In an account of the New York Life-Saving Association, in the 19th Number of this Journal, we alluded to a metallic Life-Car, which, in conjunction with the mortar and rocket life apparatus, had been instrumental in saving a large number of lives from wrecked vessels on the coasts of die United States: as many as 290 persons having been Conveyed on shore by it from a single wreck.

It appears that we had been misled as to the party entitled to the credit of so truly valu- able an invention, having erroneously attributed it to Captain OTTINGER, of the United States Revenue Service. We are now in- formed that Mr. FRANCIS, the inventor of the metallic life-boats, is also the inventor of The Life-Car.

One of these Cars has been recently presented to the National Life-Boat Institution by A. W. JAFFRAY, Esq., of St. Mildred's- court, London, that gentleman having sent expressly to New York for it.

The great advantages of the Car are that it will take in four or five persons at one time, and not only convey them safely to the shore, but will so effectually preserve them from the effects of the sea that they will not even get wet on the passage through the heaviest breakers, whereas, by the ordinary conveyances hitherto in use in this country, one person only at a time can be conveyed to the shore, and that not without serious liability to injury, on some occasions, from the violence of the sea, or even to be drowned by being hauled through it.

The Life-Car is made in the form of a whale-boat, of galvanized iron plate corrugated, the top being arched over or roofed, like the arli of old; of which, indeed, on a small scale it is a fitting emblem; for are not the dangers of shipwreck as great and as fearful to those who are exposed to it as was that great wreck of all things on the then habitable globe, to the contemporaries of our forefather Noah ? And must not the deli- verance to the inmates of this little ark of mercy be as complete and as grateful to them as was that afforded to the ancient Patriarch and his family in that huge struc- ture which afforded them a safe refuge from the waters of the Great Flood, when all the peopled world beside succumbed to that vast! calamity ? I The Life-saving Car, or ark, as we think Mr. FRANCIS might more befittingly desig- nate it, has a single opening in the roof, which provides for the ingress and egress of those taking refuge in it, the same being furnished with a lid or hatch, which prevents the admission of water whilst battling with the surf on its passage shoreward. The only provision for the admission of fresh air is through small holes not larger than those on the rose of a common garden watering-pot.

No inconvenience has however been experienced on this account, on any of the occasions when it has been used with such success in the United States; and on a recent trial of it at the Great Yarmouth Regatta, as many as ten boys were shut up in it, whilst they were hauled to and from a boat at about 120 yards from the beach, the time occupying between three and four minutes; no distress being felt by them from an insuffi- cient supply of air.

This Car is 10 feet 9 inches in length, and 3 feet 9 inches in width. A part of the interior space, at the extremities, is occupied by air-chambers, as shown in the annexed sheet of diagrams, which however do not correctly show the shape of the upper body of the Car, which in those now manufactured is a perfect arch, both laterally and longitudinally, a form which affords greater strength, and a larger supply of air for the consump- tion of those shut up within.

The accompanying interesting engraving of the wreck of the Ayrshire, on the coast of New Jersey, in 1850, shows the manner in which her crew and passengers, numbering in all 201 persons, were conveyed to the shore in safety through a heavy sea. This plate, as well as that containing the separate diagrams of the Car, and of Mr. Francis's metallic boats, is taken from the pamphlet of Major Eyre on Mr. FRANCIS'S inventions, alluded to in oar account of his metallic boats in the present Number of this Journal; Major EYRE having kindly lent them to us.

And who can look at such a scene as is here represented, and not picture to himself the imaginable but indescribable feelings of those pent up within this little ark .during then- short journey, as it were, from death to life! We will not make the vain attempt to describe them, but will conclude our description of this admirable invention by expressing the hope that Mr. FRANCIS'S may shortly have the gratification to see his "safety-arks" placed at suitable stations around our own shores, as well as on those of the United States.