The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-27 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS.

(From the Votes and Proceedings of the Rouse of commons.)

WEDNESDAY; AUG. 26.

Messengers from the Lords brought up the following Bills,
to which their Lordships have agreed :
Public Works (Ireland—No. 4) Bill—Public Works (Ire-
land—No. 5) Bill—Constabulary (Ireland) Bill—Leases
( Ireland) Bill—New Zealand Government Bill—Ejectments,
&c. (Ireland) Bill—Conselidated Fund (Appropriation) Bill
—Amendments to Waste Lands (Australia) Bill, without
amendment—Rateable Property (Ireland) Bill—Steam Na-
vigation Bill—Drainage of Lands l3ill—Customs Duties (No.
2) Bill—Poor Employment (Ireland) Bill, with amendments
—Private Bills Bill, with an amendment.

PREVENTING THE OXIDATION OF IRON.—Mr. Poole
has taken out a patent for preventing the oxidation of iron,
and for rendering malleable iron harder and more durable.
The first improvement consists in adding to pig iron, when
in a state of fusion, from two to ten per cent. of copper,
tin, nickel, or antimony, whereby it is rendered more
malleable and less subject to oxidation. The second im-
provement consists in coating iron with steel, or with a
species of iron containing less carbon than common cast
metal, by adding one part of blister steel to four parts of
molten cast-iron, and then continuing to add scrap iron to
the molten mass, until an iron rod is no longer rendered
brittle by being dipped into the mixture. With this iron
common iron is coated in the same manner as in the case of
covering iron with brass. The third improvement consists
in case-hardening iron, and preventing it from rusting, by
the use of the ferrocyanide of sodium, calcium, or barium,
avoiding the use of the ferrocyanide of potassium, which has
already been employed for the purpose, as mentioned in vol.
3of the Artizan, p. 115. An alkaline bath formed with car-
bonate of soda, or any of the other alkalies, is used in con-
nexion with the ferrocyanide. The iron, to be case-hardened,
requires to be heated to nearly a red heat, and is then to be
immersed in the bath, where it is raised to a higher heat.
after which it is to be plunged into the ferrocyanide previously
fused, in another vessel. The process appears to us to be far
too complicated to be likely to come into general use, even if
effectual for the purpose, of which wo have doubts.—Artizan.
PRICE OF GoLD.—Tho premium on gold at Paris is
16 per mille, which, at the English Mint price of 31. 173.
101,4 d. per ounce for standard gold, gives an exchangeofogfo2lsd
55 ; and the exchange at Paris on London at short being 2S
7714, it follows that gold is 0.87 per cent. dearer in London
than in Paris. By advises from Ilamburgh the price
is 436 per mark, which, at the English Mint price of W. 17s,
1014 d. per ounce for standard gold, gives an exchange of
13 1014 ; and the exchange at Hamburgh on London at short
being 13 1114, it follows that gold is 0.34 per cent. dearer in,
London than in Hamburgh.

A SUBSTITUTE FOR FLOGGING IN THE Anaiv.—We
are informed by Sir Charles Napier that blistering was sue-,
cessfully tried as a substitute tor flogging in two corps, and
he is not aware that this mode of punishment was adopted in
any other regiment. The commanding officer of one of the
regiments in question, then stationed in Guernsey, where
liquor is cheap, determined to put a stop to the crime of
drunkenness on duty, by an appeal to the honourable feel-
ings of the soldiers, and at the same time to make drunken-
ness as unpleasant as possible, but without the lash. Ha
gave out an order to say that he would not flog, but trust to
the soldier's self-respect for keeping sober on duty. Next
day. a man was drunk and confined. The colonel, accom-
paniedwent to the guard-house, and felt the
drunkard'sbyt
led surgeon,se. iievas declared to be in a fever. Nothing
could be more true. He was therefore put into a bla'ket,
and four soldiers bore him through the barraclr.:a. Hig
comrades all laughed at the care taken of him. Oa reaching
the hospital, the patient was put to bed and blistered between
the shoulders, fed on bread and water for n week, and then
discharged cured. He was then brought on the parade,
when the commanding officer congratulated him on his re-
covery from the fever, and sent hire to rejoin his company,
where he was laughed at and jeered by his comrades during
the space of a week. Many others underwent the same
treatment; but the joke, though very amusing to the sober
soldiers, soon began to be none to the drunkards. There was
considerable pain and uneasiness—some bread, plenty of
water, but no pitying comrades—no commisseration—no
mercy. The experiment was completely successful. Not a
man of that regiment was flogged in Guernsey from, the
time the men were treated with blisters; and after a fort-
night there was no such thing as a man drunk for guard or
parade. Now this regiment has been in an infamous state.-.
Military Miscellany, by Henry Maxwell, F.R.S.E.
A PETRIFIED FOOT DISCOVERED IN TILE THAMES...-
Yesterday afternoon, some boys, playing on the river bank.
at the end of Essex street, Strand, nee.-r the Watermens' Pier,
picked up a petrified foot, which ~:11 examination proved to
be that of a female. The anklo bone and the bones of the
toes were perfect in form and consistency, but towards the.
nails of the toes, the process of decomposition had taken
place as regarded flesh, the nails being perfect. Several
gentlemen from King's College Hospital inspected it, and
pronounced that it must have been embedded in some pecu-
liar soil for a great length of time, and had probably been
' washed down from one of the sewers, as the river water had
no tendency to petrifaction. This relic of " brief mortality*
was purchased by a gentleman in the parlour of the Swan
Tavern, who expressed his intention to forward it to some
' scientific institution. The foot if, small, and the indications
are, that it is that of an adult iemale.
Lord John Russell has taken a country residencr_t for
the season, near Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, and it is now
in course of preparation for ther eoeption of and
family.