TEXTS, DEFENSIVE ARMS, MILITARY, XAYAL, AND 0T1IEK MAPS. [Class VIII.
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tains a Prize Medal for a large rifle, mounted, fitted, andfurnished in the most perfect manner.
Honourable Mention is made of—
M. Jeas.net, of Locle, Canton of Neufcluitel (5, p.1205), for a rifle with steel barrel.
M. Fischer, of Chur (205, p. 1283), for a double Ame-rican rifle.
J. Yannod (G9, p. 1271). Target rifle.
C. Tents.
A Prize Medal is given to Mr. B. Edgiscton (302,pp. 359, 300) for the tents exhibited by him. One is 12feet by 8, with poles 0 feet high, proposed for officers oremigrants. Another is for troops, travellers, or emi-grants, 12 feet square, supported on one centre pole, likethe round tent of the British service; but its figure is apyramid, instead of being a cone. The angles arestrengthened from the head of the tent by 1-inch tarredrope, to which the canvass is bolted, and which, beingsecured to strong pegs in the ground, constitutes theprincipal support of the tent. In the middle of two op-posite sides a sort of porch is formed, sustained by a light6-foot pole, giving entrance to the tent, and affording thegreat advantage of a thorough draught of air. It is alsoventilated at the top, and the orifices secured against theentrance of rain. The centre pole, which is 9 feet 10inches long, divides into three parts, the small ones intotwo, and the whole packs into a valise 40 inches long, byabout 13 inches in diameter, the weight of which is86.$ lbs. The two porches aud the very complete ventila-tion they afford are improvements of great value, parti-cularly for the sick, when the large hospital tents are notcarried.
Mr. Edgington proposes, for military use, to employbleached canvass, and to tan it, for preservation frommildew, a measure deserving of consideration. To hislarger tent he has attached a portable stove and cookingapparatus, well adapted and arranged for the use of emi-grants, but not so portable as necessary for militaryservice.
1). Defensive Aiims.
A Prize Medal is given to M. Fried Krcpp (G7 7 *,p. 1087), of Essen, for having exhibited a cuirass ofGerman native cast steel, the material of which is somuch improved by manufacture as to attain a high de-gree of resistance to the balls of fire-arms, though it hasnot yet been determined whether this resistance exceedsthat which would be afforded by cast steel made fromcemented steel. M. Krupp’s success, however, is deserv-ing of reward.
PAKT III.
Military, Naval, and other Maps.
This Jury has been charged with the care of examin-ing the various kinds of maps executed in consequence ofsurveys made for naval, military, or geological purposes.
The Council Medal is awarded to the Admiralty ofGreat Britain (p. 344), under whose superintendenceand directions accurate surveys have been executed, notonly of the coasts and ports of the three kingdoms, butof the coasts of the greatest part of the globe.
Drawings of great accuracy are executed, according tothese surveys, by the Hydrographical Board under Ad-miral Heaufort. Afterwards, maps confined to the indi-cations that are indispensable for navigation are publishedand sold at a very cheap rate to the officers of the mer-chant service.
It is understood that the Council Medal granted to theAdmiralty for models and improvements in ship-build-ing, with the combination of the forces of wind andsteam,—and for the improvements of the azimuth com-pass,—shall be united with the same award for theeminent services rendered by the surveys, calculations,drawing's, and publication of hydrographic maps, underthe direction of the learned and liberal HydrographicalDepartment of the Admiralty.
* This exhibitor was awarded a Council Medal by theJury of Class I., in whose list his name appears.
French Department .—The science and practice of hy-drography owe much to France , having been brought toperfection by the celebrated Beautemps Beaupre . Hy-drographic maps were undertaken from surveys made bythe celebrated hydrographer, M. Beautemps Beaupre, inthe time of the Emperor Napoleon , along the coast ofFlanders. For thirty-five years afterwards that under-taking was continued along the French coasts of theocean, and the Mediterranean, including Corsica andAlgeria. The French survey presents the most completedescription of the shores, and of the ground underwater, for a great distance, with the configuration of anyexisting danger. The calculations were carried on, aswell as the survey, with the help of the hydrographers’staff, under the direction of M. Beautemps Beaupre, andwith the utmost precision ; the drawings, as well as theengravings, are worthy of this notice. It Mas in thisway that the magnificent Atlas, or “ Neptune of theCoasts of France, ” was produced, the finest specimensof which have been presented to the Exhibition.
The Council Medal to be delivered to the Depot Ge-neral de la Marine (128, p. 1177, France) in Paris ,as an acknowledgment of the scientific labours evincedin the hydrographic surveys of France , and also of thoseof M. Beautemps Beaupre, and the engineers associatedwith him.
M. C. E. Collin (42G, p. 1177), the engraver of theHydrographic Depot of France , lias exhibited maps inhis own name, very remarkable for the skilfulness andaccuracy of their execution. The Prize Medal is grantedto him.
The Ordnance Department of Great Britain, havingthe command and direction of the scientific bodies ofartillery and military engineers, was, very properly,charged with all the operations necessary for the survey,calculations, and drawings of the land map of the threekingdoms. This vast enterprise is now in a state ofgreat forwardness, and is one of the scientific monu-ments most worthy of the British nation. For the copper-plate etchings, and for the use of electrotype process inreproducing the plates, our culogium is justly due tothe establishment at Southampton, where they are exe-cuted.
The Council Medal is granted to the OrdnanceDepartment (128, pp. 341, 342), who exhibited themaps, as a just and honourable tribute to the meritoriousand scientific officers of that department who preparedthem.
A map of England and Wales , engraved by himself, isexhibited by Mr. Cruchley (74, p. 541). The map is ona scale of half an inch per mile.
The French Minister at War lias presented numeroussheets of the new map of France .
The French map of Cassini was as perfect and com-plete as such an undertaking, by a single person, couldbe: this map, already more than a century old, no longerrepresents the superficies of a country in which suchenormous changes have taken place. As early as 1810 ascientific commission, under the presidency of the illus-trious Laplace, planned the undertaking of a new andimproved map of France ; combining the most preciseastronomical observations with an accurate general trian-gulation. Two parallel lines were measured, the onefrom Brest to Hungary, through Strasbourg ; the other,following upon the globe the paraUcle mot/en , was carriedto the south of France, and continued through Italy toFiume. These lines, accurately ca culated, spread newlight upon the figure of the earth.
In the French map each place of importance is givenwith three elements, necessary to determine its completegeometrical position, the longitude, the latitude, and thealtitude above the level of the sea.
The operations were at first executed by the body ofMilitary Geographers ; but this body having been unitedto the Corps Koval d’Etat Major, they continued, undera new title, their scientific undertakings; some of themgoing upon the ground, each summer, and returning tothe Depot de la Guerre, to complete the calculations, andexecute the drawings.