the type gradually forms a long line, which is pushed along the slide by means of a treadle motion, which the boy keeps up with his foot, till it falls into the hands of another boy seated with his face towards the groove. This second lad "justifies" the long line of set-up type as it moves towards him—that is, he cuts it into lengths equal to the breadth of a column of the newspaper or page of the book, and fixes it in a "form," which is then taken away and stereotyped or printed from, as the case may be. Each lad has his task smoothed by all sorts of simple and handy little mechanical contrivances, difficult to describe, but easy to manipulate; and the rate of work is as we have said.

The distributing machine, or machine for separating the type after it has been printed from, so that it may be used again, works by the same method reversed. A lad sits at a key-board, the keys of which are marked with the various letters, &c., and reads the type as each line is cut off from the "forme" and pushed up into a groove under his eyes. Striking the key corresponding to the letter he wishes to put back into its place, it slips down a groove and into a case exactly similar to that from which it fell on the key being struck in the other machine. These cases are movable, and correspond in each machine, so that, when a case of some particular letter has been filled at the distributing machine, it can be removed (an empty case being put in its stead) and placed in a rack till needed for the composing machine, when it has only to be fixed in its proper position, there to stay till emptied by repeated striking of the key which causes one of the letters it contains to fall into the proper groove.-The Times.

THE EXPERIMENTS WITH H.M.S.

"GLATTON."

THE triumphant march of progress in the matter of guns has been for the moment brought to a stand-still.

Ever since Mr. Armstrong invented his little gun-for although big at the time, it is little with what we have seen to-day-ever since the Admiralty Lords found out that against such guns they might as well build ships of paper as of wood-they have been in a state of alarm and suspense. They may be said to have begun a neck and neck race. The "Warrior" was built firstly with 4 inches of armour and 18 of wood. A new gun soon reduced her to a position not very superior to the old line-of battle ships. Then came the "Agincourt," with an inch of iron added to the armour, and 9 inches of wood taken off. A third gun necessitated still stronger defence, and the "Bellerophon," the "Penelope," and others of that class were launched with 6-inch armour and 10 inches of wood. A fourth gun was turned out. The armament of the "Warrior" consisted entirely of 4-ton guns, considered at the time of their construction unparalleled productions. They failed to pierce her own target at 200 yards' distance; but now the 6-ton guns would pierce that target at 500 yards, and the gun that has been fired off to-day would scatter it in all directions at a range of 4,000 yards. It seemed at one time, indeed, as if the construction of ironclads must be given up in despair, for even the "Hercules," with 10 of iron and 10 of wood, was considered unsafe against the 25-ton gun in construction for the "Hotspur." At last, however, Sir Spencer Robinson designed the three monitors that may be considered to have brought this race to a standstill, for a larger gun than the 25-ton is not at present considered feasible for general purposes; and there is some pleasure in being able to report that, at a distance of 200 yards, closer than which it is not probable that any action would take place, the turret of the "Glatton" has perfectly withstood the mass of 600 lbs. of iron and steel that were hurled against it with a charge of 70 lbs. of powder. The turrets of the "Glatton," the "Thunderer," and the "Devastation," are constructed of 14 inches of wrought iron, 16 inches of teak, three iron plates on the inside, each -inch, and last of all a "thin" covering of iron to prevent

bolt-heads and rivets from flying about and hurting the men that are working the guns.

A small and select party of gentlemen who are interested in these experiments, and had been invited to attend them, flocked into Weymouth and caused a temporary overflow of the somewhat limited hotel accommodation which this beautiful little town affords. The morning sun rose over the bay with rare beauty, and dispelled all the fears of sudden storms overnight that might have been entertained. The time had been so arranged that breakfast could be ordered at the decent hour of seven, the first train for Portland leaving at half-past. At the landing-stair at Portland the steam pinnaces of the "Vigilant," the "Salamander," and the "Boscawen" training ship, were in-waiting to convey the favoured holders of red, blue, and white tickets to their respective ships. The trial took place in that piece of water-whether it glories in the name of harbour we have not been able to ascertain-which is enclosed on one side by the Chisel Beach and on the other side by the breakwater. The scene here was magnificent. On the water, the surface of which presented not a ripple, and which, in its light green basalt colour, was so splendidly transparent that mountains of pebbles and whole forests of seaweed could be observed many fathoms down, on that smooth and liquid mirror lay a small fleet of steamers. There, in the centre, lay the "Salamander," a wooden frigate of the good old style, that did splendid service in the bombardment of Acre some fifty years ago. Further off, towards the fort that sullenly overlooks these extraordinary proceedings, lies the "Boscawen" training ship, rising fully 30 feet out of the water. In the olden days, when every one of Nelson's men did his duty, she must have been a most formidable antagonist, but her ports are now closed, or perchance there peeps through some square black hole the laughing face and curly head of one of our young sailors, looking the picture of health and life, such as a few years ago he did not, and could not, dream of in the hopeless misery

of a London court. Then came the two Admiralty yachts, the "Black Eagle" and the "Vigilant," with their graceful and slender outlines, and last of all, close to the breakwater, two ugly, shapeless, surly-looking masses of gray-coloured iron, the one apparently 100 yards from the breakwater, and the other immediately in front of her. The former is the observed of all observers the lion of the hour.

The "Glatton" lies moored at a distance of about 100 yards from the inner side of the breakwater, and the "Hotspur" immediately in front of her. It is reported that the distance between the two vessels was 200 yards, but from our point of view it scarcely looks fifty. In the meantime, while we survey all this, the steam pinnace has brought us alongside the "Salamander;" we follow the leader up the ladder, lift our hats to the captain and to the quarter-deck, and feel our tempers and temperatures immediately brought down to a pleasant level by the shade of a cool awning spread from mast to mast, and elaborate preparations for an entertainment of some kind, which smiles upon us underneath, and we cannot help remarking immediately what fine fellows surround us. Everybody had brought with him a goodly store of patience, for it was said that the arrangements would not be completed till past eleven. It was, therefore, with satisfaction that we noticed some commotion on board the two monitors, and mysterious signalling going on between the "Hotspur" and the Admiralty yachts. Presently there came from the former a sound of pipes and bugle, and we began to look out with all our might. On the stern of the "Glatton" a piece of canvas had been put up on a framework, so as to present a target marked with half-a-dozen black spots to the "Hotspur's" gun. Precisely at a quarter to ten the first shot was fired at this target. The bolt must have passed clean over, for the canvas was not touched, and the water could be seen spurting up seaward to a considerable height at the point where the iron struck it. At intervals of about twenty minutes five shots were now fired at this

target, the result of which we could of course perfectly discern; but knowing nothing of the intention with which the gun was aimed, we were unable to pass an opinion upon the correctness of the shot. The "Glatton" had in the meantime been getting her steam up, and these preliminary trials evidently proving successful, a red flag was hoisted on both vessels, and a longitudinal piece of wood was erected on the "Glatton's" turret, after which every living creature was seen to mysteriously vanish through sundry holes and crevices; the bugle sounded, and off went the monster, hurling its 600 pounds in mid-air. We were told that the piece of wood had been erected on the edge of the turret, so as to mark the exact spot where the shell should strike that edge. If this be true the marker must have mistaken his bull's eye, for the turret was not touched, and the wood was taken clean away, having been hit exactly in the centre. Seven bells were about to be struck when the first real shot was fired. All glasses were directed to the turret, and at about 3 feet from the top there suddenly appeared a vicious hole, with glittering pieces of iron flying backwards in all directions. Presently came the report, and for some moments a volume of smoke hid the object from our sight. From the "Salamander" it could be plainly seen that the iron outside-coating had been thoroughly penetrated, and that a large seam appeared in the joining of the upper and second plates. The ubiquitous little pinnace, which had been very busy all this time, kindly took us in tow, and shipped us on board the "Glatton." The hole certainly was immense. The entire 14-inch plate had been cut through, the pieces of the shell which filled it remaining fixed in that position. The other part of the shell had burst, and several pieces were hurled with great violence back on to the "Hotspur," where anybody at that moment on deck would have been in great danger. The inside of he turret, which contains two 25-ton guns, was somewhat blocked up by large wooden supports, which had been knocked up against the port