The Sun.
London, England, 1824-02-03 00:00:00

MERCANTILE SHIPPING.

DEAL, FEE. 2.—Wind 8. by Mr.—Came down from t'
River and remain, the Alfred, Laughton, for Van Diemat's
Land ;,and Clarkson, Fullerton, for Jamaica. A ship is brouglh.
up off the North Foreland, supposed to be the Henry, Davison,
for Jk.ruaiea.

•
POZTSMOUTIt; FEB. 2:—Wind E.—Sailed his Majesty's
ship Menia, for Halifax ; Juno, Tait, for Bermuda; and
Turners, Leader; for Cape Coast Castle. ..k few of the outwardr
bound got underweigh this morning with the wind at East, but
it again backed to the South-west.
FALAI° ItTli, • FEB. 1.--Wind S. to S.W.--Arriied the
Betsey, Mill ar. from Aux Cayes : sailed the 14th of December ;
and Duke of Marlborough Packet,. from Lisbon, in six days.
LIVERPOOL, FEB. 1.--Arrived. the Exchange, Porter,
from Virginia; JUno, Mortimer, Savannah; President, Wat-
son ; and Camillus, Prauze, Oporto ; and Te:son, Simpson,
Pernambuco. Sailed the Christopher, Doyle ; and (.4nhlen.
Reece, EngliAr, for Bahia ' • Buenos Ayzes Packet, Guthrie,
Valparaiso; Agnes, Farrel, Jamaica; Laura, Lilburi,, .13-ar-
badoes ; Richard, Hannoy ; and Dee, . Jameson, Dernerari ;
Triton, Sharp, Sierra Leone ; New -York, llaxwell, New
York; Lancashire Witch, Neal, Lisbon; and Margaret,
Williamson, Charente.
COIVES. FEB. 2.--Calm.--None of the outward-bound
vessels that weighed to-day have been able to get out of the
Needles.

A piece of a vessel's stern was picked up near the Goodwin
Sands yesterday, with " Voisin" painted on it.

MOST IMPORTANT DISCOVERY:--The Learned
President, Sir ItUMPHREY DAVY, part., in a paper on the
cause of the corrosion and decay of copper used for covering the
bottom.. of ship' , read before the Royal Society, has pointed
out a simele, effectual, and economical, method of remedying
this evil. The cause, he ascertained, was a weak chyrric .1
action, which is constantly exerted between the saline con-
tents of sea-water and the copper, and which, whatever may
be the nature of the copper, sooner or later destroys
which ix thus noticed in the last number of the Philosophical
Magazine:—*"rhe same general principle of the manner in
which chemical changes may be exalted, destroyed, or sus-
pended, by electrical powers. which led him to the discovery of
the-dccorn position of the alkalies and the earths, likewise affoi.'ed
hint this new and more practical discovery. Ile finds diet te
very small surface of tin, or other ozidable metal, anywhere in
contact with a /erg: surface of copper, renders it so nega-
qvely electrical, that sea water has no action upon it; and a
little mass of tin brought even in communication by a wire with
t large plate of copper, entirely peeserves. it. By the desire of the
Lords of the Admiralty, he is now bringing this discovery to ac-
tual practice on ships of war. It is needless to point out the uses
and economical advantages of a result which must add so much tto
the permanency and strength of our navy and shipping, and be
so beneficial to our maritime and commercial interests." A
patent, which had for its object the remedying,of the sam6 evil,
was lately taken out by 3lr. Mushet,. of the Alint ; and it is a
curious enough fact, that the means he recommends fir im-
proving the copper employed in sheathing, is—alloying it with
a very small portion of tin, or of zinc, or of arsenic, or cf anti.
mony. Mr. Mushet only spAifies thefact, but nothing of the
cause. Is the effect in this case to be ascribed to the very cause
ascertained by Sir Humphrey?
" One of the fellows," said Sir. ASTiEY
COOPER, in his lecture at St. Thomas's Hospital en wed_
nesaay last, " who are in.che habit of publishing their canes
of hernia, and their methods of preventing the future 'dee-
cent of the hernial sac, called upon me, and asked whether•
would like to go and see a patient of his, whom he had cu-
by rubbing the parts with some preparation. Why, up
my word,' said I, 4 I feel no inclination to go, for. I know you.
might just as well ask me to go and see you jump to the
moon.' 'Well, Sir,' said he, then you will not see him.',' Ne,'
said I, ' I will not.' Four or five months after, this man hay-
ing quarrelled with the junta with whichlie was united, came
to me and said, Sir, it was entirely, an imposition. What*
you suppose we rubbed, our patients with, in order to intipoSa
upon the public?' I cannot tell,' said I. replied he,
it was nothing but hedge-hog's fat... It cost its some taonhlo
to catch our hedee.hugs, but it was the fat of that anire al with
which we pretended to prevent the descent of hernia.' .You
may, suppose, gentlemen, that I felt no regret at haying refused
to see this man's patie rt."—(The Lancet.)
One of Cardinal MAZIRIN'S favourite 'mea-
sures was procrastination.- " Tittle and I against
any other two personages," was his reply, wheu
urged to brisk and violent measures.

It is believed that none but natives of Eng-
land will in future be employed in the adminis-
tration of the revenues of Ireland.-- (Dublin-
Morning Post.)
BOW-STREET—(THIS DAY).— Considerabe
.mirth was excited this morning at the above office, by the
appearance of Mr. W. King, the Sheriffs'-officer of Pa-
lace Court, to answer the complaint of one of the nightly
guardians of the parish of St. Paul, Covent-garden. Mr. King,
it appeared, had a writ against a gentleman in the west, but
failing to capture him he bore away toward the south-east, and
arrivingat Catherine-street, Strand, full of wrath at his failure,
he amused himself by knocking his stick against the pavement.
This aroused the half dormant sensibility of the watchman,
who asked him if he was knocking for his " palls." Mr. K.,
indignant, turned round, called him a scoundrel, and eventually
took his number, and threatened to report him. The watchinan,
however, was determined not to have second best, and took
him to the watch-house,—thus capturing him Who went to per-
form the same friendly office to another. The result was that
Mr. King was ordered to find bail, and was actually locked stp
until he did so.

A remarkable feature in the unusual mild wea-
ther is, that in the northern extremity of Eng-
land little or no snow has yet fallen on the letyr
grounds, and no great quantity is to be seen on
the fells, while in some of the interior counties,
particularly Northamptonshire, it covers'
earth in many places to the depth of two
( Westmorland Advertiser)
On Monday last, the respectable family res:d-
ing at the Parsonage-house, at Rewe, near th:fs
city, were thrown into great alarms by the daring
intrusion of some villain, whose purpose, What-
ever it were, was 'fortunately frustrated. It ap-
pears that the Rev. Mr. Tripp's youngest sot!
,
about 15 years of age,goinginto his bed-room about
seven o'clock in the evening, saw a man having
pistol,at the end of which was a dirk, standing with
his back to the window, which V. as open. The
boy, with more spirit than prudence, immedr-
ately attacked him by throwing at him a bottle,
which he had in his hand ; a scuffle then
ensued, in which the villain two or three times
endeavoured to stab him, but he dexterously
co trived to ward off the blows with a can-
dlestick which he had in his hand. The fellow,
meeting with so stout a resistance from so appa-
rently an unequal opponent, and by this time re-
collecting his own danger, darted out ,or the
window, by which it is supposed he entered, and
fled : till this, Mr, Tripp's son had not had the
presence of mind to make an outcry ; but
on the cry of " murder" all' the family ran to
him, and, as soon as the Cause was ascertained,
gave the alarm to the village ; a pursuit inune,-
diately commenced by a number of people, hitt
it was too late ; the fellow had escaped. The
young gentleman providentially receivetVOoly a
very slight wound, and a bruise on hiS left arm,
between the elbow and the shoulder. --( Exatir
Gazette.)