The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-18 00:00:00

'A S.

viously reported lost or in distress in the Straits,
and the Maria Isabel was ordered to search for her,
and offer any assistance required. She was .
sight of the San Jorge when the accident occurred.
A French ship had brought a number of Sisters
of Charity and two pikes to Valparaiso.
The British ship Salvadora arrived at Valparaiso,
reported haVing passed on the 28 h of November,
in lat. 34 south, the Ame, ican sloop Antoinette,
boarded her, and found her deserted, took a few
articles from the vessel, which soon afterwards
went down.
The republic of Bolivia, under its provisional
President, appeared to be at present quiet. The
Government was engaged in reforming the postal
servic'% The pay of the army had been reduced.
Signer Carbajai, Consul of New Granada, had made
a reclamation against the Government for 9,000
dollars, being the amount stolen from him when
General Cordoba attacked Cockatiarnba. It was
said that Mr. atdt, United States Minister, was
about to resign his mission.

PROFESSOR FARADAY ON "STATIC
INDUCTIuN."

Professor Faraday the other night delighted a
crowded audience of ladies and gentlemen, in the
front of whom sat his Royal Highness the Prince
Consort, with a Oiscourse on "Static Induction."
" What is Static Induction ?" was a general inquiry
by the ladies before the lecturer commenced ; but
the gentlemen interrogated could give no satisfac-
tory explanation. They fenced with the question as
best they could, but it seemed pretty clear that they
knew little or nothing about the matter. When the
gi eat philoFopher appeared, he twisted a large stick
of sealing-wax in a flannel cap, and told his audience
that was static induction latent. He separated the
cap from the wax, and static induction was developed.
He put them together again, and it vanished ; he
held up the flannel cap, and said every one present
was then thrown into the condition of static induc-
tion. The stick of sealing wax was put into a
vessel of sulphur, into glass jars, and into metal
ice pails, but neither sulphur, glass, nor metal
could obstruct the action ; nay, the thicker the in-
terposed mass the more freely was static induction
produced. Neither solidity nor thin air could
oppose resistance to the passage of this mysterious
force through space. Everything in Nature is,
according to Faraday, more or less under its in-
fluence ; and yet, if the educated classes of this
country were submitted to a competitive examina-
tion, and were asked to explain the meaning of
static induction, how few of them would escape
plucking !

To save them from that disgrace we win cram
them for the occasion. In the dictionaries it will
be found that Statics "is the science which con-
siders the weights of bodies," and that Induction
"is the act of taking possession of an ecclesiastical
living ;" but the candidate under examination
would nevertheless commit a grievous error were
he, in answer to the question, " What is Static In-
duction I" to say that it is the 'taking possession of
a rich living. The matter he has to consider is
absolutely without weight, and has no relation what-
ever to Church preferments ; therefore, let him not
be misled by the explanations of the dictionaries.
It has to do with electricity, and with that peculiar
condition of the force which is developed on the sur-
faces of all bodies in the presence of an excited
however, distant they may be. That such
a little thing as a stick of sealing-wax, should have
the power, when rubbed, of producing that action
in distant bodies through the intervening air and
through solid ina-sees, wonderful as it seems, is ill
reality no more marvellous than it should posses.s
the power of failing to the ground. But that i 4
not the point to which our examination tends ;
nor does the condition of the intervening partiolear
by which those actions at a distance are supposed
to be transmitted, come within the present range
of questions. What the candidate would next be
called upon to explain would be, why the pre"
duction of electricity at a distance, by rubbing ,a
slick of sealing-wax, is called Static Induction. le
answering that question the safest course would 11
to look wise and talk bin about " static electricith,,
positive and negative," "resinous and vitreous,„
and the "inducement of opposite conditions." .
•""
the candidate introduces these phrases adroit:h he
will be sure to pass, but he must be careful, abov:9
all things, to avoid expressing the opinion—however
strong may be his conviction of its truth—that the
term "static induction" is absurd and unintelligible:
ant has little more 'elation to the subject Oa°
" the taking possession of a rich living."
In the numerous discussions that have taken
place on education, the teaching of " corarnelz
things " has been one of the propositions which
_Z
has met with most general acceptance ; but to testa'
eeaenon things, it is necessary to use common
words. It would be advisable therefore, to begin
by the adoption of a more simple form of language,
for the teaching natural science,. and it might not
be amiss, in the promotion of that object, to 114,1:u_
an educational establishment for teaching scientific
men the use of their native tongue and the light
.
application of terms. Most of them might with
advantage be sent to school to learn again theletnents of the English language, and be eat .!
write exercises in words of one syllable. We mightl
then hope that the wise men who write books, a°7
now use long, hard names that are not to be found
out, would tell us what they mean in nice short
words such as all of us know. The last sentenceo
offered as an example to guide them in their taw'
The jargon of technicality ought to have diver
peared with full-bottomed wigs and gold-headed
canes, and when learned doctors threw aside the
ess of charlatans the charlatanry of technical Uu-
guege should have been discarded. Not only the
would the public in general be benefited by
disuse of technicalities that give a distaste t 0
scientific iuquiry, but science itself would
gainer 17.
the by the substitution of correctly .
signating names for terms concocted from the
dead languages, which not unfrequently serve but
to disguise, by their unfamiliar sounds, sensele.!
absurdity or the veriest puerillity. Many of Oa"
names that astonish the million by their green
sounds, and are accepted without dispute, wiLe,
stripped of their Greek disguises, and
duced to their simple meanings, resemble rather
the desgriations of the nursery than the nornf_
s
'clature of science. Such combinations of nou_:yr
and adjectives as "a great creature," "a big birna
to be found in early reading lessons, we bow
scarcely expect to be applied to specific terms „
men of science, nor would they venture to do so 11
their native language ; but, under the gal
" megatherium" and " dinornis," childish Pra
is received with the deference due to wisdom- left
But to return to our starting-point, where Wu
the Prince Consort and a crowd of ladies and g,_.uP.
tlemen assembLd to hear a lecture on "Static
duction." We have endeavoured to explain t 11:
iweaningro n
the;
benefitbut whyof
thateattdidcosate i
d
underi
to their own ingenuity to explain as best they coul:,
be competitive
electricity term
should for
examinationould
so mystified, we .r:
I
giving only general instructions to look wise a
talk bg. Those instructions were based, 1?e!u
understood, on the assumption that the examinersaua
knew as little about the matter as themselves,tisfatory
would be eqtudly puzzled to give a a:
explenetf on. The full-bottomed wig
headed cane have indeed, not altogether deptoted!
onse'"
and the habits of former times still cling unc of
to oharlantarh
ously to those most opposed 0
Faraday's lector,
which fact the title of Professor
affords an illustration. Hence necessitythe
_,r
sending' our philosophers to school, to learn their
native language in its simplicity, before they 03;
and the gold-
successfully undertake the teaching of " comic
things.'.'--Morning Post.

THE LATE LIEUT. SALKELD.—We are WO'
ton
granted
enabled to state that the Court ofDirectors have
au annuity of 1001. a year to the family of the late e'al
it,
iant Lieut. Sallield, payable to his father, the Rev•
Salkeld. The character for liberality towards their Or
wants which the company have always sustained 1358
suffered no diminutien under the recent heavy pres°l2,erc
upon their resources. In such instances of well-direc _
rewards, the administration of the company presentsru
advantage over that of the Queen's Government, wilci is
has no fund at its coattran,J suni:ar purpo3eo, a° sy
obiiged to obtain the sanction of Parliament for be.
grants, however meritorious the claims 00

Grindlay's Home News for India.
On Monday the marriage of the Rev. J. S. grgatti;
son of the celebrated Robert Moffatt, and MiS9
Un win, daughter of Mr. J. S. Unwin, of Brighton) typli
place at the Union-street Chapel in that town. "
oeremosiy acquired an additional degree of interest ft.° a
the presence of Dr. Livingstone. The IleVVlrniarrie
Call* trill accompany Dr. Livingstone to Africa. e,
Mr. Salisbury hay;•-,
paired in favour of Sir John •r;
lawney's measure on church rates v ith Mr. Maioviasr.
; good in favour of the Indian Bill, with
Pal r (elalo) against. s
THE ENGINEER HENRY WATT.—The followine, 1 bp
Copy of a despatch received from the Foreign-office, tic,
Mr. William Watt, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in repl9
a letter addressed by Mr. Watt to Lord Claret:lo:'
i,
requesting the government to ai,ist him in reaching.',.
br)ther, so long the victim of Nvapol.tan oppression
F .reign-offioe, Feb., 1858. Sir,--I am directed ur
the Earl of Clarendon to acquaint you, in reply Ycitar-
bete'. of the 19th instant, that if you will present Y 1„
the sit'ei
self at the Foreign office, Downing-street, in
noon of Thursday next, the 18th inst., you win beffi3a;
free of expense, to Naples, in company (ag h.-1.
will
Messina) of one of her Majesty's messengers wu°,to
be de:patched in the evening of that day ; and .i. Ina-thog t
add that Lord Clarendon has much satisfaction
complying with your request.—Jam, sir, your obedi
a7t
servant, E. HAMMOND. To Mr. William W
Newcastle."