The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-14 00:00:00

THIS 1),11"S SHIPPIXG.

LONDON, Dec. 14.—Wind this day at noon, North ;
strong breeze, sharp frost, and fine.

CARDIFF, Dec. 13.—Wind, North.—Sailed—Orio (?),
for Madras; Bertha, for Monte Video.
PILL, Dee. 13.—Wind, N.—Arrived—Eagle, from Rio
Grande. Sailed—Petrel, fur Tobago.

PORTSMOUTH, Dec. 13.—Wind, N.N.E. ; thick fog—
Arrived—H.M.S. Vigilant, from Gibraltar. Sailed—
H.M.S. Hydra, for Portland.

QUEENSTOWN, Dec. 12.--Sailed—Persian, for the Cape
of Good Hope; Devonshire, for Bermuda.

PLYMOUTH, Dec. 13.—Wind, N.—Arrived—Conder,
from Buenos Ayres; Comet, from London for Madeira.

OY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
SOUTHAMPTON, Wednesday Morning.

Wind N.

Arrived—Emily, from Hamburg • Europe, from Cha-
rente; L'Etoile, from Carentan ; Alliance, steamer from
Havre; Tagus. steamer, from Lisbon; Lady Eglinton,
steamer, from Dublin.
Sailed—Teazle, for Montrose; Light and Sign, for Sun-
derland ; Lady Eglinton, steamer, for London ' • James, for
Sunderland; La Poule, for Cherbourg; Mary, for Sunder-
land.

LIVERPOOL, Wednesday Morning.

Wind N.
Arrived, Dec. 13.—Puella, from Laguna; Albatross,
screw steamer, from Rotterdam.
Sailed, Dec. 13.—Azoff, for Trieste ; Eling, for Smyrna ;
Sea Ranger, for San Francisco; Lincladen. for Bombay;
Elizabeth Anne, for Nantes.
Arrived, Dec. 14.—Catharina, from Soon; Joseph
Celestien, from Nantes ; Pelican, screw steamer, from
Dunkirk ; Fremad, from Brevig.

(BY SITBMARINE AND BRITISH TELEGB.APR.)
GRAVESEND, Wednesday Morning.
Wind northerly, strong; tide, last hour's ebb; weather
clear.

Arrived, Dec. 13—Peninsular, steamer, from Cadiz.
Arrived, Dec. 14—Baron Budzshot, from Nielvesse ; Leo,
steamer, from Rotterdam.
Sailed—Sir Edward Banks, steamer, for Calais.
DEAL, Wednesday Morning.

Wind N.W., fresh.
Passed, Dec. 13.—Fortitude, for West Coast of Africa;
Ensign Co,later, for Cardiff'; Crocodile, for Dartmouth ;
Niews, for Jersey; Clara, for Malta; Eclipse, fur Gibral-
tar; Ciitterie, for St. Michael's—all from London; Soya
St. Anna, from Hartlepool, for Naples ; Active, from Sun-
derland for New York.

Anchored. —City of Quebec, from Quebec, for London.

The Freeman's Journal has reason to believe that
an inquiry into the working of the income tax collection in
Ireland is about to be instituted, and that a commission is
to be named for that purpose.
WRECK ON SIZEWELL BANK.—ALDBOROUGH,
SUFFOLK, D'c. 11.—Last night, about nine o'clock, signals
of distress were observed on Sizewell Bank. The wind at
the time was fresh with a heavy swell on. The Thorpeness
lifeboat, of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, was
immediately launched, and proceeded off to the scene of
danger. The lifeboat's crew reached the wreck about ten
o'clock, and found found the vessel with ten feet of water in
her, and rapidly sinking; indeed, in an hour afterwards
she had sunk- in six fathoms of water. The crew had
abandoned her in their own boat. They were afterwards
taken on board the lifeboat, and brought safely ashore about
half-past twelve o'clock. A boat had previously made an
attempt to reach the wreck; but in consequence of the bois-
terous state of the weather and the heavy sea that was on,
she fitilel to render any assistance to the shipwrecked crew.
The vessel proved to be the brig Henry Martin, of Sunder-
land. The lifeboat's crew have been paid £l2 by the Na-
tional Lifeboat Institution fur their prompt and valuable
services on the occasion.

MAGNETIC PIIANTOMS.—The name of phantoms
has been given by M. de Haldat to the fantastic forms which
iron filings affect when strewed over a sheet of paper
stretched quite flat; and if the paper be covered with a glu-
tinous matter, these figures will naturally ,beconto perma-
nent. Magnets, moreover, produce another kind of phan-
toms ; for it is well known that under magnetic influence
iron filings will bristle up, rising to appreciable heights
above the surface on which they had been strewed, and at
the same time hanging together in 'virtue of the attractive
power with which they are animated; so that solid figures
in relief aro actually formed, ' but fall to atoms as
soon as the magnet is removed. M. Nickles, the well-
known philosopher and chemist, has just communicated to
the Academy of Sciences a method of his for fixing these
phantoms. He first impregnates his paper with wax,
stretches it on frames, and then, after having strewed iron
filings upon it, places it upon the poles of the magnet under
experiment. The phantoms are soon formed; and, in
order to fix them, he holds a hot brick, or the red-hot
lid of a crucible over the surface of the paper, taking care
not to touch it. The wax melts, and is drawn up by capil-
lary attraction between the particles of iron; the heat
being removed, the wax cools, and the phantom is
thus permanently fixed. It is singular to see the wax
sucked up by the filings, through the above-mentioned
agency of capillary attraction, and the paper quite denuded
of wax, although thickly covered with it before. It may
be asked what is the advantage derived from this discovery ?
It is this ; that from the curious grouping of the particles
of iron, permanently kept in the exact position into which
they had been placed by the magnetic force, the nature of
that force, which is still a mystery, may be carefully stu-
died,and er:la?; ; •;ti t) I

THE UNION JACIC—The term " Union Jack".
is one which is partly of obvious signification, and in part
somewhat perplexing. The " union" between England
and Scotland, to which the flag owed its origin, evidently
supplied the first half of the compound title born by the
flag itself. But the expression " Jack" involves some diffi-
culty. Several solutions of this difficulty hare been
submitted, but with a single exception only, they are by
far too subtle to be considered satisfactory. A learned
and judicious antiquary has recorded it as his opinion, that
the flag of the union received the title of "Union Jack"
from the circumstance of the union between England and
Scotland having taken place in the reign of Kind James,
by whose cosi-an-land the new flag was introduced. The
name of the in French, "Jaques," would have been
• King
certainly used in heraldic documents ; the union flag of
King Jaques would very naturally be called after the
name of its royal author, Jaques union, or union Jaques,
and so by a shnple process, we arrive at Union Jack. This
suggestion of the late Sir Harris Nicholas may be accepted,
I think, without any hesitation: The term " Jack" having
once been recognised as the title of a flag, it is easy enough
to trace its application to several flags. Thus, the old
white fla" with the red cross is now called the St. George's
Jack, and English seamen aro in the habit of designating
the national ensigns of other countries as the " Jacks" of
France, Russia, &c.—Art Journal.