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Since the first of January, 1852, no startling discovery has burst upon the world ; no striking nor very extraordinary invention has been made, yet for all this, the march of improvement has been steadily onward. As peace is necessary to nations for consolidation and quiet developement, like the ripening of corn in warm, mellow moonlight nights, so the same law prevails in respect to progress in the arts and sciences. At this time, we believe, it will not be unprofitable to our readers to listen to us while we briefly speak of what we have done in discussing and introducing improvements in machinery, and bringing more prominently before our people useful information about things new and old, from many storehouses of knowledge. From the commencement of the past year, to the close of our last volume, we presented a greater amount of information, well illustrated, about boilers, furnaces, and smoke apparatus, than is to be found in any single book, periodical, or in any encyclopedia ever published in this or any other country, and as standard information, inventors will have to refer to those articles for years to come. A great amount of useful information about circular saws from practical men, in diffrent parts of our country was also presented in a number of letters ; much reliable and useful information was also presented about rifle shooting, and a series of articles on the " Geology of the Lead Mines," by an able and scientific gentleman in Galena, 111., stand out as standard information, for reference to all interested in geology and mining. Those who wish to know what has been done among our tailors in the shape of inventions, will find McGinnis' Geometric Measurer illustrated on page 148, and Wells' measurer on page 308, and a pair of improved shears on page 253. There is an aerial bridge on page 167; for those who wish to know how to transport railroad trains above the most uf I1K= i*dlei ships ; and those who desire to make their own gasthe real bona-fidein a small way, will find an apparatus for that purpose on page 172. Our millwrights will find Finlay's governor for wheels on page 196, and a new overshot wheel on page 308. But here we must stop, or we will have to fill co lumns merely in refering to the several pages where useful machines are illustrated. We hope our readers will turn over those pages and take a retrospective view for themselves. We can safely say that many very useful improvements have been made during the pas1 year, and we expect that our inventors will add many more this year. The experience of the past illumines our pathway for the future ; Hope stands on tip-toe pointing her finger to the sunlight breaking upon distant spires and glittering domes, to wreaths of laurel and crowns of gold. It is stated that Archimedes asserted he could elevate the world with his lever if he had a fulcrum whereon to place it. Our inventors are the worthy descendants of the Grecian sage and mechanic ; they have already, by their inventions, elevated our world, from its barbarism in Art to its present advanced and noble position in all that relates to real science and practical mechanics. We look upon all inventors and discoverers as reformers according to the value of the new treasures which they bring into the storehouse of art. The usefulness of the mechanical classes is universally acknowledged ; we are determined to toil and labor more ardently to make them exert an influence in proportion to their usefulness. We hope that every one of our readers has made up his mind to do better during the present than the past year. It should be the ambition of every man to leave his marka good oneon the pages of time. " In the world's broad field of battle, In the bivouac of life, Be not like dumb driven cattle, , Be a hero in the strife,"
