The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-02 00:00:00

Li 4erpool Cotton Market. —This Day.

Market opens with moderate demand. Sales
probably 6,000 or 7,000 bales.

About Giants and Dwarfs.

veheisit.Ao'afwaTenoorrak ;IfTaogiazniTneh.)umb,
his
wife,
The approa(cirsi"ngm
he renowned Commodore Nutt, and Minnie Warren is our
apology for this article, if any apology were needed. We
have before us a "Sketch of the lives, personal appearance,
character, and manners" of Mr. Charles S. Stratton (better
known as General Tom Thumb) and his wife, with a history
of their courtship and marriage ; together with some ac-
count of "remarkable dwarfs, giants, and other human
phenomena of ancient and modern times," and (to follow
the title) "also songs given at their public levees." This
is the age of biographies and autobiographies of men of
all ranks, and it was fit that the public should be made
aware of what is known concerning the company of little
people whose names are given above. Passing over any
mention of Goliath, and that Roman Emperor who
reached the astonishing height of nearly eight feet, we
are reminded of O'Brien, the Irish giant, whose height,
was eight feet four inches, and of M. Louis, known as the
French giant, who grew till he was seven feet one inch and
then stopped. The race of giants has, we regret to say, got
by degrees smaller and smaller, until those who can boast
of being seven or eight feet in height having come to be
sought for with great zeal by enterprising speculators, who
make fortunes by exhibiting their overgrown fellows. In
corroboration of this, we need only point to Anak and
Chang, the biggest representatives of mankind now in.
existence. But, turning from great to small people, let us
see what the chronicler says : —" As there were nations of
giants, so there have been and are communities of dwarfs
and pigmies. Ancient history speaks of a nation of pig-
mies in Thrace only eighteen inches in height. The
Esquimaux aro generally less than five feet in height,
and the Laplanders scarcely average four feet. The
wife of the Emperor Augustus had a dwarf, named
Sanopas, who was two feet ten inches in height." Then,
as the reader curious in these matters will he aware,
there was Geoffrey Hudson, " a remarkable dwarf, eigtiteeu
inches high, and a great favourite with Charles 1.,"
besides which there was Count Browlaski, a "Polish gentle-
man, who at 23 years of ago was three feet high." Major
France and
Stevens was the first American dwarf exhibited ; he was 40
(" after suitable training beneath the perrssdnbny Pa
inches high. The visit of Tom Thumb to
Ipintrhoueissstecnprorte:oentpiiocolrenay,
but WS regret to hear that
if
ff
oMnrly. Bfrazutmh?ei
circumstances
cluBm44s
aw
ni will
eb:orfe
theme
triumphs
enpehnsoi,ns
rthat the General
is
full Americo.of ad
to the Queen and his
imaginesubsequent
her quiet borne, under
his wife, "havingthe
livedkhad friends have watched over paternal roof, where her
kable events to
adventure usrheoiunldprniavtautreaaltlilfye
record, no startling
welfare, has no rower
a lit,'
to
relate; she is in-
wonder, and needs no
incidents
to kindle public c • •ty This little
marvellous history curiosity
years old, and 32
lady is 24
round, dimpled face , and she dresses richly and with
Even
ex-
quisite. taste." with Tom Thumb and his little wife
the course of true love at first ran but cumbrously, although
3fiss Warren acknowledged that " his society was very
agreeable to her, and that his absence was to her a source of
pain " When the General had worked up sufficient resolu-
tion to pop," the little woman replied that she loved him,
but could not many without the consent of her parents ;
and she addedarchly, "You know that my mother objects to
your moustache!" Ordinary lovers would have skedaddled,
to use a Yankeeism, upon hearing this; but the General
was equal to the emergency. He replied boldly, "I will
cut that off, and my ears also, if that will induce you to
give au affirmative answer to my question." This heroism
had its effect upon Miss Warren, and they were married in
18113. The happy pair received the congratulation of au
r, the bride
immense number of friends, and, what was better,
was laden with the most costly wedding gifts.
is 20 88
Minnie Warren (sister to the wife)General'syears
old and 24 inches high ; and Commodore Nutt is 22, and
29 inches high.

-----
A SPRING OF NA —The Police Gazette of
Kertch, in the Crimea, announces that an engineer named
Peters, who has been boring for naphtha on land conceded
to Colonel Novossiltzew in that neighbourhood, has dis-
covered an abundant spring. The workmen, after piercing
through a hard rock at a depth of 120 feet, were surprised
by a sudden gush of the fluid, followed by a crackling noise
Soon after a quantity of hot salt water was thrown up,
mixed with clay. This continued for about half an hour,
and was succeeded by a flow of pure naphtha, yielding
less than 4 000 gallons in 21 hours. .

.........--- _
The Northnraberland.

On Saturday another great effort was made to
move this magnificent ship from her present critical
position, and which, we regret to say, like the pre-
vious attempt, proved totally in vain. Everything
which the skill of nautical men, Admiralty officials,
and able engineers could suggest was done, and the
most stupendous forces both of fltation and pressure
were brought to bear upon the hull, but failed to
move her in the slightest degree. It is true that the ,
enormous floating powers applied at the stern lifted
her at irregular intervals as the tide rose, but the
forward part on the ways remained firm, which'
were jammed with such severity that nothing could
overcome the resistance. A full account of all the
mechanical appliances to be used on this occasion
appeared in The Sun of Saturday, and to this
detail, as far as concerns what wash one during the
actual attempt to move her, very,tle remains to
add. In addition, however, to the pontoons, barrels,
and lighters to lift her, and the hydraulic presses
to push, it was also decided to employ actual
horse power to pull on tackles, rove so that
when once the ship started she could be kept going.
To effect this a powerful double purchase was rigged
on both sides of the vessel, and the hawser taken
down through blocks moored firmly into the ground
of the yard. To this 16 powerful horses were at-
tached on each side of the ship to draw upon them
with the utmost strength when the operations be-
gan. They were not, of course, so much intended
to help in starting the hull aS by running away with
the tackle to help to keep her going when once she
moved. This keeping her in motion is, of course,
the great difficulty. Hydraulic rams can only start
the enormous hulk, and hawsers worked from cap-
stans are useless when the vessel moves, as they
cannot gather in the slack fast enough to keep any
pull upon her. The notion of the horses, therefore,
was by no means a bad one, as even the failure of
Saturday showed, when the united efforts of the
animals working together through double purchases
was sufficient to break away the most powerful fas-
tenings from the ship's side. Beyond these efforts,
supplementary ways, well greased, had been fixed
inside the old ones, and the present cradle had been
broadened by two feet of massive timber-beams and
still further strengthened by diagonal wrought iron
braces. Additional backing was also placed be-
hind the hydraulic rams, which were " stayed"
with huge timbers bolted together down and
through the launching ways, and almost going into
the concrete foundation. The eight huge Admiralty
lighters were moored stem on under her stern. In-
stead, however, of being chained under it, which
would certainly have given them very con-
siderable additional lifting power, the chains
were only brought on board and hove taut with
rope tackles. This was an absolutely necessary
precaution, for it was probable that if the Northum-
berland went at all she would go quickly, and unless
the crews of the lighters cut away their fastenings
more quickly still, she would sink them under her
in deep water, like so many walnut shells. All these
preparations had been carried out with the utmost
care, and we may add with the utmost judgment,
and on this point we may say that too much praise
cannot be given to Mr. Luke, the Admiralty super-
intendent, who, with his officers and men, has worked
with the most untiring zeal and energy night and
day to assist the efforts made at Millwall to float
the ship.

and shored up as before. A council was then held
among the engineering and nautical authorities, at
which it was unanimously decided to make another
attempt to move the ship to-day. Greatly to their
credit, all the Government dockyard men at once,
without exception, came forward and through their
officers volunteered to give up their Easter Monday
holiday to assist at the effort. When it is recol-
lected that Easter Monday is the one great dock-
yard holiday of the year, when the men receive their
day's pay as well as their day's leave, the generous
spirit with which they have acted in thus volunteer-
ing will, we are sure, be appreciated as it deserves.