ples of solicitation and free-will. The results of this patriotic selfdenial is becoming more and more observable, as we have shown from the Temperance Record of Scotland to which we have already called the attention of our readers. It may be asked why should moderate drinkers in the upper ranks practise abstinence? Why should they make a sacrifice, and what effect will self-denial on their part have on the drunkard of low degree? To this we answer, that the lower ranks derive all their views and feelings from the higher. Fashions are never known to press upwards; example, therefore, is the only means by which the upper ranks can with any prospect of success enforce temperance on the common people: fashion is every thing with us; what in fact has of late years produced the comparative sobriety among the better orders in Britain, but the fashion of imitating Continental temperance?

There is another, and we think a most important result, proceeding from the combined effort of the latter classes in reclaiming the slave of dissipation and in the repression of drunkenness. Let us consider that crime of all sorts is progressive, that the drunkard was once a sober man, that he then became what is called a moderate man, he afterwards began to exceed step by step; he sinks to the lowest extremes of brutal intemperance as he advances in this pernicious course, at every step he loses a portion of the good opinion which his respectable friends or neighbours had formerly entertained for him, and of course a portion of that manly self-respect which is due to himself, and without which no one can act a wise, a virtuous, or an honourable part in society: but after he has arrived at the lowest stage of intemperance, after, like the leper of old, he has been expelled from the camp, lost to his friends, his country and himself, even here, however he may endeavour to conceal the fact from himself and others, in his heart he cherishes a respect for the sober part of the community, from whom his own indiscretion and folly have shut him out, and the warmest aspiration of this poor wretch is once more to be admitted into that society. Here then is the advantage of the moderate portion of the community practising abstinence; they know that this poor man cannot come to them, they accordingly meet him half-way; they tell him that his salvation depends on his abstaining from spiritous liquors, yet they ask him not to submit to any privation to which they themselves do not submit; they ask him to relinquish that which is undermining his health, ruining his affairs, and bringing his family to present and eternal misery; they ask him, in short, to join in their association; and what is the consequence? the man is at once raised a step in society, he at once gains a portion of the respect that he owes to himself, and if he only has the firmness to persevere, (which we are happy to say is done in almost every case,) this association with sober men will lead him back to the paths of duty, and bring domestic peace and joy to his home, which is now the abode of squalid poverty and wretchedness.

Such, then, is the remedy that has been proposed for intemperance, and which has been found to produce the most beneficial effects in civil life. We are most happy to observe that the system has also been transferred, and is now acted upon by a portion of the military. In the last Temperance Record, we observe that the 4th Royal Irish Dragoons, and the 91st (Argyleshire) regiments have each adopted the plan of

Temperance Societies. How would this work in the Navy? We are all but too well acquainted with the baneful nature of intemperance in that service; we know from painful experience, that if all the crimes committed in the navy were divided into five equal parts, four out of the five, at the very least, would be found to proceed from drunkenness; all quarrels, all riots and tumults, all neglect of duty, insolence to superiors, mutinous or seditious language, and other enormities, have ever been the issues and product of excessive drinking; and how often does the drunken revel end in the cry of murder! how often does the hand of the inebriate, in one rash hour, perform a deed that haunts him to the grave! One third of the patients confined under insanity, have brought that terrible disease upon themselves by drunkenness—“ Oh! that a man should put an enemy in his mouth to steal away his brain.”

Almost every accident that happens on board of ship may be traced to the same prolific source of evil; when our men fall from aloft or are lost overboard, have their limbs fractured, or are upset in boats, in short, in almost every instance where they either give or receive injury, the remote or proximate cause of the harm is to be found in the intoxication of one or of all the parties concerned; and in the upper ranks, how many honourable and gallant young men have we seen lost to themselves and their country solely from dissipation! wretched in fortune and in fame, blighted in health, in hope, in happiness, in expectation, pursued by misery and wretchedness in this life, or brought unwept and unhonoured to an early grave.—“Oh! thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee, the devil.”

We have served during the war, and since the peace, in sixteen different ships of war, and we have taken passages at various times in about as many more; from our youth upwards, we have heard the subject of intemperance mourned over, we have seen many plans adopted, and much severe punishment inflicted for the purpose of putting a stop to the influence of intoxication, yet in all our experience we have never known the drunkard reclaimed by means of corporal punishment; we contend, therefore, that it is not to be flogged out of him; he may be scared for a time from terror of the infliction, but without some moral check the demon will most assuredly return doubly armed, aided rather than repressed by the moral degradation which repeated punishment must ever produce.

Wine and beer may be necessary as anti-scorbutic to sea-faring people; with ardent spirits it is quite otherwise; there is more virtue as an anti-scorbutic in one ounce of sugar with lime-juice than in a pint of spirits: would not the utter abandonment of ardent spirits be of the utmost consequence to the service? It might be done at once were the officers one and all to take advantage of the discovery which works so beneficially on shore, and which consists in the transcendent benefit of example and association; there are no class of beings on earth who follow the example of their officers for good or for evil with such sympathising good-will as sailors, and the readiness with which they relinquished a portion of the ardent spirits which formed a part of their allowance a few years ago, redounds to their immortal honour, and is another convincing proof of the fact that was formerly stated in this Journal "That the progress of civilization may be traced in the advance of our military institutions more perfectly than in the laws

affecting civil life and property and morals." So far as regards the officers of the British navy, we humbly implore them to observe and satisfy themselves with the beneficial results of Temperance Societies on shore; that is all we require, well assured that we address ourselves to men ever anxious to exert themselves for the good of the service, and who, when once convinced of the absolute utility of a measure, will never suffer self-indulgence to interfere with public duty.

N. C.

The following note appended to a notice of a Public Meeting held at Exeter Hall, London, on the 29th of June last, on this subject, will, in some degree, exemplify the extent to which this evil has extended generally.-ED.

"The present habits and customs of Society are rearing up a generation of drunkards. The selling of spirits to children has of late become an important branch of trade. Four millions of gallons of ardent spirits were consumed in the United Kingdom in 1829, more than in 1828. Above twenty millions of pounds sterling was paid by the working classes alone last year for ardent spirits. Beggary and disease, crime, madness, and death, are the dreadful results of this awful intemperance. Temperance Societies have created a new era in America. They are working an amazing change in Scotland and Ireland, and it is only necessary for Englishmen to associate, and to declare their resolution to abstain from Distilled Spirits and to discountenance the causes and practices of Intemperance, in order to save their country from becoming a land of drunkards."

AN IMPROVED LOG-SHIP.

BY LIEUT. THOMAS GRAVES, R.N.

AMIDST the various propositions and alterations that have lately been made in the equipment of a ship, among which may be mentioned the improvements in both binnacle and azimuth compasses by Capt. Phillips, and the iron plates for counteracting the effects of local attraction by Professor Barlow, it appears rather extraordinary that the useful machine called the Log-Ship, so intimately connected with both of these, should seemingly have been quite neglected: whether it may have proceeded from its apparent unimportance, its simplicity, or its supposed efficiency, it is not pretended to decide, at all events it remains untouched and unthought of, and it is the object of the present communication to offer what appears an improvement.

To those who are not nautical men, a slight description of that at present in use may not be unacceptable, or uninteresting.

fig.1.

fig. 2

The common Log-Ship (Fig. 1.) is a flat piece of wood in the shape of a quadrant, loaded with a sufficient quantity of lead on its circular edge, to make it remain in a perpendicular position on, or near the surface of the water: to this is attached the log-line, (Fig. 2.) divided into spaces called knots, the distances between which bear the same proportion to a nautical mile, that twenty-eight seconds do to an hour, and

wound round a reel. This being held by one man, and the twentyeight second glass by another, the Log-Ship is thrown over the ship's quarter to leeward, and swimming perpendicularly remains nearly stationary: when the first mark goes out, which is generally about eighteen or twenty fathoms from the Log-Ship, the glass is turned, and at the time the sand in the glass is run out, the line being stopped, shows, by the marks on it, the rate at which the ship is sailing per hour.

The Log-Ship now proposed, is a cone composed either of tin, or thin copper, (see figure) with the part a, a, a, made air-tight, which

in light winds will prevent its sinking, and also preserve its horizontal position, when thrown overboard near the surface: it is slung at the points b, b, b, by lines much smaller than the standing part, uniting at (c), where a spicket or peg is attached; at the end of the cone (d) the line itself is secured, and on it at (e) is fixed a faucit that receives the peg; the Log-Ship is then ready for use.

The advantages it will have over the old construction are, that when the log-line is stopped, the increased weight of water in the cone causing the peg to come out easily, it instantly turns over, and may be hauled in without any resistance; that it will remain more stationary when thrown overboard; that a following sea, from its shape, will not have so much effect in propelling it after the vessel; that it will not carry away so many log-lines, (as in the event of the peg not coming out, one of the small lines to which it is attached must give way); that it will always catch properly, which the one at present in use scarcely ever does; and at the same time the expense will be no consideration; and on board any of His Majesty's vessels it may be made in as short a time as the old one, by which is obtained the ships' rate of sailing at all times with greater accuracy; and it will prove of essential service in making the land during foggy weather, while the other, from its numerous imperfections, can never be depended upon.

As its construction has been approved of by many naval officers, several of whom have had opportunities of using it; and from repeated trials of my own, it answered all the objects proposed, I feel less diffidence in presenting it to the public.

The valuable invention of Mr. Massey, at Liverpool, is on an entirely different principle; it cannot be too highly recommended, but its expense is a great obstacle to its general introduction; whereas the proposed one is recommended by its simplicity and cheapness.

The log-line, although liable to some error from contraction and expansion, in being alternately wet and dry, becomes tolerably well seasoned with salt water after a little use, so as to render it quite sufficient for the purpose intended; still there is much room for improvement, and perhaps one made from cotton would be less affected by the causes above-mentioned.