The Express.
London, England, 1851-01-30 00:00:00

PARIS FUNDS, ha. 29.

Three per Cents.
Five per Cents
Bank Shares 1.243 f. 00.

At the time of going to pries our Paris parcel of
last evening had not arrived.

SOCIETY OF ARTS.-THE BRIIANNIA
BRI DOE.

Last evening, the eignth ordinary meeting of this
society took place in John-strut, Adelphi, when an inter-
esting paper was read by Mr. Grove, the secretary, on the
history and construction of the Britannia Bridge. Mr.
Grove stated that the bridge had derived its name from a
rock which divides that pert of the Menai river over which
the structure is raised, end which at low water exposes •
surface about is large as Trafelgarxquare, but at high water
is completely coveted. On this rock Mr. Stephenson pro-
posed originally to build • pier of masonry 130 feet long, and
50 fret wide, from each side of which we. to spring an arch
of 360 feet span, of cast iron, the height of the underside of
the crown being 103 feet above high water mark.
On this design being made public it met aith a great deal
of opposition from those interested in the navigation of the
straits, who urged that the difficulties arising from the rapid
tides, ti.e uncertain eddies, and the sunken rocks, would be
greatly aggravated by the erection of • large pier on the
Britannia Rxk. Mr. Stephenson we. therefore unable to
carry out hie original project; and he found there was no
resource left him but in some way to contrive a straight beam
or girder • and. on thinking over the possibility of •
"trellis bridge" the idea of • tube of wrought Iron
entered his mind. Having well considered his subject,
with reference to the particular form the tube should
anume. and also in regard to the properties of wrought
iron, as distinguished from those of cut iron, Mr. Stepoeii-
son obtained permission to make a series of experiments for
the purpose of gainiog the knowledge he required. The
result was that the rectangular form of tube was select d as
being stronger than the oval and cylindrical tube. Title
point bieug decided the nest question was as to
the means to be adapted in fixing the different
parts together, and the method chosen was that of using
red hot rivets instead of sunnily the iron, es so smalb r ope.
rations. Mr. Grove then proceeded to detail the serious
processes adopted in carrying out the undertaking, and
described the mechanical difficulties which bad to be over-
come by the engineers before the work could be completed.
In proof of the suocess which bad sttended Mr. Stephenson's
exertions in this matter, Mr. Grove awed that the same
me shod of construction was being adopted in railway bridges,
which, though small la proportion to the Britannia Bridge,
were tar beyond the greatest limits to which the same
process had ever been carried previous to the formation of
this gigantic structure. After relating the history of the
bridge—from its projection to the mechanical dinkulties
which surrounded its progress to completion, Mr. Grove
related a few Overseeing statistics with a view to point oat
the extraordinary proportions of the structure, The total
weight of the tubes was nearly 11,000 tons, being greater
than that of four 120 gun ships, with all their crews and stores
on hoard. This weight was made up of 9.360 tons of wrought
iron, and more thazil,2oo tons of east iron and timber. These
were composed of shout 188,000 separate pieces of iron
pierced by more than seven millions of holes, and united by
upwards of two millions of rivets of the angle and T iron, •
embracing a spec. of not less than 83 miles. The weight et
the listing cheine shoe a; each end of the tube was more than
40 tons, which, with " the crosshead and ram of the press,"
made • total of more than SO tons to be lifted before any •
effect could be produced en the tube itself. Of the masonry
in the towers and abutments, there were about 11 millions
of cubic feet which would form & pyramid whose base would
equal the area et Leicester.square, and whose height was 80
feet, and the weight in all 105,000 tons. Allowing 12
working hours in the day and six days to the week,
this masonry was prepared and laid at the rate of
3 cubic feet per minute during the whale time of its
construction. Having related these particulars, Mr. Grove
concluded by saying that he was employed upon the great
undertaking during the most istessitieg period of iu
operation, and that he availed himself of the opportunity
thus lauded of making himself acquainted with all the
details of the cooetruceioo. • The " paper " was moat

inteenting and instructive throughout, and the reader was
assisted in his des,rintione by models and diagrams' lent to
hint for the occasion by Mr. Robert Stephenson, the directors
of the Che•ter sad Holyhead Hallway, Professor Cowper,
sod others.

TIIE CALLINOTON MISINO COMPANY.-Yesterday
a quarterly general meeting of the shareholders of this
company was held at Labrador House, Bishopagate.street,
Mr Richard Hodgson in the chair. The stet. Went of
accounts for three months ending with September last,
1850, exhibited credits for ore to the amount of 2,01.51.
19s. Id.; 1,0001. had been received for the twenty-sixth
instalm..nt. The cost for July, August, and September
waa 2,6761. 65. Id., and there war a balance brought down
of 2,4421 6s. 4d. The report stated that since the last
quarterly meeting the drectors had changed their manager,
and appointed Capt. M'Leakto that office. The mines were
now being prosecuted with considerable vigour, and were
indicating more favourable prospects, both of the lead lode
and of the Kelly Bray copper lode. The report of Captiiiii
M'Lean, the manager, which was laid before the proprietors,
bore out the anticipations 'spewed by the directors. The
shareholders expressed themselves highly gratified at re-
ceiving a report which was so much more favourable than
any that had been made to them for some time, and passed
a vote of thanki to the directors for their conduct.

ANOTIER DEATII ON A HatILWAY.—An inquest
was held on Monday last, before T. C. Maynard, E‘q., at
Trim(lon, on view of the body of Robert Heightley. The
deceased was a plete•layer employed on the Hartlepool
Railway, and on Saturday morning last was at work with I
another man on that railway, near to Trinidon Foundry.
They were standing on the line looking at a coal train which
was proceeding towards Hartlepool, and did not observe a
goods train, which was coining in the opp eke direction,
until it was too late to get out of the way. The result was
that the engine of the pods train struck the deceased and
knocked him with violence against his fellow workman, who
was thrown by the concussion off the line. Heightley, how-
ever, fell on the line, and was run over. His left leg was
completely severed, and his arm was dreadfully crushed.
Hs died shortly afterwards. Toe driver in char,re of the
engine, an loon as he taw deceased in danger. did all in his
power, by sounding the whistle and reversing the engine, to
warn him, but without effect, Verdict, " Accidental Death."
—Sunderland Herald.

A RAILWAY TRAIN ATTACKED BY A BULLOCK.—
The mail train oa Wednesday night narrowly escaped being
thrown off the rails, betwatn Readcorn and Pluckley, by a
bullock which had strayed from a drove while crossing the
rail. The drover had succeeded in turning the beast towards
the gate, when the mail train was men approaching, on
which the beast made directly towards the red lights on the
engine with its tail in the air. It ran full tilt against the
engine and was dashed to pie:es, parts of the body having
been picked up a distance of sixty yards from the place whole
the collision occurred. The shock was felt by the eagle*
driver, end the train was stopped, hat Reseeded on mar-
'Ming the nature of the oocurrence.—Yesedtheas Journal.

COLLIERY ExPLosiote.—An accident occurred a few
days ago at the North Kellee Colliery, which hes resulted
in the death .1 one of the overman, Ruud James Hope, It
app. and from evidence given at the inquest, which took
place on Tuesday, that the deceased's duty was to inspect
the workings of the pit before the men went to work, and
on the morning of the 6th inst., he accordingly went to make
the usual insptction. Contrary, however, not only to the
general regulation of the pit", ut alto to thee:pier orders
of the overman, he very imprudently used a naked candle
instead of a proper lamp, and en he was leaving one of the
boards an explosion of gas demurred, by which he wee severely
burnt an over his body. He wu taken home, where he died
on Friday night. The lamp which he ought to have used
wee banging in the pit, at a place where he had the oppor
tunity of getting it had he chosen to be at the trouble. The
jury returned a verdict in accordance with the facts.—lgere.
meat Chronicler.

SINGIJIAZ MONOWANIA.—A shocking death oc-
curred a few days ago to a little girl, whose parents reline in
Short-acre. For lone considerable time the child, whose
name wee Sarah Aldridge and whose age is 12 years, hu
been saltiest to flu, and about a fortnight ago she we. dis-
covered hanging by the neck Iron the chamber window.
She wee reamed from her fearful situation, and every care
taken to prevent a repetition of the set, which was fora few
days successful: Ultimately, it appears that the poor child,
who was nal best on destroying itself, obtained a quantity
of chips, and placed them in her pinafore, and set ere to
them. She was perceived by some neighbours, who suc-
ceeded in smothering the flames which enveloped her, but
she was so dreadfully burned that death ultimate, put an
end to her sugrerinp.—Dirsoievleon Memel%