The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-10-23 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL AIICHAELMAS SESSIONS.

Yesterday the usual Quarter Sessions commenced, before
JAMBS CLA nice, Esq., Recorder, at the Sessions' House. in
Chapel-street.

The following gentlemen were sworn in on the Grand
Jury

William Rotherham, Esq., Foreman.
John Dutton, John Phillips Mather,
William Swan Dixon, Edwin Moon,
John Davidson, Charles Mozeley,
Richard Eddleston Hyde, William Oxley,
John Jerdein, James Nowell,
Edwin Ward Jackson, Joseph Robinson Pimm,
William Lowe, James Still,
Josh. Langton, Samuel Simtnonds,
James Lee, and Thos. Simpson, Esqrs

The ordinary preliminaries of the Court having been gone
,hrough,

The RECORDER proceeded to deliver his charge. He did
not ag►ee in the extensive changes anticipated in prison dis-
cipline. He thought the changes ought to be more gradual.
He dwelt principally on the importance of educating the
youth of this country, which he looked upon as the most ef-
fectual preventive of crime. •
The very crowded state of our columns prevents us giving
the whole address of the Recorder, and the reports of the
trials, the greater number of which, however, have already
appeared in this paper in the shape of police reports. The
calendar contains 83 cases of felony and 17 of misdemeanour.
Nearly-the whole of them are cases of theft, of an unimpor-
tant character.

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE GRAND JUNCTION

RAILWAY.

Newton-in-the-Willows. Saturday.
This morning an inquest was held before 'John Reyes,
Esq., one of the coroners far this county, to inquire touching
the death of James Clapton, an Irish pig-dealer, who was
killed by the overthrowing of the Liverpool and Manchester
luggage train on Thursday night.
Peter Carn deposed that he was a policeman, employed on
the Liverpool and Mauchester Railway. It was his duty to
turn the points (that is to shift the course of the trains from
one line to another) at the Warrington junction, by trains
coming from Manchester, in order that tney might go on to
the Grand Junction line. William Worslev, another police-
man, was on Thursday night appointed to a similar duty,
having the charge of the points connected with the trains
coining from Liverpool. He was a regular policeman, and
had relieved Roger Gasket!. At about eight o'clock on
Thursday night it was very dark. Witness heard a train of
luggage waggons coming from Liverpool, and saw them turn
on to the Grand Junction line. Shortly after he heard some
pigs screaming; he ran to the spot with a lamp, and found
the engine, tender, and several waggons of the train which
had just passed thrown off the road. The waggons were
turned over, and some were broken ; several of them were

loaded with'pigs. Witness asked if any one was miss►ng or
injured, and ascertained that James Clayton, the deceased,
was missing. Witness went round the waggons, and at
length found the deceased, under the pigs, in a ditch. Plenty
of assistance was obtained, and the deceased wes extricated.
He was quite dead when they got him out. He did not ap-
pear to be bruised, but suffocated by the pigs trampling upon
him; fourteen of the pigs were also dead. It was a Man-
chester train, and not the Grand Junction train, as was at
first anticipated. The engineer had turned off his steam a
lit►le, but when he turned the junction he had been going
very rapidly. No one except deceased was materially hurt.
William Worsley, the other policeman, confirmed this
evidence, and expla►ned the way in which the accident oc-
curred. From hisstatement, added to that of other witnesses,
it appeared that the Grand Junction Railway Company had
been laying down new rails upon what formerly constituted
the Newton and Warrington Railway, but now the Newton
terminus of the Grand Junction line. During this operation
temporary rails were laid down, and the railway, at the par-
ticular spot at which the accident happened, was in such a
state as to render great caution on the part of the engineer
necessary, in order to pass over it in safety, and there was an
absolute necessity on all occasions for the trains to slacken
their speed. The trains of the Grand Junction and the Li-
verpool and Manchester Companies at night carry no dis-
tinctive light, and the witness was taking the Liverpool and
Manchester train for the Grand Junction Birmingham, both
of which leave Liverpool about the same time; turned the
points so as to conduct the-train to which the accident hap-
pened out of regular course on to the Grand Junction line.
The jury found a verdict of " Accidental death," and
levied a deodand of 10s. upon the waggon. At the same
they expressed a wish that the coroner should. write to the
directors of both companies, in their name, to suggest the
propriety of adopting different coloured lights, so as to dis-
tinguish the trains of the one company from the other, when
travelling in the night time.

Lord Skelmersdale has been entertaining the Duchess
Countess of Sutherland, Lord and Lady Stanley, Lord and
Lady Francis Egerton, and a select party of fashionables, at
his seat, Lathoin-house, near Ormskirk.
FIRS.—On Thursday morning, soon after one, a fire broke
out in the soapery of Mr. Blake, kitchen-street; but by the
piwerfuland effectual aid of the Fire-police, was extinguished,
after trifling damage.
George Calvert Taylor has been committed for trial at the
ensuing Hull sessions, on a charge of embezzling large sums
of money belonging to the Stamp-office at Hull. The defi-
ciency is stated to be £1,532 7s. lop.
OLD ENGLISH HOSPITALITY.—OH Tuesday Lord Barham
gave a bountiful dinner, of old English fare, to 200 old men,
in the hall of his mansion at Exton Park.

SINGULAR ATTACHMENT--A respectable farmer, of New-
bold, near Chesterfield, of the name of Wearmouth, was in
possession, as part of his stock, of two animals of quite a dif-
fetent species and temperament, a cow and sow, hut such is
their attachment to each other, especially of the former, that
she eats, sleeps, and seems only happy when in company of
her favourite, not taking any notice of her fellow kine. Her
ladyship is at present in the straw, having a litter of pigs,
which has not exhausted the patience of her brute compa-
nion, who manifests considerable anxiety for her re-appear-
ance in the farm-yard.
CLOSING Suors.--The drapers at Cheltenham have entered
into an agreement to close their shops at eight in the evening,
from Ist October to 31st March, and at nine from the Ist
April to 30th September, Saturdays excepted. This resolu-
tion has been come to in consequence of a remonstrance made
by their assistants, in which the hardship that late hours of
closing imposed upon them was very clearly and sensibly
urged.—The Hereford Journal says--" The mercers and
drapers in this city have agteed to close their shops at eight
in the evening during the next six months, from October to
April."

-The Morning Herald publishes the following from a corre-
spondent:—On Tuesday evening the family of a gentleman
residing in the vicinity of Dorset-square were thrown into a
state of the greatest anxiety in consequence of the disappear-
ance of his niece, who was under his guardianship. It appears
that the young lady had feigned a slight indisposition to be
excused accompanying her relatives to the theatre. The foot-
man, on his return from leaving them at the Haymarket
Theatre, having a message to deliver to her from his mistress,
was much alarmed at not finding her in the house, more par-
ticularly as a female domestic was likewise absent, and a let-
ter in the hand-writing of the young lady laid on the parlour
table. He immediately took a cab and hastened back to the
theatre, and delivered it to her uncle, who instantly returned
home, and obtaining a clue to her destination from the letter,
forthwith ordered post-horses and went in pursuit of the fair
fugitive. It is rumoured in the neighbourhood that she has
placed herself under the protection of an officer of high rank
in the army, who is upwards of thirty years her senior, and
was on terms of the greatest friendship with the family, who
had not the most remote idea of his intentions. The young
lady has but just entered her nineteenth year, possessed of
great personal attractions, and will be entitled to considera-
ble property on attaining her majority.
LIST OF PASSENGERS BY THE GREAT WESTERN, FROM
NEW YORK.—J. 'Watt, G. D. O'Gowan, D. B. Day, F.
Frey, J. Walter, James Cox, C. Oliver, F. E. Field, R.
Ashton, J. Jamieson, Daniel Maule, P. Hutton, Mr. Gunter,
Mr. Harmony and servant, J. C. Burbage, A. Craig, A. J.
Ciprient,—Detheir, C. E. Douglas,—Pilling, Dr. Knox,
R. Mannicart, G. Ashton, jun., L. M. Wiley, F. A. Delane,
Mr. Smith, Gourand, Colonel Grant and servants,—Allan,
H. F. Baker, L. Bugee, P Sturmer, W. Douglas, H. G.
Thompson, Mr. and Mrs. Stewart, Mrs. Thompson and ser-
vants, S. Peroot, Mr. Owen, F. A. Napier, A. N. Palmer,
J. A. Palmer, J. A. Bradley,—Freemen, R. H. M'Cardv,
Mr. Constable, Mr. Purse, H. H. Leeds, E. C. and Mrs.
and Miss Delavan, H. Bleaker,—Thayer, H. Wreaks and
Son, Charles Coley,--Montgomerie, Mr. Hyde, R.L.Goddard,
Mr. Bacon, Mr. Morley, Mr. Frank Morley, Mr. Sands,
Mr. Williams, Mr. Daniell, Mr. J. W. Patterson, Mr. G.
Richards, C. W. Foster, James Wood, T. Wood, Mr.
Munroe, Mr. and Mrs. Davis, John Doggett, Mr. Hartley,
Mr. L. Webb, B. F. Roebeck, Mr. Worthington, Major
Bridges, Mr. Moltrarn, Lord Arthur Lennox, Lady Lennox,
W. H. Lilstone, M. M. Thompson, T. Motely, J. K. War-
burgh, S. B.Strauy, J. Hamilton, J. S. Williams, Mr.
Lad, Alfred Large, Mr. Latrim, Hon. W. H. F. Cavendish,
Major Power, Captain Coryton, F. Leclerc, J. P. Hamil-
ton, C. D. Fisher, Win. Cormach, Captain Penner,—Law-
ford, H. J. Jenkins, Thomas Wilson, Miss Maule, Miss
Muir, Judge Robinson, William Robinson, Miss Robinson,
Miss Louisa Robinson. Miss Mary Robinson, Charles Rob-
inson, and servants, Mr. Arnold, Colonel W. Nicholls, J.
M. Constable, Miss Emma Purse, R; Maynard, and Mr.
Carlow.

LIVERPOOL MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.

LECTURES ON CHEMISTRY AS APPLIED TO THE ARTS,

On Wednesday evening Dr. Kane delivered his seventh
lecture, upon the application of fatty bodies to the arts.
I have this evening to bring under your consideration a
very important portion of organic substances, as well consi-
dered by themselves as in their varied application to the arts.
The bodies to which I allude, are those which are termed
fatty bodies, and which constitute one of the most important
natural substances of all these which are met with in chemis-
try. They present to us a remarkable degree of variety, be-
ing derived as well from the animal as from the vegetable
kingdom; and lie have them of all degrees of consistency,
from the most perfectly solid to the most perfectly fluid. We
meet with them likewise of various degrees of chemical con-
stitution. No matter from what kingdom of nature derived,
the fatty bodies are all compounds of carbon, hydrogen. and
oxygen ; 'and it is a remarkable fact, that in all the tatty bo-
dies which we derive from the animal kingdom- that the fatty
substances, no matter where we obtain them, are invariably
destitute of azote. There they differ from all the other ani-
mal substances, in being free from nitrogen, and therefore
attach themselves much more to the bodies in the vegetable
kingdom. In the fatty bodies, therefore, we have the point
of union between the animal and the vegetable kingdoms, as
they are common to each, and have the same properties. We
are fortunately placed, with regard to the chemical history of
these bodies, (and not only are they of paramount impor-
tance when applied to the arts, but also to the laboratory of
of the chemist) for we have a degree of knowledge of them 1
which we have not of any other department of organic che-
mistry.
Fatty bodies, no matter whence derived, may be
looked upon as a mixture of two bodies, one of which melts
at 120°, but which at ordinary temperature is brittle, and may
be reduced to a powder: the other is liquid, and remains so
far below the temperature of melting ice. These two bodies,
one of which is solid and the other liquid, mixed in different
proportions, give all the different fats and oils which exist.
For instance, mutton fat consists almost entirely of the solid
substance; but the oils which are in the liquid state contain,
as their principal ingredient, the liquid material of the fats,
and are almost destitute of the solid matter. These two con-
stituents, into which all fatty substances may be separated,
have been termed by their discoverer stearine and elain.
The stearine, in the state of purity, is almost as hard as wax.
It does not soil tie fingers ;—it requires a temperature far
above that of the hand to soften it,—and, indeed, is scarcely
a fatty body at all. If we obtain perfectly pure elaiu,
and it is extremely difficult to obtain it perfectly free from
the solid material, we find it a perfectly colourless and
transparent oil, and that it is wholly indisposed to soli-
dity, fur which reason it has been used with considerable
advantage to oil the pivots of chronometers and watches
where they may be exposed to considerable cold, in which
oil would be liable to freeze, so as to retard the motion of
the machinery. In order to obtain stearine and elain, it
is only necessary to take any fat whatever; and, generally
speaking, when we want to obtain either of these constituen ts,
we have recourse to those fats in which they exist in the
greatest quantity. If we want to obtain stearine we take

mutton faA, whe-re it exists in great plenty, cut'it into slices,
and plac it between the folds of blotting paper, and submit it
to the pressure of a considerable power; the oily properties
of the fat are forced out and absorbed by the paper, and the
stearine remains behind. By changing the blotting paper,
and again submitting the stearine to pressure, until we cannot
force out any more oil, we obtain it perfectly pure. A more
perfect method is suggested by the action of ether upon
animal fats. 'Sulphuric ether dissolves both stearine and
elain, but elain more readily than stearine; and the conse-
quence is, if we put some mutton suet into ether, and leave
the ether to digest upon the fat, we shall find that the ether
will dissolve the whole of the elain, and will not dissolve
much of the stearine. If we put the mixture upon a filter,
and wash the stearine with a little additional ether, in order
to carry away any impure particles, we shall have stearine
perfectly pure. stearine has been applied to the manufac-
ture of candles. A very curious chemical phenomena is
produced by the combustion of a candle. A candle consists
of a quantity of fatty substance, surrounding a wick which
has the power, by virtue of capillary attraction, of drawing
liquid tallow up its pores. The action which ensues, when
the wick is inflamed, is nearly similar to that which happens
when oil is dropped upon the red hot bricks in the retorts of
the gas works, and the same decomposition goes on in each
instance. The great difficulty in the candle, is the following :
—ln order to have a candle perfectly good in theory, the
combustion should go on exactly so that there should be no
more of the tallow melted than is required to supply the
wick, and that the lower part of the wick should not be too
much cooled. With the tallow we find that, in consequence
of the great quantity of elain which it contains, the melt-
ing goes on too rapidly. It is evident that the disagree-
able effect of this rapid melting of the tallow, may be got rid
of in proportion as we get rid of the elain which it contains.
To do this, a vety ingenious artifice has been employed, to
manufacture what are called stearine candles. In order- to
effect it a large quantity of tallow is melted. The stearine
and the elain are only mechanically united, so that if we
allow a mass of tallow to cool until it has been only half
solidified, it is evident that the first portion of the tallow
which solidifies will be that which it is the most difficult to
melt. Therefore, by melting a considerable portion of
tallow, and then allowing it to cool one-half, we get, upon
pouring away the tallow, which is still liquid, very good
stearine, fully equal to spermaceti and the inferior kinds
of wax, for the purposes of candle making. All acids have
a-tendency to combine with stearine and elaiu, and to gene-
rate peculiar compounds, whose immediate nature it is not
now my province to enter upon. But the arsenious acid will
combine with these substances, and generate a poison of the
most dangerous kind. Now, when arsenious acid is mixed
with tallow, it will produce a candle as solid and white as
that manufactured from pure stearine. The result has been
the manufacture and sale of candles containing arsenic. I
have myself analysed several, which contained great quanti-
ties, so much so, that if several of them were burned in a
room the air would be very much contaminated, and great
injury might be done. Not only so, but I have seen certifi-
cates accompanying candles (and have myself obtained them),
which candles, when analysed, were found to contain arsenic
in considerable quantities, and I was told that the bare sus-
picion was a vulgar prejudice. The public cannot be too
cautious in the introduction of such dangerous articles into
their domestic economy, and should by all the means in their
power endeavour to put an end to the manufacture of such
candles. When we come to examine more accurately the
constitution Of stearine and elain, we find that they resemble
in a very remarkable degree the classes of bodies so fami-
liar to chemists, under the name of the ordinary salts. The
base of these salts is so novel compared with what we have
hitherto examined, that it is necessary to examine it. We
find, that by the action of chemical agents upon stearine,
that it is separated into two bodies, the one acid, and the
other basic. The acid, as it is not obtained from any body
but stearine, is termed stearic acid,—the base with which
stearic acid unites is glycerine. We owe the discovery of
glycerine to the most illustrious chemist who ever existed—
Scheele. Stearine therefore is a etearate of glycerine.
Elain likewise contains an acid, which is termed the oleic
acid; and this is likewise united with glycerine. In fact, the
different varieties of facts are mixtures in which glycerine is
the common base. The acids differ. Let us consider what
must be the consequence of this basic formation of salts.
We see that we may be able to expel the acid by some other
more powerful acid.- On this we found the manufacture of
soap. The use of soap, and the principle upon which its ap-
plication t a a cleansing material is founded, is the following.
The great majority of the substances which soil or dirty our
wearing apparel, are insoluble in water, and hence pure
water could not remove them. But they are soluble in alka-
lies, and we could employ an alkali to remove them; but as
an alkali would be likely to destroy the clothes, it is useful to
reduce its power, and this is done by combining the alkali
with some substance which has got a sufficient power to coun-
teract the injurious effects of the alkali, but which is innocent
enough to enable the alkali to come into play, wherever it is
necessary. By taking soap, which is a combination of
these fatty bodies with alkalies, when it comes into contact
with any dirty substance it gives out the alkali in proper
portions. Thus the utility of soap depends upon its being a
salt. The manufacturer of soap depends upon this property.
Taking, in the first place, the manufacture of the white soap,

—the manufacturer takes white tallow, which contains a great
portion of stearine, and soaps differ in four ways. They differ
in the proportion in which they contain the alkalies—potash
and soda. They differ in their appearance, because soda
uniformly gives hard soaps, whilst potash generally gives
what are called the soft soaps. Potash never gives a hard
soap, and soda never produces a soft soap. Again, the stea-
rinesoaps are harder, and the elain softer or much more

liquid; we thus have a very hard soap arising from two
causes, and a very soft soap from two other causes. In order
to make the hard soap, the manufactnrer takes the tallow and
melts it in a vat, containing water, for the pui pose of prevent-
ing the tallow trom burning. In some instances, the tallow
is melted by the aid of steam. The alkali is then poured
upon it, which alkali is a carbonate of soda. It is dissolved

in water, and a quantity of quicklime added. The quicklime
takes the carbonic acid and the soda is set free in a caustic
state. The stearic acid is a very weak acid, and could not
expel the carbonic acid, hence it is necessary to have caustic
soda. When the soda is added to the vat in which the tallow
is melted, it is stirred and the tire applied. As it is heated,
the alkaline portions of the liquor disappear, and as they
do, the manufacturer adds more and more of the alkali, until
the soap will not take up much more. When the soap has
bailed sufficiently, which the manufacturer knows by the
state of the pellicle upon the top, and other symptoms, the
soap is run into frames, where it is allowed to cool, and then
it is cut up into the wedges in which it is seen in commerce.
There remains Lehind, in the vat, a large quantity of glyce-
rine, which is sweet to the taste, and there is a quantity of
soap in it. It is necessary to separate the soap still better
from the liquor, and this is done by taking advantage of a
remarkable property of soap, that it is soluble in pure water
but not in salt and water. By adding salt to the water the
soap floats upon the surface of the water, and is readily sepa-
rated. In order to shew that soap is the union of an orga-
nic acid with au alkali, it is only necessary to take the soap
and add to it any acid whatever. Thus, if we add a small
quantity of sulphuric acid, there immediately separates a
quantity of a whitish powder, which floats, and we gradually
collect, as a-clot, upon the upper surface of the liquor. We
shall find that this is owing to the separation of stearic acid
In fact, the solution of soap in water is never perfectly transpa-
rent, for so slight is the affinity of the alkali of soap, that if we
take distilled water which has been exposed for a certain length
of time to the atmosphere so as to imbibe a certain quantity
of carbonic acid, and dissolve soap in it a portion of the
carbonic acid will unite with some of the alkali, and there is
a portion of the stearic acid set free, whieh gives to the
water a certain milkiness which cannot be removed by the
most careful filtration. The same soap which dissolves
milkily in water, will dissolve transparently in spirit. The
transparency of the solution of soap in spirit is taken advan-
tage of for what is termed in commerce the Naples soap.
The soap is dissolved in strong spirit, and the spirit is scented
by the addition of a volatile oil. The liquor is poured into a
mould, and forms a jelly which, as the spirit evaporates, be-
comes a bard transparent mass. This is the process of the
manufacture of the hard white soap, which is an union of the
hard stearine with soda. Now there are a variety of other soda
soaps which are made use of. In the first instance, there is a
very important branch of manufacture which constitutes the
yellow soap of commerce. At one time it was made of very
ordinary fatty matters, bad tallow, or any such substance too
much injured to make good white soap, and there was a con-
sistency given to them by resin. This made a good soap, but
it was coloured yellow. Of late years there has been a con-
siderable quantity of palm oil introduced into commerce,
which has given quite a new impulse to the mauuracture. It
is, more properly speaking, the butter of the palm. This
palm oil consists of stearine and elain, mixed with a remark-
able red colouring matter which is of a resinous nature, and
is merely intermixed by means of a spirit. We can sepa-
rate the palm oil into its constituents, and we can get. the
oily principle pure. This in commerce is not done, and the
cheapness of the manufacture has introduced a soap of the
soda kind, as good for all practical purposes, and differing only
in colour from the tallow soap which is so high in price. In
the manufacture of the soft soap, precisely the same process
is followed as that which I have described.
The combinations of the stearic acid with the alkalies are
soluble in water when we except the slight opalescence which
arises from the presence of the carbonic acid which water
contains. Stearic acid will combine with the metals and
earths, but they are all insoluble in water, and cannot be
used in.Fleansing; but they are used for other purposes of
great inspartance. The manufacture of soap of lime is of
great interest. In order to make this, it is only necessary to
take a solution of soap and water, and to add to it some lime
water. A copious white precipitate is formed, which is a
combination of stearic acid with lime. This soap of lime is
in fact the stearate of lime, which is always generated when
a solution of soap is added to water containing lime. The
water in this neighbourhood, and in fact the majority of wa-
ter, contains traces of carbonate of lime, and in all cases,
when we add soap to it, we obtain a copious white precipitate.
Waters containing lime are termed hard, and the action of
soap forms a very excellent test for hard water. Hard water

will not wash without an extravagant expenditure of e
because the soap, instead of acting upon the cloth, wil
decomposed, and instead of the soap of an alkali, you
have a soap of lime, which is insoluble. And so, if watt
hard, it will not extract infusions : it will be unfit to n
, tea. In order to ascertain whether the water is fit for ma.
tea or not, it is only necessary-to add a little of the tinc
of soap. The soap of lead is very important in medii
purposes. If we take a solution of soap and water, and
to it a solution of acetate of lead, you will perceive that t
will immediately be produced a copious white precipitate;
fact, that the whole will be completely coagulated. This
of lead constitutes the diachylon plaster of the drug
which, by the addition of a little resinous matter, bec4
sticking plaster. It is made by adding to any fatty ho
tharge, which is oxide of lead. In the manufacture of
mon white soap, the alkali employed to expel the glyq
is soda, and the soap produced is a stearate of soda,
glycerine is set free. In the manufacture of sticking plat
you have the same ingredients, viz. the stearic acid ant
glycerine; but in place of applying soda, which would
you a soda soap, you employ an oxide of lead. You put
fatty material, which for this purpose is a mixture of oil
lard, into a copper, and melt it, and then add a little lithe
by which glycerine is disengaged, and you have diach'
plaster: so that the soap of lead is based upon the same r
ciple as the soap of commerce. If you add to a solutio
soap a solution of a salt of copper, the copper will be c
pletely precipitated, under the form of a greenish white p
der, which is a soap, or stearate of copper. If I take a a
!ion of soap, and add to it a solution containing quicksil
we have an insoluble soap of quicksilver: in fact, a solut
of soap will precipitate all of these metallic oxides. Th;
a very important property of soap with regard to poisons, 1
it may be well for individuals to know the fact, because s,
is a substance which every body has in the house, and
desirable that we should know the uses or misuses which n
be made of ordinary household matters. You will obse
that soap has the power of precipitating a solution of met:
If a poison, therefore, consisting of a solution of corros
sublimate, or of any salt of copper or lead, were taken,
giving the solution of soap in water, you will precipitate I
metallic oxide, and counteract the effects of the poison :
fact, there is but one case where the administration of sc
would not be nsefill, and there it would be absolutely inju
ous, and that is where the poison is arsenic. In all cai
where the precipitation of metallic oxides is effected by sos
the metallic oxide is a base. if the metallic oxide were t
acid, what would be the case? Why, this :—we should ha
the same result as when we added the mineral acid to t
soap and water. There would be a coagulation ; but ti
coagulation no longer results from the precipitation of t
poisoning matter, but from the separation of the stearic ac
from the alkali ; and if a person has been poisoned, or is
danger of being poisoned, by taking arsenic, you must
member that the white arsenic is an acid, and that the arser
will take the alkali of the soap, which will increase its I
lubility, and the danger of the poison will be increased.
all cases, however, except !his one, we may look upon t:
administration of soap as being a most useful remedy. I
course, there are for these different poisons specific counte
poisons, which are well known to the philosophic physicia
who would of course invariably apply them; but as a gener
recipe for a fami'y to make use of while awaiting the arriv.
of a physician, the solution of soap may be administered i
the case of poisoning by any mineral except arsenic.
The fatty bodies have been divided in chemistry into tb
saponiable and unsaponiable. More generally speaking, th
one consists of those bodies which are characterized by bein
salts of glycerine, and the others do nut contain any glyct
rine at all. The second of these classes, in order to uncler
stand their nature, we must look upon them as being simpl
vegetable acid matters, which exist in nature uncombiued
In the ordinary fats the acid material is combined with th
base, glycerine. But in this second class of fats the fatt'
material exists in nature free. A remarkable instance o

this is in the resins, and when we come to examineiid
organization, we find it to be singular. Resin exists in r
great variety of plants, and in the oils which are volatile
resembling spirits of turpentine. Now, when spirits of tur-
pentine, which consist of five atoms of carbon, and four atoms
of hydrogen, are exposed to the air, they generally absort
oxygen, and doing so are converted into the ordinary white
resin. In the family of trees which yield turpentine, on dis-
tillation, you will observe the outer coat becomes marked
with resin, and this occurs from the liquid turpentine,
which passes through the chinks absorbing the oxygen of the
air. Thus also we find whets turpentine is locked up in a
store, for a lony, time, and the doors not opened, that those
who enter are suffocated, or in danger of being so, in conse-
quence of the oxygen being withdrawn from the air by the
turpentine, and tree nitrogen only remaining behind. The
oxydation, however, becomes more rapid if we supply tur-
pentine with nitric acid, or any other substance which will
give out more oxygen. If we take some nitric acid, and mix
it with one-fourth of its volume of oil of vitriol, in order to
thy it, and add the mixture to the turpentine, the oxygen of
the acid passes over to the turpentine so rapidly as to set fire
to it. Thus the passage from the state of turpentine into
that of a resin depends upon the absorption of oxygen,
and hence we might be led to infer that the resin contains
acid properties, and such is the case. The resins combine
with alkalies, and in doing so generate a class of bodies
resembling soaps. They do so readily, but they have no
glycerine. This soap of resin is still introduced into the
yellow soaps. It was introduced still more when the soap
was made from bad lard and tallow, but the soap of resin is
used in considerable quantities, in a pure condition, in paper
snaking In the manufacture of paper, where it is made by
the well-knovvu paper machine, the paper is sized before
going into the machine, and for this purpose a solution of
common soap, with a little excess of potash, is made use of;
but as frequently vegetable size is made use of, which is a so-
lution of resin and potash. In fact, if we take a quantity of
resin, powder it, and warm it in a solution of potash, we ob-
tain a liquor which is transparent. We may call it a resinate
of potash, for if we add it to some acid we obtain a large por-
tion of resin. Therefore, in the sizing of the paper the resi-
nate of potash is mixed up with the pulp before it enters the
machine, and hence there is a varnish given to the paper,
and it becomes more impenetrable to ink that it would with-
out it. The coinpo on of this vegetable size was kept for
a considerable rim a secret, but I was curious enough to
analyze it, and I found it to be a simple resinate of potash.
If we take a solution of a resinate of potash, and add to it a
solution of acetate of lead, we have a precipitate which is
resinate of lead. Wax is a body which consists of three or
four different materials which are more nearly allied to the
resins than to any of the fatty bodies. They do not yield
any glycerine when they are saponified, but they resemble
the resins in conibination with the alkalies.
I have been thus rapid in my description of the different
combinations and properties of the fatty bodies, for the pur-
pose of being enabled this evening to bring before you some
very interesting details, which I was obliged to postpone
from another lecture. When we were engaged on the sub-
ject of the manufacture of glass and porcelain, 1 was obliged
to enter into the chemical properties of the ingredients and
omit-the mechanical operations. These I intend to enter into
this evening, fur which purpose, therefore, I have curtailed my
remarks upon the manufacture of soap. You will recollect
that I mentioned that the constituents of porcelain were silica
clay and accidental lime, but the lime being merely acci-
dental, and not being present in the finer portions of porcelain,
we may look upon them as being entirely composed of clay
and silica. Pure clay contains silica chemically combined
as a silicate of alumina. The silicate of alumina is absolutely
infusible, and from its great contractibility when heated, it
would be absolutely impossible to make a vessel which would
not crack and fly into pieces in the process of baking. To
Frevent this, silica is added. There are two limits in the
manufacture of porcelain. On the one hand, it may approxi-
mate in its nature to glass, and when it does so, it becomes
too fusible for the purpose of the manufacturer, and too liable
to clack, with sudden heat and cold. Clay is not so liable
to crack when exposed to sudden varieties of temperature as
glass. There is, therefore, the liability to breakage if the
porcelain comes too near to glass, and the liability to shrink-
ing and cracking in the baking if there is not silica enough.
Another object of the porcelain manufacturer is to get such
a degree of silica as to give a certain degree of opalescence
to the structure. Cornish clay and flint are added, and mixed
together in water, with such a degree of intricacy that no
chemical analysis could discover any difference of properties
In the diflerent portions of the mixture. This is managed by
means of a machine, consisting of a spiral arrangement of
knives for cutting and mixing the ingredients. Now Ilet us
suppose that a mass of clay is passed to a workman, he takes
it upon the most ancient piece of machinery in existence--
the potter's wheel, which differs not in the least from that
mentioned in Scripture, and moulds it into the rough form
by his hands, by virtue of the centrifugal force of the clay
whilst revolving on the wheel. It is then placed to dry in a
room heated to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. It is much thicker
than it ought to be. and the extra clay is removed by turning
the article upon a lathe, by which that beautiful smoothness
and sharpness of outline is given to it, which could not other-
wise be obtained. The article is then dried still further, and
after that comes the first firing, and subsequently the appli-
cation of the glaze. The first fire is the severest trial to which

it is subjected; in fact, the object of the first firing is the
solidifying together of the particles of the silica. If we take
a material consisting entirely of clay, and subject it to a high
temperature, it would crack and fritter away. But when a
piece of clay, properly prepared, is fired, it is converted into
a sort of half vitrified substance. After the first firing, por-
celain is called biscuit. This biscuit is porous, because the
vitrification does not extend through the whole mass delay;
if it did it would be pure glass. This biscuit would allow the
tea to sweat out of it and form a dew on the other side. It is
used in the East Indies for cooling porter, and on the con-
tinent fur cooling water. The liquor intended to be cooled
is placed in the biscuit vessel, and hung in the air; the liquid
passes through and forms a dew; this dew evaporates, and
in doing so takes away so much caloric from the vessel and
liquid as will enable it to assume the vaporous state, and so
far cool it as to make it very refreshing. After the ware has
been brought to the condition of biscuit, the cooling and glaze
are applied. The principle of the glaze is to case the earth-
enware in a sheet of glass. The sheet of glass is not porous,
and consequently if you take a piece of biscuit ware, which
is porous, and cover it with the glaze, which is not porous,
you have of course rendered the ware perfectly water tight.
This is done by taking a variety of metals, which are easily
melted, .(as the only essential character of the glaze is, that
it must melt at a point beneath that at which the earthenware
would melt,) for instance, calcined flint and borax, and mix
them with water into the consistency of cream. By immers-
ing the biscuit in it, and then placing it in a furnace suffici-
ently hot to melt the glaze, we shall get the glassy character
which it is necessary that porcelain should have. There is
another glaze, which, though not applied to any but the coars-
est earthenware, is still very important, that is the salt glaze.
In order to apply this, the process is very simple. The
pieces of earthenware, in the state of biscuit, are piled up in
the furnace and heated to redness, but not so much as in the
first process of firing. The workmen then pitch a quantity
of salt into the furnace, which becoming converted into
vapour, comes into contact with the earthenware. You will
recollect that earthenware contains a quantity of silica, and
the salt coming into contact with it, the silica takes the soda,
one constituent of the salt, and muriatic acid, its other con-
stituent, is set free. The silicate of soda is pure plass, and
by this means we generate it upon the surface of the earthen-
ware. When earthenware was made in this manner, the
quantity of muriatic acid set free is so enormous, that it pro-
duced the expulsion of the persons who first made earthen-
ware in Staffordshire. The manufacture, however, gradually
recovered its stand, and now the valleys of Staffordshire are
covered on vitrifying days with the fumes of this acid. There
is one more stage of the powers in which the porcelain is
ornamented. A variety of coloured metallic oxides are
taken, and being laid upon the earthenware, are burnt in
along with the glass. For instance, the oxide of cobalt pos-
sesses the property of colouring glass a beautiful blue
colour. In the manufacture of earthenware, where the
pattern is exceedingly neat, it is evident that it would be im-
possible to paint it on without great expense ; the pattern is
therefore engraved on copper-plates, and printed on tissue
paper, precisely as ordinary engraving; hut in place of ordi-
nary printer's ink, there is an ink employed, which is com-
posed of pastes incorporated with metallic oxides. A copy
of the engraving having been taken, the tissue paper is then
handed over to girls, who cut up the pattern into its differ-
ent parts. They then take the pieces of tissue paper, having
the engravings upon them, and by means of a smooth piece
of bone or of metal, and even with the fingers, they rub it
over the ware, which is then laid aside for several hours until
theengraving has been properly transferred. The ware is
then plunged into water, when the tissue paper comes off
leaving the pattern upon the ware. In the first instance the
pattern is of a different colour, but the process of firing not
only fixes it, but brings it to the colour desired.

On Wednesday evening, Hobert. Wallis, Esq., of Loudon,
will commence a course of eight lectures upon Popular
Astronomy, which cannot fail to be highly attractive.

DUNNING EXTRAORDINTRY.—The editor of a religious
paper, the N. 11. ()Gamer, requests his subscribers not to
compel him to dun them in another world. They ought surely
to pay in this world, but should they neglect, there is no fear
of his venturing into their neighbourhood in another world for
the settlement of an old score !

THE PIGS AND THE OAK TREE.

A discontented, grunting brood,
•A truly swinish, multitude,
Grazed where an oak its branches spread,
And on the falling acorns fed.

The shade was ample, rich the fare,
Yet grumbling discontent was there;
If aught to raise their spleen befall,
The tree must bear the blame of all;
On this abuse is freely spent;
Their surly humours here find vent;
They join in murmuring and groaning,
All thought of gratitude disowning.

One day, when all had eat and drunk, •
And most to slumbers now had sunk,
One, standing up, in accents loud,
Awoke the sleepy-headed crowd.
Then, more enlighten'd than the rest,
He thus the gathered throng addressed:—

" My friends, be wise, improve. your lot,
" ,Nursttyrilde_at_ye_know not what ;
IliStir state is bad, you all agree,
" Attend, and learn the cause from me.
" Behold the trunk, a vile abuse !
" A mere incumbrance! where's its use ?
"'Phis unproductive log, I tell ye,
" Has never helped to fill your belly;
" Nay, could we but the trunk remove,
" We'd pluck the fruit that hangs above;
" From which (in truth the case is hard)
" We most unjustly are debated.
" Come then, my friends, your spirits rouse,
" Werthrow the trunk, bring low the boughs;
" By one bold feat we'll raise our fame,
" And earn importance and a name."

Ile finished. None the point disputed;
This thought so well their fancy suited,
They scarce have patience to attend,
And hear the speaker to an end,
But, with wild haste, the tree surround,
And fall to rooting up the ground,
Employ their uttermost endeavour
To sap the trunk, the roots to sever;
The tree, at length, begins to shake;
The herd redoubled efforts make;
It falls! but brings unlooked-for fate,
Full fifty perish by the weight.
The rest bewail them not; 'tis clear
The fewer mouths the better cheer,
(Like Levellers, who ne'er are known
To grieve for woes, except their own;)
Thus, unconcerned, their joy they prove,
By cramming till they scarce can move,
Renew the feast from day to day,
Till all is gone ; and now must they
Go seek their food where best they may.

MORAL.
So when the friends of Revolution
Would fain o'erthrow the Constitution,
King, Church, and Peerage in a heap,
They'd better look before they leap,
Nor sacrifice, by their temerity,
All peace and national prosperity.
So they themselves would soon destroy
• The gains they panted to enjoy;
Those gains for which the Whigs would barter
Religion, Laws, and Magna Charts;
And late discover, to their cost,
Their credit gone and commerce lost.
Thus when we hear the propositions
(Well backed by numberless petitions)
Of those who wish to separate
The holy bond of Church and State;
Bills which, to take them in their true sense,
Would vote the House of Lords a nuisance;
Notions by which the mob is courted,
Proposed by knaves, by fools supported ;
We judge some strange infatuation
Possesses the deluded nation,
Which sees not throt.gh the thin disguise
That covers infamy and lies ;
But suffers, to her own undoing,
The wretches who would work her ruin
(Manchester Courier.)

R. D. H.