The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-30 00:00:00

711 E LIQUEFACTION OF STONE.

The dissolving of quartz and flint in water is the
subject (says the Day) of a curious paper lately read
before a Boston Scientific Society, by Professor
Fleury, of New York. The object of all processes
of this kind is to produce by economical means a
colourless liquid possessing permanent petrefying
qualities, and holding fluid in solution. The uses to
which such a liquid, supposing it to be perfect, could
be applied are numerous. It may be used like the
so-called water-glass invented by Professor Fuchs,
of Munich, in producing fresh and durable frescoes,
and, indeed, this experiment has been tried with
some success in our Houses of Parliament. Arti-
ficial stones and cornices for building purposes
might be made if this petrifying liquid could only
be produced cheaply enough, and it might also, of
course, be used in cementing stones together. Cast
statuary, tombstones, baths, tables, mantelpieces,
and ornaments of every description, could be
made far cheaper from this flint-marble
.thaii by
the present laborious processes. The liquid might
also be used to render wood non-inflammable
and waterproof by impregnating it with pro-
perly prepared solution ; and railway sleepers, tele-
graph posts, and all wood in exposed places, could
be rendered weather-proof, and much more durable.
It could be mixed with pipJr pulp and various
vegetable fibres, and a variety of useful and orna-
mental articles could be manufactured from it. Old
monuments, and buildings where the stone was
decaying, could easily be restored by liquid silica ;
and it is possible even that it might be made to
serve for the preservation of fruit, meat, eggs,
vegetables, &c. Metallurgy would gain much, as
Professor Fleury poiiits out, by a process by which
quartz could be cheaply and speedily dissolved in
water, for gold quartz could then be taken, and
the gold obtained as a precipitate from the solu-
tion of the quartz. The liquid silica sa ob-
tained would, of course, have a distinct and fixed
market value ; and the price paid for extract-
ing the gold Would be more than covered by the
profit arising from its sale. Many eminent scientific
men have tried their hands at making this liquid
stone, and with varied success. Experiments have
been made in which a solution has been procured
that could be cast cold without pressure, and har-
dening from the centre outwards became a snow-
white flint of greater hardness and durability even
than natural marble. Professor Fuchs, of Munich,
Kuhlman, of Lille, Fresuy, of Paris, Graham, of
London, Hardiuge, of New York, and Mr. Ilan-
some, of Ipswich, have all applied themselves to this
interesting problem; and it is most likely that we
shall soon be familiar with the qualities and uses of
this liquid stone.

SHIPPING IN rELLIGEN CE.

GRAVESEND, Tuesday Morning.

Arrived, April 29.—City of London, from Colombo ;
Virulam, from Adelaide ; Knight Errant, from Calcutta;
Elide Sarah, from Warberg ; Naparimo, from Trinidad ;
Vera, from Jamaica; John Kendal, from Cape of Good
Hope ; Love Bird, steamer, from Ibrail.
Arrived, April 30.—Rhine, steamer, from Boulogne
Forth, steamer, from Hamburg ; Agnes Bonfield, from
Sydney.
Sailed, April 30.—Marquis of Argyle, from Adelaide
Constantine, for Soderham.

DEAL, Tuesday Morning.
Passed.—Mosquito and Flora, Prussian briv-of-war,
from Toulon, for Kiel; H.M. yacht Enchantress, from
West, for River; Bridgetown, from Swan River, for Lon-
don ; Jane Frances, from Alexandria, for London ; Austra-
lian, from Sydney, for London; Georgetown, ship, front
Barbadoes, for London ; George, schooner, from Cardiff
for Drammen.

ADMIRAL BENBOW'S PROVISIONS.—Benbow is

first heard of in command of a well-armed merchantman

in-the Mediterranean, and the earliest anecdote we have
of him would hardly be credible on any loss authority
than that of his son-in-law, Paul Calton, Esq., who lived
to tell it to Campbell, author of " Lives of the Admirals."
It seems that Benbow was attacked by a Sallee rover,
which he captured; and that ho cut off the Moors' heads
and put them into a tub of pork-pickle. Going ashore at
Cadiz, with a man following him who carried these
pickled heads in a sack, he naturally attracted the atten-
tion of a customs' officer, who demanded a sight of the
sack's contents. This Benbow would not grant: so he
was taken before the magistrates of the city, where,
having described his property as "provisions for my own
use," he sternly exposed it to view on the table. The
astonishment of the Spaniards was accompanied by keen
admiration. The story was carried to the King of Spain,
who recommended Benbow to the attention of James II.;
and the grim nautical wag got the command of a man-of-
war.—British Admirals and their Biographers, in the " Corn-
hill Magazine" for May.
THE FOOD OF HUMMING-BIRDS.—The following
interesting account of the food of humming-birds appeared
a short time since in Wilkes' Spirit, a New York paper :
"In June I happened to be visiting at a house in Pleasant
Valley, Erie county, Pa. One fine morning I was sitting
in his doorway, looking out upon a neat flower-garden
when I noticed a number of beautiful humming-birds,
flitting from flower to flower, busy at their breakfast.
Calling my host's attention to them, I remarked that I
had seen the question of their food made a disputed point
somewhere in print. It was denied that they took
honey from the flowers, and asserted that they found
in them minute insects, on which they fed. My friend,
though a close observer, was not certain on the point, and
it was proposed to satisfy ourselves, if possible, by offering
them honey. He stated that he had caught humming-
birds often, and thought he could do so again. It may be
well to observe that the morning is still, and that a heavy
dew lay upon the ground. Some honey was taken
upon, a case-knife, and we walked out upon the
boarded paths between the flower-beds. Very soon
one of the little fellows, a perfect beauty, one
of those with the many-coloured, changeable throat,
which sparkles so like a jewel, perched himself upon a
board's edge, seemed much fatigued. My friend observed
that he was wet and heavy with the dew, andcould not fly
so long at a time as usual. We neared him once or twice,
when he flew away, but at last ho suffered us to get near
enough to thrust the honey into his face. His bill
touched it, but he was apparently perfectly ignorant of
the nature of the substance. Again and again did
we press our kind attentions ; his little eye was
seemingly on the coast of Greenland,' and a very
speculative eye it was too, clear and knowing.
His black end shining bill was shaped like a cobbler's
pegging-awl. We were about to acknowledge that a hum-
ming-bird did not know or care anythinghaebeinustehrtoendeyt
when it occurred to ono or the other of us to offer him
some ou a stick, instead of a knife. We had scarcely donemore
so when his eye changed its far off look, and running out
from his bill something which looked like,stu exceedinglyeould
fine and narrow piece of white tape,
liinkteo a the tempting pltiitutlga
pfliguidt,hananadnytshuicakgedelsaewwaw::thilel7
T
.11otrkeodutwiftrho
ll
t qjtallue,yhi teeta,otlnti htgtholueoleemnf
ltaohswno of the
satisfiedb i l itself. n
himself,
seemed
pretty
eyd,
sight.
d
e.
assuming an air of comfort that would have done credit to
aabsni
an alderman, spent a few seconds in composing h
thoughts, then away he went without so much as a
thank
s
yhouum.miWnseblivrednstdoinfteoeathoenhhoounse perfectly convinced that
MARINE DISASTERS,
.....T
shows that the total number T
ehYe
o Bureau
fships 'era
reportedits olost
f
during the month of .March was 257, of which 134 were
English, 42 American, 33 French, 11 Norwegian, 7
Prussian, 4 Dutch, 4 Italian, 4 Russian, and 18 bearing va-
rious flags. The total number of vessels lost during the
first three months of the present year is 902, a decrease of
45, as compared with the disasters of the corresponding
period of 1866.