The Sun.
London, England, 1850-01-21 00:00:00

THE QUARTERLIES

THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW. No. CIII
Conspicuous, both by its position and its ability
among all the contributions to the current number of
the Westminster is the article dedicated to the subject
of " Epidemics." All who are solicitous as to the
possible return of the cholera with the next summer,
or who are interested in the advancement of sanitary
improvement, will derive much satisfactory intellt•
genre from this able and laborious article. We com-
mend its perusal to all readers, however, without dis-
tinction. Another paper, which appeals to the
sympathies of every individual capable of reflection is
the one on " Religious Faith and Modern Scepticism"
—a subject evidently suggested to the reviewer by
the remarkable dissertation on"" Reason and Faith "
published three months ago in the pages of the
Edinburgh, from the pen of Henry Rogers.
Among the most prominent criticisms in
the present instalment of the Westminster is
the one devoted jointly to the consideration of the
merits of the two last productions of Currer Bell and
Bulwer Lytton, the " Caxtons" and " Shirley.'
Every lady in the land will be interested to read a
right excellent essay, the second in the number, en-
titled " Woman's Mission," in which the duties and
responsibilities of the sex are ingeniously and ten-
derly discussed. Few of the active members of this
mercantile and speculative community will feel indif-
ferent to the remorks of an eminent periodical like
the Westminster upon the law of bankruptcy—re-
marks evidently written by one intimately versed in
his subject. The article on " Railway Progress,"
again, is one such as must command the attention of
the majority ; and its rapid and comprehensive retro-
spect will be found of no inconsiderable value. A
clever synopsis of the doings of the Parliamentary
Ses4on of 1849 is brought to a close by a more de-
tailed reference to the " Metropolitan Commissioners
of Sewers." Besides a contribution relating to the
" African Coast Blockade," there is an Obituary
notice of Ebenezer Elliott, from which we have a
melancholy satisfaction in transcribing the sub-
joined:— _

" Ile was a man that all men should have seen, should
have known, and they would have been sorry to have
missed the pleasure, had the gods been willing, of
shaking hands with so great-hearted and simple a being.
There was virtue in such grasp. There was the know-
ledge conveyed to the Solitary, unknown and unloved,
that the earth was not all a desert, but that truth, justice,
and beauty were loved far beyond their aspirations.
They left him humble, strong, hopeful, aye rejoicing, for
the deep sweet hungering for fellow sympathy had been
met. And how gladly would they play the sceptic now,
would they refuse belief in his departure from amongst
us. How difficult is it to conceive that a hearth, but
lately so rich and hallowed, is now desolate; and how
impossible to say one word that shall be indeed comfort
to any who knew and loved him. In the heavy sorrow
of its love, the heart stops—
. Words weaker than your grief would make
Grief more. 'Twere better I should cease----."'
Besides a batch of reviews on Foreign Literature,
there are the usual number of notices, critical and
miscellaneous.

THE SMYRNA STEAM FLOUR-
MILLS AT GREEN W ICH.
On Saturday afternoon, by the courtesy of the
Messrs. Joyce, the eminent engineers and iron-
founders at Greenwich, we were favoured with a
private view of two magnificent steam-engines, con-
structed by them, and now about to be sent out to
Turkey, to be employed in the grinding of flour at
Smyrna, under the auspices of a company of enter-
prising Englishmen, the Sultan of Turkey being also
a shareholder. The general reader is doubtless aware
that Turkey is eminently a corn-growing country,
growing not only sufficient grain for the use of its
own population, but exporting large quantities to the
countries of Western Europe. It may not, however,
be so generally known that there is this anomalous
state of things in the East, that whilst Turkey grows
her own corn and exports it to other countries, she has
hitherto been driven to a great extent to import the
flour necessary for the subsistence of her people,
which she does chiefly from America. IVindthills
have been in use in the country for some time, but
these afford so inadequate and precarious a supply of
flonr, that the people have been principally dependent
upon other countries for the necessary quantity. The
English company, now about to sale from our shores;
to which reference has been made, have it in view to
remedy this national inconvenience by introducing
steam-flower- mills into Turkey, so that henceforward
the Turks will be able to grind their own flour in-
stead of being dependent upon foreign countries for
it, and America in particular will thus lose one of
her best customers. The engines which Messrs. Joyce
have constructed for the purposes of this enterprise
deserve a passing notice and eulogium. Anything
more beautifully simple in design, elegant in con-
struction, or effective in.operation, we have seldom
witnessed. The engines in question are constructed
on the principle first discovered by Mr. Arthur
Woolf, by which steam of considerable pressure was
first made to act upon a comparatively small piston,
and subsequently allowed to expand into a larger
cylinder, where, having done its duty at a reduced
pressure, it was exhausted into the condenser and
added to the effective force by vacuum. A manifest
improvement on this principle has been invented by
Messrs. Joyce, and made the subject of a patent.
They have succeeded in giving a direct action to what
Woolf and his followers gave indirectly, by which,
amongst other beneficial results, the consumption of fuel
is less than 31bs. per horse power per hour, it being
about 121bs. under the old system. These results
have been mainly achieved by the introduction of a
system of inverted and oscillating cylinders, which
cause the force of the piston rods to act directly upon
the crank-pin, without the interposition of any in-
termediate machinery, so that the friction of the whole
engine is reduced to its minimum, while its simplicity
proportionably reduces the chances of accident. The
improved engines of Messrs. Joyce are well calculated
to introduce economy and safety into our manufac-
turing operations, and reflect the highest credit upon
their mechanical skill. Mehemet Effendi, the Turk-
ish Ambassador, would have been present at the ex-
hibition of the engines on Saturday, but by a mistake
the letter of invitation was addressed to Prince Celli-
=chi, whom he has just succeeded in the Embassy.

THE WEATHER.—The frost, which set in above
a fortnight ago, has continued ever since with almost
unremitted intensity. The thermometer at nine in the
morning, even in a sheltered situation in town, has
ranged from 20 to 30 degrees ; all the ponds and other
sheets of water in the neighbourhood have been hard
frozen ; and skaters and curlers have been everywhere
enjoying their respective sports to the utmost. On
Monday morning there was a considerable fill of snow,
also occasional showers throughout the day, while on
Monday Right it came oa more heavily, and on Tuesday
morning the streets were everywhere covered to the
depth of several inches. This coating has remained on
them, and its original whiteness has been occasionally
renewed by other showers. Last night, however, the
keenness of the frost had somewhat I abated, and there
seemed to be a slight tendency to a thaw.—Scotsman of
Saturday.
EXHUMATION OF THE REMAINS OF ONE OF THE
JUDGES OF CHARLES I.—lt is well known that three
of the persons who presided at the trial of King
Charles 1., and signed the warrant for the execu-
tion of the unfortur ate monarch, successfully avoided
the hot pursuit of the Royalists after the Res-
toration, by flying to New
atEnisigelwanhda,ven, wheirne
Con-
necticut, they
sought and found an ay
then a small town, which had been founded but
50 years. Their names were Edward Whalley, William
Gotfe, and John Dixwell ; the former had held the
rank of Major-General, and the last named of
Colonel in Cromwell's army. These men, though
branded in the mother country as the murderers
of a martyr King, were regarded by the New
Englanders as patriots who had nobly performed a
most painful and stern but necessary duty; and the
most respectable inhabitants of Newhaven vied with
each other in offering protection and concealment to

the fugitives. A deep recess in the rocks crowning
the hill behind the new, extensive, and beautiful city
of Newhaven—the Oxford of the United States
—is still known as the " Judges' Cave;" having,
according to local tradition, served as the hiding-place of
the outcasts, when the emissaries from England came in
search of them. The throe exiled judges died a natural
death in America. Col. Dixwell, under the assumed name
of Davis, lived many years in Newhaven unsuspected,
real name and condition were known but t-
to
ew
;
in a contented retirement, esteemed by many, though his
ilisdescendants,atßoston
of his
Novembermalory
a wealthy and highly- respectable family
he died in 1688, at the age of 82.
are erecting a
exiled Judge, after 160
4thto
in that city ; and
ha n was opened under their
the fine
omnontuhmeen2t
9 found tolerably entire, though it had been
years,l ewdaosnly in a common oak coffin. " Thus," our Ame-
erinccanoscorrespondent observes, " the ashes of the hunted
directgioranveancrtbeNsekweleivOen of the.
patric
t were removed with the unfeigned sympathy and
respect of our people, and will be deposited in their final
resting-place at Boston, beneath a monument recording
the public virtues and unflinching patriotism of the man
who in old England will be execrated as a repel 'd e.—
Literary Gazette.

At Prince's-place, Inverness, died on the Bth inst.,
aged 34, James M'Cosb, Esq., proprietor and ed;tor of
the Inverness Advertiser. Mr. M'Cosh was a native of
Dundee, and for six years conducted the Northern
Warder newspaper in that town. Ile was afterwards
connected with the management of Lowe's Magazine—s
monthly periodical carried on for a short time in Edin-
burgh. He removed to Inverness and established the
Advertiser in June, 1849. From his generally delicate
state of health, Mr. M'Cosh was but little personally
known here; but he was an independent, conscientious
journalist, of decidedly Liberal views and unflagging
zeal. During the illness cf the deceseel, the Advertiser
was conducted by Mr. Mulock—a friend no less able
than devoted and disinterested.—lnverness Courier.
FIRE IN ST. JAMES'S.—Yesterday afternoon,
shortly after one o'clock, a fire.broke ont in the premises
of Mr. T. Grant, a furniture dealer, No. 36, Princess-
street, St. James's. The flames were confined to the
destruction of the lower part of. the building. The origin
of the fire could not be ascertauzed.

- t ,
,4
.
at tort

TAT TERSA EVENING.
Six o'cLocK.

LIVERPOOL STEEPLECHASE.
15 to 1 apt Rat-trap
15 to 1 agst Knight of Gwynne
30 to 1 agst Agitation
30 to 1 agst Farnham
30 to 1 agst Rory be aisy
50 to 1 agst Tipperary Boy
50 to 1 agst Bayonet
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE STASES.
20 to 1 agst Harriott
20 to 1 agst Velox
25 to 1 agst Little Jack
METROPOLITAN HANDICAP.
25 to 1 agst Black Eagle
25 to 1 apt Retail
25 to 1 agst Sn Arstorm
25 to 1 agst Sir Gilbert

CHESTER COP.
20 to 1 agst Glauea.
20 to 1 apt Miss Ann
24) to 1 agst Fogleman
25 to 1 asst Peep o'-Day Boy
25 to 1 agst Whim colt

33 to 1 agst The Flt,a
40 t 1 agst llarriott—takea
40 to 1 agst Chantrey
66 to 1 agst Grief
66 to 1 agst Van Dieman
100 to 1 egit Waram

DERBY.
9 to 1 agst B9linghruke
9 to 1 asst Ghillie CAlluin
II t,) 1 apt Knight of Avenel

M FETING OF T 1-IB ROYAL
ASIATIC SOCIETY.
0.1 Siturclay an unusually numerous meeting of
the members o the Royal Asiatic Society was held
at :heir routes, in New Burlington-street, for the
purp3se of receiving a promised communication re-
la,iag to the inscriptions recently discovered at
.-Ninlvh and its neighbourhcorl from Major Rawlin-
sun, who bas recently returned fr:;rn exploring these
inferestirg ruins. The E::rlef Ellesmere presided on
the occasion ; and among the members present were
Sir R. U. Inglis, M.P., Sir Geurge Staunton] M.P.,
Sir G. T. Colebrook', IJ.P.,
The SECRZTARY read a communication from the
private secretary of his Royal Highness Prince
Albert, in answer to a request addressed to his Royal
iiii4ht4.,f.s that be would take the chair on this occl-
',ion, stating that hin Royal Highness deeply regretted
thil various important enzge=nts would prevent
his b3ing present to hear the communication respect-
leg these inscriptions, in the deciphering of which he
took the deepest interest.
CH AIRMAN then called upon Major Rayilinson
fur en, corn,ounication he promised the society,
aud at the same time took occasion to congratulate
society On the safe arrival of their gallant associai:e
his arduous inyours in another and an ungenial

climate.
R k.WLINSON began by assuming that every
• preeeet was acquainted with the voluable work
of Major Liyard on this subject, and there-fire he
woalo not attempt to describe the remains which ha
been discovered in Assyria, but would refer for such
infjr:nation t.) Mr. Layard's hook. Tee greater
nuirlesr of the inscriptions, he remarked, were
geuerany. supposed to have been found at Nineveh
but the correct modern name of the place was
_Nimrod. And though it was in all probability one
of the group of the cities to which Jonah was sent,
vet it had no claim to he considered Nineveh itself—
its ancient name, as denoted on the inscriptions, was
Khala, or Sala, and was probably the Calneh 'nee-
tiened in the 10th chapter of GE•re sis. Tee real and
prlncipel Nineveh he cobjectured to have stood on
the size now occupied by teat huge mound, on the
opposite side of the Tigris front Mosul, on the top
• which wO3 the pretended tomb of the prophet
Jonah- That mound 'else held so secred by the Turks
that they would not allow Europeans to excavate it,
but he did not believe Major Layard would leave
the country without bringing away some of the in-
scrip!..ions it contained. There were two other towns
Li the neighbourhood whose modern names were Khor-
sahar and Konyiejuk ; and these twee towns he believed
were the two chief cities of the kingdom of Nineveh.
The early history of that country was buried in the
deepest olocurity. Even if they should be tibia to alt-
cipher all the inscriptions, still these would give little
insight into the chronology of the period unless they
couid lay hold of some event which touched upon the
history of other countries. They hod already ob-
tained some valuable notices of the reigns of six
monarchs in succession, bat any one mat see that
th it was but a short way towards a connected history
of the nine centuries to which the Aesyrian E•npre
ex:ended. Of the six monarchs he had mentioned,
there wan little to mark the era of their reigns; bat,
after lasing- engaged in the examination of the
question fir many years, the coevictien had been
lerced upon hint that the date tf the build-
ing of the north-west palace of Khala or
Nimrud, on which palace the inscriptions re-
lating to these monarchs had been found, was nearly
coeval with the extinction of the 18th dynasty of
.Egypt, and the first establishment of the Jews in
Palestine. The earliest cuneiform descriptions which
be had been able to decipher, related to a king whose
pame he read as Sordanapalus, not the voluptuary
with whose name they were so familiar, but a monarch
much anterior, the builder of the north- west palace ;
but it did not, therefore, fallow that he was the first
king or the builder of the city, for several other names
of monarchs are incidentally mentioned, and his
own father and grandfather are always spoken of
as liogs. He might mention here that a great
difficulty was thrown in way of identifying a
monarch referred to in different inscriptions, or in dif-
ferent parts of the same inscription, from the fact that
the names were not marked by any definite phonetic
sound, but rather by the sense, so that synonymes
were employed to any extent. The inscription to
which he had referred began, " This is the Palace of
Sarianapalus, the humble worshipper of Assarach."
There could be no doubt that this Assarach was the
Nisroch reentionad in Scripture, in whose temple
Sennacherib was slain. He was moat probably the
deified father of the tribe, the Assur of the Bible.
Tula Assarech was styled in all the inscriptions as
the King, the Father, and the ruler of the gods, thus
answering to the G -eek god Chronos, or Sisurn, in
their Aesyrio-Hellenic mythology. The inscription
then went on to record the extent of the dornieions of
King S trdanaaalu-7, from which it appeared that
Pisoenicia was not at that time subject to his sway ;
but another inscription stated, that after passing
. the Great Desert he received tribute from the
Kings of Tyre and Sidon and Accsia on
the sea coast. There was another inscription
giving an account of various wars, but in so
mutilated a condition that it was impossible to make
out a connected narrative. He therefore passed on
to another inscription, giving an account of the reign
of Tummum Bahr, the son of Sardanapulus. This
irocription was complete, and it gave an account of
an active and restless Monarch, who during a period
of more than thirty years carried on his wars and
conquests on every side, quelling rebellious, plunder-
ing cities—leading princes into captivity, and slaugh-
teting thousands in battle. These expeditions were
invariably headed by the King himself, till towards
the thirtieth year of his reign, when, sated with glory
and probably worn out with action, he remained at
home and sent his armies to rob, plunder, and slay
under the command of his lieutenant. The whole
of this long and deeply interesting inscription, which
gave much curious information respecting the
early tribes then inhabiting these countries, as
read by Major Rawlinson, supplied a continuous and
singularly coherent narrative, in which there were
only two checks of any consequence—one was where
• the events of the third and fourth years of the Mo-
narch's reign were hopelessly mixed up together, and
which M jor liawlinson said he could only account
for by supposing that the workmen employed to make
the inscription had inadvertently left out a line; and
the other was where towards the end of his reign the
events, of a campaign begun by the lieutenant were
ascribed to the King, and which is probably to be
ascribed to the vanity of the Monarch or the flattery of
the scribe. It was further mentioned that the events
of one of the early campaigns, productive of more
then ordinary treasure, were commemorated in
• more detail in an inscription on a colossal bull which
had been found among the ruins, and which Major Raw-
Inuson also read. Above the inscription were several
epigraphs illustrative of the tribute received from
different countries He could not attempt to decipher
all the articles apparently enumerated, but among
thetn were gold and Silver, horses and camel:, which
were termed "beasts of the desert, with doublebacks."
There were also mutilated inscriptions relating to the
500 and grandson of this Monarch; but after them it
appeared that from domestic troubles and foreign con-
quests there was an interruption to this dynasty ; and
when events could be again deciphered through the in-
- seriptione, there appeared to be such a great change in
the manners and customs of the people, that Mr. Layard
had thought a new race had come to inhabit the
lend. lie (Major Rawlinson) was not of that opinion,.
though he was satisfied a greatr change must have oC--
curoed among the people. There had been an inters
restnum, and possibly another branch of the family
ca •ne •er werde to the throne, but the later inscriptions
ail ass, ved the then reigning inenarchs to be of the ife-
mily of Sardanspalus. One curious tact apparent from
the later inscriptions was, that a strong Celtic element
had been infused into the west of Asia, fur the Cymri
were referred to in almost every inscription. lie

could not venture, however, to go into the inscriptions
at that meeting, but, if the society wished it, he
should be happy to continue the reading of them at
another meeting of the society.—(Loud applause.)
The gallant officer concluded by reading a note he
had recently received from Major Layard, giving an
account of some further interesting discoveries he had
made at Nimrud.
In answer to a question, Major RAWLINSON said
that undoubtedly the language was cf a bona fide
Semitic character, closely allied to the Hebrew and
Chaldee in the pronouns and prenominal affixes, but
otherwise more allied to the African language, and he
had a strong impression that what was called the
Semitic language would be found to have come from
Africa.
The Earl of ELLESMERE then conveyed to Major
Rawlinson the thanks of the meeting for his deeply
interesting communication, the gratification with
which they had all heard the extraordinarily perspi-
cuous result of his labours in the East, and expressed
a hope that he would continue his expositions at a
future meeting of the society.
The meeting then separated.

BALLOONS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sta,—Seeing in your last evening's journal a letter
from a correspondent, who signs his communication
" Nauticus," in relation to conveying intelligence by
means of "balloons," I beg to obrarve that some
years since I tried the experiment of substituting
calico for silk in the making of aerostatic machines
on a small scale, intending, if the experiment had
justified such a conclusion, to have built a large
balloon of 30,000 feet capacity, using the material
of your correspondent's suggestion, instead cf the
much more expensive article of silk—hut Byron says,
"experience is the chief philosopher"—and the result
of that experience was the fist that there is as much
superiority on the side of the silk as there is difference
in price between the two materials, the nature cf
the fibre constituting the calico, however tough and
wiry in wear previous to varnishing, is apt to become
brittle and crack at the least expo sure to atmospheric
air soon after it is varnished ; - the well
known difference between animal and vegetable
substances may and does in a great measure
account for this. Then again all calicoes and linens
are subject more or less to a sort of dressing i❑ the
manufActure—one object is, and that the greatest, to
induce the buyers of the article to believe they have
got a stout article for their money—" a great bar-
gain " of course—while, in reality, the preparation
used in the manufacture has a deteriorating tendency in
regard to wear, so in the same respect with silk of all
descriptions, down to the narrowest riband. Science
is ransacked and exhausted in order to produce an
article that shall sell with the public, in the depraved
view and intense desire to "buy bargains," which i❑
tie long run, by the bye, are no bargains at all. I
do not blame the manufacturers so much for this—their
customers are continually harping and cxrping fey
the low-priced commodities, and this is now prevalent
from the most respectable establishments dawn
what our facetious friend Punch terms "Nebuchad-
nezzar Long Noses and Son." To return to the gar-
ment of silk, it is a well .known fact that every
pound sent out f:•ocn the manufacturer to the re-
tailer contains from four to five ounces of
gum ar.d drug, such an article handles like substance
in the hands of the buyer ; deprived of its dressing
such a substance becomes a shadow. In the early-

drys a,rostation Mr. Sadler, who may be termed
the father of the English aeronauts (that highly ac-
tornpliAled gentleman first ascended at Oxford, in the
year 1784), built h's first balloon with silk as made
for general use, and ev‘.,ar in that day deception was
at work to produce an artificial substance. Mr. S.
soon concluded in his own mind that the next balloon
he built should be of silk free from all this injurious
and super flous weight of gum and drug ; his keen
perception saw that a chemical action was produced
between the latter and the sulphur, carbon, ammonia,
and other impurities, which (let the purifying pro-
cess be as carefully attended to as possible, an aero-
naut is sure to get a portion of) produces a sort of
antagonist warliae, and inevitably ends in the annihi-
lation of all the strength in the material the balloon
is composed of. Aeronauts, by paving an extra. price,
get a silk made free from the deleterious ingredients
above alluded to. There is a small portion of the
pubic, amongst whom are our friends the lynx-eyed
Quakers, who pre fer paying an additional price in
order to possess what in the trade is termed "natu-
ral sof ," i. e , the silk free from "G. and D.,"
and there this small portion of the public
display superior wisdom, inasmuch as they
realise the sayings of olden days, so little thought of
now, that the best is cheapest in the end and this
carries me back to your correspondent "Nauticus,"
who I do hope will take these observations all in good
part, for in the strictest sense of that interpretation
they are intended ; still theory is one thing and prac-
tice another. I know many nautical gentlemen in
different parts of the country who amuse themselves
wi:h experimental small paper balloons, some of wham
hare said to me, " Why dt,n't you use calico or linen
fJr Tour balloon ?—it is much cheaper." There it is
—tile case lies in a nutshTll; in the absence of prac-
i
• tical experience those gentlemen imagine calico or
linen would answer the purpose ; but, on the uther
hand, practical experience gives an unanswerable
denial to their views Your correspondent suppose,
the calico balloon would stand some good thumps and
humps on the icebergs—indeed but little, very little,
of that; the chances are that the first time the young
lady embraced the cold rough lips of Master John
Iceberg—touse an old aeronautical phrase—she would
go to ribands, and there would be an end of the
attachment that might have existed between the
gaseous lady (all balloons have the term " she" applied
to them, similar to a ship), and the cold, unfeeling
brute that now binds the gallant Sir J. Franklin
in his ice-bound arms. I assuredly think
that the honour of the navy—the honour
of all nautical means, and last, not least,

the honour of the country is at stake till the where-
abouts of the missing expedition be found, and that
efforts unremitting and energetically applied should
be persevered in. Any little aid that the science
aeronautical can render may certainly be adopted,
but that is candidly speaking a very slender thread to
hang any hopes or expectations to, for this reason—
all balloons, as soon as they are launched, are liable
to the fluctuations and vicissitudes of expansion arid
condensation—the former is not only produced by
heat, it is often instantaneously caused by diminished
pressure. In such cases the balloon is rent to atoms
and its fragments fall to the ground.* In condensa-
tion they are deprived of their power, and of course
descend. I am far from undervaluing what those

small balloons might do in the cause, but for reasons
above stated I am equally far from placing much de-
pendence on them as an auxiliary aid. As to an
aeronaut going out with the two vessels that started
list week—the aeronaut, his balloon, together with

the apparatus necessary for generating gas, all would
be an encumbrance. Such a proposition is perfectly
preposterous and visionary. 'Why ? First, because
there is very little summer in the Arctic regions ;
then all chemists know that the acid sulphuric—the
very life and soul c f the generating process of hydro-
gen gas-making—is freezing in England now in
sheltered situations—there would be an utter im-
possibility of generating gas in the Arctic re-
gions, unless the whole apparatus was sur-
rounded by a large and powerful fire, and if only a
leakage sufficient to pass through a tobacco-pipe made
its escape and came in contact with the surrounding
fire, an explosion that would hurl the balloon, appa-
ratus, and all superintending it into the air would
ensue. We may be told leakages are to be stopped,
but you first have to find them, and before that could
be done a catastrophe occurs. In all my experience
through the east, north, west, and south of England,
I have not met a coal-gas engineer that would say his
works are entirely free from leakage, nor one absurd
enough to offer to surround his gasholder with a fire ;
true, you may insert a pipe small or large and burn
the gasholder empty, but allow a promiscuous escape
where a flame or red heat exists, and the disastrous
consequences are soon manifest ; or why do we have
gas explosions among consumers in London or other
places ? Hydrogen is known to be fir more subtle
than coal-gas, and its tendency to escape greater. To
generate hydrogen in the centre of a fire would be the
act of a foolhardy mountebank, anel without fire it
could not be obtained at all ; the water, by the de-
composition of which the gas is obtained, is solid, and
still accumulating ice, and is no sooner reduced to a
liquid than it is ice again. In short, difficulties
would be encountered at every step, and the
attempt rendered insurmountable. A. very short
survey of these facts—presenting themselves to my
mind in succession induced me to give a reply—a
reply that I shall never regret—to a letter hearing
an official exterior, of, or rather containing, six in-
terrogatories. This letter reached me at Bedford in
Ascentthee hartlyis
so
psaerntcnf November, shortly after my last
from the above town—the first ac-
count cf which, Sir, appeared in the columns of your
widely and extensively circulated journal. I presume
that the peculiar situation in which I was placed on
the occasion of that ascent led to me being honoured
with the questions aforesaid. Suffice it to say that I
wrote back then what I mean now—that any attempt
to inflate a balloon on a large scale in the Arctic re-
gions would be a visionary deluiior. I say on a large
scale, because I suggested that on a small scale_
hydrogen to obtain lifting power for light varnished
piper balloons could be generated from a portable
apparatus in the steerage of a ship, and by means of
a flexible hose conveyed to the balloon on deck under
awning, to carry out the experiment. This, I
believe, will be done. I wish it every success,
though, for the reasons ebove statsd, I should not be
surprised to hear that it aveileti nothing in
the I ands of Mr. Shepherd, who tried the
first experiment—it was in the hands of a scientific

* This of course refers to small balloons incapable of
carrying an aeronaut to superintend them.

THE SUN,