The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-12-22 00:00:00

-
of the chemical portion of the question in which
he-would kindly instruct-the -NORTHERN TIMES
we are thoroughly convinced ; and it will be as
well for us to tell Mr. M'DONALD, once for all,
that the public will not listen to corporate.
Gngstici on a topic of such immense imp irtance
to the whole community.
But we will not close our columns against-
Mr. M`DorrALD, or any correspondent who may
think proper to rebuke us, until we have first
given him the benefit of his own words, where
we proclaim. his ignorance. Mr. M‘DoNALD,
shall have the full advantage of this principle of
fair play. We only ask the reader to mark care-
fully what he, says :—" There is but one simple
" remedy for the prevention of smoke, and that
" is the admission of the requisite quantity of air
" to the furnace during the process of combus-
" tion. This is one way, certainly, of getting rid
of one of the most difficult of all chemical pro-
blems. To decide the " requisite quantity of air"
which ought to be admitted into the furnace to
prevent smoke and secure the greatest amount of
combustion, is not quite so simple a matter as
Mr. M'DONALU would have the world believe.
If our Correspondent has solved this great pro-.
blem, future ages will be deeply indebted to him,
but he has not. He only wants " the requisite
quantity of air ;" but whether that quantity is a
hatfull or a cart-load, he does not deign to inform
us ; nor does he appear to care a jot whether we
give him cold air to keep down steam, or hot air
to explode the gases the instant, they come in
contact with them, without checking the steam-
generating temperature of the furnace.
Mr. M`DONALD only asks quantity. He cares
nothing about quality. If he can prevent smoke,
he desires nothing more, If the steam-owner
wants to keep up his poweriAnd keep his.furnace
doors open, he must get a larger boiler. Never
mind the cost of ftiel. Boonomise smoke and let
coals take care' of themselVes. What does Mr..
MT° NALD know or care about such matters ?
Men who assail the Editorial brotherhood need
scarcely bother themielvei about 'Rich trifles.
After having passed over the gulf Of mechanical
applications, all of which, in our humble opinion,
are as essentially different ' both 'in- construction
and the results they produce, as human inge-
nuity
_could 4nake.them; and having flown over
the ocean of chemical ends to be attained to give
us the most perfect combustion of fuel—which
would be the greatest boon that could possibly be
bestowed on the steam employers of •the world,!
we find Mr. • Al.` DaTA.LD--:—", your engineer
this same person, standing on the summit of a
mountain; self-laudation, exclaiming to the way-
ward crowd below :—" Here no quackery is
" required—no tax on the already overburthened
" furnace owner in the shape of a Royalty, for a
" so-called patent right, which patent is
_neither
" more or less than a copy of one, by the only
" man in England who thorpughly •understands
" the theory and practice of" combustion." • Will
Messrs. STARTUP AND_ BROWN and Professor
ELSTON favour us with their opinion on the sub-

ject of quackery and the law of patents ? These
gentlemen know more of perfect combustion, if
we . are to believe what we hear, 11111. Mr.
M‘DoNs LT) could tell us in a month. It may he
all quackery ; still, we like to see gentlemen of
the same cloth flocking together
But why should we lean so heavily on Mr.
M'DONALD. He is only af. aid that " blarneying
" jobbers" will take advantage of the Smoke
Prevention Act " for the purpose of filling their
" own purses," and he adds, " I have always set
" my face against anything of the sort, and that
" is, perhaps, one reason why I am not now your
" smoke inspector." This comes in very strangely
with the strong prejudices expressed by Mr.
M'DONALD for certain names which he uses in
his condemnatory letter. Whether Mr. M'DON-
ALD acted up to the letter of the Smoke Nuisance
Act, or to the spirit of his favourite master's
teaching, we will leave the Health Committee to
determine. But, in the meantime, we will ven-
ture to deny, in the name of the Liverpool public,
that the " suppression of smoke is practicable" by
the means recommended by Mr. M'DONALD,
except at a ruinous cost to the employers of
steam. That " its suppression is practicable is
" now sufficiently notorious " we are free to
admit—but by whose plan ? The patent furn-
ace at the Waterloo Station, Great Howard-street,
and the " infallible specific " adopted by Messrs.
HICKS AND Co., of Bolton, have not proved
" dead swindles." When we alluded to the results
attained at the Railway Station, our remarks were
based upon official data. And until Mr.
IVPDONALD can bring forward something more
than his own very questionable knowledge and
experience on such weighty topics, we would
strongly recommend his friends to counsel him
against rushing into type, as the assailant, of.
those who devote some time and study to the
subjects on which they essay to write fpr the
public.

In consequence of the extraordinary delays wh'eb occur
in the transfer department of the G..eat Northern R .ilway
Company, the Stock Exchange Committee, with a view to
the protection of their members and of the public, have
adopted a resolution that buyers of stock in this company, or
in its subsidiary lines, shall not be required to pay for such
stock until the requisite vouchers of the regularity of the
transfer shall have been obtained from the company's
office This dechion amounts to a suspengion, in this
particular case, of the ordinary Stock Exchange rules
regarding payment for stock Its effect will be that each
buyer will obtain, before parting with his money. the
company's official certificate that the security purchased is
genuine.
FUN IN AN IRISH Couivr.—ln the late case of Galbraith
v. Angell, in Dublin, judge and jury, lawyers and wit-
nesses, seemed desirous ol extracting from it as much
entertainment as possible. The following is a sketch of a
portion of the examination of a witness :—Mr. Whiteside :
Now, listen to me ' • apoplexia, parenthesis, syncope—
which of these is the hardest to cure? (Laughter.) Wit-
ness: What do you call " parenthesis? " Mr. Whiteside:
lam asking you that Did you ever read Goldsmith ?
He was a medical student, you know, like yourself. Did
you ever read him ? Witness : No, never. Mr. White.-
side: What! never read Goldsmith, and you a professor?
Witness: Ha, hah! Mr. Whiteside: Ha, hah! (Laugh-
ter.) Witness : What do you mean ? (Renewed Laughter.)
Do you know the meaning in our tongue of the word
" murder ? " • Latterly I do. Did you know it when you
"executed" the translation ? (Laughter.) Mr. Butt :
Now, he did not say "execute ;" I said it. Mr. White-
side : Did you finish it then; that is what you meant ?
(Laughter.) Witness : You are very witty. Mr. White-
side You are very good humoured, and more candid
than some of your own witnesses. Mr. Whiteside (hand-
ing the witness a proof sheet): Look at that. Well ?
Witness: Well? Me. Whiteside: Well? Witness:
Well ? (Laughter.) HOW many " wells go to a river ?