The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-08 00:00:00

THE NEW ELECTRIC LIGHT.

Last night a fresh trial of this new mode of producing
an intense light was made by the Chevalier Le Molk,
between the hours of nine and ten o'clock. The appa-
ratus of the operator was placed on the top of the Duke
of York's Column, and shortly after nine o'clock the
commencement of the experiment was made known to
the anxious crowd below, which had commenced to
assemble as early as seven o'clock, by the sudden ap
pearance of a brilliant stream of light directed from the
top of the celumn against the opposite houses in Water-
loo-place. The effect produced was certainly most
striking. Previously to the appearance of the electric
light the surrounding neighbourhood, to a spectator
stationed at the base of the York Column, was enve-
loped in obscurity, for the moon was hid by clouds, and
the ordinary gaslights, though burning brightly, had not
power enough to exhibit the shape and character of the
adjacent houses, but marked merely the length and
direction of the streets along which they were placed.
But the electric light, wherever it chanced to fall,
made every part of the buildings in Waterloo-place
perfectly visible, and its effect might, perhaps, without
exaggeration, be sail to be more powerful in that
limited `space than the brightest sun, for it not
only displayed a number of persons previously invi-
sible, who were grouped in balconies and on the
roofs of houses, but even enabled one to judge of their
different styles of dress. The potency and purity of the
electric light may be inferred from the circumstance that
when cast upon one of the neighbouring club-houses it
distinctly showed to spectators at some considerable dis-
tance the red colour of a shawl worn by a lady in the
balcony. The most distant object on which the electric
light was thrown last night was the County Fre- office,
and the luminous stream as it passed along the street
towards that building manifestly dimmed the numerous
gas lights which glitter in the neighbourhood, giving to
them all a yellowish tinge, and making the windows of
the County Fire-office itself appear, by the reflected
light they sent back, as if illuminated, although the ar-
chitecture of the building was not recognizable, or but
very indistinctly, by persons so far removed from it as
those who happened to be stationed near the York
Column, and whose sight of the object, it must in fair-
ness be observed, was intercepted by a vast number of
intervening gaslights. Upon the whole, the experiment
of last night was perfectly successful as exhibiting the
powerful brilliancy and purity of the electric light
within the circumscribed space to which the experiment
was limited, although it must be added, that occasionally
a alight unsteadiness in its force was perceptible. Not-
withstanding the dampness of the night a large con-
course of people assembled in Waterloo-place and the
vicinity to witness the experiment.

--- -
EXTENSIVE FIRE IN SPITALrIELbs.--Last evening,
about six o'clock, a fearful fire broke out in the cane
and walking-stick manufactory belonging to Mr. Thos.
Sowerbutts, in Duke street, Union-street, Spitalfields.
The premises, which were three floors high, were of
considerable length and breadth, and at the time of the
outbreak contained some hundred pounds worth of
stock, independent of the lathes and working tools.
Fortunately, there was a good supply of water from the
mains of the East London works, from which the various
engines were set to work, under the direction of Messrs.
Braidwood, Pogo, Connorton, and Garwood. They were
unable to get the fire extinguished until Mr. Sowerbutt'sflor
factory was completely destroyed, and the upper
premises,
No. the private dwelling-house burned. out. The
l
No. 11 in the same strtet, beloiging
the
11 rp.relVrine;
'
furrier, are also extensively burnt at 3 upper
Ict out part,in
and the roof partially destr9y.ecl. Noiir
13, let
tenements, is also materially injured.
hishe wlausssi.nsuirledo
loss is very serious, and unfortunately
ha
tor only 3001., not more than out, If
other sufferers were uninsured. _

- -
TROOPS FOR NEW ZEALAND.—CHATHAM, DEC, 6.
--The following detachments of regiments, serving in
New Zealand arrived at the Invalid Depot, Fort Pitt:—
Two sergeants, ono corporal, and 19 privates, with five
women and eight children of the 58th Regiment, and
three privates of the 65th. The whole of the men have
seen upwards of 21. years' service. Six men, who are
wounded, are taken into hospital. The detachments are
in charge of First Lieutenant J. Jermyn Symonds', of
the Ceylon Rifles; they embarked from New Zealand on
board her Majesty's frigate Calliope, 26 guns, Captain
E. Stanley, and on their arrival at Rio de Janeiro, on
the 27th of October, they were re-shipped on board her
Majesty's steam-frigate Sampson, Captain Thomas Hen-
, derson, in which ship they came to England.