Star.
London, England, 1824-08-05 00:00:00

HIGH PRESSURE

It was lately maintained by Mr. Deuchar, in a paper
in the Philosophical Magazine, vol. lz. p. 810, that from
the porous nature of certain siliceous bodies, it was ex-
tremely probable that the fluids in minerals had been
forced through their mass by pressure, and that the
water which is found in well stopped bottles, when sank
to great depths in the ocean, has been forced through
the pores of the glass.
The Rev. Mr. Campbell, in a voyage to South
Africa, carried out with him two crystal globular bot-
tles hermetically sealed, and made on purpose by
Messrs. Pellatt and Green, St. Paul's Church-yard. In
lat. 14° 27' N. and to the W. of the Cape de Verd
Islands, they were sunk from on board the Westmor-
land, to a depth of 200 fathoms, or 1200 feet, by means
of two leads, the one of 22 and the other of 281bs.
When the rope was brought up, by the exertion of ten
men for a quarter of an hour, the two globular bottler
were found empty. A wine-bottle sent down at the same
time, corked and plastered over with rosin, came up
full of water, with the cork inverted; five other bottles
were full of water, but the corks and rosin of these were
in the same state as when let down. Another wine-
bottle had the pitch remilning entire on its mouth ; but
the inside was nearly full of water, in which also the
cork was swimming. The water in the inside of the
bottles was not more fresh than before its entrance,
Campbell's Second Journey in Africa, vol. ii. p. 883,
quoted in Phil. Mag.

OCCULTATION OF THE PLANET HERSCHELL.
In the evening of Friday next, the 6th instant, the
planet Herschel' will immerge on the east side of the
moon, at 2 min. 45 sec. after ten: the planet will re-
main obscured till 14 min. 45 sec. after eleven, when
it will emerge on the western side. At the immersion,
the planet will be 9-I min. and at the emersion, 4i
min. north of the moon's centre. The moon will have
passed the meridian of Greenwich about ten minutes
previous to the occultation.

Tuesday night last, at Carmarthen, the corpse of a
young girl was laid out in a shroud, &c. and a pewter
plate was placed on its breast, on which was placed a
lighted candle. The relatives of the deceased retired to
rest, when the shroud took fire, the plate was melted,
and the corpse most shockingly burnt.
In the parish church of W—m, the custom of col-
lecting the contributions for the poor by ladles still prevails. On
the occasion of the sacramental fast, last week, an Elder, to save
himself the trouble of climbing to the gallery, handed up his ladle
to the front seat, where a young lady, in the absence of the gentle-
men of the family, took it and made a liberal collection. At the
telling of the amount, the Kirk Session were delighted to see a note
among the babeee, but guess their astonishment when, with much
difficulty, they made out, not pay the bearer one pound, but the
following lines written in pencil :
Elders henceforth give up your post,
Ye but affright us with your sable :
See bow Charity, cold as frost,
Melts when Vie), takes the ladle !

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CLARE ASSIZES.
Mr. Francis Hynes, a person of some property In this
county, was indicted for the murder of a poor man
named Raferty, a heckler of flax, at Kilfenora, by strik-
ing him on the head with a metal weight, of which he
languished from the 18th of February to the 11th March.
Daniel Raferty, father to the deceased, stated, that he
and his son were at the prisoner's house, working there
as hacklers. The prisoner entered the room where they
were, and without speaking struck the deceased with
something which the witness could not swear to, and
knocked him down. Witness was himself knocked down
twice by the prisoner. His son was never well since that.
Cross-examined.—The deceased worked, or had the
name of working, three days after. These was a dis-
pute between witness and Mrs. Hynes on the day in
question, she having said that the flax was not well
dressed, and the hacklers insisting that it was.
Mr. W. Cannon, in behalf of the defence, said, that
he was at the prisoner's house on the night in question ;
he was with the prisoner in his parlour ; on hearing a
noise up stairs, and finding that it continued, the pri-
soner went up and turned the hacklers out. He was
not in a great passion when he returned. He took no
weapon with him.—The Jury acquitted the prisoner. ,
Terence O'Laughlin, a strolling beggar, was indicted
for the wilful murder of Mrs. Ellen Stackpoole, the
late wife of a Gentleman in this county, by having, by
threats and violence, frightened her to death, on the
25th day of March last.
Mr. WOULYE, for the prosecution, said, that before
he went into the evidence, he was induced to trouble
the Court with a few observations, because the case was
one of a very novel nature. Mrs. Ellen Stackpoole, the
deceased Lady, was a person of delicate frame and of
very nervous affections—she was particularly appre-
hensive of fever—and he was instructed to say that the
'prisoner at the bar, knowing her apprehensive and fear-
fal disposition, took advantage of the absence of Mr.
Stackpoole, her husband, and suddenly and violently
rushed into her presence demanding money. Mrs.
Stackpoole became instantly alarmed ; she attempted
to run up stairs, the prisoner pursued her ; she then ran
out of her house, the prisoner followed her, seized her
by the hand, and said that he had not the fever himself,
but that the rags he had upon him belonged to a man
who died of the fever, and he (the prisoner) got them
out of the house in which that person had died. The
singular and disorderly appearance of the prisoner, the
violence of his conduct, and the nature of his remarks,
might have affected a woman of a much stronger frame
of mind than that of the deceased. Upon her, unfor-
tunately, it had the most fatal effect: she immediately
took to her bed, and in twelve hours after she was a
corpse. The Learned Gentleman concluded by saying,
that he would not press the murder, but he thought it
a clear case of manslaughter.
Mary D'Arcy—Knows the prisoner, saw him on the
25th of March last at the house of her master, Mr.
Matthias Stackpoole; witness knew the deceased; when
the prisoner entered the house there was no other person
there but witness and the deceased; witness saw the
prisoner attempt to lay hold of her ; witness interfered,
but the prisoner put her away ; the deceased went three
or four steps out of the kitchen; she then ran into a
field; the prisoner followed her, laid hold of her, and
demanded money. A man at the time happened to be
passing, the deceased called for his assistance; the de-
ceased was terrified; she attempted, in her terror, to run
through a wall ; the prisoner called to her, and said
that he had not the fever, but that the rags he had on
he got at a house where the fever had been. Mrs.
Stackpoole was greatly alarmed. Witness knows that
it was well and generally understood in the neighbour.
hood that Mrs. Stackpoole was particularly fearful of
the fever. When the man came to the assistance of the
deceased, the prisoner went away. The deceased said
to witness, that she felt her heart breaking within her
—that life was about to drop from her; she sat down
trembling by the fire ; she took to her bed, and died the
same night; before that time she was not ill, she was
about the house as usual.
The next witness was a woman who had nursed the
deceased.—She said she left Mrs. Stackpoole the morn-
ing of the 25th of March last, at her own house : when
she left her she was safe and sound : in the evening she
was sent for, and the deceased told witness how she was
frightened by the prisoner ; she said that he was the
cause of her death. She added, that she was aware she
was dying : in the middle of the night she became very
agitated and oppressed; she said her death was ap-
proaching; she died about three o'clock in the morning
of the 26th. Shortly before her death she said to wit-
ness that the prisoner had broken her heart. Mrs. Stack-
poole was of a delicate frame and mind ; she was par-
ticularly apprehensive of fever : that was known to every
pet son about the country in her neighbourhood.
Thomas Cross was passing the house of the husband
of the deceased on the 25th of March last ; the deceased
was in a field opposite the house; she called for his as-
sistance; she attempted to run through a wall; when
witness came up, the prisoner walked smartly away.
Here the case closed for the Crown. The prisoner
being called on for his defence, addressed the Court in
the Irish language, and in a manner the most vehement,
declared that he never intended to injure the Lady, and
that he merely asked for charity.—The Jury returned a
verdict of Guilty.
The prisoner appeared to be a man of about fifty
years of age ; his body was but iat pe: fectly covered with
wretched rags ; his countenance had a degree of wild
expression; his whole appearance was eats emely gro-
tesque. The vehement manner of his address ; the force
of his language; the impressive appropriate action of
his hands, and the varied tones of a deep and mellow
voice,gaveaveryfavourables men of rustic eloquence,
Yesterday, an Inquest was held at the sign of the
Crown, Drummond-street, Hampstead-road, on the
body of a female infant, about ten weeks old. On
Monday night last, a watchman observed two women
in a field, examining a bundle : on proceeding towards
them, he discovered that they had found the body of
the deceased, who appeared to have been strangled, and
immersed for some time in the water. The women ap-
peared to be very much affected at the appearance of
the child, and the witness was confident from their de-
meanour and conduct, that they were not the persons
who had exposed the deceased. They accompanied him
to St. Pancras watch-house, where he deposited the'
child for the Inquest. Mr. W;nter, a surgeon, examined
the body, which was at the time in a state of putridity ;
he could not perceive any marks of violence; the de-
ceased must have been ten days old. Verdict-44 That
the deceased was found dead; supposed to have come
to her death by unfair means."
Tuesday, Mr. William Hayes, of Broadway, St. Tho.
mas's, a respectable tradesman, dropped down on leav-
ing his own door, and instantly expired.

r CAPE OP GOOD HOPZI
The population of Cape Town, according to Beton. in Ja-
nuary last, is u below; but, including new settlers not enumerated,
it is thought not to fall short of 20,000;
White inhabitants - - 9,848
Free blacks - - - '1,870
Apprentices (or prize slaves) - 956
Hottentots - - - 5199.
Eaves - - - 7,076

18,868
The number of wine farms in the Cape district, and in Stellen-
bosch district, and their produce, is as follows. We have turned
the Cape measures into English, estimating the leaguers at 150 gal-
lons each. If it ir wished to convert the guilders into English
money, we find they are estimated by Mr. Pringle, at ls. 6d. each,
and the calculation may be made accordingly :
Cape. Stellenbosch.
Farms - - - . 41 5.34
Value according to latest transfers 2,872,942 14,069,784
(Guilders). (Guilders).
Number of vine stocks planted thereon 2,396,442 21,369,400
Gallons of wine produced - - 250,800 2,477,500
of Brandy - - 7,200 143,000
Prize negroes on the farms - - 116 54
Hottentots ditto . - - 102 863
Slaves ditto - - . 1,075 4,555

Horses, oxen, and mules, ditto - 1,590 13,116
But in addition to the produce mentioned above, there were
about 150,000 gallons of wine produced on farms not exclusively
wine farms.

The quantity of wine brought Into Cape Town was, in 1806,
1807, and 1808, about 4,009 leaguers on an average; and in 1820,
1821, and 1822, about 11,000 leaguers, or 1,650,000 gallons, and
the quantity exported in each of the three years last mentioned, was
about 5,500 leaguers, or one half.
Of the 376 wine farms in the two districts, fifty-seven have
100,000 vine stocks or upwards, 165 have 50,000 or upwards, and
154 have 20,000 or upwards. We may infer from the statements,
that on an average each ten vine stocks produce about a gallon of
wine, besides a quantity of brandy.—Seolstnon.