The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-12-23 00:00:00

riEc. 23, 1836.

!fixate, was an object of respect ; now, it is a subject of
contempt- Then none but men of wealth and ednca-
u°o—sthe primates of a town—ever became members of
tt oorporation ; now the riff raff are all eligible to
mem-
bership with the municipal body. Then the inhabitants
i:tvitew nothing of those feverish and fatal excitements
ich now, periodically, exacerbate the bosom of every
Cit►„ ; and if we admit, for the sake of argument, that
i`otrew acres of land should, under the new system, be let
a few Pounds per annum more than under the old, is
Suet a paltry economy a compensation for all the mass of
tal arnitY
with which the country is now inflicted? We
certainly cannot boast of purer patronage in the disposal
of
municipal officers, or of men, in office, possessed of
higher personal virtue, or endowed with superior ability
with character more sacred to preserve, or sensibility
motegot alive` to public censure. No: for peace we have
an. 4c°rd; for social sympathies, rancorous personal
rt.nnaitY ; for substantial virtue, empty presumption.
vv
Ith the poet we feelingly exclaim,
HOW
ill exchanged are things 14:e those, for thel, ."
From the narrow space within which we are obliged to
co
rifin" our observations, we have restricted ourselves to
„tn, ereaketch of one or two of the effects of the munici-
pal reform bill ; but we think even these brief and im-
PerreellY drawn outlines will be sufficient to show to every
candid mind the fatal consequences of reform—that it has
ti ied those flood-gates which kept out the raging waves
°iti rebellion and political desolation—that the torrent has
1.44 broken down some of the finest mounds of the
constitution and threatens, if no effectual barrier can be
r
lased to obstruct its course, to wash away every trace of
1:44 ancient and venerable institutions.
We earnestly implore every man who professes to love
country—who -reads its history with patriotic feeling
Who
is proud of the character which past generations
ave Conferred upon the name of Britain—to raise his
yak; and employ his influence, to stop this work of de-
ilittliation- We appeal to the dispassionate observation of
-alPtotial, truth to confirm tour fears ; and we defy the
enemies of peace, the myrmidons of reform, to point to
~
"Ile Positively good result, the legitimate offspring of in-
aovation which wisdom and firmness might not have
araPassed without this blot upon the statute book. W e
feel the more importunate upon this all-involving sub-
"l
;eet, because we believe the torch which has already been
applied to one part of the constitutional temple, and ac-
t alaPlished its ruin, is about to be thrust into another,
till tile work of destruction shall be complete. This
therefore is a subject which comes home to our bosoms ;
anal we know not in what way the feeble efforts of our
Pen could be so usefully employed, as in warning our
Countrymen of these approaching dangers; in which,
though the stakes may differ, there is no one—no not
even
the incendiary hand itself that carries the flame—
at has his all at issue.
Perhaps we may be asked by the " upright heart and
pore" what step is to be taken to avert these evils—in
What spot of the constitutional camp his services can he
4toet'available ? Our answer is brief. Follow where-
aver the leaders of conservatism may advance. When
parliament 13101 again meet let your sentiments be
"own to your tellow-townsmen, that your opinions may
Rive rise to a public expression. Should a general elec-
tion be precipitated, support those who have already
Stood forwards the champions of your liberties and of
Your institutions—civil, religious, and political—who
have fought, manfully and successfully, against the fur-
ther incursions of plundering reform—who have mane-
eled the venal hands of spoliation. We shall ever be at
°Ur post, upon the watch-tower of duty, and we shall
give timely notice of every movement of the enemy. It
is not for speculative points we are contending—the as-
"ndancy of one party or the discomfiture of another—it
tS
"pro aril et focis"—for deliverance from infidel and
'hsurrectionary tyranny—it is that England may never
he ashamed or " afraid to know herself."

It has been affirmed, but we know not with what truth,
theta chemist was never found in a madhouse. Although
'cantatized with all the wit of the age of Shakspeare, and
ridiculed with all the pleasantry of Erasmus, and exposed
t° the shafts of Quevedo, chemistry has always been
4 favourite with mankind; and now that she is clothed
in the sober vestures of genuine philosophy, she is be-
"me an object of veneration. Her empire is co-extensive
Nature herself; and a flower cannot blush before
- •
lry steps forwards and explains the physiological laws or
vegetable and animal life upon which both depend. But
"r business !kw is to wait upon Mr. flemming—a task
We always undertake with pleasure.
We do not quite agree with Mr. H.'s distinction be-
%e'en steam and vapour. " Steam," lie says, "is the
'apoor of water at 212 degrees; but vapour is the term
iPplied when vaporization takes place at lower tempera-
%Fees" We •should prefer calling steam, that state of
Water in which it is rendered invisible by combination
with caloric; vapour, that state of water which appears
When so much caloric is abstracted from steam as to
!ender it visible. Let us begin at what temperature we
11°.Y, if a portion of water at such temperature were
'titrodtaced into a vacuum, a part of it would rise into the
vacuum, and be invisible, like steam ; and mathematical
f°rlnulre have been contrived to expt ess this quantity at
all temperatures; so that steam is only a saltus, when
Water is exposed to pressure. But if we take a volume
Of steam, or steam and air, and abstract a sufficient por-
tion of the calorie from them, there will instantly appear
a Portion of vapour. Neither do we see the application
°I. the "electrified sponge" to the explanation of the phe-
nomenon of rain. In the first place, the hypothesis is not
'iiPported by the fundamental desideratum, viz., that
electricity will cause water to assume a gaseous form
'Jut suppose a volume of air saturated with moisture,
and charged with positive electricity, to meet a like vo-
lume of air charged with negative electricity, the contact
of these two would restore electric equilibrium ; but if
the tnean temperature of the volumes of air after inter-
fusion were sufficient to hold the water in solution, there
'would, of course, be no precipitation. The action of
electricity upon damp sponge, or water in a capillary
tube, is altogether different. In this case there is but
.erre kind of electricity, and the flux of the water from the
tube, as well as its diminished cohesion to the sponge,
stay be explained upon the principle of repulsion, which
we know, under such circumstances, would take place.
We are disposed to trust in the accuracy of Dr. Hutton's
theory, though we confess that we had not given Dr.
Rutton the credit of the discovery.
In explaining the formation of dew, Mr. H. has very
correctly stated the theory of Dr. Wells, with which we
are acquainted, as alio the experiments of Dufay ; but
we are by no means satisfied that the laws of radiation
are yet established upon sufficient evidence to warrant
!heir application to natural phenomena. A newspaper,
however, is not the channel, neither is this the occasion,
for entering into a discussion of this interesting question.
We apprehend that Mr. H. has ascribed powers to the
Lated water in brewers' coppers which are never called
into action; for the operation of mashing is not carried
134
in the coppers, but in distinct vessels ; and the water,
'seated, as Mr. H. correctly observes, to 250, will sink
dca'n to 212 in the act of transit from the copper to those
vessels; so that this explanation of the superiority of the
Porter of great brewers over the porter of little brewers
entirely fails. The fact notwithstanding is, we believe,
ineontestible.
The variation of the boiling point of water, as depen-
dent upon the pressure of the air, is very satisfactorily
explained, and also the height which corresponds with
"e degree of temperature. That an instrument might
be contrived to measure altitudes upon this principle we
40 not doubt, but the use of it would be attended with
great incrinvenience. 'We have ourselves contrived a
L_
"ll'onseter without mercury, which exhibits a variation
full one quarter of an inch for every ten feet of alti-
tude; and the scale is capable of great extension. For
the benefit of our readers we think it not useless to state,
that oil of vitriol and water, which Mr. H. here philoso-
nica4 used to boil water, may frequently be employed,
cases of emergency. to produce a quantity of hot water.
t "ce proved so to ourselves. A lady was taken very
tt'"ell in the middle of the night, with great disposition
ventiting, and we mixed together a quantity of oil of
vitriol anti water in a cenithon wash hand-basil], and lei-