its Archimedean elevators, to obtain any angle
of position; and the cabin-sofa, which is not
only a sofa, but a great many other things;
for it is convertible into a whole cabinful of
furniture.

Bedsteads are as clever, too, as sofa-bed-
steads. Here is the magic folding-bedstead. In
scene the first, it is a flat piece of sacking,
with no thickness to speak of; lift out four
mysterious iron legs, and you have a plain,
homely bedstead; scene the third, and you
find it a couch; with another transformation
it becomes a settee; and in order that baby
may not be neglected, you make the settee
into a crib as scene the fifth. Here is the
excelsior self-fastening bedstead, which has a
very independent way of putting itself together
without the aid of screws, bed-wrenches,
or braces. Here is that extraordinary stroke
of genius, the alarum bedstead,—extraordinary,
we may be sure, when we are told
that " the movement of the hand of a common
watch will turn any one out of bed at
any given hour when attached to this
bedstead"—a resolute act, very impressive to
perform at six o'clock on a cold wintry morning.

Why not use the floating filtering pump?
asks an inventor. We grumble and complain
against the water which supplies our daily
wants, but we are partly to blame; for, in
our daily pumpings, we pump from nearly the
bottom of wells and tanks, bringing up sediment
as well as water. Then why not use the
floating filter? again asks the inventor, which
compels you to draw water from the top, instead
of the bottom, of your receptacle or reservoir.

We went a little farther, and we found
written up, " Smoke condensed! Fresh air!!
New motive power!!!" Three good things in
one. In the first place, the smoke of London
and large towns generally is to be condensed
for agricultural and other useful purposes. In
the second place, fresh air from some healthy
place is to be supplied to every house.
Thirdly, there is to be a saving of fifty per
cent in the ordinary domestic consumption of
fuel. Fourthly, the noxious effluvia from
gully-holes will be compelled to return to the
place from whence they came, or rather not
to come out at all. Fifthly, each member of
the House of Lords and Commons may enjoy
the benefit of hot or cold air without
inconvenience to his neighbours—a privilege which
it is to be hoped our legislature will duly
appreciate. Sixthly, butchers' meat and
other articles of food may be preserved during
the hot months. Seventhly, and lastly, " a
new motive power performs all these opera-
tions." How it is all done is not exactly
explained; but if you will provide capital and
form a company, the inventor announces his
willingness to enlighten the world thereupon.

We went on and on, until we came to this:—
"Apparatus for preventing explosions in coal-
mines." The very name brings up thoughts of
fire-damp, and wasted lives, and desolated
homes. Here, in this invention, we find
suggested to us a fan, working in a close case,
and connected with the mine by light sheet-iron
pipes; the pipes are to be carried along the
roofs of the workings as the miners proceed.
The fan can be worked by the winding-
engine, with a very little expenditure of
additional power. By working the fan for thirty
or forty minutes before the miners descend,
the inventor dares to hope that he could clear
the largest coal-mine in Britain of foul air, or
so dilute it as to render it innocuous. The
same movement which draws away the foul
air from the deep workings, will draw down
fresh air through the working shaft. Our
inventor insists that if such a fan were
used (capable of exhausting seven thousand
cubic feet of air in one minute), there
need be no double shaft, upcast and
downcast, for ventilating a coal-mine; the same
shaft employed in working the mine would
suffice for ventilating it too. With the
apparatus of Mr. Fourdrinier in Staffordshire,
and that of Mr. Nasmyth, and others
by other clever inventors, is it not a great
scandal to humanity that mining life should
be so little cared for, and that mining
accidents should be so frequent? But we went on.

If ever we go pic-nicking without the
patent portable umbrella-tent, we shall
assuredly deserve to be drenched. Here we
have it, all complete. There is a top or
dome constructed to open and shut like an
umbrella, with the ventilator on the summit.
The central pole which supports the
umbrella also supports a table. And an effect is
produced which the inventor possibly did
not anticipate; a table-moving exploit is
performed, for the table moves easily round without
removing the decanters or other things on
it, to the convenience of the company. The
whole affair—tent, ventilator, pole, table
and all—although capable of pic-nicking a
dozen persons, will pack into a bag six feet
long by one foot broad. Is not this the tent
for summer rusticating; and for military men
knocking about in warm climates; and for
emigrants who are in search of a Canvas
Town; and for artists and students when on
professional rambles; and for archery clubs,
and cricketing clubs, and angling clubs, and
shooting clubs; and for florists who would
shield their nurslings from the hot sunshine;
and for bathers where machines ought to be,
but are not; and for tea-gardens, and race-
courses, and many other uses and places?

We went a little farther, and stopped at
a perruquier's. We wanted not to study the
ventilating wigs, nor the beautiful flowing
curls, nor the wonderful effects of the hair-dye,
but the waxen models. The models for the
use of staymakers, hairdressers, and makers
of fancy articles, are the work of artistes
who are often not a little proud of tlie result
of their handiwork. Here is one Parisian
producer, who assures us that, in his figures
and busts, the fresh and brilliant colours of
the wax, its superior quality, the choice of