The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-22 00:00:00

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

IBATH RACES—TUESDAY.
Tho Lansdown. Trip' Stakes of 5 soya each, with 50 added;
for 3-yr olds, 7st 31b ; four, Bst 81b ; five and upwards,
, 9st ; mares allowed 31b. The winner to be sold for £6OO ;
if entered to be sold for £4OO, allowed 31bs ; if entered not
to be sold to carry 71b extra. One mile. 8 subs.
Lord Portsmouth's Buccaneer, Bst 81b (J. Goater) 1
Mr. Sargent's Crater, 4 yrs, 9st 11b, in 71b extra (F. Adams) 2
Betting-6 to 4on Crater.
Buccaneer jumped off with the lead, which he held to the
turn, where Crater went up to him. The non-favourite,
however, had the best of it on entering the straight, and
ran home an easy winner by three-quarters of a length.
The Second Year of the Biennial Stakes of 10 soya each,
with 50 added, for foals of 1858; colts, Bst 101 b; fillies
and geldings, Bst 71b ; untried stallions or mares allowed
31b. One mile and a half. 50 subs.
Mr. T. Parr's Lupus, Bst 101 b (G. Fordham) 1
Mr. Barber's Sawcutter, Bst 101 b (J. Osborne) 2
Sir C. Rushout's Conqueror, Bat 101 b (Weflo) 3
The following also ran:—Bribery filly, Overton, Bandit,
Canary, Damascus, and Vinegar Hill.
Betting-7 to 4 agst Lupus, 9to 2 agst Overton, Bto 1
agst Sawcutter.
After they were drawn up in a line Bandit broke away.
At the second attempt the lot got off on good terms, the
Bribery filly, Damascus, and Overton being in front, nearly
side by side. Along the far side Overton and Damascus lay
side by side, but on coming into the straight Lupus and
Sawcutter singled themselves out, and finished the race to-
gether, Lupus winning very cleverly by a length; Conquercr,
who was beaten at the distance, was a bad third, and the
others pulled up, and headed by Overton finished together.
The Kelaton Stakes of 10 soya each, 5 ft, with 50 added;
two-yr-olds, Est 71b ; three, Bst 51b ; four, Bst 121 b ; five,
9st ; six and aged, 9st 21b ; mares and geldings allowed
31b ; winners extra, &c. Three quarters of a mile. 10
subs.
Mr. R. H. Copperthwaite's Twilight, 9st (G. Fordham) 1
Mr. Mundy's Prince Edward, 2:yrs, Gat 41b (F. Mama) 2
Febrifuge and Florence also ran.
Betting-13 to Bon Twilight, 3to 1 agst Febrifuge.
Twilight made all the 'running, and won by two lengths ;
a bad third ; Florence, beaten off, was last throughout.
The Biennial Stakes of 10 soya each, with 50 added, for
foals of 1859 ; colts, Bst 101 b; fillies and geldings, Bst 7113;
31b allowed. The second to save his stake. Half a mile.
42 subs.
Lord Stamford's Ballerino, Bst 71b (A. Edwards) 1
Mr. Merry's The Knave, Bst 101 b
Mr. T. Parr's Tolurno, Bst 71b (G. Fordham) 3
Olive Branch, Reporter, Bloodhound, Corcoran, and Re
pose also ran.

Betting-6 to 5 agst Tolurno, 3to 1 agst Repose, 6to 1
agst Ballerino, 10 to 1 agst Corcoran.

Ballerina made play throughout, attended by Tolurno, to
the half distance, where the Knave took second place, but
failed in his effort to reach Ballerino, and was beaten by a
head ; Tolurno being third, a head behind the second ;
Bloodhound a bad fourth, Corcoran fifth, and Mr. aen
Broeck's two last, beaten off; Olive Branch getting a very
bad start.

The Bath Handicap of 10 sovs each, 5 ft, if declared by
eight o'clock the evening before running, with 100 added,
for three-yr-olds and upwards. Once round (about a mile
and a-half). 27 subs.
Lord Clifden's Anthem, 3 yrs, Est 101 b (Daley) 1
Mr. Gully's Highflyer, 3 yrs, 6st 41b (T. French) 2
Mr. Swindell's Weatherbound, 4 yrs, Bst 21b.(J. Adams) 3
Aneurin, Sharpshooter, and Lady Elizabeth also ran.
Betting-7 to 4 agst Anthem, 7to 2 agst Highflyer.
The running was made by Aneurin, with Highflyer
and Lady Elizabeth second and third. They ran, thus to
midway up the far side of the course, where Highflyer
joined Aneurin, and raced with him to the turn, Lwhere
Aneurin was beaten, and Highflyer, Anthem, and Weather-
bound came on nearly side by side, the first two having the
race to themselves from the distance, Anthem winning
cleverly by a head ; Weatherbound was a very bad third ;
and the others finished together some lengths off.
The County Members' Plate (Handicap) of 50 sovs. One

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA AND

LETTERS OF MARQUE.

LIVERPOOL, TUESDAY.

We are credibly informed that there are at present in the
port of Liverpool several vessels undergoing repairs and
being fitted up for the purpose of privateering. These ves-
sels are now awaiting tho return from America of parties
interested in this buccaneering business, with the neces-
sary "diploma" from Montgomery, the seat of the rebel
Government in the south. In the Liverpool underwriters'
rooms, yesterday, the following significant notice was
posted up :

NEW YORK, May 8.
" The Montgomery Conference yesterday gassed an act
recognising war with the United States, and authorising the
granting of letters of marque and reprisal, for which appli-
cations are very numerous. A proviso announces that free
ships make free goods, and 30 days are allowed to federal
vessels in the ports of the Confederate States to return
home."

The general opinion in Liverpool is that this last act of
the Southern Government will be the means of infesting
the seas with a horde of unprincipled adventurers from all
parts of the globe, who will have no respect for the flag of
either the Palmetto State or the Federal Union, but who
will attack friend and foe indiscriminately, and cause a
revival of those bloody privateering incidents so common
towards the end of the last, and the beginning of the pre-
sent century. In the Prince's Dock, yesterday, for the
first time since the civil discord in the United States, an
American vessel hoisted the flag of the Confederate States
in an English port.

SZE.R.ELMETS PRESERVATIVE PRO-
CESS.

IFor some years past the attention of scientific men has
been directed to the discovery of some means of arresting
decay in mineral, vegetable, and animal products, but the
success obtained has been both limited in its extent and un-
certain in its character. 'Modern art and science have not
yet been able to attain to the skill of the Egyptian embalmer,
or that of the Greek and Romans, whose encausitc paintings
seem destined to outlive the ravages of time. Among those
who have displayed the greatest amount of scientific re-
search into the antiseptic properties of numerous descrip-
tions of materials there is not one who has surpassed M.
Szerelmey, and certainly none who have obtained equally
successful results. This gentleman, while an officer of
engineers in the Austrian army, was appointed as a com-
missioner to investigate the causes of decay in some descrip-
tions of stone. In the pursuit of his inquiries he visited
Egypt, and was there struck with the abundant evidences
which were everywhere presented of the use by the ancients
of some material possessing in a high degree the qualities of
preserving substances from decomposition. Traces of it
were seen in the ruins of the temples, on portions of one of
the Pyramids, in the rich colouring of the tombs, in the
cerecloths which bound the dead, and even upon the timbers
of a vessel with respect to which there is some evidence to.
show that it existed previous to the Christian era, and
which was discovered in the 15th century in the Sea of Nu,
midis. A careful examination of the preserved substances
resulted in the discovery that the material, or one of the
ingredients in the material, employed was similar to that
which is to be found in large quantities in the. Dead Sea
and upon its shores—a species of bituminous gum or resin,
possessed of very remarkable qualities. It does not burn like
resin, nor smell like wax, nor dissolve like gum, and yet it
possesses more or less the properties of each of these sub-
stances. This substance, to which M. Szerelmey has ap-
plied the old Greek name of zopissa, is a perfect jet black
in its colour; heat causes it to crack and explode; and up
to the present time no solvent has been found which will
successfully attack it. Sulphuric and every other known
acid has been tried in vain ; but M. Szerelmey claims the.
knowledge of a means of converting this extraordinary sub-
stance into a state in which, when combined with other
ingredients, it will form a perfect preservative of almost
every known substance.

In the first instance the zopissa was applied to the, indu-
ration and preservation of stone, cements, bricks, e:ud other
mineral products. About five years since it wee, found that
a fatal decay had settled on the stone of the 'Potpies of Par-
liament. All the fine traceries and mouldings and decora-
tions of the exterior of those buildings gave signs of rapid
disintegration, which is now progreesing- at a most alarming
rate. This decay of the stone so carefully selected by the
commissioners duly appointed. by the Government to inquire
into and report upon the durability of different kinds of
stone for building purposes is due to the action of mechanical
and chemical causes. The stone absorbs large quantities
of moisture from the damp atmosphere in which it is
situated, and this swelling it.kthe pores of the stone by
frost causes it to break away in thin flakes, while the chemi-
cal agencies at work to destroy the stone are principally
found in the large quantities of sulphurous acid gas with
which the enormous consumption of coal in the metropolis
charges the atmosphere. In order to counteract these de-
structive agencies various plans were tried, the favourite.
idea being the employment of liquid silica, or liquor of flints,
which it was thought would, if applied to theouter surface,
practically put the whole of the building under a glass case.
Unfortunately, however, the surface of the stone was so
porous that it absorbed the water from the silioates, leav-
ing the silica potash, or soda, slightly cohesive to the exter-
nal surface, and the rain and the atmosphere quickly re-
moved this scanty protection. Something more than this
was evidently required, and that M. Szerelmey has pro-
vided, to all appearance, with very great success, the
substance which he employs possessing the pecu-
liar quality of combining with the particles of
the materials to be protected, and uniting ehemis
(illy with their elements. In 1857 several portions of the
stone work of the river front were treated by different pro-
cesses, and the manner in which the decay has been arrested
by the zopissa is most remarkable, The stone, instead of
being flaky, and so soft that scales can be removed from it
by the finger nail, is as hard as flint rock. There is no ap-
pearance of dampness or moisture, nor any cracking of the
stone, as is to be seen in ahraost every other portion of the
building where the substance has not been applied. A com-
mittee is now sitting to inquire into the best mode of pre-
serving the stone of the new Houses of Parliament, and
their report will, we believe, be shortly prepared. So far as
opportunities for testing the value of the process have been
afforded by time the result is certainly favourable. Professor
Faraday and Sir Roderick Murchison were requested, in
1859, to inspect the bays which had been treated by various
persons, and Professor Faraday in his report said,—" I find
nothing in M. Szerelmey's mode of procedure which is ob-
jectionable, or otherwise than good, or which would upon
principle cause me to doubt the success of his process," and
Sir Roderick Murchison professed his entire concurrence in
this opinion. Each of the courts of the New Houses have
been treated in a similar manner; and orders were given
for going over the whole exterior of the buildings ; but they
ltee The whole of the interior of St.
Purs
treatedan
twbeereprveseeryntprcoopmemrlyi countermanded. on the appointment of
nEdll it is a fact not gene-
rallygland have recently
known
been
d b y
the front
the
e aomf
et the
process Bank ;
ofa
that the colours used by Mr. Penrose in the
decorations of the cathedral are prepared with this indurat-
ing material, and the decorations3are thus made in encaustic,
in which the colours are durable as stone itself.
The zopissa has been applied with no less success to or-
dinary stock bricks, to bricks made of unbaked clay, and
even of the river mud, and in each of these cases the porn -
sity of the substances has been entirely removed, and it is
impossible to make them absorb water. Blocks of chalk
have been covered with this extraordinary solution, and as
soon as dry the chalk will repel any amount of water, and
can only be broken with the greatest difficulty.
The same process of induration which is applied to mine-
rals is no less available for wood, and the application of the
process to timber is to be employed for ship-building in the
royal navy is now under consideration. Timber treated by
this process will, it is said, resist not only the atmospheric
and oceanic influences, but the ravages of marine insects.
A ship built of wood indurated by the zopissa is doubly
buoyant, because it cannot be saturated with water; the
timbers will not become foul from barnacles or weeds, the
interior will be always dry, and the ship will be practically
fire-proof,
The application of the process, however, ,
one ~ch
to inateriala
formed of paper pulp, or of fibrous materials, is wi"
at the present moment deserves .particular a mum The
paper duty is about to be repealed,
ande
the Chancellor of
supervision of the
the Exchequer has stated that when tb
excise dam`y re-
excise officer and the burden of the ea
into ious erew
moved, paper will enter largelyvseryoraetime since the Chancellor
branches of manufacturee.ed
a bituminous paper pipe, which
of the Exchequer prod
for
carrying water; but that
he said was well ad Paroed
wn
eorapletely in the shade by
bituminous pipe is now _ by this process. One of these
the . prePa.'' ' .
the paper P'Peied a few days since at Woolwich with
pipes was lab., an amount far above that Which would
a pressure of
iron pipe of equal thickness.
Boardsess. and
kayo burst an
piaaks made of paper possess an almost incredible degree of
_.,, when treated by this agent. One oak
board of an
stre°6''' tested a •
inch thick was against a plank of equal size only six
inches in thickness ; the one-inch paper defected hall an
inch, while the oak board was thoroughly broken. These
paper boards being perfectly impervious to wet or damps
will be most valuable for the linings of the interior of ships;
for huts and temporary barracks, for panels and ceilings,
and for decorative purposes. The substance is not only
waterproof, but, being a non-conductor of heat, will be use-
ful in hot climates; They will bear any degree of tempera-
ture without yielding; and they will not burn as in the case
of ordinary timber. Possessing these qualities, the paper
forms an admirable and permanent surface for decorative
Purposes, and if the colours employed should have been
mixed with the zopissa and other ingredients, the decora-
tions will be imperishable. Lord Palmerston, the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, and Mr. Milner Gibson last week
examined
the
specimens,
more especially those showing the
application of the process to paper, with considerable inte-
rest.
The heads of the navy departments are engaged in
investigating
the nature of the process for purposes con-
nected with shipbuilding, and the rigging and equipment of
ships ; and in the army, experiments are about to be made
for testing the efficiency of paper thus prepared for rocket
tubes, the employment of iron for this purpose having
WA lon since found to Do very tasatiofactory.—Obierver