The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-11 00:00:00

POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.

Dr. Ryan has been engaged during the past week in
delivering a series of most interesting and important
lectures at the Royal Polytechnic Institution, on agri-
cultural chemistry, suited to the farmers, who, at this
season, annually visit our metropolis. Dr. Ryan's repu-
tation as an agricultural chemist has long been esta-
blished ; and it will be recollected that three, years ago,
he was chosen by the council of the Royal Agricultural
Society of England to deliver the annual lectures to the
members.

His lectures during the past week have been con-
fined principally to " the food of plants, and the sources
from which that food is derived." In the first part of the
course Dr. Ryan directed the attention of his audience
to the organic and inorganic constituents of vegetables,
giving a number of apt experiments for the purpose of
explaining fully the nature and character of these con-
stituents.

He then passed on to the consideration of the food of
plants, and the supply of that food. The food which
formed the organic portion of the plant, namely, carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, he proved was derived
from the atmospheric; while such inorganic constituents
as silica, potash, soda, iron, lime, phosphoric and sul.
phuric acide, were derived either from the soil, or from
some substance added artificially to the soil. The lec-
turer entered at great length into the sources of the or.
ganic food, showing, first, the changes which produce
carbonic acid during respiration, combustion, and decay;
and then pointing out practically the separation by
plants of the carbon, and its assimilation to form the
future wood. The decomposition of atmospheric water
by the plant to supply its hydrogen and oxygen was
also shown, and the Learned Doctor gave it as his
opinion, that the vital action of the plant, enabling it to
decompose these various compounds, was dependent on
electrical force. The separation of nitrogen, also, from
the carbonate and nitrate of ammonia, in the air, was
proved very satisfactorily. In the second part of the
course Dr. Ryan explained the process of the disintegra-
tion of rocks, the comminution of their particles, and
their decomposition by the action of air and moisture, to
form soils; and to these charges, he proved, we were to
trace the supply of the inorganic constitution of plants.
The experiments by which he showed the conversion of
such insoluble matters as silica, chalk, &c., into soluble
food were most interesting and characteristic. In the
concluding portion of the series Dr. Ryan congratulated
the farmers upon the removal of much of that prejudice
against chemical agriculture which formerly existed, and
regretted that it should still exist in some minds. He
also laboured to prove that by the aid of chemistry alone
could farming become a perfect science, and that by an
analytical examination of the soils, and a comparison of
their constituents with the requirements of the future
crop, could the system of manuring be successfully car-
ried out. We need scarcely say that these lectures
throughout were most numerously attended by the class
of persons for whom they were principally intended.

CALLS TO THE BAR. - The following gentlemen
were called to the degree of Barrister-at-Law by the
Four Inns of Court, in Michaelmas Term , 1848:—Lin-
coin's Inn—Robert Capel Cure, Esq.; William Henry
Hodson, Esq. ; Robert Thomas Kent, Esq. ; Henry
Philip Roche, Esq.; Charles Sargeant, Esq. ; Thomas
Joseph Mercy, Esq. ; Robert Hayston Frank, Esq.;
Arthur Blenthall, Esq. ; Alfred Hill, Esq. ; Algernon
Bathurst, Esq.; Benjamin Gray, Esq.; Henry Dickin-
son, Esq. ; Thomas Rawlinson, Esq. ; Wm. Augustus
Marsh, Esq. Inner Temple—Alex, Clark Forbes, Esq.;
Michael Haynes, Esq. Middle Temple—W. H. G.
Bagshawe, Esq.; J. Dunne, Esq.; A. Levy, Esq.; W.
M. Cooke, Esq.; A. F. P. Doran Esq.; F. L. Dowling,
Esq ; W. N. Neville, Esq.; E. G. Hornby, Esq.; P. F.
0. D'z. de Chaymoy, Esq. ' • W. A. Clark, Esq.; G. M.
Hicks, Esq.; H. C. Miles, Esq. Gray's Inn—William
Tyndell Barnard, Esq.
ACCIDENT WITH FIRE-ARMS.-011 Wednesday,
Mr. Robert Smith, of Pontefract, was shooting at Dor-
rington, in company with T. Hall, Esq, of Purston, e.
magistrate of the West Riding, and a servant of Mr.
Smith's, named William Balne. Mr. Smith had marked
the place where a pheasant had rested, and was ap-
proaching the spot with his gun at half-cock, when the
hammer of one of the barrels caught a bough—was
pulled back and let fall upon the cap, discharging the
barrel and lodging nearly the whole of the contents in
the head of his unfortunate servant, and, of course,
killing him on the spot. An inquest was held on the
following day, when the jury returned a verdict of " Ac-
cidentally

The Cathedral Service at Bristol will, it is reportet),
be changed. The Bristol Mercury says, it is proposed
that the whole of the chaunts shall be omitted, and the
Litany, &c., be merely read.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
SIR CHARLES NAPIER'S SQUADRON.
PORTSMOUTH, SUNDAY.—The wind has shifted to the
south-east, and the weather become fine with a moderate
breeze. Should the wind and weather continue favour-
able, the squadron will sail to-morrow at noon. Sir
Charles Napier, who had accepted an invitation from the
Earl of Auckland to dine with him this day, declined in_
consequence of the change above-named, and has gone
on board his flag-ship, the St. Vincent, 120. His Lord-.
ship is extremely anxious for the squadron's sailing.
Sir Charles Napier has received orders to proceed di-
rectly to Tangier, to demand reparation from the Empe-
ror of Morocco, for the many acts of piracy committed by
his subjects on the coast, but more especially for the late
daring seizure and unlawful defence of the British mer-
chantman, the Three Sisters, recaptured by the Polyphe-
mus. The GallantAdmiral,we understand, calls at Gibral-
tar to take the Polyphemus with him. The westerly gale
that has continued so long moderated yesterday morn-
ing, and the wind shifted to the southward, with fine
weath* r. The squadron got up their topgallant-masts,
and crossed topgallant and royal yards, and took the op-
portunity (which they have net had for the last previous
week) to dry their sails. This morning the wind was
E.S.E., but drew round with the sun, at noon, to S.S.E.,
where it remains. Captain Dacres, of the St. Vincent,
has, we understand, recovered from his severe illness,
and of course will go out in his ship. The officers and
men belonging to the squadron have been all ordered on
board. The Admiral has gone off, and we understand
the easternmost, the Prince Regent, has nnmoored.
The Rifleman, screw-schooner, Lieutenant-Commander
Crofton, not being quite ready, will not sail with the
squadron, but will be sent after it, offering the first means
of communication to friends of officers and men.
The Fairy Koval yacht embarked their Highnesses
the Duke and Duchess de Nemours at the Clarenee-yard
on Saturday, and conveyed them to Osborne on a visit to
the Court. In anticipation of inconvenience to the dis-
tinguished refugees in getting from Gosport Railway
station to the place of embarkation, her Majesty's orders
had been sent express to Mr. Pettet, of the Railway
Hotel, to provide suitable equipages for the transit of
the royal visitors, but by the forethought and alertness
of Mr. Superintendent Stevens, of the railway terminus,
the special train was taken without interruption to the
water's edge.
The York convict hulk in this harbour has, of late
been the theatre of some most bloodthirsty attempts at
violence and successful escapes on the part of the con-
victs confined therein. Fifty of the worst among the
bad on board were taken out of the ship yesterday
morning under a strong military escort, and marched
to the railway station, Gosport, for conveyance to the
Milbank Prison, with a view to reduce their violent tem-
perament by a systematic application of the silent system
and hard labour. Their ribaldry and yells on going
through the streets of Gosport were the most filthy and
revolting human ears could be insulted with, and when
they reached the station their conduct ended in open re-
volt, and put Mr. Stevens, the Superintendent, and his
officers and men in fear of their lives. The soldiers at
length were compelled to charge bayonets (their pieces
being capped and loaded), and use them before the pri-
soners could be got into the train.
The Seaflower cutter (tender to the Cuckoo steamer),
commanded by Lieutenant H. Warren, of the latter
vessel, sailed this forenoon to return to her station at
Jersey.
A new method of testing the soundness of the manu-
facture of the anchors intended for the use of Her
Majesty's ships and vessels has been recently established
in this yard, at the suggestion and under the inspection
of Mr. Owen, foreman of shipwrights, and metal-master
to the Board of Admiralty. In its present state, ,the
machine consists of a pair of shears formed of two
spars, about 70 feet long each, which are erected over
a space previously prepared by earth and stones care-
fully rammed together, and covered by a plat-
form of iron ballast. The anchor to be tested is then
swayed up by a tackle as high as the shears will admit,
by which its lower end is somewhat more than 50 feet
from the iron platform. It is then stoppered with a
slip-knot in the position called by sailors " a cockbill,"
and on a signal given is detached from its place, and
precipitated on the iron mass below. On Friday even-
ing, an old anchor was by this means broken in several
pieces, and some of the iron ballast was also broken by
the shock. But an anchor of more modern date, and
which had been carefully prepared by a process of an-
nealing, sustain the ordeal twice without injury. It is
understood that this means of trying the anchors has
been adopted in consequence of an accident occurring to
an anchor of the Canopus, by which that ship narrowly
escaped driving ashore. This must have occurred in
shoal water, and on very hard ground, as had the water
been deep, or the ground moderately soft, nothing but a
very defective anchor indeed would have given way.
The mode of testing now in question is so far effective
that any anchor which has been subjected to it, and
afterwards to the hydraulic pressure test, may be con-
sidered perfectly safe. The only objection to it is that
by it a good ancber as well as a bad one may be spoiled.
The Hon. William Cowper, M.P., has returned to the
Admiralty, from Panshanger, Hertfordshire.
Commodore Henry Eden will relieve Captain Fitzroy,
now acting superintendent of Woolwich Dockyard. en
the 19th instant, when Captain Fitzroy will coximission
the Arrogant screw steam-frigate.
APPOINTMENTS.
Captain Claude H. M. Buckle (1845), who was pro-
moted on paying off the Growler steam-sloop, at Wool-
wich, from the coast of Africa, and whose name will be
rt meinbered as that of the officer who rendered such
humane assistance to the unfortunate steam-sloop Eclair,
when her captain and nearly all her crew were carried off
by fever, has been selected by Commodore :Fansh awe,
C. 8., as his flag-captain, in the Centaur stealer-frigate,
fitting at Portsmouth.
Cenamanders—W. M. W. Douglas (1841), has bean
appointed inspecting commander in the coast-guard ser-
vice in the Kinsale district, vice W. E. Triscott, who
has held the appointment for about twelve months, to
the Fowoy district, vice J. G. Mackenzie, to the Bridge-
water district, vice G. L. %Volley. whose period of ser-
vice has expired; P. A. Helpman, of Lyme station, has
exchanged with T. Carpenter, of Sunderland district.
Lieutenant—F. L. Cotton, of the Coast Guard service,
has been appointed trom Crosshaven to Swauage station;
H. A. Finucane has resigned the Coast Guard service.
Master—John Haynes, of the Coast Guard service,
has been appointed from Haven Hole to Cliff Creek
station, vice Lieutenant Bennett, previously removed.
Mates.—The following midshipmen passed their el-
amination for Lieutenants during the week on board the
Victory :—Messrs. Bush, Carrington, Nicolas, and
Piers, of the Victory; M'Donald, of the Excellent ; and
Young, Fairholme, and Balfour, of other ships in the
harbour. The examiners were Captains Purcell and
Blackwood, and Commander Johnson.
Midshipmen.—J. K. C. Baird to the Odin steam-fri-
gate, in the Mediterranean.
Naval Cadets.—Henry Machell and W. E. Atkinson,
to the Fiegard, flag-ship, at Woolwich.
NAVAL OBITUARY.—Captain Crackenthorpe Askew
(1822), the 87th on the retired list under the Order in
Council of 1846, died on the 17th instant, at Broadbush
House, near Pee rsfield, in the 67th year of his age.
This Gallant Officer was a Lieutenant of 1805 and
Commander of 1811. He was midshipman of the
Vestal in the expedition against Ostend, in 1798 ;
of the Amazon, at Copenhagen, in 1801; and was lieute-
nant of the Thalia in the expedition to the Scheldt. By
accepting the retirement this respected old sea officer has
been in the receipt of 20s. per diem. Had he remained
on the active list he would have been the 50th in seni-
ority on the half-pay of 14s. 6d. per diem, without the
chance of an increase tor, at least, four or five years.
Commander B. Baynton's death has been reported as
having taken place at Ewer Common, near Gosport. He
was a lieutenant of 1810, and commander of 1841, and
was an officer who served long and with great distinc-
tion without adequate preferment.
Lieutenant Robert Leech (1811), died on the 4th inst.
at Sunderland. By Allen's New Navy List," we find
that the gallant deceased was " acting master of the
St. Lucia when captured by two privateers, 1807 ;
midshipman of the Ponape.) and Neptune, at the
capture of the Danish West India Islands and of
Martinique, and served on shore at the siege and sur-
render of Guadeloupe. In command of two small
boats, cut out from a battery at Guadeloupe a French
8-gun letter of marque, in 1809 ; acting first lieute-
nant of Billette and Amaranthe, actively employed in
the West Indies, and served as lieutenant of the Edin-
burgh till the peace. Commanded the boats of the
Edinburgh and the small arm men at Port d'Anzo, de-
struction of the batteries of Via Reggio, and the coast
defences, as far as the Gulf of Spezzia. Commanded a
battery at the siege of Fort St. Mary, and served at
sthe
usurrender of Genoa."
(1815),succeedsBy
histo
o dtheaetChs.Lpieeurtedninenmt
half-pay list.
h SCREW GUARD
ne-veSHIPS.
with;
ohe Eurotas frigate, at Chat-
,parttoiahlley
orderedamguard-ship, do-fs hi
fittingp, is now
r
a bsutetairanstge
in the expensive manner in which the Blenheim and
Ajax have been converted to screw steam-ships, the Ad-
miralty have ordered the Eurotas to be fitted on the
same plan as the Edinburgh, now being adapted at
Portsmouth for the screw, proposed by Lord John Hay,
by which the estimated cost is comparatively trifling;
and if the ship should not be found to answer, she can
be easily restored to a sailing vessel.
Wind, S.E.; moderate breezes and fine weather.
WOOLWICH, DEC. 9.—Mr. Bellamy, Master Atten-
dant at this port, is now quite restored to health, and
will resume his duties on Tuesday next.
The whole of the wooden buildings used as wheelers'
and turners' shops are to be taken down next week, and
the building materials removed, and the ground is to be
occupied for storing timber. The dockyard is also to bo
considerably enlarged by taking down the old dockyard-
wall which separated the dockyard from the property
purchased some time since in George-street, and the
large piece of garden-ground is to be converted into a
depot for storing timber. A number of coal-sheds are
in progress of construction at the west-end, near Charl-
ton-pier, for storing the coals required for the use of the
dockyard and for war steamers.

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS.—We understand that
the reductions in the Excise will be of a very extensive
nature, and that independently of those officers who will
be recommended for permanent retired allowances, no
less than 300 will be placed upon the redundant list, to
be re-admitted into the service as vacancies may arise
in the reduced establishment; and until all thyme redun-
dant officers shall have been provided for no new ap-
pointments will be allowed to take place. The inquiry
into the expenditure of the civil establishments in Ire-
land will be conducted with the same determination to
enforce all possible economy in the public departments
as in England; but no new commission is deemed requi-
site, as the persons employed in the leading departments
in Ireland are almost entirely under the control of the
Central Boards in London. The Rev. John Henry
Moran, 8.A., incumbent of Christ Church, Burten-on-
Trenthas been appointed chaplain of the convict estab.
lishment in the Isle of Portland.—Observer.