The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-25 00:00:00

STORNOWAY.--THE GULF STREAM.

Lieutenant Chimmo, F—.R.G.S., of her Majesty's
steamer Seagull, has just delivered a lecture in the
Town Hall, of Stornoway, Sir James Matheson,
Bart., M.P. in the chair, principally on the aneroid
barometer, the newly-discovered element ozone, and
the effect of the Gulf Stream on the Hebrides. On
the last subject he said :
" All atmospheres- are guided by currents of the
ocean. The currents bring with them their warm
vapours, which temperate and heat our atmosphere.
As a building is warmed by the vapours arising
from boiling water, so are we indebted to the va-
pours of a comparatively hot water for the mildness
of this place. That current to which we are par-
ticularly indebted is the Gulf Stream, those waters
which have a temperature of 80 degrees, originating
in the Indian Ocean, passing round the Cape of
Good Hope, brought across the equator by the S.E.
trades, launched into the Gulf of Mexico, whence
they take a course for the western shores of Europe,
and their warm and pleasant atmosphere is wafted
to us by the prevailing south and south-west winds.
This warm vapour, meeting the colder atmosphere
natural to our coast, is condensed into rain, and
hence the great quantity of rain in the island of
Skye, which during the last eight months has mea-
sured 32 inches, and in the month of December 71
inches. The hills of Skye, 3,000 feet high, attract
these rains ; but in Lewis, which is comparatively
level, not near the quantity falls, hence the supe-
riority of the climate and hence its mildness.
" In St. John's, Halifax, south of you, the har-
bours are frozen in since November or December
last. They, do not enjoy the warmth of the Gulf
Stream; it is deflected to our shores before reaching
theirs, and passes close to the Banks of Newfound-
land, meeting the cold and chilling waters of the
Arctic regions. Do you not, then, consider your-
selves a much-favoured people ? trAd although you
may have heavy rains with these warm winds, yet
I cannot find any bad effects ; you roam about in
your wet clothes all day, and I have known many
of you come out of your fishing-boats at night and
turn into your bed with your wet clothes still on you,
and in the morning your clothes have been still wet.
Now this must convince you what a healthy atmo-
sphere you must inhale to repel these effects ; you
could not do so in any other place. I should like to
put one of you in wet clothes for a night in London,
Manchester, or Glasgow, an d the next morning would
show you the difference of climates • you would
have cold, sore throat, rheumatism, and everything
that is disagreeable. Rheumatism is rather pre-
valent here ; but I have taken the trouble to make
minute inquiries, and I find it exists only in those
persons who confine themselves to their houses and
rooms, not to the sailor and the farmer who breathe
a pure air, but those who sit over a large fire, and
shut their doors and windows, the cool air outside
condensing the warm one inside (which may be
seen on the glass), is inhaled, and you breathe
your own artificial atmosphere instead of a pure
and naturally healthy one ; hence your pains and
aches; I would, therefore, strongly recommend
more out-door exercise, if you wish to enjoy a life
free from troubles. I can assure you all that I am
a living illustration of what I have been endea-
vouring to convince you of. During a residence of
two years in London, I was seldom without a sore
throat, cough, cold, or some other disagreeable dis-
order. I have been eight months in Skye and the
Hebrides, and although I have been frequently wet
through on hills and in boats, I have not knownh
This
what either a sore throat or cold is, and my health
has visibly and wonderfully improved: d
stream, which brings you a warm, mild, and
healthy temperature and climate, is, one of your
greatest blessings ; it is an atmosp. ere peculiar to
yourselves, containing benefits which many cannot
•
enjoy."
Lieutenant Chimmo then explained at some
length the properties of the ozone, and the means
of detecting its presence in the atmosphere. He

however, ran away, and after he had gone some
distance, he heard the report of a gun. It turned
out that it was Charlery who had fired it, and had
killed Podenier. But, when questioned by the
authorities, he said that the man had attempted to
force his way into the house, and had actually
broken in the upper part of his door ; and that, in
' consequence, the shot was fired in self-defence.
As, however, it appeared that at the moment at
v: hick Podenier was shot, he was in the rotardt—
some distance from the house, the landlord was
taken into custody. Two days back he was
brought to trial for manslaughter before the Court
of Assizes of the Mayenne. But he protested that 4
he had pulled the trigger of his gun without taking
aim, and at the moment he did so he had enter-
tained the apprehension that the man was about to
renew his attempt to break into the house. The
jury, believing his statement, and finding that he
had alway borne a food character, acquitted him.
The Court of Assizes of the Ille-et-Vilaine three

days ago tried a farmer, named Poulard, of La
Pongerais, and his son, an Baptiste, for murder.
An account of the crime alleged to have been
committed by them has already been given in the
Messenger. At the latter end of September last a
young man, named Deniel, who had been in the
service of the elder prisoner, disappeared, and on
the 11th Oct. his dead body, with the head sepa-
rated from the trunk, was found in a field at a
short distance from Poulard's house. As the de-
ceased was known to have had an intimate con-
nection with Poulard's daughter, by which she
had become enceinte, and to have refused to marry
her, and as that man and his son bore ill-will to
him in consequence, they were suspected of having
perpetrated the crime, and they were arrested. The
son at once confessed that they had committed tho
murder. After the indictment had been read, the
young man was interrogated as follows :—" You aro
accused of having caused the death of Deniel—do
you admit your guilt ?" " Yes, I assisted my father
in -killing him." " State how the thing passed."
" On the 15th Sept. we learned positively what we
had long suspected, that my sister was enceinte by
the deceased, and my father abused her a good
deal. In the night of the 16th, when Deniel and
myself were in bed together, my father came into
the room, and making Deniel get up, asked,' Why
have you deceived my daughter ?' Deniel made
some reply, when my father seized him, and a very
violent struggle took place between them. Aly
father called to me to help him. I did so. We
dragged him into another room, and then my
father grasped him by the throat and strangled
him !,, " Was any one else in your room P" ‘‘
Andt in the Yes,next
my brother Jules, 14 years of age.
and
~sivs sister and our
room to ours were my mother
t.
first ‘s'eDi
zieddDheinnite,lhcer y
criedo ut
?"I lelp, ems'ywflii•eielinindsy,
dying !:vaasnd_ . he tdwie e repeated the same
ISi :lalanClin'
into3,o u theyour
sister,nex next
and room
the!"
cry when he
you see your mother, 4, Did you see 1
"No ; there was no light,makeDeniel much resist-
ance,"
Did you hold him down l whelnhahled
?" " Yes, he struggled
w,goodas d
id.
aegagl
e.d"
from his own room ?"
shoulders." " And what Yes,
your
c father h3dr the
" He grasped him by the throat witha botherol is
1,
hands." " How long did that scene last ? '
" I should say about ten minutes." "Did your_
father say anything during the struggle ?" " Yes,
but I do not recollect what." " What did you
do with the dead body ?" "We took it to e.
heap of manure outside." " How did you convey
it there ?" " I held it by the shoulders and my
father by the feet." " What did you do after-
wards ?" "We made a hole about two feet
deep, and buried the body. We then went to
bed, but did not sleep much." " And the next
day, what did you do?" " I attended to the oxen
as usual, and my father unloaded a cart of wheat."
" Did the other labourers ask what had become of
Deniel ?" " Yes, they asked—and we answered
that he had no doubt gone to work on the railway."
" How long did the body remain in the manure ?'
" Three or four days, but as a bad stench arose
from it, my father resolved to remove it. Accord-
ingly, in the middle,,o,f,htihade
tnhiegdbetcewaes:d a
gots
toup,
nightcapand
carried it to the field.
on ?" " I did not notice ; but we fetched his hat
from the house, and placed it by his side." Did you
not also put a knife near the body 9"ye
make
it appear that he had committed suicide." The
witness afterwards deposed that becoming alanued,
some days after, at the inquiries which everybody,
and especially
isar en t s made, about Deniel, the
father brother
Jules to go to the
fineld es
field, to told witness's
find the body, and to come back in appa-
rentth e
terror. They all pretended to feel profound
witnesssorw
addedwh
when the
that
td
a body was discovered. The
his sister had misconducted her-
self with other men before becoming acquainted
with Deniel. In answer to all this the father could
say nothing more than that u 1 • s son bore ill-will to
him, and had told
falsehoods. The jury declared
both
guilty, but with extenuating circumstances,
and the court condemned the father to 20, and the
son to 10 years' hard labour. The court, moreover,
-condemned them jointly to pay 100 f. a year to
Deniers father,— GsYynani.