The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-03 00:00:00

GENERAL SIR C. NAPIER.

The following address has been presented to Sir
C. Napier by the English at Nice, on his arrival there
from India :

" Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Napier,—On the
part of our fellow• countrymen at Nice we most hear-
tily welcome your arrival amongst us, and we beg to
express our very high and grateful sense of your
long, arduous, and brilliant services, especially in the
two glorious victories of Aleanee and Ilyderabad.
Long may you live, Sir Charles, to enjoy your hard-
won honours; and long may your country rejoice in
the health and happiness of one who has served her so
well, and whose name (in Lord Hardinge's appro-
priate language) has been so " gloriously pre-emi-
nent."

To which Sir Charles replied—
" Gentlemen,—lt is difficult to express my strong
feelings of gratitude at the flattering reception given
to me on my arrival from India. To be thus received
by such a number of my countrymen, holding various
political opinions, and of various professions, would
produce in me an unbecoming vanity, were I not
conscious of having no claim to your praise, except as
the representative of those brave troops who won the
victories which you have been pleased to mention so
honourably. I have probably bil those excellent sol-
diers an eternal adieu; but, far as I may be removed
from them, I shall always acknowledge that to their
bravery I owe everything, including the marked
honour which I have this day received from you, and
for which, Gentlemen, allow me again to return my
sincere thanks."
A ball was also given to Sir Charles, at which
about 230 persons were present. A balance of 365 f.
remaining over and above the expenses incurred was
presented by the committee to a charitable institution
called "La Societe de St. Vincent de Paule," which
donation has been acknowledged in the following
note :
" La Societe de St. Vincent de Paule, par l'organ
de son president, a l'honneur de reconnaitre la recep-
tion du comae chargé de feter rarrivee
Nice du Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Napier, de
la somme de 365 f. que le comite a Bien voulu lui
faire remettre.

" La Societe de St. Vincent de Paule eprouve une
sincere satisfaction de ♦oir une charite chretienne et
eclairee associer lea pauvres aux justes sympathies
qu' existent parmi les sujets de la Grande Bretagne
residents a Nice, et la presence du noble chef qui a
porte avec gloire le drapeau Anglais dana des regions
eloignees, et dont le nom est desormais celebre.
" Les membres de la Societe de St. Vincent de
Paule, sujets d'un Roi ancien Lillie de la Grande Bre-
tagne, unissent a leurs renerciments au comite leurs
sentiments de respect et de haute consideration envers
l'illustre general.
(Signed) "C. DE MAISTRE, Le Pthident.
"Nice, Jan. 9."

TDB LATE MURDER AT DIINDRY.---ASIITON,
WEDNESDAY.—The magistrates this day resumed their
incit irf into the murder of the late Mr. Walsingham
Hazen, of Dundry. The nephews, Benjamin llazell
and James Hasell, were again present in custody, and
were defended by Mr. King. No evidence of importance
was called. The examination was proceeding when the
post left.
LONGEVITY.—The Baroness de Geisen has just died
at Luxembourg, aged 107, or, according to some ac•
counts, ill years. She possessed her intellectual facul-
ties to the last, and four years ago visited a German
watering-place. Madame de Camisfort has also just died
i t liusserea (Haut-Rhin), aged 103.

L..._--~~ ~ r

•

PARIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.
SITTING OF JANUARY 24TH, 1848.

Researches on Refractory Substances, and the Results
furnished therefrom, for the use of Mineralogy,
Geology, and Metallurgy, as well as the Arts of
Precision and Sciences of Observation. By M.
Gaudin.

" Having had entrusted to my care, on different
occasions, very powerful blow. pipes, I have submitted
to the judgment of the Academy the results which I
have obtained by their means, but until the present
time I have not discussed the uses which might be
made of the application of these results.
" In 1836 I endeavoured to form rubies of all sizes ;
my process consisted in submitting to the flame of
the oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe nmmoniacal alum, to
which had been added a few traces of chromate of
potash. I obtained by this means melted globules,
composed of alumina and oxide of chrome, having all
the characters of oriental rubies. I constructed
my crucible with calcined lamp-block, ren-
dered compact by pressure; my blow-pipe
formed a flame which reached from the top
to the bottom, in such a way as to heat the
gases before they passed out ; in one word, the con-
struction and dimensions of the blow-pipe were such
as to give it the fullest possible amount of power.
This blow-pipe, which had cost 100/., weighed almost
four pounds and a half. The principal body of the ap-
paratus was composed of two concentric cylinders,
with a common foundation weighing 22 pounds.
The exterior cylinder was 2:,-1 inches in diameter,
and 2f inches in height. The other common
foundation was formed by a disc screwed to the
inner side of the large cylinder. This disc %1
pierced with three holes, one in the centre, and
the other two corresponding to each other at the an-
nular space comprised between the two cylinders.
At each of these orifices was adapted a tube of .5i
inches in length, drilled into a bar of platinum. These
tubes were fitted with such great precision that the
apparatus, though of the length of 71- inches, was per-
fectly connected without a particle of solder; lastly,
three platinum tubes, soldered with gold, completed
the blow-pipe, and served to suspend it by means
of iron-wire. The lower front was pierced with from
fifty to sixty holes, as large as the point of a pin, for
each gas ; and these holes were pierced obliquely in
the same direction, to impress on the flame a move-
ment tending entirely to displace the matter in fusion.
I worked this apparatus only a few times ; the gaso-
meters were not large enough, as they contained only
about five hundred quarts of gas. Nor could I pro-
cure ivory black sufficiently pure or compact. By the
action of the fire the crucible split, and the rubies
falling among the broken pieces defied the flame to
touch them ; this is the reason why I made at one
operation five or six rubies the size of a grain of corn,
against one only as large as a pea. In a word, with
this apparatus well served, we ought to produce rubies
es large as small nuts. When the blow-pipe was in full
activity, its body was heated to a bright
red; and whilst the rubies were moving to
and fro against the dazzling sides of the crucible,
so intense was the heat radiated, that the frame of
the blue spectacles I wore during the operation,
burnt the skin of my face. With a blow-pipe of
much less power I had previously obtained a limpid
globule as large as a pea, by operating in potash alum
without any addition, but this globule once cold,
crystallizes, possessing all the characters of alumina,
hardness, brilliancy, &c. Mr. Dufrenoy even recog-
nised the sixtuple change of corundum. I consider,
therefore, that I have a right to claim the priority of
the production of crystallized precious stones, and of
the process of mixing these bodies in the state of salts,
whence arises a separation by heat of the volatile
matters, and the obtaining the residue in the state of
an intimate admixture. On the 19th of June,
1837, I presented to the Academy a note
on this process, accompanied with specimens,—
some crystallized. the others cut with a diamond in
all their facets. The opinion of the lapidary, the re-
markable analysis of M. Malagute, and especially the
report of MM. Brequene and Berthier, pronounced
that these rubies possessed all the properties of the
natural precious stones, except their limpidity ; and it
is precisely this determined crystallization of alumina,
which is the great obstacle in preventing the mani-
festation of this precious prelnerty. During the ex-
periments of the commission at t:.`e School of Mines,
AI. Regnault placed a small piece Cf quartz in our
crucible of lamp-black ; we melted it, are I remarked
at the time that it was viscous, whilst alurntn) on the
contrary, is always very fluid or crystalline ; and I
then formed the project to draw out the rock crye't3l,
and after several attempts I succeeded in spinning the
rock crystal as readily as a thread of glass. I re-
marked, also, that it was very volatile—a fact which
I. Cordier has found of importance in his geological
investigations.
" In the memoir which I presented to the Academy
in 1841, I described the phenomena of the tempering
of the rock crystal, the threading of silex, beryl,
garnet, &c. To this present memoir, I subjoin rods
of rock crystal and freestone; six lenses of melted
rock crystal, of from 60 to 200 diameters, and also
rubies, made by means of my small ether blow-pipe.
‘Vith one of these rubies M. Gindrax has formed a
pivot-hole for a chronometer, and he declares that it
appeared under the diamond as if it were an ordinary
ruby. In conclusion, I am happy to announce that
it appears to me very practicable to melt rock crystal
on a large scale, for optical purposes, as well as rubies,
in crucibles of lime, covered with carbon, of which I
have already described the fabrication, by two differ-
ent processes for the melting of platinum and its
allays."