The National Register. — London, England, 1815-12-31 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. l*C. Si. • their morals. and inciting them_to perpetrate all manner of vicei. and that•these ill consequences were not confined to the existing generation, but would extend to future ages, and tend to the ruin and devastation of the kingdom. The present. Reporter states it as the belief of the Committee, that the consumption of ardent spirits is not now so great among the lower classes of people 2s it was at the periods above alluded to. We doubt this fact ; and it is one which deserves most serious investigation. The priliciol ground of our doubt is, that, notwithstanding the rapid increase of popu lation since 1782, the consumption of malt has very consider ably declined • from whence we infer that the lower classes of people drink less beer, and supply its place by a more intoxi cating beverage. The average quantity of malt charged with duty in England and Wales, in each of the years 1780, 1781, and 1782, wa5241,114,361 bushels. The annual consumption, as estimated by theNlinister on imposing the tax of 1803, was 27,000,000 bushels; and the actual average of the years, eliding the sth January, 1314 and 1815, as estimated by the produce of the'tatter tax, was only 23,863,703 bushels. It is to be ob served, 'that Id the distillery of spirits, only one-third of malt is used, even when Sugar and Molasses are prohibited; and consequently the substitution of spirits for beer must in all cues produce a considerable diminution in the consumption * of malt. It is a notorious fact, that many of the inferior :classes of people who formerly brewed their own small or -table beer, Lave long since ceased to do so, and are for the ' 4rsost part hese= frequenters of the gin-shop. It is well known too, that the habit of drinking spirits rapidly grows •on those unhappy persons who once addict themselves to it, Xnd that they rarely come back to less stimulating li 'gum until their health is entirely destroyed, the tone of their stomachs gone. The immediate etf - ects of intoxica •tion depend greatly on .the kind of liquor by which it is produced. tic who sits for hours fuddling over his pot of kcar is _generally , rendered dull and senseless ; whilst he who quickly toss e s o ff his drains of gin or whiskey, is rendered furious, and fit for any active wickedness. This is one great "muse "of the lamentable abundance of crime .in our Loudon talendars :Scarce •a street. but presents an ,incitement to the angst rapid and most petnicious species of drunkenness : while, the consequences but to. strongly attest the wisdom of the 'divine prayer, " Lead .us not into temptation." r 7 THE LIGHTING OF 'COAL MINES. coming in contact with the candle or lump of lire miners. tic prop*. ses, therefore, to burn the candle or lump within a glass case, tae lug a small aperture at the top - to admit of the escape of the heated air and vapour, and having a tube connected with the buttons, whirr shall bring the air to sustain combustion from the floor of the mine ; this tube, in fixed lamps, may be of iron or copper; and for move able lamps, a flexible tube of prepared leather, varnished, may be used. The danger is thus completely obviated ; the current of warm air outwards by the upper aperture prevents any air from entering by it ; the tribe from beneath will convey air not liable to be inr.amed; and no accumulation of the inflammable air can ever take place to that extent as to reach the door of the mine, without its being obvious by the smell, and by its effect on the respiration of the miner. Dr. Murray farther stated in his paper, that if any mixture of inflammable air did enter at any time by the tube at the bottom, it would not, from the peculiar circumstances of the lamp, be iuflatued within it, but would extinguish the flame. Or even, lastly. if it where to inllaine, any explosion must be very feeble • and be confined within the lamp, without the chance of its being communicated to the air without. The means of security are thins multiplied, so as to render it in the highest degree probable, that no accident would ever occur. If, in situations particularly Ward ous, and risk were dreaded, pure air might even be conveyed by is main tube to the lamps, but this, 'probably would never be required. We have little doubt that either of these plans, if not finny( eons pletely effectual, will at least afford a very great degree of saP..ty to the poor people who have of late been so miserably exposed to instantaneous and total destruction. The public are therefore deeply indebted to the humat.e exertions of the two enlightened in dividuals who have turned their attention to a subject which has been the cause of serious alarm and distress to the nation general. ACCIDEN rs, OFFENCES, &e. Yesterday forenoon a fine boy, the son of Mr. Wailing, of the Strand, fell from a coal barge, near the 3trtaid bridge, mot was drowned. DREADFUL ACCIDENT.—On Thursday last one of the boys in the Royal Naval Asylum, Greenwich, while employed in puttiug Enid water into a large copper in the kitchen of the iustitution, %slas was already neatly full of boiling liquid, unfortunately reached be yond his strength, and falling into the Copper, was scalded so dread fully that he shortly afterwards expired. Lately, a servant maid of Maidstone, attempting to reach some thing from a cupboard over the fireplace, put her foot on the &biter when her clothes caught fire ; which so alarmed her, that she ran half frantic into the street, resisting the humane attempt ofa neigh bour to stop her progress—her speed naturally proved destructive; for in an instant she was enveloped in a complete blaze, and her clothes were literally burnt off, leaving her in an agonizing situa don and 3with very faint hopes of recovery. • Saturday a woman of the name of Mary Cook, living near the Chapel-house, Chapel-sheet, Islington, continued (kinking gin during the day; and in the evening, to make a finish, she called for half a pint of Old Tom, which she drank oil, and iinruedi wely afterwards expired. A terrible fire lately broke out in a little town in Munster; unfortunately a vinlent storm raged at the time, which aided the flames ; and we are sorry to add, that 62 of the principal houses, and many smaller :dwellings, became a sacrifice ; thus depriving 80 families, in this inclement season, of their habita tions, and the produce of their industry. A violent explosion took place last week in a coal-pit, belonging to Mr. Parramore, of Swadlincote, near Iturtun-upon-l'rvist, WT4- slimed by a boy holding a candle near to a wall which separates the working-place from a part in which slack and loom are depOsit ed, and which are supposed to generate hydrogen gas. The awn in the pit had just time to seize the rope and skip, which were then One up, and all clinging together, were safely brought to the top. The ilaitie soon afterwar ds issued out of the pit's mouth, and sit horses which were below perished. We are sorry to learn, that a dreadful catastrophe has taken place at Dantzic, by the blowing tip of a magazine, containing a considerable quantity of powder, cannon balls, hilellS, Ail!. Four teen artillery men had just belvic entered, who were of course de stroved; and the killed and woeudcd, upon the best calcidatioa winch could be mach:, amounted to 300. The magazine was situat ed near St. James's gate, opposite the broad street called Schutsel damn, and must of the houses i:r that quarter arc reduced to ruins. Two churches are materially daningod, one of them so much so, I • that it mint be pulled d,, e that Sir. H. Davy bad discovered a method ep lightieg coal mines in such a manner as to avoid the lamentable -actsidente which- have recently occurred, from the explosion of the earbomited hydregtiseWhich collects iu some collieries to such an -alarming extent. -Weatlso. mentioned at the same time, that D. ulhieirray had been engaged in investigations of a similar nature. The -paper giving an accouttt7of his elan was read to the Royal Society at ,rAWsurgii, en Monday , se'nnig . ht, and had been deposited with the , ISteretary in the beginuiog of the preceding week. The first notice - sreeeived in-Edinburgh of the nature of Sir H. Davy's plan was on •chiouday, the same day on .which Dr. Muriay'eplan was read, and ltewas on that evening thas it. was first communicated. The subject being of so much importance-to buntswity, the public cannot tail to 'be IlliziOUS.to know the means proposed by those enlightened chy ,rolsts. • First then,!-8ir , •11. Davy proposes that a lantern shall be :provided, in. all respects air tight, that two perforations shall be -inadeiu the losteepart of it, sufficient to admit just air enough for the combustion of an oniony, and thut one aperture Alan be made at the top, to peril - deltic escape of the rarifieil air. By this means, while the tamp continues to be surrounded with common atmosplie- Itical air, it-wilt continee-to burn tuidiaturbed but the moment it, iu cetuaetwitlethe foul air, the dame untie lamp is so much iiincetasett by the carboroitie•hydrogen, that the air within the lan-1 'dire is immediately esdutusted,.and the light goes quickly out, with. Ilion this possibility of any explosion taking place. Experiments toil e4ey the effect of this method have been often repeated ; and if it be Alveffeetual in the mine ,as it has proved to be in the laboratory, a l l ~asannot tail.toibeof the utmost consequence to the world. The plan,' ~ proposed by Dr. Murray is different. It is founded on the fact ..shat the intlainniable air which constitutes the damp is much ligh telt' than common air, and hence the mixture of it with the common air, Which is liable to explode, always accumulates in the roof of the and is eitirnetely kindled, ve us to comae the explosion,. by