The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-10 00:00:00

HAY MARKETS.

Tho supply is very large, and the inquiry is moderate
at lower rates. Bost meadow hay, 95s to 110 s ; inferior
ditto, 80s to 90s; best clover, 110 s to 1255; inferior ditto,
90s to 105 s; straw, 28s to 34s per load.

WITCHCRAFT IN THE NIsIETEENTII CENTURY.-
On Saturday last an elderly woman, named Head, a native
of the fashionable town of Tunbridge Wells, was convicted
and sent t o Maidstone Gaol fur two months' hard labour by
the Hon. F. G. Molyneux, magistrate, on the charge of
professing and pretending to tell fortunes. A respectable
woman, named White, was jealous of her husband being too
intimate with another woman, and, going to the old woman
Head, who was pretty generally known in the neighbour-
hood as a fortune-teller, she inquired if her fears were true.
The old woman said they were, but in a few days she would
bewitch the other woman, as by burning a chemical com-
pound which she could obtain only at one shop, and which
would cost ls., she would cause her to have the most ex-
cruciating pains. The woman White went home, but,
being taken suddenly ill with severe pains, she rushed to
the old woman's house and told her that she must have
been burning the wrong woman. Head said she bad not
then commenced the operation, so White went home, but
in a short time became delirious, and still continues in that
state.

THE ELECTIONS OF MAYORS.— The following
elections of Mayors were made yesterday :—At Birming-
ham, Mr. Holland—at Blackburn, Mr. John Smith, re-
eled ed—at Bradford, Mr. Alderman West, corn merchant
—at Cambridge, Mr. Alderman C. E. Brown—at Car-
diff, Mr. Thomas Evans—at Carlisle, Mr. Alexander
Davidson, banker—at Doncaster, Mr. Councillor 0. W.
Hatfield—at Leeds, Mr. Thomas Willington George—at
Liverpool, Mr. Ald. Dover—at Manchester, Mr. Alder-
man Grave—at Newbury, Councillor Henry Dol-
ton—at Newport, Mr. James Murphy—at Nor-
wich, Mr. E. Harvey—at Nottingham, Mr. J. Bar-
ber, re-elected—at Portsmouth, Mr. Edwin Galt, Lieu-
tenant-Colonel of the 2d Hants (Southsea) Volunteer
Artillery —at Reading, Councillor J. W. Hounslow, grocer
—at Rochester, Mr. Thomas Aveling, partner in the firm
of Aveling and Porter, steam traction engine makers—at
Salford, Mr. Alderman Davies—at Windsor, Mr. Coun-
cillor Thomas Chamberlain—at Great Yarmouth, Mr. S.
Nightengale. _ _ _

A RIVAL TO STEAM.—The Stockholm Aftonbladet
gives publication to a letter from Mr. Ericsson, inventor
of the calorie machine, in which a novel apparatus for
the condensation of the sun's rays is referred to. Mr.
Ericsson, in his letter, says—" Calculations which I have
just completed have satisfied me that if the sun's rays, now
wasting their strength on the house tops of Philadelphia,
were condensed, they might be used to set 5,000 steam-
engines of 20-horse power each in motion. To give an
instance, lot us suppose a Swedish square mile (equal to 40
English) covered with condensing apparatus and sun
machines. Let one-half the surface be occupied by build-
ings, roads, ex., and we have still 648,000,000 square feet
free for our purpose. Now, as my condensing apparatus
has demonstrated 100 square feet to be amply sufficient
for the production of one-horse power, it follows that
64,800 steam engines of 100-horsepower each can bo worked
with the rays thrown on a Swedish square mile. I assert
that by condensing the rays of the sun a force could be
created that might arrest the earth in its course. In
a thousand years or so— a drop in the ocean of time
—there will be no coal left in Europa unless the
sun be put in requisition. True, the rase of the
sun aro often prevented from reaching us; but, with
such a large magazine whence fuel may be obtained,
without labour or transport to draw upon, experienced
engineers will have no difficulty in laying up a store
against the rainy day. A large portion of the earth's sur-
face is, moreover, illuminated by au ever unclouded sun.
The area over which the sun machine can work may
therefore, bo regarded as equally unlimited as the amount
of force that can be generated."

PERILS OF THE SEA.--The Times says it is rather
staggering to find, in the face of all that modern science
has effected for navigation, that, as rugards a very large
class of vessels, the loss of life and property at sea during
the last twenty or thirty years, so far from greatly
diminishing or even remaining stationary, has actually
very much increased. According to Mr. Hall, of New-
castle, who speaks with the authority of long professional
experience, the rates of insurance "are now iu many cases
double what they formerly were, and while at the low
premiums of a quarter of a century ago underwriters
realised fortunes the business is now most unprofitable,
notwithstanding the high rates of the present day."