The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-21 00:00:00

THE USE OF EARTHQUAKES.

At the celebratiOn of the union of the Leeds Lite-
rary and Mechanics' lnstitutiop, Dr.. Buckland, the
eminent geologist, made the following observations„:
—Agricultural chemistry was now hailed by the agri-
culturist as a sword in his right hand, to break through
the barriers that have, till within these last very few
years, impeded the progressive improvement of the
soil. It was to the result of chemical discoveries,
aided by judicious agricultural observation, and by
meteorological, electrical, geological, and in fact the
combined operation of every science that could be
pressed into the service of procuring food for man,
that they must look with confidence for an efficient,
and more than efficient remedy, for those increasing
numbers that were daily coming into the world, and
which must be fed. Professor Leibig showed that the
vegetable kingdom had for its final ject the adpata-
tion of elementay matter to the use of the animal
kingdom. It has been often asked—what was the
tc,e of such an infinity of organised beings The
plants of the field .were beautiftik• but it might be
said that halfof them were never seen. But they had
their use. If they looked to -the atmosphere which
they breathed—if they looked at the earth on which
they trod—if they looked at the substrata beneath the
were full, teeming with riches, and
with demonstrations of the goodness and greatness of
the Creator. In the rain that fell from heaven, Pro-
fessor Liebig had told them that there descended the
elements of fertility to the earth, and in the dew that
fell in the summer nights there descended again the
elements of fertility. They had seen the effects of all
this before, but until lately, the manner in which
those effects were produced was unknown. It was
not water only that the dew-drop contained—it
brought down ammonia, which arose from the putre-
facticn of animal and vegetable matter; and so in
purifying the atmosphere for their lungs, it fertilized
the earth. It also brought down carbonic acid, which
they evolved in such enormous quantities each day
from their lungs, and which loured in such gorgeous
clouds over this murky town of Leeds—all that smoke
which made dense the atmosphere of this great
manufacturing town; it brought down all that close-
ness and denseness, for the purpose—he would not
say of manuring—but of feeding by a more delicate
process, those beautiful trees and gorgeous crops of
corn, which they saw in the park of the Noble Earl
(Fitzwilliam) and other persons whose estates adarned
this neighbourhood.—(Applause.) They had at
Leeds long been in the habit of impressing fire and
water into their service. It was long ago observed
by a negro, on his first coming into this country,
that the pig was the only gentleman in England.
" You make," said he "fire work, water work, steam
work, wind work, everybody work, and the pig be the
only gentleman in England." There was in this
neighbourhood one point especially deserving of notice.
Ile had seen most of the coal fields of England, and
the surface of most of them—cf South Wales for ex-
ample—was as to agricultural purposes entirely
barren,—large and extensive mountains covered with
heath and grouse, which were all the proprietors got
from it. But what was their more fortunate lot ?
Why, that from Nottingham, at one end, through
Chesterfield, Elsecar, Barnsley, Wakefield, till they
came to the boundaries of the coal formation on the
wharf,—what had they ? Not only one of the richest
coal fields in the world, but they had that same coal
field loaded, saturated, gorged—as Elsecar and Barns-
ley would testify—gorged with iron ore, two, three,
and four feet in thickness; the coal alongside of it,
ready to reduce, at the least possible amount ofexpendi-
ture, the ore which was worthless, into that metal
which was most precious and valuable. Not only
had they this extraordinary, this most especially ex-
traordinary condition of the sub-soil; but on the sur-
face, instead of the wilderness which a coal field
•usually presented, they had fields of the highest order
of agricultural capability, smiling parks, and waving
woods, from the splendid mansion of Lord Harewood
at one extremity of the coal field, to that of Mr. Gaily
Knight at the other. He would notsit down without
observing, that it was to this very coal field that the
great bulk of the population of the West Riding owed
its existence. Let them go by railway from Leeds
to Manchester, and count, if they could, one quarter of
a mile which they would not find studded with swal-
lows' nests along the crags, which suspended over that
most extraordinary geological chasm produced bygeo-
logical events. The meeting would pardon him for
being somewhat professional. He considered it bad
taste to shy the shop ; and he held it good taste to say
that there was nothing like leather. He was prepared
to say that but for the geological circumstances he was
referring to not one in a hundred of the persons he had
now the honour to see before him would have come
into existence. He held it to be a feet that •
but for these geological phenomena—first, the CP4:fiol,
of the coal ; next, the disturbances lunent revo-
lutions—call them earthquakes
,ney liked, but
which were a thousandfold ineriintense than modern
earthquakes—not one in a hundred of the persons he
saw before him would have had existence. From the
bottom of those lakes Awl seas, and estuaries, in
which deposits had beetsgoing on for ages, had been
raised by the action of earthquakes more intense than
imagination could conceive, that great chain of mom-
tains that separated them from the valley of Lanca-
shire, and which separated Leeds from Manchester by
the almost impassable barrier of Blackstone Edge.
They had there the coal " set on edge," and plung-
ing on one side to the eastward, and on the other side
to the westwerd, and covered over in Lancashire and
in the neighbourhood of York with red sandstone, and.
with the wrecks of the revolution which caused' this
elevation. When that elevation of the• mountain
chain took place, it brought from the bottom of the
sea the local strata to which he had referred, and when
this movenieut of a portion of the globe, thisbursting, so
to speak, of one coat of the great anion, occurred, it was
by all the laws of physics accompanied by a series of'
fractures. In consequence of these phenomena, they
had five great transverse fractures eastward, and west-
ward, that had been the causes of the valleys, down
which flowed the magnificent rivers which united in
the Humber. They had the river at Wakefield, the
river that passed through Leeds, the Wharf, the Nirki,
and the Swale, and every one of these rivers was ge-
nerated by transverse fractures, which in the main—
not literally—were at right angles to the great line of
elevation. Above all, they had the fracture, the great
chasm, by which they went from this town, through
Sowerby, To.dwearden, and Rochdale, to Manchester.
Whq WAA that ti It was that great chasm, that great
swip et' the back bone, when the great giant laid
prostrate in the earth was brought up 1,200 feet to be
quickened into a, state of activity, and to present them
With thong 17034 of coal which had been the means of
oliniAB7. into operation their ingenuity and mechani-
eal invention. Ile could not but think that it was be-
coming, on the present occasion, that he should allude
more particularly to the operations of Providence,
which were sa obvious, at least to himself, who had la-
red for 30 years in investipting the structure of the
interior of the earth, but which were the less obvious,
perhaps, to those whose condition in life had not
brought before them the phenomena so striking to him-
self, it was, he thought, a duty that lie should not
41 down without publicly stating that the study of
these great works of Providence produced in his
mind the liveliest conviction of the power nil good-
nyn chf the. Creator.—(llear, hear.) Other friends
w4u were occupied in some of the highest depart-
went% of physical investigation, he 'knew to be ani-
tri,ooanltlesd: s 4, lonb,y the same feelings; and one of his friends in
who was occupied in
microscopic examina-
id that he felt disposed to fall on his knees at,
every new discovery he made.—(llear, hear.) It
was quite unnecessary, after what he had stated, to
impress upon them the enormous debt which the in-
habitants of this•ueighbourhood more especially owed
to Proyidenets---not only the common debt which all
Mankind owed for their existence and for the ordinary
blessings of life, but that especial debt they owed for
having been born on a soil so pre-eminently favoured
in the surface, and so bountifully enriched in the sub-
surface,----4Applause.) In Leeds, he was quite sure,
ho sided not do more than bring the knowledge or
the fact before their imagination, to excite in them
those sentiments of deep and fervent piety which were
due to mach an occasion.

I htoN VEssras.—There are now in the iron ship-
building-yard of Mr. John Laird, of North Birkenhead,
two vessels of rather singular construction. The first
vessel is intended for a floating-light for the entrance of
the Mersey. It is much longer than the present light-
ships, and is expected to have less motion, even in a rough
sea, than the short wood vessels now in use. It will be
ready for sea in about two months. The second vessel
is building for the Honourable the East India Company.
It is intended for a pilot-boat in the Iloogley. Unlike
our pilot-boats, which are small, it is of two hundred
tons burthen, and of more than ordinary breadth of beam.
Its interior is to be completely finished in Liverpool. In
the hold will be large tanks for holding water, with
which, it appears, the pilot-boats on the Calcutta station
always go to sea, that, in the event of falling in with
ships short of water, they may supply them with so in-
dispensable an article. The cabin will be a spacious
apartment, lofty and well-ventilated, with berths all
round for the pilots. We need scarcely add, after the
heading of this paragraph, that, except the decks and
the cabins, these vessels are wholly built of iron T
.hey
are well worth the inspection of 'all who take an interest
rouse,
one
ouse, and three
in naval
i 0
3airacrhliuteicstuorte,73LrelavdaerpibooainAe Albion.
gth instant on the
remarkably
eof9Edinburgh to he
capercailzie, one blackcock, three red
iittros, shot by Prince Albert,
braes of Tayinouth, to Mr. Carofnraeth,
fine specimen
stuffed. The capercailzie is a
David Lewis, a la.
of
_,t,vlila‘t.Fruaizreybirsd.
UDDEN DEATH.
bearer on the Dowlais wharf
hC.ardiff, was employed
g mg iron, when he was
as usual on Monday last, wet'
suddenly seized, as by a fit, and instantly fell. Some
horror-struck to find th° P°°l.
of his fellow-workmen im ediately ran to his as-
sistance, but wereie hiovrars
fellow 4 corpse.
50 to 60 years, and a married tea,. aged front
children.—Cambrian, left a widow and several

WORSHIT-STREET.—The following additiona:ldonft
tions were received yesterday, by Mr. Broughton, for
Charlotte Briggs, the poor cabman's widow, tied her dis-
tressed family W. C. (Bristol), 21. ; Denis le.
Marchant, 11. ;Z., 1/. ; Mr. Morris, Lincoln's inn, 10s..
a gentleman, 1/. ; anonymous, 2s. Gtl.; and !is. from Mr.;.
Lord, landlord of the Salmon and Ball Tavern, Bethnal-•
green.
CUININEY-SWEEPERS,--A man, named Martin, a:
master sweep, was charged, on Saturday last, before Me-
Rushton at the Liverpool police-office, with having seta
a b..iy under the age of 21 up a chimney. Mr. Richt-W.
Houghton was charged also with having permitted a bc,y.
under 21 years to ascend his chimney, The informeion
was laid at the instigation of a master sweep,
for v horn
Mr. Davenport appeared, and stated that the demdant
(Martin) was one of those who were determineil to set
the Act at defiance, and not to sweep by nrachinerv.
One of the men in the. employ of the informaut ,proved
the case against both parties. Mrs. Houghton, who ap-
peared on behalf her husband, having strtisfied the
Magistrate that she was deceived by the dePendant both
as to the age of the boy and the age specified by the law,.
was acgratted. Mr. Rushton, however, told her to takes
nothe, that the law did not allow any individual and( r
21 years of age to be sent up a chimney, and that arty
housekeper suffering an individual under that age to
ascend a chimney became liable to a penalty of not
less than 51., and which might be 101. Martin wag
tined 51., and, in default of payment-, was ordered t o be
imprisoned one month. Mr. Davenport said, he
to apply to the Magistrate on behalf of the indiv, .dua
who had given evidence, who had been threatens by
a number of sweeps and was afraid to move(2l!
nooredad.
The back part of the Court was at this moment
v...ceiveedd
with sweeps. Mr. Rushton said, if the_ nitnessto
and
be
would make a severe example of the ()Hen e
either threats or injury
lecturd.v,•, arrived
13thEronb•-11"welli the "al eof let It ming, t
he was to apply d
r 1.41 ,
here on- Friday last with the intention
.letben inn o.anced thatntt
the Magistrates prevented him.
111 a
few persons were in attendance, a preach.—
be wool(' preach a sermon, bat atnt,h.eleaptp,o.innt eit ihour very
Exeler•Tiincs.

pres 'Alin
EDINBURGII COM FLEFE SUFFRAGE ij no .
N At
Last weekly meeting of the Council, the F3ecreeuries laidl
i . avved from Lord:
liinaird, expressing regret that ma
eglF;ements in,
Perthshire, at the end of the month, i,,nd _a_ _
Marl
I, rticy on,
on the table a letter which they had ree. ;
g at the
civet' on that day to
would preclude his
Mr 'fb-r
banquet to be
tn. Sharman Crawford, I 1
and tie other Members of rarliananit who
' the •'9tlt instant,
voted with him on the prcsentatiOti of the petition for
It was t
complete suffrage. .•h. en arranged that Mr. Dun-.
lop, the Presider:it of the Union,,d
, shotti take the h •
the occasion. Besides Mr. Crawford
chair on
and the other
Members of the House of Commons who had accepted!
the invitation of the 'tinier), it 1,
as announced that letter:l
bad been received from thefollowing gentlemen, inti-
mating their intention of
,being present at the banquet.—
Messrs. Joseph Sturge,
leorge Thompson, ilenry "%rin.
cent, John Collins, John Henderson, Provost of Paisley,
and the Rev. P. lirewster.—Edinieurgh Weekly aromick,
The men of Merthyr never followed their avoca-
tions with more -
discharged Chartists regularity than they do at pre•sent. The
If
chistst it seems, cannot get employment
anywhere,
meetings are held, mot the least
disturbance has takenartiststhe place here. The consequence of
the last election and last month's. experience will, in
all probability, produce beneficial effects.—lifonniouth-
shire Merlin.
A paragraph, originating, we believe, with the
Globe, has been going the .:ound of the papers, stating;
that the penalty for sport', 1) g without a license was in,
creased from twenty /76 fifty pounds. It is not correc
—Worcester Haab . .
The conditir;ll of the poor in this town, We fi,ar
notwithstanding the bountiful supply of almost e eery.
ilescrkition of human focd, is not improved ; so lar at
least as the moans of obtaining the necessaries of l•i fe
are
dependent upon employment.—Leeds Mercury.
FATAL ACClDENT.—Yesterday afternoon 'a me-
lancholy accident occurred at the Duke of CI . T eland's,
in St. James's-square, by which a bricklayer named
William links, lost his life. It ah ,
!Tears t ll' t the de-
ceased, with a nuniber more bricklayers, were employed
on a seaffold, pointing the front of the music ,n and the
unfortunate man was in the act of wetting
joints of
the brickwork, when he overbalanced hirnselr and fell to
the ground from a height of thirty feet. .He was taken
up insensible, and his fellow workmen immee dately con-
veyed him on a, screen to Charing-cross IL:apical, but
before lie could be oaken into the
surgery he expired.
The deceased w a very steady man, anc
as
as left a wife
and family.