Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-08-20 00:00:00

A SCIENTIFIC FANATIC.

My friend." Marston," though one of the flnest,fellows on earth, is
ma're a bore by an hallucination. He, is of a noble nature, and has
h:d au excellent eincation, which commenced e,rly, and still pro
gresses, although he is now in his fiftieth y, ar. He has a knowledge
of languages, if not p•-ofound, yet very general ; his acquaintance
with more than one branch of science is extensive; his love of art is
pure and strong. He has tra'elled much in Europe, in the Americas,
and in India; and, hoz always jou flayed with observant eyes. He
has written much in newspapers, in magazines, and in reviews, and
his contributions have always revealed vast knowledge, great or:gi-
n silty, and broad humanity in the writer. Ills physical aspect visibly
corresponcbs w'th his character. He is tall, erec`, broad-breasted,
and has Mai Kid pleasant features, a piercing eye, and a bright and a
massive brow. His rich and shining hair crowns his countenance with
light. There are but few countries ca)able of producing a person at
once so groat, so strong, so genial, and so fall of clear sense,
and cheerful life as he. Bat he hl9a si Igular, notion respecting the
designing of ships, which is now uppermost in him, Oar entire
mercantile and war navies are at sea in this respect. Neither Mr.
Scott Russell, nor Mr. Green, nor Mr. White, nor any other 6nstrtic.
'tor 'of ships is of the smallest professional worth in my excellent
frisnd9sestimatiou. They know how to fine a bow here, and flatten a
floor there, and lengthen a run ebewhere. ,They will pull the frame
of this to pieces to, increase her breadth of beam, and cleave another
thromth amidski-p, to 'bring in an extra twenty font of length ; ba t
produce a vessel that will exceed in speed a score of kno's per hour
net, cannot.. And the s:cret lies in this : hey build ships that swim
through the water Bice a fish, whereas a ship should gl de over the
sea like a skater. This Is his discovery. Of course he is aware the,-
a ye,sel at rest In a fluid will displace a holy of it that
weighs the same as itself. It is the motive power that
is to bring the new vessel to the surface, and. carry her along
it. Pla.e his parent inclined planes under her bows, and give her
e 'glues steam, or her sail wind, and up she will rise, ani away she ,
will career over fifty, eighty, or even a hundred knots an hour. In
a day you may be in America—in four or five ht Australia. '1 hese
r sults, accord, he avers, with -the laws of nature. Certain'y they
accord with what appears to have become a law of his n ,tare, not-
witt s'alding its nobility, 1 have plied him with mathematics in a I
appropriate f arms, but in vain. I have played upon him by th e hour
with th 6 artillery of syllogisms, but without result. He still belioves
in h's theory, and he still troubles me with it beyond measure. The
eye of hie faith beholds the skating ship, as oth r eyes have beheld
other phantom ships ; and I verily believe that when he comes to gaze
upon the waters of death themselves, he will see a swift ship skimm-
ing across them.—Mechanics Ilagarine.

THE liceereer EairraE.—A letter from Pol-au-Prince
(Hayti), of the 14th July, says :—The legislature rf the
country is just now in a very liberal humour. It has in-
c .easaci the sa'aries of all the public function tries, including
the Emperor himself, The civil list of Foustin I. h.s
been increased from 150,000 to 200;000 dollars. The
Empress receives 100,000 dellnrs ; The imperial family
55,000 ; and each or the ministers 10,000. Notwith-
standing the losses experienced by the merchants in the
late fire, a number of them have had temporary wareh uses
cons"ructed, to recommence business. The fariners who
after the fire would not venture to approach the town,
fearing.to have their horses and carts put into requisition
by the government for carrying away the rubbish, have
again commenced coming- to market, bringing coffee
and other produce.
DEATH OF CAPTAIN PATTEN, OF THE NEPTUNE'S CAR.—
Captain J. A. Patten, whose misfortunes and stiff rue= in
connection with the ship Neptune's Car have been 'the
theme of much public comment, died at the M‘Lean
Asylum, Somerville, at two o'clock yesterddy morning, aged
30 years and 3 months. Deaf and blind, and sick as he
as been for Months past, his heroic wife refused, neverthe-
leis, to surrender him to the care of strangers ; and it was
not until Friday, when it was apparent that his reason
was gone and he was utterly unmanageable. that she
consented to his removal to the asylum. Mrs. Patten her-
Self is slowly recovering from the effects of fever. She is
still quite feeble, but the patience in suffering and the
energy in emergencies which she has hitherto displ yed
may carry her over this, which she regards as the greatest
of her sorrows. The women of America upon hearing the
new.ealarnity which has overtaken this bravo little wornae'
will, we trust, manifest their sympathy in a form which
will give evidence of its reality.—Boston Courier. July 17.
C.MettTTAL OP TWO POLISH JEW 3 FOR INCENDIARISM,—
At the Newcastle police court on Friday, two PoUel Jews,
Lavine Leipschitz, and Selig Leipschitz, his son. were
charged with setting fire to their premises, 75, Hitch
Buckingham-s,reet; with intent to defraud the Phermit
Fire-Mee. The prisoners had carried on a small business
as pawnbrokers, and it is stated that the class ongeorls
they roceived was so poor that the premises could not have
held 1001. worth. ..The policy they held .was 301. for the
fixtures, 1011 for the furniture, and 6701. for the stock.
Oa the 19. h of July the premises were discovered to be on
fire, emitting a suffocating vapour unlike tVat of an ordi-
nary fire. Neither of the prisoners helped to extinguish
the fliines. The fire was, however, got tinier, and the
preinises were locked up by the police, who found in the
shop a feather and a child's garment. both saturated with
naptha. A few weeks before the elder prisoner =had gone
to London and purchased several (parts of naptha " for a
secret purpose," as he told a friene The prisoners had
made application to insure the stock for more than 1,0001.,
but bad pct bun able to do so. They were committed
or trial- .

E 076 a