The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-09 00:00:00

t testing the contents of the stomach, that the de-
ased did not die from the effects of laudanum ?

Mr. Preedy—Certainly not.
The CORONER said, under those circumstance he
must 1:•?, under the painful necessity of again ad} urn-
ing the inquiry, in itrder that the contents of th sto-

might be tested.
then bound over to attend ag ,in to-

The Jury wen
morrow.

BLACK AND WHITE PAINT FOR

SHIPS.

The following useful information is extracted
from a paper read at the Society of Arts, and pub-
lished in the " Repertory of Patent Inventions'
for this month :
" There is nothing that will prove the evil of using
black paint more than by observing the black streaks of
a ship after being in a tropical climate for any length of
time. It will be found that the wojd round the fasten-
ings in a state of decay, while the white work is as
sound as ever : the planks that are painted black will
be found split in all dir,ctions, while the frequent neces-
sity of caulking a ship in that situation likewise adds to
the common destruction ; and I am fully persuaded that
a piece of wood painted white will be preserved from
perishing as long again, if exposed to the weather, as
a similar piece painted black, especially in a tropical
climate.

" A black unpolished surface is the greatest absorber
and radiator of heat known ; while a white surface, on
the other hand, is a bad absorber and radiator of the
same ; consequently black paint is more pernicious to
the wood than white. This may and has been proved
by innumerable experiments ; but the following simple
experiment may perhaps be considered worthy of no-
tice :—Take four pieces of tin plate and place them
together in pairs, having the inner surface smeared with
lard so that they may adhere together; then colour one
pair black, leaving the other white, and suspend them
equidistant from a small iron ball made red hot : it will
be found that the black surface presented to the ball
absorbs the heat, and soon gets charged sufficiently to
melt the lard, and the result is that the two plates im-
mediately separate ; on the other hand, the white re-
mains firm, as the rays from the heated body are for the
most part reflected by the white surface."

CAPTAIN CHAMIER'S " SPITFIRE."—Our
readers will be glad to find that this new naval story is
to appear in the course of the week. Of all our cele•
brated living naval novelists Captain Chamier may,
perhaps, be considered the most successful in depicting
the varied chances and changes of a sailor's life. Capt.
Marryat is not to be exceeded for his grotesque and
caustic humour. Mr. Howard has almost the field to
himself in his mingled yarns of stirring fact, and wild
and fervid imagining—the author of " Cavendish" has a
tact rarely equalled in investing with the most glowing
colours his pictures of life whether on land or water ;
now redolent of the salt sea foam, now " of the earth,
earthy ;"—but Captain Chamier, with a good share of
these attributes, has an excellence above them all—
reality. He portrays the s alor and the sailor's life as
he has found them ; and whether in the howling storm
—the deadly strife—the wearying calm—or the jovial
spree—all is admirable for its resemblance and truth-
fulness to nature.