The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-30 00:00:00

HIGH PRICE OF BEER.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sru,—The poweiful aid of the Press has beecn al-
ready invoked ;wird the upset of a monopoly which
maintains the present price of beer, so affecting the
interests of the labouring class, especially anchor.
smiths, coal porters, navvies, and labourers. Beer is
as essential to the labouring man as bread ; it is not
even a luxury to him, but, next to bread and meat,
when he can get it, is his stable sustenance.
The present price, combined with reduced wages,
prevents him from procuring even that quantity
which is essential to his support, while the incentive
to adulteration held out to the publicans, by high
prices, deteriorates the quality even " of that which
he bath." The question of the " ability of brewers
and plant (which they resist) to contribute towards
the relief of the poor," whether properly or im-
properly, contended for by Mr. Paine, as surveyor,
matters little ; but, whether by design or accident,
as this contest has been the means of bringing the
subject about, I most unhesitatingly assert that
"real ability to contribute" is best shown by the
prices of malt being reduced from 87s. to 50s. per
quarter. Some firms brew 115,000 quarters of malt
in the year, while the best actual contribution to-
wards " the relief of the poor" would be to let the
poor participate, by a corresponding reduction of
that commodity, which is the prcduce of, and actual
"sweat of their brow," and not, by the maintenance
of present prices, virtually infringe on the old maxim,
and to continue to
" Rob the poor man of his beer."
Present price is, I know, fortified by heavy mono-
poly; those who sustain it is the keep, say of 120
horses, must also find an item of profit of consider-
able amount, arising from the present price of corn
and hay.
The monopolists are, generally, both brewers,
bankers, and Quakers, in short, Mark-lace and
Lombard-street combined. Publicans, in conse-
quence of the accommodation system, are, in general,
under their thumb, and dare not speak, and so la-
bour, as the slave of old, is held in bondage ; and,
in the words of the immortal Cowper, their op-
pressors
" Share in the plunder, so pity the man."
Without your co-operation and support we feel,
Sir, that our cause is in jeopardy ; therefore, in sup-
plication, we implore your all-controlling influence on
our behalf, to maintain the relative proportion of
prices among all other things, but especially for,
Sir, your, at present oppressed,
" SW EETW 0 RT."

27th May, 1850.

THE NELSON COLUMN.
TO TUE EDITOR OF TUB MORNING POST.

Sir,—Being in London for a few days, I see with
pleasure the column in Trafalgar-square bearing the
statue of my old Admiral (Nelson) has received some
additional ornaments. But oh, Sir, what a pity the
four lions are not to adorn the base! Want of
money, lam told, is the cause. That, surely, cannot
be, for I am certain that a penny a head from every-
body who wished it done would raise the money in a
month. Only let some jack-tar be paid for receiving
the daily subscriptions of passers-by, and I will send
51. in pence directly.
Being, Sir, your daily reader,
AN OFFICER ON HALF-PAT.
Army and Navy Club, May 27, 1850.

PROFESSOR FARADAY'S LEC-
TURES ON DOMES [IC CHEMISTRY.
The subject of Professor Faraday's lecture at the
!loyal Institution, un Saturday, was the philosophy
f a kettle. lie said, that having in the last lecture
sticed the circulation of the air produced by the
.at of a fire, it must be borne in mind that the same
pension by heat taken place in liquid bodies. To
Ike this perceptible he heated a portion of liquid
a glass vessel, the lower part of the liquid being
coloured to distinguish it, when the coloured fluid was
seen to rise in a connecting tube. On applying the flame
of a spirit lamp to the bottom of a glass vessel con-
taining water, minute bubbles were quickly seen to rise,
which, after expanding for the height of an inch or
two, contracted by means of the lower temperature of
the upper stratum of water, and the bubble that rose
to the top was scarcely perceptible. By the continued
application of heat, however, the steam of which the
lower bubbles are composed became less and less
condensed, and when the temperature had been
raised to the boiling point, the elastic vapour reached
the top in a continued succession of large bubbles,
producing the phenomenon of boiling. Even when
water that is only warns is placed under the exhausted
receiver of an air-pump, the removal of the preisure
of the atmosphere gives the steam such additional
elasticity that the fluid will boil. This experiiinent
was exhibited; also the phenomenon of ebullition in
a less violent degree, when water perfectly cold is
employed ; the bubbles, however, in the latter case
are not those of steam, but of the air which all water
contains. The " singing" of a kettle is to be attri-
buted to the evolution of these bubbles of air. The
great importance of the constant presence of air in
water was forcibly pointed out. The bubbles of air
operate, as Professor Faraday described it, like
minute wedges in separating the particles of water
from each other, otherwise the mass of fluid
would adhere, and could not be separated without
a much higher degree of heat than is 7:quisite
for hnilinir in nrainayv eirpnynapinna. 7t leas been
tinent that water from which air has been caretulty
abstracted may be heated to a temperature of 270
degrees, without boiling, but when it has been heated
above that point it explodes with great violence. A.
bent tube containing, water from which the air had
been extracted was exhibited to show the adhesion of
the fluid. The water in this case did not find its
level, for when the tube was inverted one arm of it
remained full whilst the other was nearly empty,
and it required a smart blow on the table to bring
the water in the two tubes to a level. By carefully
abstracting air from mercury, it may be made
in the same manner to :tend in a perpen-
dicular tube far above the height that it can be
supported by the pressure of the atmosphere alone.
When a smooth metallic vessel is strongly heated,
water and other liquids poured into them assume a
spheroidal shape, and do not touch the heated vessel ;
consequently they do not become so hat as when
pour'ed on to a metallic body less highly heated.
This fact was illustrated in a remarkable manner by
several experiments. A small rod of heated silver
was immersed in a glass of water without in the
first instance producing any ebullition, and it was
not till the silver had become partially cooled that
steam issued. In another illustration of the same
phenomenon water and iodine were placed in sepa-
rate highly-heated platinum .dishes, and so long as
the heat was maintained the water and the iodine
were seen to have assumed a spheroidal form, and
danced about without emitting any visible steam or
vapour, but as soon as the heat was diminished the
water flished into steam and the iodine was dissipated
in violet-coloured vapour. Professor Faraday stated
that we are indebted to M. Boutigny, the French
chemist, for these curious illustrations of the effects
of bodies assuming a spheroidal form, and he had suc-
ceeded by a different modification of the experiment
in freezing water and even mercury in a red hot
kettles
and There were on the lecture table, numerous
specimensn
s
atheonencrustation
fotrne encrustation"fur
" on k
ottfl a
steam- bailer the deposit was one or two inches thick.
The effect of such a lining is to obstruct the passage
d
Io
of heat, consequently to increase the quantity of coal
requisite for working the engine. Iu the case of one
of her Mejesty's steam-ships, the boilers were so foul
that all the coal for the voyage had been consumed,
and the engineers were obliged to use the ship's spars,
end all available timber, to bring the vessel up the
river. The crust formed arises in most cases from
the deposition of lime from the water, and an
ingenious plan has been discovered for readily
removing it. By putting muriate of ammo-
nia ('al ammoniac) into the kettle or boiler, the
muriatic acid enters into combination with the car-
bonate of lime, and forms a soluble compound, and
by this means the foulest boiler cr kettle may be
rendered perfectly free from encrustation. Professor
Faraday said he should, in his next lecture, conclude_
the present course with the appropriate sill ject of
0 ashes."

N OF LONDON.—
PICTURES BOUGHT Br A —IT- lON
The following is a listGonfii.:B;tcP,:pein_zi.ezii)iti
the Art-Union of London prize-hoicl,,
E.
_.
ae
7:1,
osp:n.i pictures
tit
ehsareitislenergcdf taa(eltßdie
next
D.l• Ward, A.R.A.
" James 11. in his Palace at IVhiteheadl
R g'rave, A.R.A. (R.A.),
(from IL A.) ; " Griselda," 1
1 1:0,3.)C9,0„pHi
je'oy.llDiin:is,eilidAainr.Rdgi.n(Ag‘.v((.Rt..A.Asli
21 35
01 /1..
;; ': , Portore ter
denyingTe x a r i o,
0- „ T. Clater (5.8. A.), 70/. ; " A Storm
81/. ; "The Odd Trick. .
,„ A. W. Wi lams -• • , ,
11 5000 11.. ;; 1. "ViewS San n Pietro, ife turoe,n nceeamrher.V,
aet r,
Clearing, OR,
ye (5.8. A.), SO/.; " A Scene during the In-
lvlaaseiogn;'oWf it,,Nly-ty Charles VIII," F. R. Pickersgill, A.R.A.
.g The Sun 41,spelling a Mist," 11. P. Parker
.Sl‘l itaa3t
leorn(kS,„. Bj.. AT.
e) ,nsnoa/n.
t;
7°1.; ~ Here's his Helaylt7,
_in
_Wat.er," Mau
(NJ.), 6Cl'; „ A Gipsy Fami
(13:Nv.• Ail,i): froma°l:; the Heights of Ahrahviam.
) 50/. • " Going to Service," J. H. Mole (N W C 44 )
(S• 13'A' '' - ' fR I " &
• '
76/.; •• Hawkers o e les, e., James Godwin (853/.
:3s. ; " The Country Inn," W. Shayer CS.B.A.), 54/. 10s. ;
“ Ben Nevis from Loch Eil," W. C. Smith (W.C.S.), 521.106.;
„ Dieppe, Coast of Normandy." T. L. Rowbotham (N.W C.S. ),
40/. ; "Autumn Scene in Wales," H. J. Boddington (ILA.),
40/. • "Piazetta de San Marco," .1. Holland (B.I.), 40/. • " On
the 'Sledder," A. Clint (5.8. A.), 401.; "Kirby Lonsdale and
Valley of the Lune." IL Jutsum (B.I.), 401.; "Paver 1
Castle, Derbyshire," J. Tennant (5.8. A.), 52/. 10s. ; " From
Rogers's ' Pleasures of Memory,'" H. ISlapleston (N.W.C.S.)
25/ ; " Nlount Bay, Cornwall," J. W. Yarnold (R.A.), V/. ;
"The Burning Glass," \V. Henisley (N. 1.), 25/.; "A Sum-
mer Morning on the Coast," F. R. Clater (5.8.A.),2.1. ; " A
Dutch Madonna," C. Brockv (B.I.), 251.; " From the ' Li-
brary of Useful Knowledge,' ' G. 11. Laporte (N.W.C.S,),
20/, ; "A Summer's Evening," G. A. Williams (N I.), 20/. ;
" A Mountain Stream," H. Bright (R.A.), 21/. ; " Scene i i a
North Welsh Valley." J. Wilson, iun. (5.8. A.), 201.;
" Blackberries." W. Hunt (W.C.S.), 151. 155.; " Wreck on
the Coast of North Wales," C. Bentley (W.C.S.), 211., &c.
Builder.

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