The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-06 00:00:00

THE FIRE ANNIHILATOR.

Mr. W. H. Phillips, the inventor of the Fire Annihi-
lator, has addressed to us a letter on the subject of tt e
recent fire at the Battersea works, in which he says :
" A twelvemonth ago I remonstrated with the directors
upon the reckless manner in which the chemical charges
were prepared and exposed. I explained the danger in-
curred, and forewarned the storekeeper of the possi-
bility of such a catastrophe occurring as we have now
actually to deplore ; but the directors persevered in
their perverse course, obstructed mo in the discharge of
my duty as superintendent, and entrusted the whole
management of the works to other persons ; a course
which was sure, sooner or later, to lead to the result
which nas followed, and which has arisen--not from any
danger connected with my invention—but from neglect
of my advice."

ANOTHER CASE OF INFANTICIDE.—Yesterday
morning, at seven o'clock, as police constable 146 L wes
going his rounds, and in passing through Chester-street,
Kennington, his attention was directed to a parcel, covered
with a piece of dirty canvass, and which wes in the front
garden of one of the houses about four yards from the palings.
lie instantly got into the place, and taking up the parcel
conjectured, from the stench which it emitted, that it con-
tained some putrid matter, and at once removed it to the
station-house in Kennington-lane. Here it W 29 opened, and
was found to contain the body of a very fine and full-grown
female infant, which must have been Melees for at least eight
or ten days, and was fast approaching decomposition.

INCENDIARY FIRES IN NOTTS.—During the week,
two inemdiary fires have taken piece in this county. For-
tunately the damage at each of the fires was net extensive
Mr. Oalham and A. Faulconbridge, Esq., are the respective
owners of the property, which is situated at Buiwell, about
five miles from Nottingham. A reward of 501. has been
offered for the discovery of the incendiaries.
SOUTHAMPTON.—The iron screw steam ship Gre-
cian, from London, bound to Liverpool, put into this port
yesterday with damaged machinery, and will have to go into
the dry dock to repair.
VERA CRUZ.—Extract from a letter, dated Vera Cruz,
sth October, 1852:—" The political state of the country
is very much unsettled. The pronunciamiento at Gus-
dalaxera, at which we hinted in our last, has, about a
fortnight since, taken place by the Guardia Nacional
there, and must be considered in favour of Santa Anna,
whom, in their plan, they invite to return.—Arista has
sent about 2,000 troops against Guadalaxara, and we
wait the result. Acquirre is Minister of the Interior, and
Guillermo Pinto, a senator, but uninfluential, Minister of
Finance. General Anayra,Minister of War. These parties
offer no guarantee whatever for stability in the Govern-
ment. At the close of the mail per express from
Mexico, we learn that the mails from the interior
Guanaxuato. Queretaro, &c., had, by order of the Go•
vernrnen a not been delivered to the public from the
Post Office. It is rumoured that Guanaxueto, Morelia,
and Puebla are in disobedience to 'the Government of
Arista, at the instigation of Munoz ;Ledo, Governor of
Guanexeato and that General Uraga, with the troops
above alluded to, have joined, and does not march to
Guadalaxara. Business continues in the most unsatis-
factory state."
THE UNDERGROUND ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. -On
Monday the operation of laying down the wires of the
underground electric telegraph between Dover and the
metropolis was completed, and a junction having been
effected with the submarine cable, a direct communica-
tion was at once eqablished between the offices of the
"European and Submarine Printing Telegraph Com-
pany " in Cornhill and Paris. This new line of
telegraph follows the route of the old Dover coach
road, passing through the several towns of Dart-
ford, Gravesend, Rochester, Sittingbourne, and Canter-
bury, and has been laid down by Messrs. Freud and
Hamill, of Bedford row. The works have been rapidly
done in defiance both of unfavourable weather and of
direct opposition, and it is a matter of congratulation to
all whose business or pleasure renders frequent comma-
nicatien with the continent requisite or desirable,
that there need not now be any delay in the transmis-
sion of messages between the two countries. Whether
there will be or not, or if the facilities will be developed
as they should be, we have yet to see. Before the
completion of this line all continental messages from
London were conveyed by means of the South-Eastern
Railway Company's telegraph to Dover, where a break
occarred, owing to the absence of direct telegraphic
communication between the station and the office of the
submarine company. It was partly to avoid this inter-
ruption, but mainly to save a very heavy rental paid to
the South-Eastern Company for the privilege of using
their telegraph, that the construction of the underground
telegraph was resolved upon. The pecuniary loss in-
volved led the South-Eastern directors to resist, even by
force, in defiance of the powers of an Act of Parliament,
the transit of the telegraph under their railway. This
happened at Canterbury, and was carried so far that Mr.
Freud, the contractor, was actually given into custody
by the railway officials, and taken botore the Mayor and
magistrates. by whom ha was, of course, at once dis-
charged —The Builder.
THE RUSSIAN EATIL—A short treatise on bathing
is a requisite of the age. Now that public baths are
established in every largo city, and are used by the
million ,lit is desirable that the effects of bathing, in
ies different varieties,on health, should be understood, and
that our public baths should be constructed on the best
possible plan, and give facilities for the application of
moisture to the body in the largest cumber of useful modes.
We should not only have warm baths, taut cold baths,vaP our
'
baths, plunging baths, shower baths, hot-air baths, and
attendants to shampoo those who are willing to py for the
process. Each of these modes of bathing has its saioecial
in-
fluence on health and disease, and might be emled se-
parately or combined as deemed requisite. A warmP bath
is a very good thing, but there arc better things in oathiug
even than that, and of much greater efficiency. We should
like to see public bathing more extensively enjoyed, and
carried out upon a more scientific and comprehensive
plan. We have no doubt that a large institution, rival-
ling the baths of ancient Rome in magnificence and
varied utilities, established in this metropolis, would he
largely patronized, and would be as profitable as a
speculation as advantageous to the community.
Dr. Culverwell, of Argyle- street has to a very con-
siderable extent carried out our idea, as a visit to his ,
splendid establishment will prove. Dr. Roth's book
gives a brief account of the Egyptian, Turkish, Russian, ;
and other baths, and ought to be real by the members I
of our profession as well as by the public.