The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-23 00:00:00

BIRTHS IN THE WEEK.

Males
Females ...

... 719
... 688

Total ... 1,407
*ln this number are included 6 by Scarlatina, 32
by Typhus Fever, 64 by Diarrhoea, and 8 by Cholera.

A NEW FLYING MACHINE.
We find the following rather incredible statement in
the Patrie:—" The Academy of Sciences is a good deal
interested by the invention of a flying machine by Don
Diego de Salamanca. With this machine Don Diego's
daughter, Rosaura, rose in the air some time ago at
Madrid, to the great astonishment of tiv Spaniards, who
are but little accustomed to this sort of miracle. Don
Diego de Salamanca and his daughter arc about to ar-
rive at Paris to show the effects of his marvellous inven-
tion. The machine is very simple; it consists in a case
two feet long, and one foot wide, adapted to a band of
leather round the waist buckled behind. Two iron rods
fastened to the case support a small piece of wood, on
which the feet repose. The case contains a simple and
ingenious mechanism, similar to that employed to set
an automaton in motion. The mechanism is worked
by means of a handle. It sets in work two }urge wings
ten feet long, made of very thin caoutchouc, covered with
feathers; and the wings may be so worked gul to produce
vertical, perpendicular, or horizontal eying. The number of
turns given to the handle determines the height to which
it is desired to go. The handle has also to be turned
every quarter of a league to regulate the distance; the
operation of turning lasts a minute. Horizontal flying is
the most difficult; the wings beat the air like the oars elf
a boat, or rather as the feet of a swan when it swims.
By means of this curious machine, a man can go
almost as rapidly as a carrier pigeon from the
Hotel-de-Ville to the Arc de Triothphe do l'Etoile in
eight minutes, and in half an hour to Versailles. The
experiments, which will be made at Paris, will be on a
small scale, and the flights of Don Diego will not extend
beyond the department of the Seine; but at a later
period he proposes to go to Lyons, to Bordeaux, Tou-
louse, Marseilles, and Tours, and to take the lines of
railway. He pretends that he can travel quicker
than by rail. The price of each maohine win not
exceed 1,200 f. for men, and I,ooof. for women. If the
experiment succeeds, Don. Diego will take out a patent,
and will make the sale of the machines a branch if com-
merce. Although greatly astonished at this new inven-
tion, several members of the academy have pointed out
the inconvenience of bringing it into general use.
In point of fact, there will be no security for any
one, if by the aid of such machine all our usages and
customs bo overthrown, and if malefactors can fly on
the roofs of houses, afterwards get into apartments and
commit all sorts of depredations. It will be very
curious to see policemen in France or England pursuing_
thieves in the air, in order to lock them up on earth.
appears that 1852 promises us all sorts of marvels.

TERRIFIC THUNDER-STORM.
On Friday evening last, :shoat half-past 6 o'cloek, the
town of Sunderland was visited by a destructive thun-
derstorm. From a vessel lying in the roads a large ball
of fire, having a blue appearance, and being tinged
with red, was seen to descend and fall upon not,
lower part of the town. This was immediately
followed by a tremendous peal of thunder, re-
sembling a salvo of artillery. The sky for several
moments was completely illuminated with sheet light-
ning, which was followed immediately by a heavy
shower of rain. The electric fluid struck the chimney
of a house in Burleigh-street, which was shattered to
pieces, and the bricks strewn in all directions, and
broke in the roof. The electric fluid passed down
the chimney. Several pieces of wood and iron were
thrown about in the attic; it passed down to a room in
the third story, and throw the plaster off the wall,
and tore up the flagstones of the hearth and turned
them upside down, and broke all the windows. In
the second story there was a large east-metal stove
around the fireplace, which seemed to have at-
tracted the electric fluid, for a large stone chimney-
piece was thrown out of the wall on to the floor, a large
quantity of crockeryware was broken, and a door shat-
tered to pieces. In the lower or basement a
closet door near to the fireplace was complettaat-
tared to pieces;
the tester of the bed, which was fixed
with iron pins, was thrown down, and part of the
furniture and the windows were broken. At this
moment a horse and cart was standing in the
street, and three children were playing at a short
distance, the horse suddenly reared in rampant
posi-
tion on his hind legs for a moment, an d'&,, a wheels
of
the cart were completely illuminated with a bright blab
electric light. several persons had a narrow escape
from the falling bricks. Two of the children received
severe
falling missiles. A boy,
namedcut on the toes of the
right foot,
and was also struck with lightning. Ile
B a blows
Bail
iy, fromwas
severely
was taken tIP in a state of insensibility, sad expired the
same evening at nine o'clock. In a neigflbouring house
in the same street,
as Mrs. Woodcock, a married
woman, was sitting sewing her husband's clothes in
an upper room, the electric fluid struck the needle
and thimble on her finger, and she received a power-
ful shock and was thrown down on the floor, and
when taken up she was found to have completely
lost her speech and hearing. She was immediately at-
tended by Mr. Dickson, surgeon, and recourse was had
to galvanism. The apparatus was brought, and a gen-
tle current of the electric fluid was passed through
her frame for about a quarter of an hour, and she
again received her speech and hearing, and although
extremely weak, she is likely to recover. Dur-
ing the whole evening the street was crowded by a
dense mass of people, and the greatest excitement pre-
vailed among the inhabitants of that part of the town,
which is principally occupied by the poorer part of the
population. This violent storm was of short duration,
and about two hours afterwards tho sky beeame calm,
clear, and serene.

TUE ENCUMBERED ESTATES CommrssroN.—Yes-
terday a return was printed by order of the House of
Lords, of some importance in reference to the Encumbered
Estates Commission. It appears that the amount of eii.,
cumbrances, as set forth in the petitions, which have been
left unpaid in cases where the lands have been sold and the
produce of the sales distributed by the Commissioners, was
set forth at 503,286/. ss. 2d., and the amount paid over to
the owners by the Commissioners out of the proceeds of
the sales after the discharge of the encumbrances was 7AZI.
10s. 101