The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-09 00:00:00

THE PRO9.RESS OF THE CHEJIICAL

ARTS.

Yesterday afternoon, Dr. Lyon Playfair com-
menced a short course of lectures at the Royal In-
stitution, "On some of the Chemical Arts, with
reference to their progress between the two Great
Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862." The lecture yes-
terday was on the distillation of coal, especially in
relation to the production of gas and to the forma-
tion of paraffin. The cause of his commencing with
the manufacture of gas, he observed, was not because
there has been much improvement in the process
itself during the last eleven years, but on account
of the important uses to which what were formerly
considered the waste products of the distillation of
coal have been applied. Dr. Playfair, in the first
instance, gave a slight sketch of the history of gas
lighting, noticing the experiments, at the close of
the last century, by Dr. Clayton, who confined what
was called "the spirit of coal" in bladders, which
was ignited as it issued through small holes, to the
great astonishment of all ; and then proceeded to
describe the efforts of Murdoch, Winser, and Clegg
to apply the gas produced from coal to the pur-
poses of illumination. The process as now con-
ducted in the gas-works was illustrated by large
diagrams, showing the successive stages the gas
passes through, commencing with its distillation in
the retorts, next the deposition of tar in the hydrau-
lic main, and in the condensers, the action of the
exhausters, by which it is drawn from the retorts,
its passage through the purifiers, whence it is
conveyed to the gasometer to be measured be-
fore it enters the gas-holder; and, finally, the regu-
lation of its distribution through the mains by a
"governor." There was also exhibited a model
apparatus in action, to exemplify the production
and purification of coal before it is fitted to be burned
in private houses. Dr. Playfair explained the che-
mical constituents of coal-gas, separating the pro-
ducts of coal into solid and veriform. The illumi-
nating property of coal-gas, he observed, depends
on the quantity of olefiant gas it contains, for the
carburetted hydrogen and the carbonic oxide,
though very combustible, give scarcely any light,
and act only as diluents, whilst the carbonic acid
extinguished flame. Jets of carburetted hydrogen,
of carbonic oxide, of olefiant gas, and of common
coal-gas were inflamed for the purpose of showing
their comparative luminosities, when all appeared
dim compared with the olefiant gas, and the two
former flames were scarcely visible, The lumino-
sity of flame, Dr. Playfair explained, depends on
the quantity of matter that is contained in inflam-
mable gas, the particles being rendered incandescent
by heat, and thereby throwing out brilliant rays of
light. To exemplify this he passed a current of
pure hydrogen gas through a glass tube,into which
some peroxide of barium had been introduced, and
when it was heated and the gas ignited, it gave a
brilliant light. Dr. Playfair attempted to show
the effect of giving increased lighting power to
hydrogen gas by bringing it in contact with a fluid
hydro-carbon, on the same principle that is now
practised on many of the street lamps in
the City, of naptbalising the gas before it
reaches the burners; but, unfortunately, he
applied the light to the tube before al

_ -
the atmospheric air was expelled, and -a
violent explosion took place, which shattered the
glass vessel, and threw particles of glass to all parts
of the lecture-room. This accident, and the suf-
focating fumes produced, occasioned a serious inter-

ruption to the lecture, many ladies being obliged to
leave, and some of the audience being cut by the
pieces of glass. Dr. Playfair expressed great regret
at the accident, none such, he said, having occurred
during many years that he had lectured. In the
concluding portion of his lecture he explained the
chemical process of purifying gas from sulphuretted
hydrogen by lime and by the oxide of iron, the
latter plan having come into practical operation
since 1857, and is now generally adopted. The tar
produced by the distillation of coal yields paraffin
oil, which possesses the same illuminating proper-
ties as olefiant gas, and from that oil is extracted

the beautiful wax from which paraffin candles are

made. At the Great Exhibition of 1851 there was

a single paraffin candle exhibited which had been
made from peat ; the same substance has since been

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manufactured abundantly from coal tar; and in the
present International Exhibition there are many
beautiful large blocks of paraffin wax and numerous

specimens of paraffin candles made from coal tar,

the manufacture having now become an important
branch of industry. In the next lecture, he said,
he should pursue the subject, and show still further

how the former waste products of gas works have
been economised; and he assured his audience that

no similar accident should occur again to annoy
them.

HUNGARIAN WINBS.

A report on Hungarian wines, by Mr. Dunlop,
Attache to the British Embassy, has just been in-
cluded among some papers presented to Parliamant.
On the question whether wines from Hungary can
be imported into England at a cheaper rate than
wines from France it throws some interesting light.
As to the capability of the country for producing
almost any quantity there seems no doubt; but the
absence of care, method, and discrimination is still
such as to seriously counteract the existing natural
advantages. The Hungarian farmers and proprie-
tors, however, it is said, are now awakening to the
fact that, although they have about the largest and
best districts in Europe for wine growing, and un-
limited quantities of nearly the best grapes for the
purpose, they continue to make, on the whole, very
bad wines for exportation—far inferior in quality
and flavour to those which, with ordinary modern
appliances, might be manufactured throughout the
country, and much smaller in quantity than their
extensive vine farms could easily produce. The
Hungarians, it appears, thoroughly understand the
culture and management of the grape previously to
the vintage, but their whole subsequent system is
" careless, wasteful, rude, and defective." The
formation of a Wine Association has been sug-
gested to correct these evils, but the remedy
seems open to each individual, since the intro-
duction of proper methods would involve but
little expense in new machinery. The estimates
of the annual quantity of wine produced
in Hungary are rather vague. Mr. Dunlop thinks
it may amount to 390,000,000 English gallons,
which, after allowing for the home consumption,
would leave about 100,000,000 for exportation. Of
this about two-thirds are white and one-third is red,
and Mr. Dunlop considers it is " no exaggeration
to state that if Hungary once saw a clear way open
for the export of her wine she would make planting
arrangements to supply any demand within the
bounds of probability from foreign markets, and
would equally increase her care and attention as to
the qualities required." Railway facilities, how-
ever, would also be essential, and it is believed that
if a lino which was planned many years ago from
Pesth to Fiume, and which was rejected by the
Vienna authorities because it did not harmonise
with their "strategic absurdities," had been carried
out, the present exports of Hungary would have
been double what they are, and the export of wine
much more than double. The impression is that i
there were a direct communication between Hun

I gary and Great Britain via the Adriatic "the
people of England would be able to have an impe-
rial pint of good Hungarian wine at from 4d. to
7d. sterling." Mr. Dunlop considers that the time
has arrived when English merchants and capitalists
should direct special attention to the capabilities
of this trade. Hitherto the Hungarians have
devoted too much care to the production of
"curious" and liqueur descriptions, but to develope
the real powers of the country they should, it is
contended, devote all their energies to the culture
and improvement of their strong, dry, clean wines,
and study by all means to fit them for the foreign
market, by carefully assorting their grapes, and by
manipulating the wines at home as the Spaniards
do their sherries. If the English middle and lower
classes do not take to the light acid French wines,
they would certainly, it is observed, become large
consumers of the dry, strong-bodied; clean Hun-
garian wines, especially white wines, and these
could be supplied to them cheaper than sherries
from Cadiz. The strong red wine, resembling Bur-
gundy, which might also be largely made in Hun-
gary, would, it is added, perfectly
market. suit the English

(From the Cloninel Chromele.)
The blood of another victim in our county crieth
aloud for vengeance. Tipperary is once again
stained with the foul crime of murder, In the
broad morning light, on the side of a hill, within a
quarter of a mile of Glenbower Constabulary Bar-
racks, on yesterday, Michael Maguire, an old man
en the verge of that prescribed period of mortal
existence, closing the " three score years and ten '
was met by some one or two men as he was about
crossing over a low ditch on his farm at Raheen,
and armed with a knife or other sharp weapon,
they set upon their aged victim. The uprooted
ground—the thin stream of gore leading to the
spot where the spirit of the overpowered and
agonised sufferer takes flight—the large pool of
blood !—the stiffened corpse, with the head nearly
severed from the body, which had already been
stabbed all over in three or four places, the fright-
ful gash in the throat, and down the left cheek !
the torn garments covered over with the still well-
ing life blood !—this !—this ! was the sight which
met the sight of his unsuspecting son, who sank
himself upon the earth in mute agony, until uncon-
sciousness mercifully robs him for a time of the
anguish of that heartrending moment. The young
man had fainted, and continued, with slight inter-
mission, insensible for nearly an hour. This was
all that was left of the aged parent who had left his
home after breakfasting with his family of fine.
looking sons and daughters, at half-past seven
o'clock that morning, and had followed his plough-
man and four horses by, as was his custom, a short
cut over the hill, close to the base of Slievenamon.
Immediately on receipt of the intelligence in Water-
ford, we hastened to Carrick, and from thence drove
to Glenbower, distant about four miles and a half,
to glean upon the spot those details which we now
lay before our readers. The deceased, Michael
Maguire, lived in a farm, on the lands of Ballina-
cluna, which he held from W. Barker, Esq., of Kil-
cooly-Abbey. His dwelling house was of good size,
slated and well built, with the out-offices in excel-
cellent order, and the land, about 30 acres, well
cultivated. There is abundant reason to believe that
he was a hardworking thrifty man through life,
though somewhat close in his habits ; that he
was an improving tenant cannot be denied, for a
glance around his holding and his residence, with
its double row of windows Vi ell cleaned and painted,
the orderly appearance of the cow-sheds, barns, &c.,
this proved that he was not one of those men who
consented to eat the bread of idleness. On the very
morning of the murder, he was threading his rather
feeble way, at that early hour, with seed to sow at
his second farm at Raheen, thus taking immediate
advantage of the favourable change in the weather.
In February last, about the end of the month, a man
named Michael Kennedy, a powerful able man, of
a thoroughly idle character, was evicted by Mr.
Gerald Fitzgerald, sub-sheriff of this county, under
a civil bill decree for non-payment of rent, from a
farm of twenty-two acres at Raheen, which was
formerly part of the estate of Mrs. Rebecca Hart-
ford, and was sold in the Incumbered Estates Court.
This portion of the property was purchased by Mr.
John Murphy, of Clonmel, and afterwards sold to
Mr. Hanrahan, of Cork, whose agent is Mr. John
B. Lacy, of this town. The dispossessed farm being
in the market was let to the highest bidder, and the
deceased becams the purchaser, having given, we
are informed, £l5O for the privilege of possession.
Kennedy went to live with his brother, and the son
of the deceased tells us seemed pleased that the farm
had fallen into the hands of Maguire, who had al-
ready taken ten acres adjacent from the brother,
Patrick Kennedy. Scarcely deceased was in the
farm three weeks, when ill feeling began to show
itself in a manifest and decided manner—two of his
ploughs were maliciously broken on the Raheen
farm, but no clue could be had to the perpetrator of
the act, though " the whole country round," to use
a provincialism, held within their own minds one
man is guilty, and feared that the breaking of the
ploughs was but the presage of greater vengeance.
Threats were heard that the man should not be
allowed to exist who took the holding of the evicted,
yet nothing of a positive warning was given, and
in an unconscious hour the poor old man was struck
down, a victim of blood-thirsty vengeance. At half-
past seven o'clock on Tuesday morning the old man
went to Raheen, passing by the police barracks,
in which were but two sub-constables at the time of
the murder, as the rest of the party had proceeded
to Carrick-on-Muir on duty. He was not seen alive
afterwards by any of his family. The two workmen
whom he had sent with four horses around by the
road—himself preferring a short cut through the
fields—had arrived, and after tackling the ploughs
had commenced work in a field, on the top or pla-
teau of the hill that slopes down the Clonmel and
Kilkenny road. Looking from the police barrack
door, one could see a part of " the field of blood"
not 500 yards away! In a ditch at the off side
lurked the bloodthirsty assassin, close to the stile
over which the old man, M‘Guii e, must pass ere he
enters the field on his direct way to and imme-
diately adjoining the ground prepared for seed
sowing. The crouching tiger, for we can hardly
apply an epithet of humanity to him, permitted his
prey to come within a few yards of the ditch when
he sprang forward, it is generally supposed, jumped
over the fence, and seized the aged victim by the
throat ere he could utter a ery for help. [We are
here assuming that but one person wes engaged in
this awful act.] He is pounced upon as a hawk upon
its quarry—suddenly, ferociously, and held in the
iron grasp of his powerful, nay overwhelming
assailant. The fatal knife does its bloody work, and
the wounded man struggles for existence ere the
last gash is given. From the pierced breast and
stomach of the tortured victim the blood flows in
sufficient quantity to mark out the circle round
which the cowardly ruffian strived with his poor
'victim in his death struggle. Here a well of gore
marks some dreadful pause. Again the stream con-
tinues in completing the blood-marked circle, until
the copious pool points to where the deceased sank
to the ground, and from his severed neck flowed
fast the tide of life. Another lacerated wound, and
the villain escapes to rid himself of the evidence of
guilt. What a horrible picture ! The limbs of the
stiffening remains grow cold, exposed in a grass
field rests the murdered father, until in an hour and
a half after, his son, a fine young man, comes along
the same path, and seeing the ghastly sight of a
buchered parent, he falls beside it, overpowered
with fainting weakness. Then comes help, and
the constabulary are apprised of the deed by a
man named Patrick Smith. They hasten to the
spot and render assistance to the fainting young
man, and remove the body of the father to his farm.
yard at Ballinacluna. Intelligence was conveyed
by a constable from Glenbower to the resident
magistrate, S. Hanna, R.M,, and the sub-inspector
of the district, Mr. Heard, who at once reported
the matter by telegram to head-quarters at Dublin
Castle, and to the county inspector, Captain Hems-
worth, at Clonmel. Mr. Carbry Scully, who resides
within a mile and a half of the deceased's residence,
was the first to reach the spot, soon followed by
Mr. Hanna, R.M., and Mr. Heard, 5.1., with a
party of 14 men from Carrick, four from Nine-mile-
House;four from Glenbower, and two from Kilcash.
Captain Hemsworth, C. 1., arrived quickly from
Clonmel, and Mr. Thomas B. Wilson, J.P., and Dr.
Edmundson, from Carrick, and Mr. Xavier Butler,
Piltown,'county Kilkenny, the sub-inspector of the
district immediately adjacent to the scene of the
murder, who was eager to render to the authorities
any assistance in his power.
The body having been sent away, the place is
searched minutely, and the object of suspicion,
Michael Kennedy, is searched for far and wide. At
two o'clock he is found in a forge belonging to a man
named Murphy, near South-lodge, by Mr. Heard,
5.1., and arrested forthwith. But his clothes bear
no mark of blood. If he be the man who enrnmittod
this fearful atrocity, who plunged as it were into the
very blood of the old man—if he were the wan
who brandished the deadly blade, and struggled in
close quarters with his victim, he must have borne
away with him abundant proof of the dreadful deed.
Five or six hours had intervened, and certainly the
murderer, whoever he be, had time to wipe away
the more glaring evidence of his blood-thirstiness.
On Tuesday night the body lay in the outhouse.
Through the neighbourhood, we regret to say, there
appeared no open, active sympathy among the class
to which the unhappy deceased belonged. His own
family and immediate relatives stood around the
lowly bier—a solitary Sub-Constable sat there
through the night to guard the body from dis-
turbance.