Providence Daily Advertiser

Brown University.—We have been highly gratified by an examination of the philosophical apparatus attached to this College, the elegance and perfection of which is fitted to excite the pride, as well as admiration of every son of Brown. While contrasting the finish and variety of the present collection with the discarded instruments that used to form the materials for philosophical illustrations, when the murder of a rat by a rickety volcanic battery, and the suffocation of an innocent mouse under the exhausted receiver of an asthmatic air pump, were deemed the sublimest of experiments, those who took leave of their Alma a few years back, can hardly fail to regret that they lived so soon.

There is in fact a collection of apparatus now in the philosophical chamber of Brown University, which will not suffer in comparison with that of any institution in the Country. One or two other Colleges possess a greater variety, but none have more perfect instruments of the kind to be found here, and but few others possess as many modern improvements in the most important instruments.

The most valuable portion is of recent importation, furnished principally by the munificence of an individual, whose name we would mention, but for the circumstance that he is much more desirous of benefitting the Institution by his liberality, than of acquiring that notoriety which newspaper plaudits confer.

These recent additions, we understand, have been made at an expense of about $3000. They were selected with judgment and skill, are made after the most approved models, and in general, are finished with the greatest accuracy to which their construction has been carried. Hence they are adapted not merely to illustrate known truths, but to extend the boundaries of science by original research.

The several departments of Mechanics, Hydraulics, Pneumatics, Optics and Electricity in particular, are well furnished.

Among the instruments, which from their importance and high finish, are most likely to attract the attention of a visitor, the following may be enumerated.

A splendid Electrical machine, with a powerful battery, having a glass plate for exciting the fluid, instead of the cylinder, which is 36 inches in diameter—two brass prime conductors 4 feet long, and all the appropriate appendages of such an instrument. We do not believe that it can be surpassed by any like instrument in this country. There is also a very perfect air Pump by Pixii, with glass cylinders and a twelve inch glass receiver plate—a highly finished Transit Instrument, by Troughtons and Malus' Instrument for the polarization of light—Atwood's celebrated Machine for demonstrating the doctrine of accelerated motion, an instrument so accurate and satisfactory in its results, as hardly to admit of their being more so, were they performed in a vacuum. The most ingenious specimen in the whole collection is the miniature model of a Steam Engine, by Jones. This is really a splendid article. It is constructed on the plan of Boulton and Watt, low pressure, and though not occupying a space two feet square, has every appendage necessary for service, from the furnace to the smallest stop cock. It is admirably fitted to convey a practical knowledge of the operations of that wonderful agent, the steam Engine, which every body sees, but so very few comprehend.

There is also a neat model of a fire Engine, Newton's Cradle, the screw of Archimedes, and a great variety of other instruments, many of which are newly invented, rare and ingenious, but an enumeration of them would extend this article too far. In one of the chambers stands a superb instrument, an Astronomical Clock by Molyneux, with a mercurial, compensating pendulum for keeping the exact, mean solar time. The workmanship is said to be admirable. In the centre of one of the Rooms is a model in wood, of the Temple of Theseus.

We take great pleasure in adding to this imperfect sketch, our testimony to the neatness and effect with which the furniture of the Philosophical department is arranged, and also to the ability and perseverance with which the studies and researches in that department are conducted by Professor Caswell; a gentleman as courteous in manners as he is severe in application, possessing the happy faculty of making the business of instruction his greatest pleasure.