The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-22 00:00:00

British Association for the Advancement
of Science,

BATH, Tuesday.
The different sections resumed their sittings this morning.
SECTION G.—MECHANICAL SCIENCE.
This section was presided over by Mr H awkshaw, F.R.S.,
the president of the section.
Professor RANE.INE, F.R.S., read a paper on some of the
strains of ships, of which the following is an abstract :—ln
previous scientific investigations respecting the strains which
ehips have to bear, it has been usual to suppose the ship
balanced on a point of rock, or supported at the ends on two
rocks, The strains which would thus be produced are far
more severe than that which would have to be borne by a
ship afloat, The author computes the most severe straining
action which can act on a ship afloat—viz., that which takes
place when she is supported amidships on a wave-crest, and
dry at the ends ; and he finds that the bending action cannot
exceed that due to the weight of the ship with a leverage of
I-20th of her length, and that the racking action cannot ex-

ceed about 16-160ths of her weight. Applying those results
to two very good examples of ships of 2,680 tons displace-
ment, one of iron and the other of wood, described by Mr
John Vernon in a paper read to the Institution cf Mecha-
nical Engineers in 1863, he finds the following values of the
greatest stress of different kinds created on the material of
the ship :—ln the iron ship, tension 3.98 tons per square

inch, thrust 2.35, racking stress 0975. It follows that in
the iron ship thef actor of safety against bending is between
5 and 6, agreeing exactly with the best practice If engineers,
and that there s a great surplus of strength against
racking. In the wooden ship, tension 0.315 ton per square
inch, and thrust 0293. Here the factor of safety is be-
tween 10 and 15, which is also agreeable to good practice in

. _
carpentry. As t .q. the racking action, the iron diagonal
b. aces required by Lloyd's rules would be sufficient to bear
one-third of it, only leaving the rest to be borne by the fric-
tion and adhesion at the beams or the planking.

A paper was read by Captain B. A. Henderson on the
practical progress of naval architecture in ocean and river
steamers, with suggestions for improvement in the steerage
of the Great Eastern and large and small ironclads, rams

and gunboats, similar to the Assam and Nautilus, by the
use of balanced rudders in bows and stern.
.._

A paper was read by Captain Wheatly, R N., on " Im-
provements in the Defence of Ships of War." Re said—The
result of the experiments at Shoebury ness has publicly pro-
c.aimed that the 13-inchgun is the only gun to be thoroughly
depended on to act against iron plates. It must be, there-
fore, universally adopted as the chief naval gun. It may,
however, be modified by the introduction of gun cotton. As
yet we hear of no preparations for its adoption in our navy
but as we have meunted up from the 8-inch to the 9-inch
and from the 9 to the 101, so I trust we shall shortly come
to the 13-inch. I will now proceed to submit a system cal-
culated to mitigate the great evil which would be caused by
fragments of iron and splinters of wood, as shown by the
experiments at Shoeburyness. A flag officer has suggested
returning to the old system, and taking off your hat to
the shot and letting it pass. But this does not meet the
emergency. If we entirely abandon plates we expose
ourselves to molten iron and other shells, in that case
much more destructive than solid shot. (The gallant officer
drew a diagram on the black board illustrating the system
he proposed to adopt.) The screen might not stop the solid
shot, but it would completely arrest all the fragments and
splinters driven in from the plates and backing forming the
under defence. I have placed the gun en barbette; in this
position it would be exposed to being dismounted; by plac-
ing it in ports, the stop would be weakened to the depth of
the port. It is a choice between two evils. There is, how-
ever, a much greater evil than this which iron ships have to
contend with. In the only two naval actions that have
occurred lately at sea, both the defeated ships went down
the iron ship within an quarter of an hour after the fight
commenced. It appears to me that the best mode of attack-
ing an iron ship will be to imitate the practice of a breach-
ing battery on shore, where all the guns are directed on
the one spot where various lines meet. But as aiming and
hitting are not quite the same, we must ace if a ship can be
kept afloat after receiving shot below her water line. For
this purpose I propose, all the materials being ready before-
hand, screens of oiled south-wester canvass tied up between
the beams iu the wings, and having a piece of heavy wire
rope at the bottom. When let down immediately the shot
has struck, a bag of wood shavings to be forced into the gap,
covered by a plank, and shored up from the inner side of
the wing. This will only stop the mein rush of the water;
a great deal will still flow through the irregular crevices•
These I propose to stop by plastering the canvass to the
side with hydraulic cement, which is said to become fixed
under water in a quarter of an hour. Where torn
by the jaggo I ends of iron, fresh canvas to be applied so as
to make a mould over them. I propose stopping other shot
holes in the surviving chip in the same way after the action
as neither planks nor iron plates will be of any use in
covering them. I submit, therefore, that this is an addi-
tional argument in favour of the system, and such is ad-

vocated in my former paper, in which—to assimilate it to
the practice on shore—the unplated gunboats, armed with
single 13-inch guns, resemble the line, and the much heavier
armed-plated ships the artillery. With respect to any difil-
eUltieS that rin:y be started respecting the power of ships to
carry heavy guns, I have to observe that as long, I believe,
as two years ago, two 15-inch guns have been carried iu
Federal vessels. That would be considered small in com-
parison v. ith our scale. One prcbable reason why the Atne-

ricans have as yet no sea-going ironclads is that they are
directing all their energy and skill in constructing vessels
for coast and river warfare. The'r monster guns show that
they are sufficiently capable of handling large masses of iron
to build era-going ironclads when they require them.
Admiral Sir E. BELCHER read a paper on "Improve-
.

ments in the Structure of Ships of War." He considered
that our ships of war needed no more protection than would
keep their hulls safely floating, with such protection for
those fighting the guns as might be deemed sufficient to
keep off shells and musketry, suffering heavy shot to pass
freely through instead cf causing spiral showers of splinters
such as resulted from the destruction of the late targets at
Shoehuryness. The present paper, therefore, dealt with a
mode of construction adequate for contending with ordinary
batteries, and also permitting external planking, and conse-
quently the old copper sheathing below water. It has been
so generally assumed that no thickness of armour plate could
be employed which would r esist our new monster ordnance
that his attention had been directed to meet the difficulty
halfway, by protecting the mere vital shell of the lower
hull, so as defy the ordinary assault of any gun-hearing
vessel which should not by its accumulated weight or mass
of matter render defence impossible, It was important,
therefore, that such a tonnage should be provided as should,
as in the case of the Warrior class, be capable of floating
the contemplated armament independent of the forward rued
after compartments, which might be assumed, as mere as-
sistant means of flotation, and to be so fitted with cellular
divisions below the level of flotation as to render injury
to those parts below the reach of shot of very trifling
importance. In or:er to satisfy the means of offence, our
attention ought to be directed to the concentration of every
gun embarked on objects either ahead or astern. bearing in
mind that, under the threat that " no armour can withstand
the contemplated guns," we must calculate on their em-
ployment as much as possible near the line of axis of the
vessel. It was constantly asserted that the Warrior plates
would stand no chance against the monster guns of which
so much was predicted ; but the question was whether some
other mode could not be devised of applying the same weight
to greater advantage, or, assuming that it was penetrated,
could we not avoid risk to tho vitality of the ship by the
injury to be inflicted ? He thought he saw his way to a re-
medy, which he would explain. Now, assuming that an
iron spherical shot of 13 inches was the missile to be dreaded,
the question to be considered was not exactly what plate of
iron was to resist it--for the authorities stated that no rea-
sonable thickness, even up to 12 inches, would withstand
the impact. Looking, however, only to the floating carcase
of the ship, and disregarding the ports until we had an im-
pregnable stage on which to place guns, then we should be
at liberty to increase the thickness to any amount. His pro-
position was to construct the ship on the customary plan of
close iron ribs, but filling up the interstices between the
iron with condensed teak. Now, assuming we constructed a
vessel with 36 inches depth of rib at the vulnerable portions
which shot could reach, which would probably involve 12
vertical feet of her side—say 8 feet below water and 4 feet
above—we should then have a vessel of stronger framework
than any now built, building, or in contemplation. Then,
assuming that these iron ribs presented 2 inches at the ex-
terior, tapering in 36 inches to one inside, placed 6 inches
asunder, and filled in with compressed timber or other mat-
ter, we should have per cubic yard of bulwark 3,412.1251 b.,
that of the Warrior being 3,1z31b., showing only a differ-
ence of about 2901 b. to the cubic yard. It was yet to be de-
termined by actual experiment, whether that resistance
would offer the protection sought. Perhaps it would not,
but as he proposed to add a 6 inch-planking outside, ho con-
sidered that the comparative danger with our present iron-
clads would be reduced to nil, or at least to something which
would satisfy the seaman. His plans for the final construc-
tion and fortification were not yet complete, but they would
probably be laid before the Government in March next. On
a previous occasion he had alluded to paper as an opposing
medium. In 1816 at Algiers a ream of foolscap, end on, re-
sisted a 681 b shot from a 27 feet gun, at 76 yards ; and in 1854
he proposed to the Admiralty to construct moveable battery
rafts of brown paper, but the design was not carried out
Lately he learnt from a newspaper that, ten years after his
proposal, it was found that paper of 1-inch thickness was
fired at and not quite penetrated, while a similar shot went
quite through 10 inches of good oak, In conclusion, he
would observe that condensed millboard weighed less than
oak or teak, and, interposed in the manner he had sug-
gested, might form a target which would set even Big
Will at defiance.
The Crimeereer said he had himeolf always felt consi.
derable difficulty in all the suggestion.; made from time to
time for building ships of war where iron and wood were
depend. It appeared to him, apart from the ueed, on both of which the strength of the ship itself was
made to
diffe-
rent modes of construction which had been suggested from
time to time, that what they ought to aim at and secure it
they could was to build a ship wholly of iron, so that the
ship, if stripped of all its other coating, would still be a
water-tight ship
capable of navigating, and in this way
they would, of course, have a perfect structure. Without
that he did not see how they were to escape the dry rot,

and so on. Of course, that would be an objection to the
mode proposed by Admiral Belcher, as it was prettty much
to all the modes hitherto adopted. To make ships quite
invulnerable would only be to make them unmanageable at

Admiral Sir E. BELCHER said he agreed with the sug-
gestion of building an iron vessel and then coating her.
Papers were also read in this section by Mr George
Fawcus, on " Improvements in Scale and other Ladders,"
and on " Improvements in Folding Doors;" by Mr Zerah
Colburn, on " Steam Boilers;" by Mr George Glover, on
" Instruments for the Measurement of Gas," Mr James
Williams made some interesting experiments on the elas-

ticity of iron; and Mr H. C. Sorby, exhibited
and described a number of microscopical photographs of
various kinds of steel.
This concluded the business of the Section. There were
several other papers in the list to be read, but the Chair-
man said they must he taken as read.
The committee of this Section having been invited to see
an iron girder broken by the testing machine (on which a
paper was read yesterday),'knumber of the members pro-
ceeded to the works of Messrs, Stothert and Pitt, in this
city, and examined the machine, by which the successive
deflexions of the beam were accurately taken until it finally
broke with a loud report at the calculated weight,
Mr Fairbairn, anti other members of the committee, ex-
pressed approval of the machine, which they considered to
have ad vantages not possessed by any other.
The girder weighed 15cwt., and broke with 17 tons.
There has been a grand floral fete to-day at the Sydney-
gardens. The flowers and fruits exhibited were choice and
beautiful, the attendance being large and fashionable. The
Scots Fusileer Guards' and Hanoverian Bands performed
some excellent music,

The Eccles Find of Six Thousand Silver
Pennies,

Since this find on the 11th August little has arisen re-
specting it worth publication. Notwithstanding the posi-
tive and peremptory claim of the Treasury, it turns out that
the coins really come to the Crown, in right of the Sove-
reign, not as • Queen, but as Duchess of Lancaster.
When the Crown first created the duchy and granted to its
first duke what are termed jtera regalia, the royal charters
conveyed to the Duke and his successors, amongst other
legal privileges and prerogatives, the right to all treasure-
trove which should bo found within the ambit of the duchy.
We believe that this claim of the duchy has been recognised
by the Treasury ; but the latest that wo can learn of the
proceedings in the arcana of these departments of State is,
that the coins remain in the Treasury, though the right to
their possession is in the duchy. With all this, however,
the public have nothing to do; nor should we notice it, but
for the bad moral effect it is causing in Eccles and the
neighbourhood, more than a month having elapsed since
the coins wore found, and so far no reward has been given
to the finder, a poor young working man, disabled by acci-
dent and out of employment, while he is the solo support of
a widowed mother. The general feeling is that he would
have done rightly to appropriate what he found to his own
use, This feeling is to be regretted; but it is natural under
the long delay. People will say that the Circumlocution-
(Zee is no myth, and that "how not to do it" is practised
with success in some at least of our State departments. It
should be remembered, however, that this is the season of
annual holiday for heads of departments; that London is
empty, and officials are away on the moors, or at the sea
side, or on the Rhine, or the Alps ; and that consequently red
tape and routine in London are creeping their slowest, if

not sleeping their soundest.
But leaving this subject, there are one or two hitherto
unnoticed points iu this " find," which may be briefly
touched. First, as to the probable time of the deposit.
The coins found were mainly English, of Henry 11. or 111.
perhaps both; but a few were Lida pennies of King John,
and a few Scottish pennies of William the Lion. Thus the
three kingdoms contributed something to this hoard. Now
Ituding and other authorities suppose that John's Irish
coinage was not struck till the year 1210, when he went into
Ireland. Before that year, then, no Irish pennies of John
could have found their way into a Lancashire hoard, To
account for the presence of a few Scottish pennies in this
Eccles deposit, it may be stated that John built a fort at the
mouth of the Tweed, which William I. ('f Scotland pulled
down, The quarrel between them on this ground was
made up by John undertaking not to rebuild the fort,
on William the Lion, paying to him the largo sum of

- .
15,000 marks (X 10,000). It this amount were paid in the
chief coin of circulation at that period, it would sufficiently
acccuut for the presence of Scottish pennies cf. William
the Lion iu the Eccles hoard ; and it also limits the
deposit to some time in the thirteenth century. But the
later limit is better fixed by the English coins, all of
which (about 6,000) have on the reverse the short double
cross, which is known to have ,been superseded in the
coinage of henry 111. in 1247, by the long cross, carried to

he edge of the coin with a view to prevent clipping. As no

long-cross penny is found in the Eccles hoard, it must have
been placed in the ground before they came into circulation.
The above facts, then, limit the date of its hiding in the
earth between the year, 1210 and 1243.
Many questions have been asked as to the value of these
coins. This value differs materially, according to the mode
of estimation. There is a fancy or factitious valud, a 3 where
parsons in the neighbourhood offer a liberal price for a few
coins as olj cts of curiosity. Thus the finder of the Eccles
coins was offered 15s for half a dozen pieces.
Again, there is what may be callcd the antiquarian or
numismatic value of the coins, a fluctuating and uncertain
amount; for coins of a particular reign may Le very rare
and fetch high prices, till some large find occurs of that
type, which at once renders them plentiful and cheap.
Now there have been several finds of these pennies of Henry
which have reduced their value considerably for the cabi-
nets of collectors. The chief of these was at Tealby, in Un-
colnshire, in 1807, the number being 5,700 ; but of these
most found their way to the melting-pot of the Royal Mint.
So large a number as that in the Eccles hoard will certainly
lower the price in the numismatic market, unless they have
thelike fate. Lastly,there is the bullion value,which can only
be roughly approximated. The whole weigh 21b avoir-
dupois, or say 231 b troy. At 5s the ounce or £3 the pound
troy, the bullion value would be about £69 or £7O.
But this Eccles find is an important one, not for its money
or other value, but for its providing a large mass of material
for evidence towards the decision of a question of some im-
portance—not a mere numismatic or arc!. as °logical question,
but one relating to the history of the coinage of England in
one of its obscurest periods. It would be out of place here
to discuss this question in detail, but a few words may put

cur readers in possession of the main point. No coins of

any English mint exist either of Richard I. (Cur de Lion)
or of his brother and successor John ; and collectors who
aim at possessing a complete series of English coins from
the Conquest have been accustomed to represent these two
kings by the Anglo-Gallic pennies of Richard I. (struck
chiefly in Poitou), and by the Irish pennies of King John,
of which a few, are found in the Eccles board. No one
can account for the absence of English pennies of these
kings. In the reign of John 16 English mints existed,
Again, as to the English pennies bearing the words " Hen-
liens Rex," there is nothing to show whether they were of
Henry 11. or Henry III„ or of both. Mr Hawkins, ofjhe
British Museum, and other eminent numismatists, attri-

Unto this type of coins chiefly, if not wholly, to Henry 11. ;
Mr Sainthill, the Rev. Assheton Pownall, and others think
them partly of that King and partly of his grandson Henry
111. Mr W. IL D. Longstaff.3, F.S.A., goes further, and

says in effect that both Richard and John continued to use
the typo of penny struck by their father, and that even
John's son, Henry 111. continued to do the same till 4247.

This hypothesis would account for the absence of the names

of Richard and John in coins struck at English mints
during their reigns. The only way of ascertaining the
_ _ _

truth is by an extended examination of coins of " Henricus
Rex" with the short cross at reverse. Their reverse legend
always contains the name of the mint and the moneyer, as
" Abel on London," " Paul on Canterbury ;" and by a very
careful examination of Exchequer rt eorde and other docu-
ments, it has been ascertained by Mr Longstaffe, that some
"Henricus" coins were struck by moneyers, who did not
live in the reign either of Henry 11. or Henry 111., but in
that of Richard or of John. For these reasons it is very
desirable that, before the Eccles coins are scattered or
melted, they should be ea emitted by some competent nu-
mismatist, conversant with this question. The Crown au.
thorities have had their attention drawn to this subject.
For the issue we must wait.

ATTEMPT OF A MOTHER TO MURDER FOUR
CIIILDREN.—The utmost excitement prevailed on
Monday in the neighbourhood of the Victoria Docks -in
consequence of a rumour that a woman had made a most
desperate attempt upon the life of four of her children.
The would-be murderess resides at 17, Bell and Anchor-
cottages, near to the Victoria Docks, her husband, named
Philbric, being employed on the Pier-head, adjacent to the
docks. It appears that Mrs Philbric, who has hitherto
borne the character of a kind parent and affectionate wi e,
prepared the breakfast for her family in her usual manner
about 7 in the morning ; but immediately on her husband's
departure she desired the eldest child, a boy about 10 years
old, to go at once to bed again. The boy had no sooner
got into bed than she rushed at him with a poker and struck
him on the head. She then procured a razor, and, in spite
of the violent screams and struggles of the poor little follow,
the succeeded in inflicting a wound in his throat. Although
shockingly wounded, the boy contrived to escape into the
street, and by his cries for assistance alarmed the neighbours,
several of whom rushed into the house and succeeded in
preventing the wretched woman from murdering the three
other children. The boy was at once conveyed to the
Poplar Hospital, where he lies in a precarious condition.
Mrs Philbrio was removed to the West Ham Union under
the charge of the police, and the medical mon called in pro-
, nounced her to be insane.

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