by the writer of the article "Babylon," in the "Penny Cyclopedia ;" and without giving any decided opinion, we cannot but subscribe to the view that the Birs Nemroud must probably be identified with the tower in question, if the latter is to be identified at all.

tense vitrifying heat to which the summit has most
evidently been subjected, he has no doubt that the
fire acted from above, and was probably lightning.
The circumstance is certainly remarkable in con-
nexion with the tradition that the original tower of
Babel was rent and overthrown by fire from heaven.
Porter thinks that the works of the Babylonish
kings concealed for awhile the marks of the original
devastation; and that now the destructions of time
and of man have reduced it to nearly the same con-
dition in which it appeared after the Confusion.
any rate it cannot now be seen without recollecting
the emphatick prophecy of Jeremiah (ch. li. 25 :)
"I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll
thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a
burnt mountain."

SUPPOSED ANCIENT STATE OF THE NORTH
AMERICAN CONTINENT.

At

We give Mr. Rich's description, referring to Sir R. K. Porter for a more detailed account. "The Birs Nemroud is a mound of an oblong form, the total circumference of which is seven hundred and sixty-two yards. At the eastern side it is cloven by a deep furrow, and is not more than fifty or sixty feet high; but on the western side it rises in a conical figure to the elevation of one hundred and ninety-eight feet, and on its summit is a solid pile of brick, thirty-seven feet high by twenty-eight in breadth, diminishing in thickness to the top, which THERE was read, at a recent sitting of the Geois broken and irregular, and rent by a large fissure logical Society, a paper "On the supposed ancient extending through a third of its height. It is per-state of the North American continent, especially on forated by small square holes, disposed in rhomboids. the extent of an inland sea by which a great porThe fire-burnt bricks of which it is built have in- tion of its surface is conjectured to have been covscriptions on them; and so excellent is the ce- ered, and on the evidence of progressive drainage ment, which appears to be lime-mortar, that it is of the waters," by Mr. Roy. The author of this nearly impossible to extract one whole. The other communication, having been employed in extensive parts of the summit of this hill are occupied by im- surveys, especially in the lake districts of North mense fragments of brick-work, of no determinate America, found, on drawing out sections for profesfigure, tumbled together, and converted into solid sional purposes, that the country every where exhibvitrified masses, as if they had undergone the action ited successive ridges, which encircled the lakes; of the fiercest fire, or had been blown up with gun- and, upon comparing sections to the north of Lake powder, the layers of brick being perfectly discern- Ontario with others to the south, that the ridges exible." "These ruins," continues Mr. Rich, "stand actly corresponded in elevation. The highest of on a prodigious mound, the whole of which is itself these ridges is two hundred and ninety-six feet in ruins, channelled by the weather and strewed above the level of the sea, or seven hundred and with fragments of black stone, sandstone, and mar- sixty-two feet above that of Lake Ontario; and conble. In the eastern part, layers of unburnt brick, necting this elevation with the physical features of but no reeds, were discernible in any part: possibly the great valleys of the Mississippi and Missouri, the absence of them here, when they are so general- Mr. Roy supposes that the whole of the area ly seen under similar circumstances, may be an bounded on the west by the Rocky mountains, argument of the inferiour antiquity of the building. from the table land of Mexico to the parallel of forIn the north side may be seen traces of building ex-ty-seven degrees of latitude-on the north by the actly similar to the brick pile. At the foot of the mound a step may be traced scarcely elevated above the plain, exceeding in extent by several feet each way the true or measured base; and there is a quadrangular inclosure around the whole, as at the Mujelibe, but much more distinct and of greater dimensions."

It may be observed that the grand dimensions of both the Birs and the Mujelibe correspond very well with that of the tower of Belus, the circumference of which, if we take the stadium at five hundred feet, was two thousand feet; that of the Birs is two thousand two hundred and eighty-six, and that of the Mujelibe two thousand one hundred and eleven, which in both instances is a remarkable approximation, affording no greater difference than is easily accounted for by our ignorance of the exact proportion of the stadium and by the enlargement which the base must have undergone by the crumbling of the materials. Sir R. K. Porter seems to show that three, and part of the fourth, of the original eight stages of the tower may be traced in the existing ruin of Birs Nemroud; and, with regard to the in

barrier separating the headwaters of the lakes from-those of the northern rivers, and extending to Cape Tourmanti, below Quebec-and on the east by hills stretching through the United States to the gulf of, Mexico, forming one vast inland sea, occupying nine hundred and sixty thousand square miles. Having given the extreme height and supposed extent of the sea, the memoir proceeded to show by what progressive operations the author considers that the boundaries were broken through and the waters drained, till they were reduced to the detached basins forming the Canadian lakes. These details, however, cannot be understood without the aid of diagrams.

We never yet knew a man disposed to scorn the humble who was not himself a fair object of scorn to the humblest. A man of a liberal mind has a reverence for the little pride that seasons every condition, and would deem it sacrilege to affront, or abate, the respect which is maintained with none of the adventitious aids, and solely by the observance of the honesties.