The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-12-14 00:00:00

we had

paper chairs, as compared with those made of wood ; and
also of ascertaining, by comparison, the progress made in
design since the first introduction of paper in furnitOre
manufacture. That paper has an advantage over wood we
have already remarked, but we were scarcely prepared to
find such manifest improvement in the design of the paper
furniture at present made, as compared with that first pro-
duced. At first, makers appeared to doubt the capability
of the material, and were consequently cautious in their
effirts ; but at the present time the power of the material
is so well developed that no fear is entertained as to its
capability, and therefore, no design is too difficult for pro-
duction. We were shown some chairs which are in every

respect equal both in appearance and in firmness to the
old Buhl furniture ; and others which are faithful copies
from the richest specimens of old carved English oak.-
-One of these latter has been copied from an example in
Aston Manor House, the seat of James Watt, Esq., near
this town, and presents an appearance of firmness and
solidity equal in every way to its old prototype, whilst in
the delicacy of finish the wood is, of course, far surpassed.
Some chairs are slight and elegant, others massive and
imposing, but all possessing, from the character of their
material, a lightness of which other furniture is destitute.
,One chair is worthy of particular notice. It is Moorish in
aesign, and the groend colour is white, which is picked out
with blue, pink, green, and gold. The back is delicately
perforated, and the ornament is in very good taste. On
the whole, the forms given to the chairs are good, and
great attention has evidently been paid to the importance
'of securing a well-formed outline. A charming and valu-
able feature in the paper furniture is the truth and variety
of the various perforations, which are of all descriptions,
and in many cases most elaborate. Perhaps if the painted
ornaments were freed from some of their gilding, and the
high and glaring colours frequently employed were a little
toned down, a better effect would be gained.
In tables, of various kinds, considerable taste has been
exhibited, both as regards shape and ornament. Much
has been gained in decoration by the introduction of pearl,
as an adjunct to the pencil, and by this means many effects
are acquired which could not be otherwise produced. In
one case, that of a small round table, a group of shells and
coral, resting on sea-weed, is very effectively represented
in pearl. The centre group is contained within a delicate
gilded ring, and the whole is bordered by an arrangement
of shells, again in pearl. The pillar of the table is good in
design, the stem moulding being that of the lotus leaf.—
The colour is rather gaudy, otherwise the general effect of
the article is very good. Other tables are ornamented by
scenes, epiel of landscapes mid genre paintings,

.t the I

y, said,

t only, how

TORM PREDICTED

Society, last week,
that Mr. Dwyer,

:d to ask his opinion of a ver

to the very lowest point.
had observed a barometer which.
lien considerably on
he had remarked
ry low
If the
there could be no doubt

t of the me

lefore, had

)t in our locality, I
aging at no great d

Lre to hear of

t prevent a str

CHAIRMAN

10ths, a

Wh en ev

hout bad weather here, we were
he Atlantic. Local causes

torms i

current from visiting any particu-

1, Col. Reed's theory was, that a

a spiral form—in the centre leaves a va-
conseauence of that vacuum the barometer

ated and tnysterio

subject was as yetverycompli-

case of a whirlwind

s often retarded on the earth's surface,
upper part of it careered through the air. Now
showed the depth of a column of air, and
this was the chief use of that instrument at sea ; for when
I the barometer low, they prepared for
nd according to the present prevailing
sts'of wind blow upon them, they

lower part of it w

while t

a hurricane ;
theo

as the first

can tell upon what side of the ocean the hurricane is
raging. There was an account, a few weeks ago, in. the
"lustrated London News, of a typhoon in the Chinese
the writer says,—" You will be amused to hear
ng by." There was a

we are stopping of a storm p

little hand-booliof storms, which niiglit be the means of
saving much life and property were it more generally
known. He himself conceived it quite possible for a ship

in the tropics to get out of a storm: The air, when it ma
with resistance, sometimes went on with increased force;
and it was a singular fact that many of the hurricanes
commence where the trade winds cease. If heavy rains
fall, an amount of vapour was extracted from the air, a
vacuum was produced, and there must, consequently, be a
set of air towards that vacuum. Perhaps condensation
was the cause of the original set of the air • then there was
the sun's reflection over a large portion of earth—and
many things to bear in mind. But he thought it was a
subject worthy the attention of governments. If they
took it in hand ,it was possible, from the various lighthouses
over Europe, and from vessels' logs, to ascertain, at a
certain moment in the day, the direction of the wind over
a whole hemisphere. Were this done, we might ascertain
causes producing hurricanes which are not felt till weeks
afterwards.

Mr. SPENCER expressed his approval of Mr. Hesphy's
theory. When a cloud formed rapidly, it was certain
that the barometer would fall. A typhoon extends a very
short way. He recollected reading a paper five or six years
ago, at another society, when the late Mr. Turner said, on
one occasion he came from New York to Liverpool.
Another vessel intended to sail at the same time as the
one in which he was, but was detained till the next day.
He enjoyed a fine passage ; but the other vessel had en-
countered heavy storms, and did not arrive till two or
three weeks after, almost in a state of wreck. She had
come with them to the west coast of Ireland, then parted :
and was in the centre of a storm. At first they saw astern
of them a great cloud, and were then enveloped in it all
the way till she got here. It was pretty generally known
amongst captains that, to put the vessel's head to the
point, whence the wind was blowing hardest, was the
readiest way to get out of it.

An interesting di"cussion followed, in which the correct-
ness of Mr. Hesphy's views were generally admitted. Mr.
Dwyer thought, however, he was too local and limited in
his observations. There were many facts which his theory
could not account for.

antral Ilitiszeilanv.
The Times states that no fewer than 1,200 of the London
police were at one time laid up of influenza.
There is no truth in the statement of cholera having
made its appearance in London. _ _

uesday, for

The performances at Covent-garden, on
Shakspeare's house, realised £BOO.
Mr. D. Salomons was, on Monday, elected Alderman

of the Ward of Cordwainers, London.
The Macclesfield Chronicle has been bequeathed a le-
gacy of £lOO, by the late E. D. Davenport, Esq.
Mr. Murphy, the celebrated weather prophet, died very
suddenly on Wednesday.
The bank with the lowest fixed issue is a joint-stock
bank—the Helston Banking C -whose authorised

)mpan
imit of notes is to the extent of £1503 only
At Buckenham, in Norfolk, the seat of the honourable
F. Baring, a party of eight sportsmen shot in one day,
besides hares and rabits, 930 pheasant and 90 partridges.

Mr. John Cook, has sold the Snigsend Estate, about six
miles from Gloucester, to Mr. Fergus O'Connor. The
quantity is about 250 acres, and the price £l2OOO,

HAY HARVEST IN DECEMBER.--On Friday last, we
observed a man cutting grass with a scythe in a field near
the railway station in this town.—Bradford Observer.
On Tuesday night last, the Princess's Theatre, London,
was closed, in consequence of nearly the whole of the per-
formers being laid up with the influenza.
A " Beef Association " has been established at Mont-
rose. They advertise " boiling pieces "at 11. per pound,
and " steaks " at sd.

Oranges are arriving in London in great abundance.
On one day last week no less than ten vessels arrived there
from Oporto, &c., entirely laden with that fruit to the
amount of several thousand packages.
SMALL ECONOMY.-At a meeting of the finance com-
mittee of the Ruthin Town Council last week, the salary
of the Town Clerk was reduced £5, and that of the Trea-
surer £1 per annum.
The assets of Messrs. Coots and Ilillard of London,
American merchants, are £35,462, to meet £72,057 of
liabilities. It is not expected the estate will pay 10s. in
the pound.
The

small country bank of Messrs. Gibson and Sturt
of St. Albans, has stopped payment. Its fixed issue was
less than any other private bank in the kingdom. It had
only £l5OO of notes in circulation.

A. plantation on the estate of Carnousie, in Banffshire,
was lately wilfully fired by some unknown person, and
fine young trees, covering nearly two acres, were destroyed
before the progress of the flames could be stopped.
A Goon SlGN.—Notwithstanding the distress which
has so long existed in this borough, there :are only six
cases from this neighbourhood for trial at the present
assizes, being about half the usual number.—Halifax
Guardian,

GAS.—At a meeting in Southwark last week, one of the
speakers said that nearly all the principal towns in York-
shire were supplied with gas at 3s. 3id. per thousand
cubic feet, and that in the large manufacturing towns the
price did not exceed 4s. to 4s. 6d.
A soldier has lost his life at Glasgow in a singular way
He had gone to sleep on a " common stair ;" in his sleep
he slipped through the rails of the bannisters, and, falling,
was caught by the chin, when his feet were within two
feet of the ground, and was thus suffocated.