the plates. This was put in practice to number bank-notes, and enabled twenty clerks to perform the labour which previously had required one hundred and twenty. In 1812 he projected a scheme for main-pipes, which was, however, in many respects, more ingenious than practicable. In describing this, he mentions having employed a hydrostatic pressure equal to that of a column of water twenty thousand feet high (about three and a half tons per square inch). Mr. Bramah made several improvements in the bearings of wheels, and suggested the use of pneumatic springs formed by pistons sliding in cylinders, in place of the usual metal springs for carriages. He likewise improved the machines for sawing stones and timber, and suggested some alterations in the construction of bridges and canal locks. He died in his sixty-sixth year, his last illness having been occasioned by a severe cold caught during the month of November, while making some experiments with his hydraulic press on the tearing up of trees in Holt Forest. He was a cheerful, benevolent, and affectionate man, neat and methodical in his habits, and knew well how to temper liberality with economy; greatly to his honour he often kept his workmen employed solely for their sake, when the stagnation of trade prevented him from disposing of the products of their labour. As a manufacturer he was distinguished for his promptitude and probity, and was celebrated for the exquisite finish which he gave to his productions. At his death he left his family in affluent circumstances, and his manufacturing establishments have since his death been continued by his sons. Unfortunately, Mr. Bramah had an invincible dislike to sitting for his portrait, and there consequently exists no likeness of this distinguished man; for, although a cast of his face was taken after death by Sir Francis Chantry, this, together with many others was destroyed by Lady Chantry after the death of her husband.--_Memoir by Dr. Brown._--_Stuart's Anecdotes of the Steam Engine._ London, 1829.--_Smiles's Industrial Biography._ London, 1863. ROBERT BROWN, D.C.L., F.R.S., P.L.S., &c. MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE. Born December 21, 1773. Died June 10, 1859.