The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-02-04 00:00:00

Till?, LIVERPOOL STANDARD

DIVING BELLS OF THE MULGRAVE FAMILY.—The
first diving-bell we read of was nothing but a very large
kettle suspended by ropes, with the mouth downwards,
and planks to sit on, fixed in the middle of its concavity.
Two Greeks at Toledo, in 1588, made an experiment with
it before the Emperor Charles the Fifth. They descended
in it with a lighted candle to a considerable depth. In 1683,
William Phipps, the son of a blacksmith, formed a pro-
ject for unloading a rich Spanish ship sunk on the coast
of Hispaniola. Charles the Second gave him a ship, with
everything necessary for his undertaking, ; but being un-
successful, he returned in great poverty. He then en-
deavoured to procure another vessel; but failing, he got
a subscription, to which the Duke of Albet merle contri-
buted. In 1687, Phipps set sail in a ship of 200 tons,
having previously engaged to divide the profits according
to the twenty shares of which the subscription consisted.
At first, all his labours proved fruitless : but at last, when
he seemed almost to despair, he was fortunate enough to
bring up so much treasure, that he returned to England
with the value of £200,000. Of this sum, he got about
£20,000, and the Duke of Albermarle £90,000. Phipps
was knighted by the King, and laid the foundation of
the fortunes of the present noble house of Mulgrave.
Since that time diving bells have been very often em-
ployed.—Mechanics' Magazine.
THUNDER STORM ON BEN NEVIS.—An enormous
thunder cloud had lain all day over Ben Nevis, shrouding
its summit in thick darkness, blackening its sides and
base, wherever they were beheld from the surrounding
country, with masses of deep shadow, and especially
flinging down a weight of gloom upon that magnificent
glen that bears the same name with the mountain, till
now the afternoon was like twilight, and the voice of all
the streams was distinct in the breathlessness of the vast
solitary hollow. The inhabitants of all the straths, vales,
glens, and dells, round and about the monarch of Scottish
mountains, had, during each successive hour, been ex-
pecting the roar of thunder and the deluge of rain •, but
the huge conglomeration of lowering clouds would not
rend asunder, although it was certain that a calm blue
sky could not be restored till all that dreadful assemblage
had melted away in torrents, or been driven off by a
strong wind from the sea. All the cattle on the hills, and
on the hollows, stood still or lay down in their fear,—the
wild deer sought in herds the shelter of the pine-covered
cliffs—the raven hushed his hoarse croak in some green
cavern, and the eagle left the dreadful silence of the upper
heavens. Now and then the shepherds looked from their
huts, while the shadow of the thunder clouds deepened
the hues of their plaids and tartans ; and at every creak-
ing of the heavy branches of the pines or wide-armed
oaks, in the solitude of their inaccessible birthplace, the
hearts of the lonely dwellers quaked, and they lifted up
their eyes to see the first wide-flash—the dispersing of
the masses of darkness, and paused to hear the long loud
rattle of heaven's artillery shaking the foundation of the
everlasting mountains. But all was yet silent. The peal
came at last, and it seemed as if an earthquake had smote
the silence. Not a tree—not a blade of grass moved ;
but the blow stunned, as it were. the heart of the solid
globe. Then was there a low. wild, whispering, wailing,
voice, as of many spirits all joining together from every
point of heaven,—it died away—and then the rushing of
rain was beard through the darkness ; and, in a few minutes
down came all the mountain torrents in their power, and
the sides of all the steeps were s eeted, far and wide, with
waterfalls. The element of water was let loose to its re-
joicing race, and that of fire lent its illumination, whether
sweeping in floods along the great open straths, or tumbl-
ing in cataracts from cliffs ceserhanging the eagle's eyrie.
Great rivers were suddenly flooded ; and the little moun-
tain rivulets a few minutes before only silver threads, and
in whose fairy basins the minnow played, were now
scarcely fordable to shepherd's feet. It was time for the
strongest to take shelter, and none now would have liked
to issue from it ; for while there was real danger to life
and limb in the many raging torrents, and in the lightning's
flash, the imagination and the soul themselves were
touched with awe in the long resounding glens, and be-
neath the savage scowl of the angry sky.—Lights and
Shadows of Scottish Life.
JERUSALEM IN THE PRESENT DAY.—It was indeed
Jerusalem—and had the Holy City risen before us in its
palmiest days of magnificence and glory, it could not have
created deeper emotion, or been gazed at more earnestly,
and with intenser interest." * * The whole cavalcade
paused simultaneously when Jerusalem appeared in view ;
the greater number fell upon their knees, and laid their
foreheads in the dust, whilst a profound silence, more im-
pressive than the loudest acclamations, prevailed over all.
Even the Moslem guides and servants, folding their arms
on their bosoms, gazed reverently on what was to them
also a holy city, and recalled to my mind the pathetic ap-
peal of their forefather Esau—" Hast thou not a blessing
for me, also, omy Father ?" * * Apart from all asso-
ciations, the first view of Jerusalem is a striking one. A
brilliant and unchequered sunshine has something mourn-
ful in it, when all that it shines upon is utterly desolate
and drear. Not a tree or green spot is visible; no sign of
life breaks the solemn silence ; no smile of nature's glad-
ness ever varies the stern scenery around. The flaming,
monotonous sunshine above, the pale, distorted, rocky
wastes beneath, realise but too faithfully the prophetic
picture—" Thy sky shall he brass, and thy land shall be
iron." To the right and left, as far as the eye can reach,
vague undulations of colourless rocks extend to the hori-
zon. A broken and desolate plain in front is bounded by
a wavy, battlemented wall, over which towers frown, and
minarets peer, and mosque-domes swell ; intermingled
with church-turret and an indistinguishable mass of ter-
raced roofs. High over the city, to the left, rises the
Mount of Olives ; and the distant hills of Moab, almost
mingling with the sky, afford a background to the striking
picture. There was something startlingly new and strange
*in the wild, shadowless landscape ; the clear outlines of
LIEBIG WHEN A BOY.—Liebig was distinguished at hills, and the city'walls so colourless, yet so well defined
school as a " booby," the only talent then cultivated in against the naked sky, gave to the whole a most unreal
German schools being verbal memory. On one occasion, appearance ; it resembled rather an immense eagrav-
being sneeringly asked by the master what he proposed to ing than any thing which nature and nature's complexion
become, since he was so bad a scholar, and answering had to do with. lam not sure that this scenery did not
that he would be a chemist, the whole school burst into a present the only appearance that would not have disap-
laugh of derision. Not long ago Liebig saw his old school. pointed expectation. It was unlike any thing else on earth
master, who feelingly lamented his own former blindness. —so blank to the eye, yet so full of meaning to the heart ;
The only boy in the same school who ever disputed with every mountain round is familiar to the memory; even
Liebig the station of " booby," was one who never could yon blasted fig-tree has its voice, and the desolation that
learn his lesson by heart, but was continually composing surrounds us bears a silent testimony to its fearful expe-
music, and writing it down by stealth, in school. This riences. The plain upon which we stand looks like the
same individual, Liebig lately found at Vienna distin- arena of mighty struggles in times gone by—struggles in
guished as a composer, and conductor of the Imperial which all the mighty nations of the earth took part, and
Opera-house. 1 think his name is Reuling. It is to be in which Nature herself seems to have shared. Each of
hoped that a more rational system of schoct instruction is our party had waited for the other to finish his devo-
gaining ground. Can an) thing be more absurd or detest- tions, and seemed to respect each pilgrim's feelings with a
able than a system which made Walter Scott and Justus Christian courtesy, perhaps inspired by the spot. At
Liebig "boobies" at school, and so effectually concealed length, all had risen from their genuflexions and prostra-
their natural talents, that, for example, Liebig was often tions, and we moved slowly forward over the rugged yet
lectured before the whole school on his being sure to cause slippery path which human fest had worn in the solid rock.
misery and broken hearts to his parents, while he was all Countless had been the makers of that part—Jebusites`
the time conscious, as the above anecdote proves, of the Hebrews, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Egyptians, Romans, Sa-
possession of talents similar in kind to those he bas since semis, Crusaders, and pilgrims from every country under
displayed.—Phrenological Journal. heaven.—The C,escent and the Cross.
EXTENSIVE USE OF OPIUM.—Dr. Mitchell, one of REASONABLENESS OF SCRIPTURAL. EDUCATION.—
Here is the last report of this miserable system of na-
the Sub-Commissioners, reports, that the medical wit- .
Corset education • here are some of their questions in
nesses exetnined by him state, that the infants and chit- .
dren are seldom brought to them before they are be- their form of superintendent's report :—Qu 33. What
numbed and stupified with opiates ; the usual preparation arrangementsmade,i have been made, or are proposed to be
for religioustie instruction of the children either
given being Godfrey's Cordial, a mixture of treacle and .
in e schoolhouse or elst where ? tau. 34. Are they
opium, known by the name of "comfort," and an article
such as not to interfere with, or impede the secular hi-
in constant demand. A little girl will come to the thy- . -
the school ?—Report —tteport x., p. 25. " Mark the
mist's, and ask for a dose of it to give to the baby next .Bme"
Position they give to the word of Jehovah in their system.
day, telling him that her mother is going out to work. A Have
Have you arranged the instruction of the children so that
respectable chymiet stated that he had made 20 gallons of
the word of the living God shall not dare to impede or
"comfort " in the year • and that there were chymists
' interfere with the secular instruction of men ? Have you
who lived near the market-place, and more in the way of
taken care, not that man.shall give way to God, but that
these country people, who made a good deal more. This God and his word shall give way to man—that God's
evidence refers to the colliery districts, but it appears on
','ord shall give way to the spelling book, arithmetic, and
the authority of other medic it men, that the same prac- other books of secular inseruction ? Here is the answer
tice prevails at Croydon, in Surrey, and, by inference, in to their sophistry as to compulsion and non-compulsion.
other non-manufacturing towns. Speaking of the dis- We
refuse to compel children to read the word of God
trios of Nottingham, Derby, and Leicester, another
against the will of their parents; but it is their duty to
Sub-Commissioner, Mr. Grainger, states, that the prac- learn it, and we refuse to be compelled to participate in
tice of administering opium to infants, which is very ge • their violation of their duty. We refuse to assume over
neral in these districts, "is usually begun w hen the child them the authority of the living God, by compelling them
is three or four weeks old." But Mr. Brown, the coro-
ner for Nottingham states, " that he knows Godfrey's power of man to sanction their criminal contempt of
Cordial is given on the' day of birth. and that even it is God's authority, by teaching them without the Bible.
prepared in readiness for that event." The extent to We -ask not any law to compel them to come to our
which the system is carried may be judged from the fact,
• schools and learn the Bible; hilt
ire demand that the
expressly ascertained by this gentleman, that one druggist
Bible shill be the authoritative standard in our schools,
made up, in one year, 13 cwt. of treacle into Godtrey's
Cordial. The result of this terrible practice is, that
come and learn it. We refuse to usurp over them the
great numbers of infants perish, either suddenly, from rerogative of God ; but we refuse to be compelled to
an overdose, or. as more commonly happens, slowly, Acknowledge and submit to the prerogative of the devil
painfully, and insidiously. Those who escape with life
against the King of kings and Lord of lords. We
become pale and sickly children, often half-idiotic, and refuse, in every position, in our closet, in our family, in
always with a ruined constitution. " Compared with our pulpit, in our parish, we refuse to go to minister any
this," adds the Sub-Commissioner, " the Chinese prac- •
where except on this ground, that the authority of the
tice of infanticide may be called merciful.—Medical great and holy God is and shall be acknowledged by us,
Times. and all to whom we minister ; and we refuse to go into any
Lien principle that it

To describe briefly the pre}: ~tion of a 'late or cylinder, •
let us suppose a newspaper about to be reprinted by this
means. The sheet is first moistened with diluted acid
and placed b?tween sheets of blotting-paper, in order that
the superfluous moisture may be absorbed. The ink
neutral'zes the acid, which is pressed out from the blank
space only, and etches them away. In all cases where
the letterpress is of recent date, or not perhaps older than
half a year, a few minutes suffice for this purpose. The
paper is then carefully placed upon the plate with which
the letterpress to be transferred is in immediate contact,
and the whole passed under a press, on removal from
which, and on carefully disengaging the paper, the letters
are found to reverse on the plate, which is then rubbed
with a preparation of gum, after which the letters receive
an addition of ink, which is immediately incorporated
with that by which they are already formed. These
operations are effected in a few minutes. The surface of
the plate round the letters is bitten in a very slight degree
by the acid, and on application of the ink it is rejected by
the zinc, and received only by the letters, which are
charged with the ink by the common roller used in band-
printing. Each letter came from the press as clear as if it
had been imprinted by type metal ; and the copies are
facsinailies which cannot be distinguished from the
original sheet.
Thus far it may be necessary to describe the process
that it may be understood by those of our readers who
are not versant with lithographic manipulation—those
who are will recognise some similarity in the method of
preparing the stone and the zinc, as far as regards the
gum, &c. The practicability of transferring letterpress,
especially prepared or quite recent, to stone or zinc has
long been known. A main advantage, however, and a
most important one, possessed by the zinc over the stone,
as a mere material to work from, is its portability, and
being easily formed into a cylinder ; for, although we have
only spoken of a plate of zinc in relation with the results
we have witnessed, it is to be understood that in the exten-
sive operations cylinders will be employed.
It is not•our purpose to enter more minutely into the
scientific rationalia of this patent, but it is our business
to consider its prospective utilities—to inquire in how far,
it' worked out with spirit, it may conduce to the progress
of time. It cannot be received otherwise, by stock book-
sellers, than as an estimable boon, since it will at once
supersede the necessity of warehousing tons of stereotype
and paper. There may henceforward be printed only
short editions of heavy works, or of others of questionable
sale, for, if such a work " go off" beyond the expecta-
tions of the bookseller, reprints in abundance may be
effected from a single remaining copy, at an expedient
interval. And the advantage to the public must follow, in
the reprinting, at a cheap rate, of valuable works, the
republication of which, according to the ordinary method,
would hazardous, as being extremely expensive. Again,
for book illustration nothing could be better ; the feeling
of the original drawing being entirely preserved, since the
work of the artist passes immediately from his own hand
to the page which it is intended to adorn. Thus it is seen
that the work is not brought forward according to the
taste of the engraver, but what character soever it receives
from the artist it is ultimately distinguished by the same
on the paper. We may hope that the finest line en-
gravings may also be reproduced at a trifling expense.
What treasures, therefore, of fine art may common
enterprise call forth for the purification of public taste!
It will be understood that we speak of the system from
actual inspection, having seen, in five minutes, letterpress
and drawings transferred to the zinc and forthwith
printed off.
We know of one printer whose stock of stereotypes has
cost no less a sum than three hundred thousand pounds,
and it is probable that there exists in the London ware-
houses stereotype property for which upwards of a million
has been paid. Surely in extensive establishments the
employment of such means for the multiplication of books
must be a saving to the printer, also to the bookseller,
and consequently a benefit to the public, for the supply
will create a demand which may ultimately be answered
by the multiplication of valuable books proceeding at a
square, nay, even at a cubic, ratio. We have spoken of a
few of the purposes to which r Anastatic Printing" may
be addressed. It is impossible to speculate on the uses to
which it may be applied in furtherance of useful art; the
great principle is, however, a happy and perfect adapta-
tion to answer an end of incalculable public benefit, and
that this may be speedily in progress of realization must
be the wish of all interested in the well-being of art and
the cultivation of letters. .

The proprietors not having yet established their steam-
press, it will be clearly understood that the results we
speak of have been produced by a small hand-press. It
is confidently hoped that the results with steam will not be
less satisfactory : this, however, remains to be proved.
Should a corresponding success by this means attend the
efforts of the inventor, the most marvellous results must
at once ensue; for it immediately supplies a power
whereby such a paper as the Times might be multiplied
to the amount of 300,000 copies in a day. And
not to forget the value of the invention as regards art.
Such a paper might be illustrated by first-rate artists,
whose sketches one hour after the events they celebrate
might be in circulation with the paper.
We quote the number 300,000 as something definite,
but if it were necessary the number might extend to a
MILLION ! Provided always, we yet say, the untried
steam equals in anywise the production of the smaller
press. It is useless to attempt comment upon this adap-
tation, supposing it borne out to the extent it promises;
it is beyond the pale of all ordinary comparisons ; calcu-
lations and figures reduce it to a mean standard. One
thing, however, is sufficiently clear—a GREAT REVOLU-
TION tending to the unlimited multiplication of books and
newspapers is INEVITABLE.

THE PASSAGE UP THE NILE.—Who has not voyaged,
on the Rhine, and, as he glided down that noble river,'
felt an absorbing interest in the busy cities and cairn soli-
tudes ; the vineyards and fortresses; the castled crags,
where the banners of old history are still visible to the
imaginative eye : and the deep glens, where lurks many a
legend believed by the imaginative heart; all following in
succession as uninterrupted, and more rapid than the
thought which strives to follow ! Tin:Tine, then, a river,'
flowing from the undiscovered depths of Africa, wider,
larger, mightier far, whose shores are lined with cities,
and temples that were already in ruins when the sources
of the Rhine were as unknown as are now the sources of
the Nile. For a distance of eight hundred miles you glide
along this sacred and mysterious stream ; not with the
rapid rush of the steam-vessel, but tranquilly and thought-
fully, as in a Venetian gondola, under the shade of the
African palm, and among the lotus lilies of Egyptian my..
thology, fanned by airs redolent of perfumes, rare even in
our luxurious drawing-rooms. On the desert sands the
giraffe and the gazelle are grazing ; on the banks the cro-
codile is basking ; the pelican is gliding by you, and the
ibis soars over the mounds of buri'd cities,

shall not be acknowledged there, and there to renounce
or ratify, by our criminal compliance, the renunciation of
the authOrity of our Lord and Master on which we must
base the very existence of our office, and the very salva-
tion of our souls. Interfering with parental authority!
What nonsense ! what absurdity to talk of parental au-
thority in such a case as this! Has a parent a right or
authority against God? I will put it to you in a manner
that must strike every man of common intellect. Let
me suppose a faithful minister of Christ, (as I trust in
God there shall he such an one) selected by our Gracious
Sovereign to instruct the heir of. her dominions. What
is the first duty of that man to that child ? Is it not to
assert over his conscience and his soul the authority of
the sacred word of the King of kings and Lord of lords?
Is it not to teach that child that be is to be subject to the
authority, to be guided by the Word and the wisdom
of his God, as well as the meanest beggar in his future
dominions? Let roe suppose (you will pardon the supposi-
tion, we may assume an hypothesis however false or ab-
surd for argument sake, and you will pardon the criminal
supposition)—but let me suppose that our gracious So-
vereign should so far forget all that was due to God, to
herself and her child, as to come to that minister and say
—' Sir, I cannot allow the authority of that book to be
premed on the conscience of my child. I cannot allow
my child to be instructed in it.' What would be the duty
—what must be the answer of that faithful minister of
Christ ? 'Madam, with all due reverence for my most
gracious Sovereign, permit me to say, I dare not, as your
Majesty's dutiful and loyal subject, go into any place in
your dominions, and for any reward, or for any situation,
associate myself with those who would dare to cast off
their allegiance and the authority of my royal mistress ;
and, madam, I dare not stand in the palace of my Sove-
reign, and for all the wealth you could bestow, sanction
your Majesty or the royal heir of your dominions, in the
sin of casting off the authority of the King of kings—
your King, and my King, your God, and my God.'
Would any man be a faithful minister of Christ who did
not answer so ? Would he not be a traitor to the soul of
his Sovereign ?—a traitor to the soul of his pupil, the heir
of her thronts?—a traitor to the living God—and shall he
go into a school of the subjects of ? But it would
be an insult to your understandings to anply this. A.
child must understand its application."—lit Ghee'a Lec-
ture.

" with pale white wing;
Like phantom o'er a grave."

•
Here, you pass a column, or a propylon, sole remnant of
some city, once more populous than the whole sur-
rounding lonely region now ; there, some mud-built walls
show where the modern Egyptian dwells, in himself as
widely differing from his predecessor, probably, as does
his clayey shed from their magnificent edific.,s. You are
traversing the same river that has borne the Egyptian, the
Ethiopian, the Assyrian, the Persian, the Roman, and the
Saracen ; and, between the stream of time which Memory
traces, and the practical one on which you float, there
seems such a strict, yet confusing analogy, that the Pyra-
mids might almost seem the milestones by which time
counted his progress ; and the cities, in their varied stages
of decay, brick-and-mortar epochs by which memory
traces the progress of time's stream. From city to vil-
lage, and from temple to tomb, there is many a deep glen
and wild desert intervening ; but these leave no blank to
the attentive ear and eye. if the city has its history, and
the tomb its ,epitaph, the mountain and the valley have
their legends ; and this traditionary lore seems at least as
ancient and as pure as the prouder history, that is, more
indebted to its oral voice than it would fain allow.—The
Crescent and the Cross.