Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-08-25 00:00:00

ill return,'

on IRON CASING
-A statement appearing in the Times, and

PUDDLE STEEL

ect thence into various provincial journals, has
aking the rounds of the Kingdom, and probably
)pe, to the effect that, from experiments recently
no iron or steel plate that has yet been manu-
d can withstand the solid shot from the ninety-

wt. gun at a short ran

The first shot would
penetrate through the iron plate, but it would

.e it, and on three or four striking the plate
immediate neigh-

1 the same place, or in tl
bourhood, it would be smashed to pieces
the result of the trial affected the steel plates,
it Proved that a steel-clothed ship could be far more
lily destroyed than a wooden-sided one, and that
the smashing ix of one of the steel plates the de-
'action of life on the armed ship's decks, supposing the
en plate to be driven through the ship's side, would
mnething dreadful to contemplate, from the spread
he splintered materials. The importance of the

Aperiments referred to it is riot east

to estimate, so

lepends on the peculiarity of the circumstances
Which they have been made. Of one thing,

"revel', we are certain, and that is, that the sweeping
ature of the conclusion, is, to say the least, premature.
'rue enough, the results already chronicled may war-
ant the conclusion that, material and manufacture, sub-
.,.

raitted to such tests as those remarked on, may have
Proved inefficient; but other experiments remain to be
tried• We are aware that plates, both of iron and steel,

mte 11l process of manufacture, which, it is expected,
1'44 fully meet the object contemplated by the Admi-
raltY• At Sheffield, and other places, plates of the kind
referred to are now in process of manufacture, to, be, of
Trrse) tested as to efficacy, by such means as the autho-
rities may deem desirable. As one illustration of thin,

may mention that in Liverpool our enterprising
and
ingenious fellow-townsmen, the Mersey Steel and
~°llMpany, are engaged in fabricating some plates
cl/4 steel and of iron, on their patent principle, which
in a short time will be subjected to the necessary tests ;
and until theirs, as well as those of other manufac-
tnjers, have been proved, it is idle to say that "iron or
el sheathing" must be unavailing against heavy shot
-at short'
range. The iron and steel plates manufactured
at
the Mersey- works are so carefully prepared, and with
%thorough a knowledge of all qualities tending to pro-
'duce tenacity or brittleness in the metal, as to induce us to

utueve that if success is to be attained in this line of
defensive armament, the manufacturers of the " great
wrought iron gun" will achieve it. A short time will
'bring the ocular proof, and till then it is only fair that
public judgment should be suspended.

-,----~-

MELANCHOLY OCCURRENCE TO AN ENGLISH TOURIST
—We have heard of a melancholy occurrence to an
English tourist on Goatfell ; the following scanty parti-
culars in connection With it have only reached us :—lt
appears that on Sabbath two gentlemen, one named Dr.
smith, made a tour of inspection to the above peak,
which, as all our readers know, is situated in the Island
of Arran. In their wanderings they went to the most
precipitous side of the peak, and his companion was
astonished to find Dr. Smith suddenly drop from his
side into a crevice. All his efforts to get him out were
unavailing, and he had nothing left but to get assist-
auce. Unfortunately, on his return with assistance, he
zforgot the spot where the occurrence took place, and no
amount of examination could guide him to it. Yester
'tlaY morning, the inhabitants were

_lolled for a
arch, but, -so far as our information goes, their best
*Aorta have gone unrewarded,—Glasgow Bulletin.