The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-23 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE.

FOREIGN WOOL TRADE, LEEDS, FEB. 20.—We have
no change to report in the foreign wool market this
week. Sales have been somewhat limited, as many
buyers are wishing to learn the result of the London
sales before operating.
ENGLISH WOOL MARKET, LEEDS, FEB. 20.—Sales
of combing and clothing wools this week have not ex-
ceeded the quantity required by the manufacturers for
immediate use. Prices are stationary.
LEEDS.—The markets both on Saturday and Tuesday
have been very dull ; little has been done except in
low tweeds for the German markets. Fine and middle
cloths have been in very little demand, aad low cloths
not so brisk as they were a few weeks ago. Prices con-
tinue pretty steady, and the stocks in the manufac-
turers' hands are very moderate. Business has also-
been very dull iu the warehouses this week ; the few
buyers who have been in the town have made their pur-
chases very sparingly.
lIECEMONDWIKE BLANKET MARKET, FEB. 19.
There has only been a thin attendance of merchants
this week, and not much business transacted, but prices
are about the same as they have been for the last few
weeks. Noils and shorts suitable for blankets are very
scarce, owing to the manufacturers at Bradford working
such' short time.

WORSTED.—BRADFORD, THURSDAY.--Tho demand for
all kinds of combing wool, both Colonial and British,
rules heavy, and a general disinclination to buy, except
upon the lowest possible scale compatible with the pre-
sent diminished consumption, prevails. Noils and broker,
from the small quantity making, continue firm. The
trade in yarns is yet very discouraging, and the operations
of the spinners, who are acting on the defensive, continue
to be on a liberal scale. This is telling upon the accumu-
lated stocks. The quantity now on hand is not heavy ;
and this, with the peaceful intelligence from America,
and the prospect of an early alteration in our restrictive
laws, would augur in favour of increased activity. There
have been rather more inquiries to-day for piece goods,
and on the whole more business was done ; and in most
kinds of dress goods, the stocks are not heavy, and
prices remain without alteration.

AIANCRESTER THURSDAY EVENING.—We have had
a most dull and inanimate state of things in our cloth
market this week—a state of things for which it is dif-
ficult to account, seeing that all parties deem the corn••
laws as already doomed. There are those who fancy, how.
ever, that the drapers in the agricultural districts are now
purchasing, and will continue to purchase, much more
moderately for soinkl time to come, until the atmosphere
is a little more clear than it is at present. The dulness
pervades every department of the cotton trade, except
the spinning branch, and even this is; far from being
lively—indeed prices are giving way.
NOTTINGHAM.—The cotton hosiery trade in nearly all
the principal branches whether wrought or cut, keeps
still slowly retrograding, and employment scarce. The
silk glove trade has felt the approach of spring, and
in some quarters there is a want of hands. The
bobbin net trade, on the contrary, though we are nearly
in (what was formerly) the busy month of March, is, if
anything, worse and more stagnant than even—Notting.
ham Review.

THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL
ENGINEERS.
(Sir John Rennie, President, in the Chair.)
The paper read on Tuesday was " On water for lo-
comotive engines and its chemical analysis," by William
West, Assoc. Inst. C. E. The author commenced by
commenting somewhat severely on the want of precaution
manifested in the choice of the watering stations on
railways, where he contended that previous analysis of
the quality of the water would have avoided not only
considerable expenditure, in subsequently procuring
fit kinds of water, but would have prevented great
destruction of the boilers and inconveniences from
the tendency to prime which was induced by certain
substances being either in solution or held in sus-
pension. lie then treated of the various kinds of
earthy crust or " fur " deposited by evaporation ;
these he showed the various composition of the
principal components being carbonate and sulphate
of lime, whose powers of conducting beat were so in-
ferior, that when deposited upon a metallic plate or tube,
which should be in contact with the water, the caloric
traversed slowly, diminishing the evaporating power of
the fuel in proportion to the accumulation of deposit, and
at the same time oxidating the metal with great rapidity.
The various substances present in spring or river water,
such as soda, lime, magnesia, as bases, and sulphuric
acid, carbonic acid, anticblorine, which represents hydro
chloric or muriatic acid, iron, and organic matters, were
then reviewed, and the discrepancies in the results of ana-
lysis by different chemists were treated of, and it was
shown that although there were apparent differences of
opinion among chemists, they were not in reality so great
as existed among engineers on the relative merits of the
locomotive and atmospheric systems, the screw and the
paddle-wheel, and the broad and narrow gauge. In treat-
ing of the modus operandi of analysis, the imperial gallon
was recommended as an uniform stendard of quantity for
the chemist, as being a measure known to and under-
stood by all, and enabling the engineer to discard the
minute fractions of the chemist, and to attend with exac-
titude to whole numbers in results. As an instance, it
was stated that an engineer might be tempted to disre-
gard the presence of three-quarters of a grain of de-
posit from a pint of water ; but the deposit from one
thousand gallons of such water would amount to four-
teen ounees avoirdupois, which was a very tangible
quantity. In examining the tendency of different com-
pounds to deposit, it was shown that sulphate of lime was
more disposed than the carbonate to attach itself to the
plates; that a mixture of the sulphate caused a harder de-
posit than the carbonate alone, and therefore waters
containing much sulphate should be avoided. It was
shown, also, that although what is generally termed
" hard " water might be considered inferior to " soft "
water, yet, in the question of deposit, hardness and
softness were only vague terms, and could not be
accepted as positive rules, inasmuch as muriate
of lime which imparted great hardness to water,
and therefore rendered it unfit for domestic purposes,
was a very soluble salt, and therefore did not form
any detrimental deposit or crust during ebullition. It
appeared that the author could only recommend, as a
means of precaution against incrustation, the selection
of waters which by analysis were found to contain only
soluble salts, or in situations where bad water could alone
be obtained, that the boiler should be frequently " blown
through," in order to get rid of the dense saturated part
of the water, before the crust had time to be deposited ;
the introduction of substances—such as potatoes, leather •
ings, &c.—into the boiler, in order to •prevent incrusta-
tion, by enveloping the earthy particles in a slimy coat-
ing,:being inapplicable to locomotives, because of the
tendency to induce priming. The paper noticed slightly
the various patents for preventing adhesion in boilers,
and in the appendix gave the analysis of many
kinds of water which had been submitted to the
author professionally for his opinion. In the discussion
which ensued, Mr. Gooch demonstrated the importance
of the subject to railway and steam-boat companies, and
stated that his attention had been called to a process in-
vented by Dr. Ritterbandt, for preventing incrustation
In boilers. That process consisted simply in the ad-
dition of a small quantity of muriate of ammonia to
the water in the boiler. It had been found that this
process not only effected the object proposed, but that
it disintegrated and removed the incrustation already
formed. In all the locomotives in which it had been
used, the steam was much more readily generated,
so that the blast pipes of several engines had been en-
larged without diminishing this facility. There was,
therefore, no doubt of a great saving of fuel being
effected by the process, the expense of which was stated
to be about 3d. per hundred miles run of a locomotive
engine. In sea-going steamers, the success of the ex-
periment had not been less remarkable. In all these
cases the water• had been tested by practical chemists, with-
out the slightest trace of iron or copper being detected,
showing that there was no injurious effect upon the
metal of the boiler, &c.; he looked upon the process as
perfect.

Dr. RITTERBA.NDT, in a concise and lucid manner,
stated the results of his investigations. It appeared
that carbonate of lime was the only substance which
formed a solid incrustation; the other substances being
merely mixed with, and cemented by, the carbonate.
That the muriate of ammonia acted as a perfect solvent
on the carbonate of lime, converting it into th•
soluble muriate, without acting upon the boiler.
He gave a practical demonstration of the action of
the muriate of ammonia, calcareous water, to the satis-
faction of the President and members, who expressed
themselves in terms of approbation of the great practi-
cal utility of the invention, and of the manner in which
it had been brought before the Society.

EFFECTS OF GOOD BEHAVIOUR. _On Tuesday last,
the 17th inst., the directors of the Blaenavon Iron and Coal
Company attended one of their monthly meetings at the
works, when nearly the whole of the colliers and miners met
them, with a petition, humbly soliciting them to advance
.their wages; to which they readily acceded, informing them
that the present mouth they should receive an advance of
fourpence per ton on coal, and two shillings per dozen on
mine; at the same time intimating that their peaceable con-
duct during the Chartist outbreak, and not sanctioning their
unruly ways, and their obligation in reducing their wawa,
during the past depression of the iron trade, was the sole
cause of their immediately complying with their present re.
quest.—/Ifonsoautlialtire Merlin.
A PPLEDORIC. WITCHCRAFT. —Roger Fursdon, of
Northam, a man of no very prepossessing appearance, ap-
peared before the magistrates at the petty sessions at Buck-
land Brewer, on Wednesday, the 4th instant, to answer the
complaint of Richard Evans, of Appledore, a boy 14 years of
age, far an assault. From the evidence it appeared the de,
fendaut had taken it into his head that a child of his, who
had been ill some time, was overlooked or witched by the boy
Evans, and he applied to the boy's master to allow him to go
with him to Northam, and to say " God bless ye 1" te the
child. The master was foolish enough to consent;
and about half-way between Appledore and Northam,
Fursdon took out his knife and cut the boy in two places
near the wrist of his left hand ; he then dragged him to his
house, and after having caused his disordered child again to
scratch the wound with a pin (to draw blood), had the
charm pronounced, and turned the boy out. This was
proved by the clearest evidence; but, to the astonishment of
the public, the ignorant brute was let off by merely paying
the expenses T.— Somerset County Herald.
The Town Council of Nottingham has ordered that
the public clocks shall be furnished with three hands, two of
them indicating the true time, and the additional one the rail-
way and post-office (London) time.
The first cargo of manure ever shipped to this port
ktl.l }MR revolved daring the past week.—l rilaeleater Timer.