The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-30 00:00:00

THE MAY MEETINGS.

A lig Is published of the May meetings, so Val °t
which have been held out of the month which has gicea
them their general name. The following are some of the
principal :—On the Ist of May the Mendicity Society
will meet at Red Lion-square, Earl-Grosvenor presiding'
On the 3rd the Archbishop of Canterbury will preach 14
St. Paul's on behalf of the British and Foreign
Bible
Society ; the National Temperance League, the Wee'
ley an Missionary Society, and the Home and Colonial
School Society will hold meetings. On the 4th the
United Kingdom Alliance, the Aged Pilgrims Friends'
Society, the Sunday School Union, and the Wesleyan HomeHomeMission will meet. On the sth the British and Foreign
Bible Society, the Book Society, the Liberation Society,
and the Ragged Church and Chapel Union Society will
meet. On the 6th the Sunday School Union, the Landes
City Mission, the Church Home Mission, and the Church
Pastoral Aid Society will meet. On the 7th the Gover-
nesses Benevolent Institution and the Religious Tract
Society will meet. On the 15th the British and Foreign
School, under Lord Russell's presidency, will be held at
the Borough-road Schools ; and the Ragged School Union,
under Earl Shaftesbury, at Exeter Hall. On the 11th
the Irish Church Missionary Society will meet, under the
Bishop of Ripon, at St. James's Hall. On the 12th the
various meetings will be held on behalf of the Corporation
of the Sons of the Clergy. On the 13th the Royal AsYinnit
of St. Anne's will meet, under the presidency of the
Archbishop of Canterbury. On the I,Sth the Vnitecl
Kingdom Band of Hope and the Tract Society meet. On
the 20th the Sailors' Home and Destitute Sailors' Asylum
meetings are held at the Sailors' Home, Wells-street (neat.
the Tower of London.) On the 25th the Childrens.
Refuges and Chichester Ship Society is held at Exeter
Hall, under Lord Shaftesbury ; and the Field-lane
Refuge will be held at the institution, under the same
noble lord, on the 26th. The British Asylum for Deaf and
Dumb Females meet on June 2, at Clapton. under the
Bishop of London.

EXPERIMENTS WITH PERCUSSIOY

CAPS.

The railway and other carrying companies, including the
steam-packet companies, have recently raised objections td
the conveyance of percussion caps. Several cases have
occurred lately in which the transmitters of these articles
have been summoned before the magistrates at Birrning"
ham and elsewhere for the purpose of enforcing penalties.
In consequence of this, the Chamber of Commerce
at Birmingham took the matter up, with the
view to bring about some public test as t°
the explosive or non-explosive character of these
.
materials if struck in bulk. Accordingly, it was arranged
that there should be a series of tests at the Ammunition
Works of Messrs. E. and A. Ludlow, in Belmont-row, i°
that town. To witness them there were present Captain
Sherard Osborne, as representative of some of the pubbe,
departments ; the secretary of the -Underwriters
Association at Liverpool ; the London and North.
Western, Great Western, Midland, Manchester,
Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, and other princiPal
railways were also represented ; there were also present
about 100 other persons variously interested. The first
experiment made was that of placing a tin box containing
250 caps in an ordinary fire, it remaining until all Os
charges in the caps were burnt out. The result was that
all the caps gradually burnt, without so much as the lids
of the boxes being blown off, although the lids were well
nigh melted. The second experiment was that of placing
a half cwt. of caps in a red-hot muffle ; the result vise
a kind of fizzing at intervals, but there was d°
explosion. In the third experiment, 50,000 caps were put
into a packing-case in the ordinary way for transit ; these
were placed in a furnace ; gradually the wood burnt away'
but not the slightest explosion occurred ; the caps re;
mained stacked in pyramidical form exactly as they 133"
been fixed. A fourth experiment was that of Planb3g
within an iron pot, 10in, in diameter and 10in. deeP,
lump of red-hot iron, weighing 21b., on this 20,000 loose calls
were poured, and the pot was filled up with cotton vs'nel;
gradually the caps exploded, and the cotton wool became
charred, but no flame whatever arose. A lucifer match
put to the wool, which ignited instantly. In the fifth an°
sixth experiments, brown paper parcels containing s,°°°
caps were struck by a mass of iron weighing one civt.'
and falling from a height of 12ft. ; in one of these thelOx
was surrounded by cotton wool, but no explosion occurred"
In another instance an almost needless experiment `vas
made, gunpowder being substituted for the cotton vrneb
and, as might have been expected, an explosion occurred;
but the mere dropping of the weight on gunpowder alone
did not cause an explosion. In the seventh test tb
parcel containing 5,000 caps was placed in a be
with a quantity of cotton wool. This was struck by
°
block of iron, weighing 15cwt., falling from a height
4ft. ; the caps were crushed up, but again there was uo
plosion. Another experiment was that of placing 410 card
ridges for Remington guns in a box, gunpowder vr'''
placed within the box, and a fuse applied to one a tbje
cartridges ; it alone exploded, the others in the box remaine
perfect. The scene of the experiment was then changed t°
the London and North-Western Railway, whither the conitoi
pany adjourned. A bag containing 20,000 caps was place
on a rail ; one or two wheels of a locomotive passed o'er
the bag without causing any explosion, at the passage et
the third wheel there was a small explosion, but that
occurred only to the few caps which were absolutely crusl'e
Here, again, there was no explosion in bulk. In the flint
and last special experiment two wooden packing cases On;
taming 50,000 caps each, put up in the ordinary waY 1,4,°
transit, were submitted for concussion by attaching thew":
the buffer (not a spring buffer) of an engine ; in this tea
v
there were employed an engine and three trucks with ts°,,
break vans and three trucks ; the engine and tende.
weighed 40 tons. When the boxes were struck the engine
was travelling at the rate of twelve miles an hour;
boxes were, of course, crushed, and the pieces flew 4
about, but it was in isolated instances only that the CA'',
exploded. The result of the series of experiments We
l
regarded as demonstrating completely the non-explosil
tendency of percussion caps if struck in bulk.

The death of Robert Scott Lauder, R.S.A., one
of the best-known Scotch painters, is announced.

A French paper asks the following riddle
" Why is the Prince of Wales like fifteen shillings?
Because he wants a crown to make him a sovereign."
Three velocipedists were on Monday brought 113
before the magistrates at Ashton-under-Lyne, charges
with having obstructed the public footpath by rilrinillo
velocipedes upon it. The case was proved, and it
e
also shewn that the road had been cut up by the action
the
the popular new vehicles, but as it was the first case, tile
defendants were only ordered to pay costs. Lovers Of thebycycle will, however, do well to take warning from
tb
case.
THE BEWDLEY ELECTION PETITION.—The sc
tiny was resumed at Bewdley on Thursday morning. .4r
j;
Cunliffe started with a minority of four, succeeded /0
striking off ten votes from Major Anson's poll, and tll/10
placed himself in a majority of six. Alajo • Anson
proceeded to strike off votes from the Conservative Vf
with such effect that in a short time the sitting mew.ble
abandoned the case, ar 4 Major Anson was declaredau'',9
elected. At the polling in November the Tory maPrite,„
d
was 100 ; in March it was 14; and the result of the Beall
petition is that a Lib,ral member has been seated.

MR. CHARLES DICKENS.—The public Will le3rf
with satisfaction that Mr. Charles Dickens has alre3rol,l
profited by cessation from work during the brief Per` t 0
which has elapsed since his arrival in town. It is eaSl
understand the causes which had led to his indispositioll°
Ever since his return from America he has incessant;
taxed his powers of both body and mind in the delvntitb
made upon him, especially byhis " readings," till at lag
he became fairly prostrated at Preston. The arrival 0
Mr. F. Carr Beard, his medical attendant, at Preston't
few hours before his reading there in the evening, wasl:°°b
opportune. Mr. Dickens was quite unfit to go thren°o
the fatigue of a public reading, which might have belie
followed by grave consequences, considering that :-1,6
complained of much giddiness ; but his desire to meet I—to.
wishes of the public would no doubt have induced hi° -0
attempt it had not Mr. Beard happily arrived in time
forbid the effort. Mr. Dickens has an admirable C';
stitution, and has always taken care of it. He hanetthlly
settled down to his usual country life and some el ,"-t0
literary pursuits, and will no doubt be rapidly restored "J
health ; but we understand that Sir Thomas Watson
Mr. Beard have deemed it necessary that for some 1n°73,1-b
to come he should cease from his heavier literary Inb°;--,14;
Perhaps it will be necessary for him to avoid the fa'Pti
of railway journeys for some time longer.— Ike Lancet. e
ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY'S MEDAL. —°ll,lo
of the highest honours which it is in the power of
Royal Geographical Society to bestow is about to fall or
the share of a lady. Mrs. Somerville, whose w°rJ'',,
l
" Physical Geography" is still by far the best id"' I:,'‘
have on the subject, will have awarded to her, at the ntitio
versary meeting of the society on the 24th instant, 11
Victoria Gold Medal. Two medals are yearly giver; cg
the Crown, and are adjudged by the Royal GeograPij; iiee
Society to two persons who have been distingnis
by their promotion of the interests of geographical acie,l3o4
Of these two, the Founders' Medal ranks first, and lit
Victoria Medal next. This year the Founders' 111et0 ik
to be given to M. Nordenskiiild, for his explorationew
Arctic regions, particularly in Spitzbergen ; and er,
Victoria Medal is to be given to Mrs. Somerville „p
cially for her " Physical Geography." Lady Fran
f t
some years ago received one of the medals ets.ncri
Geographical Society on account of her hne'tii4
travels ; but Mrs. Somerville is the first lady to whel33,
Iro2F b;_exptccinikd fiaryorksi2,o ae