The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-02 00:00:00

1,673,693
66,043
3,500

$1,743,23G

Or say 348,6471. sterling.
The Royal ;Mail Company's steamer iri.ato had
arrived out at St.-Thomas, and left for Jamaica on
the 18th inst. at 8 a.m. The Trent was at Cartha-
gena, with her intermediate shaft broken. (Chin
accounts for the rron:-atriva,l of the Trent, witlr the '
'Spanish Main mails, at St. Thomas, prior to the
last homeward steamer, . the Parana, leaving for
Southampton.) The Clyde -was at St. Thompe, for
the Spanish Main. The Eagle left Jamaica, on
the 10th of March for Honduras. The Conway
was at Barbadoes ; the Dee on the Spanish Main
route • the Wye and Derwent at St. Thomas; and
the Solent on the Gulf route. •
At Greytown were her Majesty's ships Cossack,
Archer, Victor, Intrepid, and Pioneer.
At Barbadoes, her Majesty's ship Brilliant ; and
the Tartar was en route for Jamaica.
At Jamaica, her Majesty's ships Imaum, Terma-
gant, and Mariner. •
At Greytown, the United States' corvette Sara-
toga, and the yane at Colon.
The news from Jamaica extends to the 13th inst.
'the day on which the steamer left. Matters were
at the time exceedingly dull in a commercial point
of view, but the sugar crops for :the ensuing year
presented a very cheerful aspect, and gave every
indication of yielding good re' urns to those engaged
in the cultivation of that product.
The island was very healthy, and tranquillity
prevailed everywhere.
At Demerara the. cholera was abating ; in the
city it had nearly disappeared, but still existed .with
a degree of virulence in some of. the country
,vil-
lages. This was nothing more. than might natur-
ally be expected, the villages being all undrained.
Trade had been very dull among the merchants
during the fortnight, owing.chiefly to the epidemic.
Freights 'were scarce--to London, sugar 25., and •
rum 3d. ; to Liverpool, sugar 2s. 6d., and rum
Coffee at Barbadoes was in abundant supply,
and selling at $l2 per 1001 b. Cocoa, $l2 50e. per
100 lb.
At Grenada the labours of the Legislative session
bad termivatmli in two days, during which brief
period the annual Money Bill, initiated this year
by the Executive Council, was passed in a house
composed of a majority of Executive Councillors,
as the originators and supporters of the measure,
and forwarded to head-quarters. Agricultural
prospects were bright and promising. • The weather
had been rather wet for sugar makig.
Captain Raasloff had addressed a public meeting
in the Government Council-room at Trinidad, on.
the 6th of March, in exp'anation of the propo,:ei
subtimaiue telegraph scheme letween the West
India colonies, South America, and Europe. It was
resolved, " Teat the meeting approved the proposed
telegraph, and would like the Government to take
the matter under its favourable consideration, and
to accept the terms offered."
'1 he weather at St. Lucia had been unfavourable
for manufacturing purposes, and retarded the ripen-
ing of the canes.
—At weather had changed from wet to •
dry. The crop would hardly be begun until the
close of March.
Sugar-making was proceeding briskly at Marti-
nique, and the price of the article had risen in the
island up to 30s. and 325. 6d. sterling per cwt.
In Guadaloupe sugar was selling at the rate of
about 28s. to 325. per cwt. for common qualifies ;
rum, proof 24, at 681.. per hectolitre (about 2s. per
gallon) ; coffee, 2f. per kilometre ; there was no
cocoa, cotton, or logwood. •
We have received, per La Plata, files of the
Panama Star and Herald to the 10th of March,
but those papers give no Pacific news, the steamer
not having arrived at Panama up to that date.
From California we have news to the 20th of
February. In the interior the snow was melting,
trails opening, and the prospects of the miners
daily becoming more cheering. A resolution to
impeach G. W. Whitman, Controller of State,
for malfeasance in office passed the Assembly on
the 14th by a vote of 55 to 15. Companies were
being formed in the interior to join Walker at
Nicaragua. Articles of impeachment had been
presented against the State Treasurer, Dr. Bate
but the day before they were presented he sent in
his resignation, and James L. English, formerly
Mayor of Sacramento, was appointed in his stead ;
no clue had been obtained to the $124,000. Two
distinct shocks of an earthquake were felt in San
Francisco about 7 p.m. on the sth, which 'caused
much consternation, but no damage was done.
Dates from Oregon were to the 11th of February ;
the snow had disappeared, and been succeeded by
heavy rains. The Indians had been making an ,
outbreak near Fort Sincce.

ROYAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.

Yesterday a number of scientific gentlemen, physicians,
&c., were invited to the Polytechnic Institution, to witness
ho results of the improved system of ferrneutingand making
pure bread, as practised by Mr. C. Stevens, at his bakery
in the Cambridge road, near the Eastern Counties Railway
station. Mr. Pepper undertook to explain the chemistry
,f bread-making, and to show the different stages of the
process as conducted by Mr. Stevens, and by the London
bakers. He pointed out, in the first place, the chemical con-
-tituents of flour and of 'Dread. Good unadulterated bread
contains the large proportion of 78 parts of water in every
100, so that even when bread is pure it does not contain
more than 22 parts of nutritive matter, and the adulterated
article frequently contains very much less. There are
different modes of adulteration commonly practised,
some of which have for their object to improve
the appearance of the broad when it is made with
coarse or with mixed flour ; and other modes of adultera-
tion increase the quantity, by causing a larger ab-
sorption of water. Mr. Pepper alluded to the plan of
broad-making which was introduced into this country, a
few years ago, by some French chemists, who professed to
be able to make a much larger quantity of bread for a given
weight of flour than had been before done. Their plan was
spauetk
ofn ofipeenr
ra i
tohns
ya t
madeM a rydl eebnobnl
ee Workhouse,
iweight
e fwbree where, from
The
process was conducted secretly ; but Mr. Pepper, who was
requested by the vorkhouse authorities to analyse the
bread, discovered that the effect was produced by the ad-
dition of boiled rice and a small quantity of alum. By
this means
v rht
aha
tdee
rds
uo
and,ue
eg
e dab
ecy,
nui
ne n
making
atgkhr eena
gist la
even
ieenn
agents,cra e
laas
re
gd empr oprwr.
oepr
Pep-
pero or
tf
aibosnoeraobfidibread from a given weight of flour than the French
chemists. Bread of that kind is not unwholesome, but as
it contains a smaller proportion of nutriment, it is unfair
to sell it as wheaten bread. The proportion of rice which
Hr. Pepper employed was 161 b. to 41b. of flour. Mr.
Stevens, for the purpose of showing the effect of rice
when thus introduced, had brought to the institution
a large pile of loaves, which he had made from 141 b. of
flour, with the addition of rice. It presented the ap-
pearance of very good bread, and was well tasted, and it
possessed the property also of not becoming so dry as
ordinary bread. Mr. Pepper then noticed the more
objectionable adulterations to which some bakers have re-
course, even to the introduction of sulphate of copper, a
few grains of which in a sack of flour produces great effect
in the working of the dough, and in the appearance of the
bread. The common process of bread making, as adopted
by bakers in general, was then noticed, and samples of the
yeast and of the dough in its various stages were placed on
the lecture table for illustration, together with a number
of leaves that had been purchased from cheap bakers, to
contrast with the pure bread made by Mr. Stevens. The
process adopted by the latter was then described, and illus-
trated in the same manner by a variety of samples. The
chief difference between Mr. Stevens' system of fermenting
the dough and that of other bakers consists in a previous
mixture of the yeast into a thin batter with flour and
water. The yeast he uses is obtained from pale ale brew-
eries, and the mixture of it with the flour is allowed to fer-
mentye
yeasta more diffused and effective, and.
for 24 hours. He
athnednheusfiensdits aths
abtatkheersfeursmu
eanlityatein mo
pl
withoy tthhee unmixed
there is less risk of the bread tasting bitter. The speci-
in the process. The purity of Mr. Stevens'
wens of dough undergoing fermentation certainly showed
much on the care ho takes to obtain unadul-
greatd adcetpi ve in tdys
by specimen loaves of the bread, which were distri-
terated flour, and the results were proved most satisfac-
torily
eited among the company. The taste of the bread was
enough to prove its purity, and was, for practical purposes,
~etter evidence of its excellence, than the microscopical
tests to which it was subjected by Dr. Hassell. Diagrams
,f the appearance of flour and its adulterations, as magni-
led by a powerful microscope, as taken by Dr. Hassell,
were exhibited, and there were also shown numerous spe-
cimens of meal and flour in different stages of progress. The
lecture formed altogether a very interesting exposition of
the subject of bread-making and its adulterat.ons.