The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-24 00:00:00

-VVENING

PO,YT EC

ITUTION.

.. --,----.
1
- ifhis popular place of public amusement daily
a ttracts crowds of vis;.tors. Yesterday, n'otwith-
standing
the unfaver4rable state of the weather, a
great number of
(
method adopted
wrecks under
- 'oy
havinfr
descended pr.rsons were present to witness the
Colonel Pa!,lev for blowing up
water. A man ‘vith a diving helmet,
0 a t"oe connected with it for conveying air,
ihull of
iint,
at,b P.. with a piece of wood rei;embiing the
a vessel, and having attached the ware to
'operator, by means of the voltaic battery,
.0.-nstant tore it into at least twenty pieces, which
( in' .ar ediat el y after the shock rose to the surface of
I it. water. He made gunpowder explode at four
different parts of the hall by the same means, and
lvith the rapidity of lightning, and illustrated the
~: e__
xPeritrients by some explanation of the way in
: which this irresistible power acts on matter. The
Ihyeiro-oxygen microscope is also a great source of
at traction, and is certainly one of the best of the
i -sort vet exhibited in London. The managers
A have lately opened the establishment in the evening,
kli for the purpose of affording amusement and instruc-
tion to those engaged in daily occupations, as well,
no doubt, as to remunerate themselves. The ex-
hibition-room is brilliantly lit up with gas, by
which means the numerous objects of art and science
can be seen fully better even than in day-light. On
alternate evenings Mr. Backhoffer and Mr. Cooper
give lectures on electricity, combustion, &c., with
1
beautiful experiments on light, at the same time
exhib;.ting the vast power of electricity, and the
metl'ol adopted by Mr. Snow Harris for protecting
shi'os and houses against lightning. An hour's in-
str uction as well as amusement may thus be ob-
tr lined at a very cheap rate.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN

GREAT BRITAIN.

(Abridged from the Catholic Directory for 1840.)
The total number of Catholic chapels in England
and Wales amounts to 457. There are 88 in Lanca-
shire, the greatest number in any one county ; 54 in
Yorkshire ; ;32 in Staffordshire ; and 20 in Middlesex.
There are 65 in Scotland, indepenLnt of 20 stations
where Divine Service is performed. In Inverness-shire
there are 18 ; in Banit'hire, 11 ; and in Aberdeen-
shire, 7.

Grand Total of Catholic Chapels in Great Bri•
tain, 22.

CATHOLIC COLLEGES.

In li:ngland there are nine Catholic Colleges; viz:—
St. E &Lund's, Hertfordshire. Ushaw College, Durham.
St. Mary's, Staffordshire. Stonyhurst, Lancashire.
St. Peter's,
Somerset. Ampleforth, Yorkshire.
Paul's, German, Worcestershire.
Gregory's shire.
In Scotland, one, viz., St. Mary's Blairs, Kincardine-

CONVENTS.
Loudon District
Midland b Scotland
Northern

We have no exac., data for ascertaining the nume-
rical strength of the Catholic body in Great Britain.
They have been estimated at 2,000,000 of souls, but we
doubt if they amount to so many. The following is
the nearest hypothetical approximation we can make
to the number of Catholics in the subjoined cities and
towns :
1.4,,0nc10n and its vici- ißolton
pity
Liverpool BO,OOO Dundee 6,000
I
Manchester and Sal- Wigan
ford
Glasgow and its v.- !Norwich . . .
cirnty .. 50,000 Huddersfield
Preston
Edinburgh ..... ... 14,000 Bath 4,000
Newcastle and !Hull
Gateshead
Paisley lO,OOO Greenock 3,000
Birmingham ...... 9,000 North and South
Leeds
Blackburn
Bradford 7,000 Dumfries

Lord and Lady Chetwynd are entertaining a
party of friends at their seat in Oxfordshire.

FATAL ACCIDENT AT MESSRS. REID'S
BREWIRY.—Last evening an inquest was held before
Mr.. Payne at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, on the body
G 1 'John Page, aged 53. It appeared from the evidence
of several witnesses that on Wednesday morning last,
between nine and ten o'clock, the deceased, with a man
named Atkinson, was employed in constructing a vat
at the abovenamed brewery, and when in the act of
" slinging" a hoop (weighing about 1001bs.) the de-
ceased slipped from the scaffold on which they were
standing, and pulled Atkinson along with him. Both
fell across an iron beam, and the hoop falling on the
deceased's chest fractured four ribs, and otherwise in-
jured him. He was brought to the hospital and died
'on Saturday. Verdict—" Accidental death." The
man Atkinson escaped unhurt.
MR. W
AKLEY AND THE MIDDLESEX MA-
GISTRATES.—At an inquest held yesterday before Mr.
Wakley, at the Workhouse; Little Saffron hill, on the
body of a woman unknown, who was found dead in bed
at a low lodging in Field-lane, Holborn, and in which a
verdict of Natural Death was returned, Mr. Wakley,
in allusion to the late acts of the Middlesex Magistrates,
disallowing the customary fees to the beadle or sum-
moning officer, he being a salaried officer, Mr. Wakley
asked the constable what was the allowance they re-
ceived previous to the passing of the New Poor-law
Amendment Act. The constable replied that they
then received 3s. 6d. from the parish for summoning a
Jury, and 4d. was allowed to each of the Jurors, who
invariably gave it to the beadles, which made their re-
muneration in fob 7s. The Coroner then said that he
had been to an inquest that morning, where the con-
stable had to walk ten miles for summoning a Jury,
and yet he never received one farthing. It was
monstrous to think of the gross injustice done to this
class of men by the Middlesex Magistrates. Now,
the Act of Victoria was passed by the Legislature for
the express purpose of remunerating the beadles in place
of the loss they bad sustained in their fees by the pass-
ing of the Poor-law Amendment Act, and yet these
Magistrates, in their paltry and pettifogging spirit of
economy, had acted in direct violation of the Act, by
refusing them any remuneration whatever. But he did
not think that the Magistretes had solely dwelt upon
the constable's account, but also on the ground of the
prejudice which existed against him (Mr. Wakley) in
that quarter, and that they might. by such means lessen
the number of inquests ; but he could say he did not
ho'd inquests enough—it was rarely he held one in an
union workhouse ; and that was singular, as they con-
tained from eight hundred to a thousand poor creatures.
He (Mr. Wakley), however, should be on the alert, for
it was evident that the coroner was kept in the dark
respecting the nature of the deaths that took place in
those places. After a few other remarks, Mr. Wakley
told the constable to send him a lir,t of the headboroughs
and parochial constables not in receipt of emolument, in
order that he should send them the warrant for summon-
ing the juries, and thus defeat the ends of the Middlesex
Magistrates.
Yesterday afternoon, at four o'clock, an inquest
was held before Mr. Payne at the Hand and Shears,
King-street, Cloth-fair, on the body of a child named
William Farrell. It appeared from the evidence of
several witnesses that the parents of the deceased child
went to bed intoxicated (particularly the mother) about
ten on Sunday night last. The husband and father
went out again, and about twelve o'clock he returned,
when one of the witnesses said she heard something like
the sound of blows, and the voice of the mother utter-
ing, " Oh, you wretch, you've struck me." The wit-
nesses, lodgers in the house, No. 9, Half-moon-alley,
heard nothing more until six o'clock yesterday morning,
when the parents informed them that the child was dead.
Verdict—" Died through neglect, caused by the dissi-
pated habits of the deceased's parents:'
ATTEMPT TO POISON A FAMILY.-011 Sun-
day morning last the family of Mr. John Inglis, farmer
in Sandyflat, near Johnstone, after partaking of some
porridge (the usual breakfast), were seized with violent
pains in the stomach and bowels, severe retching, sup-
posed to arise from poison, but in what manner admi-
nistered, whether in the water or the meal, is unknown.
There were nine persons more or less affected—they
are still in life, but some of them in great danger.
Suspicion has not yet fallen upon any person ; but the
water, meal, and a portion of the porridge have been
sent to Glasgow to be analysed.—Glasgow Courier.
HORSE-STEALING. —On Saturday, at the
Brentford Petty Sessions, a country-looking man, named
Thomas Saunders, was finally examined before the
bench of Magistrates, on the following charge of horse-
stealing. It appeared from the evidence of the wit-
nesses that on the morning of Friday-week a fine grey
pony was seen proceeding down Isleworth-lane, with an
extensive wound in its throat, from which blood was
flowing profusely, and after two or three times crossing,
the road, it at length fell down under the Duke of Nor-
thumberland's wall, where it bled to death. Previous
to that however, the prisoner came up to it with a
knife in his hand which was bloody, with which he cut
off the hair of the tail, close to the dock, saying the
' pony was his. He then left it in the lane, and pro-
ceeded to a knacker's residing at Brentford, for the
purpose of disposing of it. In the meantime information
of the occurrence had reached the station-house of the
division in Old Brentford, when one of the constables
was sent in search of him, and on meeting with him,
questioned hiM how lie become possessed of the
pony, when he said he had had it five weeks, and
that he lived at No. 22, Twickenha:n. On inquiry,
however, his whole tale was found to be false, and he
was remanded, to afford time for inquiry. On Satur-
day a person named Elliot, a butcher, residing at Sher-
near owno(I the horse, which
I '
a, u..c.s uliA 14111 Vv.
row, The prisoner was fully committed.