pany the specification, and are shewn in Plate XII. in the way the patentees have designed them. Fig. 8, represents a cistern of the kind usually employed to hold water for domestic purposes; it is divided by a partition in the middle into two distinct compartments, which have no immediate communication with each other. The compartment, a, receives the water in its impure state, from an ordinary service pipe with a ball cock; the compartment, b, receives the water after it has been purified by filtration. A small pipe, c, leads from the bottom of the cistern, a, into a box, d, and the water from a descends by this pipe into the box: e, is a larger pipe or tube, extending from the box, d, up to the second compartment of the cistern, b; and this tube being filled with a filtering material, the water rises through this tube into the cistern, 6. The materials to be placed in the tube, e, as a filter, may be cinders, sand, or any other like substance that is not soluble in water; but the material that is most approved, is a composition called pozzolana, for which the above A. H. Chambers, Esq. obtained a patent in 1821, (see our second Vol. page 270.) At the upper and lower ends of the tube, e, perforated plates are fixed, for the purpose of confining the filtering materials, and at the same time allowing the water to pass; the residium depositing itself in the box, d, may be drawn off or otherwise removed as occasion may require. The superincumbent pressure of the water in the cistern, a, upon the column, c, causes it to rise through the filtering tube, e, into the cistern, b, to the same level as in a, in a purified state fit for use. Another mode of effecting the same object, is shewn at fig. 9, which is an ordinary water butt, In the lower part of the butt, a stand, a, is placed, and upon this the filtering vessel, b, b. The vessel has a perforated plate or grating, at bottom, and above this a quantity of the filtering material, c, which is covered at top with a similar perforated plate. The pressure of the water in the butt above the filtering material, causes it to ascend in the vessel, b, and after having passed through the filter, to rise to the upper part of the vessel, as at d, in a purified state fit for use. These principles are further proposed to be applied to the clarifying of the water of muddy rivers. Fig. 10, is intended to represent a section of part of a river; a, is a dam or weir, interrupting the course of the river; b the part where the water is allowed to descend; c, c, an arched tank; d, d, a grating on the top of the tank, in which the filtering material, e, e, is deposited. In this method of adapting the before described principles, the superincumbent pressure of the water at b, forces the water in the tank upwards through the grating, and through the filtering material, into the part of the river, f, below the weir, where the water flows in a purified state. [Inrolled September, 1825.] Ta JOHN WEISS, of the Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Surgical Instrument Maker and Cutler, for his Invention of certain Improvements on Exhausting, Injecting, or Condensing Pumps, and on the Apparatus connected therewith, and which said Improvements are applicable to various useful purposes. [Sealed 18th December, 1824.] THIS invention is an improved syringe for surgical purposes, principally designed to extract poisonous matter from the stomach, and to inject such liquors as shall dilute or neutralise the effects of the poison, where it cannot be effectually extracted. There are several modifications of the invention, all of which are shewn in Plate XIII. Fig. 1, is an external view of the improved syringe, with its appendages; a, is the barrel or cylindrical part of the syringe ; b, is the handle, by which the piston (shewn by dots) is worked up and down in the cylinder; c, is a three way cock; d, is a rod connected to the lever, which turns the three way cock. This rod passes through small holes in the rims of the cylinder, and bending over at top, proceeds some way down within, as shewn by dots; it is also made thin, and slightly flexible at the bottom, in order to accommodate itself to the arc, in which the lever of the cock turns; e, and f, are the two orifices through which liquors may be drawn into the cylindrical part of the syringe, or expelled from it. Supposing the position of the three way cock to be such as shall place the orifice, e, open to the interior of the syringe, on raising the piston, any liquor into which the mouth of the orifice may be immersed, will flow up into the cylinder and fill it. When the piston has arrived near the top, it will strike against the end of the rod, d, within the cylinder, and by raising the rod, cause the lever to turn the three way cock, shutting off the orifice, e, and opening the orifice, f, to the interior of the syringe. On passing the piston down the cylinder again, the liquor which was drawn in at the orifice, e, will be expelled through the orifice, f, and as the piston proceeds, the collar, g, near the handle, by striking against the bent end of the rod, d, will push the rod |