The Sun.
London, England, 1852-02-24 00:00:00

APPOINTMENT.

WOOLWICH, FEB. 23.—The following took place on
Friday last:—
Clerk—William H. Ozzard (1850), from the Are-
thusa, 50, at Portsmouth, to the Torch steam-vessel, at
Woolwich, fitting to serve as tender to the Herald, 28,
for service in surveying the South Seas.
The Violet Dover mail steam-packet, Lieutenant
Commander Henry P. Jones, arrived at Woolwich yes-
terday at 6 o'clock, P.M., having sustained damage to
her bowsprit and bows. Captain Baldock. Inspector of
the Dover mail steam-packets, visited Woolwich Dock-
yard to-day to inspect the vessel.
The Cormorant steam-sloop, Commander William C.
Chamberlain, is all stripped, and ready to be paid off on
Wednesday next. One of the marine artillery
belonging to this vessel, at present in the basin,
attempted to get into the town by scaling the dockyard
wall during last night, and miscalculating the height of
the wall, it being fifteen feet outside and only ten feet
inside, he sprained his ankle so severely that he had to
be carried on a stretcher to his ship, being unable to
walk.

The Merlin, Mediterranean steam-packet, Lieute-
nant-Commander James H. Turner, is nearly stripped,
and will be paid off here on Friday next.

SEARCH FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

Last night a general meeting of the members of the
Royal Geographical Society was held in the theatre of
the Royal Institution, Albemarle-street; Sir Roderick
Murchison, Bart., in the chair. The meeting was nu-
merously attended.
The President, in proposing Captain Beatson as a
member of the Royal Geographical Society, dwelt st
some length on the service in which he was about to en-
gage for the restoration of Sir John Franklin and his
companions from the Arctic regions, and urged upon the
members the great claims he had upon their considera-
tion to enable him to carry out his mission of mercy by
adding to the subscriptions for that purpose, as he was
at the present time deficient about ,1,5961. of the sum re-
quired. He (the President) heel seers the ship which had
been selected, and which appeared to be well suited, and
he was happy to see that it had been furnished with all
necessary stores by the Board of Ordnance, and all
practicable assistance by the Board of Admiralty.
He might also state in reference to this subject that
Lieutenant Pim, whose noble devotion to this cause they
were well acquainted with, had not only handed over to
the Beatson fund the surplus of the grant made to him
by the Government, but the proceeds of the outfit of the
gallant officer would be sold at St. Petersburgb, and de-
voted to the same object.
Dr. Shaw read a paper, transmitted through the Co-
lonial-efiice, from Francis Galton, Esq., F.R.G.S., of a
journey to Wolfish Bay, in the interior of Africa—de-
scribing the capabilities of the country, and the compa-
rativenative ease with
k whichtribes
ehf he
thathad remotesettl ed
regionw a s amongst
Africa. the
The paper was received with great applause.
Colonel Yorke read a paper of meteorological obser-
vations,thenstatementofthemarkedbetween
fall-
ing
amount
givenof
r.
to D

Lanamb eth, inquiry,r es a
respecting
MYSTERIOUS DEATH BY A.RSENIC. Yesterday
morning Mr. Weinrne
resumedCarrteaeirroad ,
and Crown,
Commercial-road, Roselie
death of Mr. Edward Gibbons, aged 28 years, a licensed vic-
tualler. Details of the first sitting of the inquest have
already been published. An analysis of the contents of
deceased's stomach has since been made by Mr. Taylor,
surgeon, Upper Stamford-street; Mr. Brady, Blackfriars-
road ; and Mr. Knaggs, of Guy's Hospital, who found a
quantity of arsenic in the stomach. The poison must have
been taken recently, and deceased must have suffered great
pain. The widow said, in answer to the coroner, that she.,
had made every search about the house, and could not find
anything of a deleterious nature. The jury returned a ver-
dict—" That the deceased died from the effects of arsenie
but how or by what means that poison came into the sto-
mach they had no proof."
LOOK
days 001 i. TO YOUR CEILINGS.---A few ago, in aof a plaster
sitting room in Lambeth, the greater portionafrdingany
ceiling, within the cornice, fell down without
which had existed for
warning beyond an unsightly
crack
avery narrow escape
some time previously. Two ladies had
it was, one of them, a
of being, at least, seriously injured; as
had her comb shivered to
visitor, before she could escape,
contusion in the body and sun-
dry other bruises, byatoms, and received a severe
sbe is laid up and placed under
which
fragments of the ceiling showed an
expenditure of substance n
medical treatment. The
et
only wastefully lavish, but
much too trying for the laths to custain ; and, indeed, in the
aggregate, no trifling
burden for any frail tenement of
(burnt) clay to bear
thickness, it varied from li to at
least 2 inches I a
minimum specimen weighing lOilb. to the
square foot, or, the average, li ton to a room, say 20 by 15
laths were broken, those to which the
ceiling had adhered;few
the back of the plaster showed that
parted from the laths for some considerable
Ilv it had .
genera .
short time a key" having been broken. A aCm
time, the
occurrence took place in a village a few milesu
similar
was found
when an aged and bedridden gentleman
the bed
town,
smothered in the rubbish, saved probably by
nearly .
..—Buzlder.
hanging-
Honourable Dr.
THE DEFENCES AT MALTA.--The Council, gave
Dingli, at the last meeting of the Government and training of
notice of his intention to propose the raisingthe garrison in cue
a body of militia to assist the troops 9
of necessity. The proposal is one which cannot fail of giving
general satisfaction, and which was tee the idea extended to
tese loyalty. We should wish to
" be expected from Mal-
the raising of a regiment of sui also; for in the event of
thank heaven, there is
a sudden attack on Malta
(of which,
resent), we do not believe
not the slightest probability atun on the fortifications.
Though this may be a matter
there is an artilleryman for
every
gof minor importance for the
moment, we think it deserving
of some consideration:—
Malta Times, Feb. 10. a
OF A NEWSVENDER.--YES-
MELANCHOLY
sentDELT
to Mr. Bedford, 'Westminster
terday information
was
_...a
.....
death of Tiwm newlett, aged 58, a news-
vender,Coroner, of the
rry.ng
1 on business in King-street, Soho,
formerly
twentycarry
or thirty years selling newspapers at
but for the last Cellar, Piccadilly, where he was well-
the White
Ttil.runeared that about half-past six o'clock on
known. `eiling, he was crossing Regent-street, Picea-
Saturday evening,
van
was coming along at the same time, and
dilly, /ch..% knocked down, the wheels passing over his
Hewlett - taking off three of the fingers of one hand. He
legs, and also
evidently much injured internally, and it was
as able
dee d the most advisable to at once convey him
to St.
half
doolnrgee 's Hospital, where ate expired in an hour and a
after admission.

LONGEVITY.—Died, on the 15th instant, William
Smith, in the 102 d year of his age. He was a parishioner
of Upper Swell, near Stow, where he had worked on one
farm for upwards of 70 years. After losing his third wife, a
few weeks since, he felt lonely, and was determined (much
against the wishes of the rector and farmers in the village,
who have been particularly kind to him) to go into the
Stow Union Workhouse, where he considered he should meet
with society, and be better waited on than at home. He
seemed perfectly comfortable and contented there, until at- ;
tacked by a disease from which he had several times before t'
suffered, and which, this time, pro Ted (101'

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