When the letters of the legend are worn off by
friction, the parts immediately below them have also less density than
the surrounding metal, and the site as it were of the letters therefore
receive from heat a degree of oxidation, and a colour different from
that of the surrounding surface. Hence we obtain an explanation of the
revival of the invisible letters by oxidation.
* * * * *
THE GATHERER.
* * * * *
_Locomotive Engines_ have been established on the rail-roads near
Philadelphia. The distance of 16-1/2 miles was performed by one of them
going in an hour and thirteen minutes, returning (laden both ways) in an
hour and eight minutes. The last mile was done in three minutes.
_Blacking._--Shoes, among the classical ancients, were cleaned by a
sponge; in the middle ages, by washing. Oil, soap, and grease were the
substitutes for blacking, which was at first made with soot, but shone
with a gloss.
_Cool Tankard._--The custom of the Lord Mayor drinking a "cool
tankard" with the governor of Newgate, on his Lordship's way to proclaim
Bartholomew Fair, is better known to our readers than the precise contents
of the said tankard.
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