The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-28 00:00:00

RIOT IN AIRDRIE.

We regret much to state, that a serious riot took
place in Airdrie last night, attended with destruction
of property. It seems that on Wednesday the mili-
tary, so long stationed in this district, were withdrawn,
and this circumstance, added to reports of a renewal
of riots in the neighbDurhood, put the town all yester-
day in a very unsettled state. In the afternoon, upon
the arrival of five prisoners in custody o: sheriffs' offi-
cers, who had been apprehended at Ballochney, ac-
cused of intimidation, the shopkeepers, who were
1 apprehensive of a riot, shut their shops. At this time
a number of the unemployed were congregated in
various parts of the town, and a rescue of the pri-
soners was understood to be resolved upon. Upon
the prisoners being brought to the town, applica-
tion was made to have them lodged in one
of the inns until they could be examined by
the authorities, but this, it is said, the • innkeeper
refused from fear of the mob destroying his
premises. About this time a band of about 400
strange colliers, apparently from the east, appeared in
the streets, and the officers in charge of the prisoners
immediately took them to a public-house adjoining
the inn. After some consultation amongst the mob,
the result was, that a rescue was determined on, and
accordingly the house where the prisoners were con-
fined was attacked, and, as great resistance was offered,
it was some time before an entrance was effected,
and the prisoners liberated. The house was com-
pletely gutted, and the liquor, furniture, glass, &c.,
carried off and destroyed. Before this was accom-
plished, the Alagistrates net opposite to where the
crowd had collected, and read the Riot Act, but as
they had no force at their coMmand, they just had
to look on, during the time the destruction was
going forward, without being able to put a stop to the
lawless proceedings. Before the house was gutted,
the sheriff-officers repeatedly. fired out of the windows
to intimidate the crowd; but to this they paid no at-
tention whatever, but proceeded determinedly to effect
their object. Whilst this was going forward, the Ma-
gistrates sent expresses for aid to the Glasgow police-
office, and to the Sheriff, but before any force had
arrived the town was quiet. The cavalry did not
arrive till this morning. We are informed that the
Secretary of the Colliers' Association was appre-
hended in his own house late last night, and com-
mitted to the jail, but we have not heard upon what
charge. The town is quiet to-day.—Glasgow Chro-
nicle of Friday.

LONDON ELECTRICAL SOCIETY.
The first paper read last Tuesday evening was a
communication from Mr. Weekes, relative to the his-
tory of the Haii Galvanici. Repeated observation
has proved to him that, whatever be the origin of these
creatures, the species are propagated by the ordinary
mode of generation. He has seen race succeed race,
and observes that the survivors prey upon the defunct.
His hopes of securing specimens of the insect have
been entirely frustrated ; the gradual decrease in the
number of insects led to his opening their hermetic
prison ; and the only one insect within it, and that a
microscopic one, soon disappeared. He anticipates
some interesting results, in relation to the spongy ag-
gregation found in the oxide, which promises to form an
inferior oxide of silicon. A paper, by W. Snow
Harris, Esq., was then read, being observations on
Mr. Walker's papers on Lightning Conductors. The
matter at issue with regard to lightning was, whether
a spark will or will not pass from them to vicinal
bodies. Mr. Harris admits that it will divide among
continous conductors, but not among semi-isolated
bodies ; and appears to give the two cases as instances,
the one of " the division of the discharge," the other
of " the lateral discharge." In denying the latter, he
denies the necessity of connecting metallic masses
with the prime r.od..
.As Mr. Walker had given rea-
sons to show why the Leyden jar should be banished
from lightning experiments, our author analyses
these reasons, under . . the conviction that a
Leyden discharge does resemble a flash of
lightning. With the. principles of the expe-
riments he agrees,. but not with the deductions ; one
acknowledges the distinction between the two dis-
charges but not the difference. The direction of a
Leyden discharge does not alter its character ; and
the shortness of . the Leyden spark is entirely an
affair of intensity. He gives reasons for objecting to
the experiments with the prime conductor, and shows
what he conceives deficient in them to complete the
analogy with nature. He alludes to the t ecurity
produced by an efficient lightning-conductor,
and concludes that there is no need of
connecting detached metallic masses with it. Mr.
Weekes's Electro-Meteorological Register for August
was then laid before the Society. We observed that
in more than one instance the intense heat of the
weather melted the cement by which the insulating
apparatuses are held together, and that the wire fell
from St. Peter's Church. t was stated that Mr.
Harris's paper would be printed immediately, to ap-
pear in the same part of the Proceedings with Mr.
Walker's.

DOVER.—On Saturday last a large anchor, weigh-
ing about 19 or 20 cwt., and supposed to be from a Dutch
foundry, was brought into Dover harbour. It was
found four days before, about 50 miles from this place,
in the Germar! Ocean, opposite the North Foreland, but
at some distance out at sea, by some fishermen, in whose
nets it became entangled. flaying obtain( d assistance
from some other boats, they lashed a cable to it, and it
was finally brought on shore. From its appearance at
present, it is thought to have been sunk for a period little
short of 20 years. It is, however, still in good preservation,
the arms, which are of wood, being apparently as sound
as when first cut.
A letter from Toledo says---" Three men belonging
to the band of the Twelve Apostles had seized a
National Guard, who had given the Magistrates some
information respecting them, and have burnt him
alive. Having bound his hands and feet, they shut
him in a shepherd's hut, to which they set fire. The
Judge of the Tribunal of the First Instance being in-
formed of this atrocity, repaired to the spot, but found
in the hut, which was reduced to ashes, only a muti-
lated corpse, which had no semblance of the human
form."

We regret to state that Captain Basil Hall Is in a
very precarious state of health, from an attack of
paralysis