The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-30 00:00:00

EXECUTION.

Thursday, John Boyd suffered the extreme penalty
of the law, at the place of execution, Greenock, for
the murder of his wife on the 11th of July last. At
the time of his condemnation he was very ignorant,
and but little impressed with his melancholy condition ;
but latterly, from the kind attention of the Clergy-
man, he was awakened to the awful nature of the con-

dition in which he was placed. During the whole of
Wednesday night he was engaged in religious exer-
cises, in which he was assisted by the Chaplain of the
gaol ; and early in the morning he was waited on by
the Rev. Mr. Sinclair, who administered that conso-
lation suited to his situation. He was also waited on
by Dr. M'Farlane, shortly after whose arrival the pri-
soner was removed from his cell to the hall of the
gaol, where the Rev. Dr. offered up a fervent and ap-
propriate prayer, in which Boyd seemed devoutly Co
join. In the course of the morning Boyd stated, on
being asked, that he was a native of Londonderry, and
had been reared, under the care of decent and respect-
able parents, in the Protestant faith. He regretted
that he had neglected their advice and counsels in
after life. He had been thirteen years in Greenock,
and during that period had never crossed a church
door. He admitted the justice of his sentence. At

the conclusion of his devotional exercises Dr. APFar-
lane shook hands with the prisoner, and bade him fare-
well, on which the latter gratefully acknowledged the
obligations he lay under to him, and said, " God
bless you, and when we meet again I hope it will be
in Heaven." He was then conducted to the session-

house, where be was pinioned, when he again returned
his grateful thanks to the Magistrates, Clergymen,
and others, for their great attention to him while in
confinement, and hoped God would reward them for
it. He then walked with much firmness and compo-
sure, as was his case throughout the whole morning,
through the church to the scaffold, attended by Mr.
Sinclair and the Magistrates. On reaching the plat-
form, and on the ordinary preparations being gone
through, he bade farewell to Mr. Sinclair, and in a
few moments the scene of his earthly career was fur
ever closed.—Glasgow Herald.

ACCOUNT OF AN EXPERIMENT TO ENABLE
PERSONS TO BREATHE IN THICK SMOKE.

In the area of the Lecture-room of the Mechanics'
Institution, the walls alone cf which were at the time
finished, a chamber was constructed of boards about
fifteen feet high. A short ladder was placed in it so
as to enable a person to reach the upper part, and two
windows were inserted about four feet from the ground;
a hearth of bricks supported the combustibles from
which the smoke was to be obtained. Moist wood
shavings, wet hay, two pounds of brimstone, and a
shovel full of rosin, were set fire to, and the door was
shut. In a few minutes the chamber seemed full of
smoke ; on opening the door a quantity of the smoke
flowed out, and in a few minutes the lower part of the
room to the height of about two and a half feet was
clear, while a dense cloud filled all above. The smoke
was intensely suffocating, and produced violent cough-
ing on being inspired. The door being then shut, the
cloud of smoke descended nearly to the floor, so that
some firemen who had entered the chamber, were only
enabled to remain there by crouching almost on their
bellies. These preliminaries being made, more fuel
was put on the fire, and Roberts (a poor collier, and
inventor of the apparatus) with his apparatus on,
entered the room walking erect. The temperature of
the room was at this time 68 deg. F., that of the ex-
ternal air being 48 deg. In ten minutes the tempe-
rature had risen to 87 deg. in the upper part of the
chamber. At 19 minutes the candle on the window-
board which had been burning very dim, went out.
At 20 minutes the temperature was 91 deg.: at 22
minutes it was 104 deg. ; at 30 minutes the candle
fell down in a melting state, the temperature being
115 deg. At 36 minutes Roberts came out of the
chamber, having been for the last quarter of an hour
on the ladder, in the upper part of the chamber, and
quite invisible fi-om the density of the smoke ; when he
came out he was, as might be expected, very hot, and
his pulse was 174, but lie did not appear exhausted :
he took some coffee, and in about half an hour his
pulse had subsided to its ordinary state. The air, ex-
clusive of the smoke and sulphurous acid floating in it,
differed from common air only in containing two per
cent. more of carbonic acid and two per cent. of
oxygen—thus showing that it was unfitted for respira-
tion only by the smoke and vapours floating in it.
Another experiment was made : a noxious smoke and
heat was increased until the thermometer rose, at the
ceiling to 158--in the centre of the chamber
to 101—and near the floor to 68 ; an indivi-
dual entered the apartment without the apparatus,
but was immediately compelled to quit it, so great was
his sense of suffocation. Roberts, however, traversed
the room in an erect posture, and remained in upwards
of half an hour ; he then left it, took off the apparatus,
and had his pulse examined, which was at 160—it
soon subsided, however, to its ordinary motion. The
invention consists of a cap or hood of leather with two
orifices filled up with strong glass or mica to see
through ; the hood descends as low as the bottom of
the neck, and is well wadded so as to be rendered air-
tight, or nearly so, when secured by the straps. From
the nose is continued a flexible leather pipe, having a
spiral wire inside to prevent it from being compressed.
The pipe terminates in a trumpet-like piece of
japanned tin plate, the open end of which is filled. up
with moist sponge, and covered externally by a piece
of coarse woollen cloth ; the pipe is secured to the
lower part of the thigh by a strap and buckle, that it
may not incommode the wearer by dangling about the
room. By this arrangement all the air that is drawn
in at each inspiration, passes through the pores first of
the moist cloth, and then of the moist sponge. The
consequence is that all the particles floating in the air
are separated from it mechanically, and, at the same
time, all those vapours, or gasses, that are in any con-
siderable degree absorbed by moisture, are separated
by chemical action. The result of these conjoint ac-
tions is, that the air mingled with smoke, or sulphe-
roils acid vapour, is purified from these substances,
and rendered respirable, provided the oxygenous por-
tion of the air has not been materially diminished. The
first thing which suggested to Roberts the possibility
of separating the respirable air from smoke and other
vapours with which it may be charged, was the relief
which he found from covering his lips and nostrils
with the edge of his flannel shirt, while descending the
shaft of a coal-pit to his daily occupation, in which
shaft two fires were burning for the purpose of keeping
up a current of air through the mine. He next tried
the effect of wringing out a woollen jacket in water,
and closely covering his face with it. The advantage
was decided, both in excluding the smoke, and also in
cooling the air. He afterwards tried a wet sponge
with similar good effect. The invention or adoption
of the hood naturally followed in his endeavour to com-
bine these advantages with the free use of his hands
and eyes. For this invention the large silver medal of
time Society of Arts, and the sum of 50 guineas, were
presented to Mr. Roberts.

SHIPWRECK.—We regret to state that on Thurs-
day last the Betsy, Hunter, of Lynn, was lost off Theddle-
thorpe, and all hands, except a boy, drowned. The bodies
have since been picked up in the rigging.—Boston Herald.
CHOLERA AT INvEßNEss.—Thursday four per-
sons died in Inverness of cholera, and there were that night
and on Friday morning a few cases. It is, however, univer-
sally admitted that the disease is on the decrease, and that in
general the cases are far from being so virulent or so fatal as
in its early stages.—lnverness Journal.

HORRORS OF EMIGRATION.—ACCOUnts have
been received from Canada, which state that a numerous
meeting had been held at Quebec for the purpose of address-
ing his Majesty to direct the adoption of regulations under
which emigration should in future be carried on. Loud corn-
plaints brought over from the United Kingdom, particularly
from Ireland, as to the destitute and unhealthy condition of the
emigrants, on their landing was attributed the increase which
had taken place in the cholera morbus. The resolutions
adopted at the meeting, stated that for the safety of the colony,
and the emigrants themselves, some regulations must be passed
for the conveyance of settlers to Canada. The cholera morbus
had during its visitations, carried off one-tenth of the whole
population of Quebec and Montreal, and had thrown great ob-
stacles on commerce, and depreciated property. The imposi-
tion of an emigrant tax, it was hoped, would be continued, and
a petition to his Majesty agreed to, to carry into effect, if pos-
sible, the object of the meeting. A number of settlers were at
Grosse Island, in the most destitute state. The total arrivals
of emigrants, up to the middle of last month, was 29,000. Up
to the same period of last year 21,000 arrived.