The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-05-12 00:00:00

MitftlfiNti OP 'MU DOCK COMMITItiii;

The following members were present at the meeting of the
Dock Committee yesterday :—Messrs. Sands, (Chairman,)
Holt, Holmes, Smith, Bulky, Evans, Boyden, Bold, Shand,
Moore, Martin, and Tobin.
On the recommendation of the sub-committee for the de-
partment of the Harbour Master, the tender of Mr. Hart-
well to supply twelve cast-iron buoy sinkers, of 16 cwt. each,
was accepted. _ _

The same sub-committee also recommended that a capstan,
to lift four tons, be placed on the quay of the King's Dock
Basin, for the purpose of placing anchors, &c.—Couiirmed.
The CHAIRMAN called the attention of the Harbour Mas-
ter's sub-committee to the flags placed at the entrances to the
several docks; they were kept flying night and day at consi-
derable expense, in order to signalize vessels not to come in,
and he suggested that arms of wood might be advantageously
adopted.
Mr. SHAND doubted whether arms would be seen in all
states of the weather.

Mr. ROYDEN said the flags were of no use except for about
three hours before high water, and he suggested that at high
water they should he hauled down.

The CH AIRMAN had mentioned the subject, because it oc-
curred to him that the flags were more expensive, and not so
useful as they might be.
Mr. HOLT, on the part of the Harbour Master's sub-com-
mittee, said the matter should be inquired into, and a report
made.
The CHAIRMAN said the sub-committee on Warehouses
had nothing to report; and Mr. HOLT stated the mode in
which the offices therein had been for the present appropri-
ated, from which it appeared there was still one office to
spare.—The CHAIRMAN observed that there was not suffi-
cient employment for the persons who had been appointed to
the warehouses.
Mr. EVANS said the committee should then endeavour to
find them some employment.
The CHAIRMAN stated that he had had a great many ap-
plications for situations in these new sheds; and he men-
tioned this matter to say that there was not sufficient em-
ployment for the three persons who had been appointed.
. .

. .
Mr. HOLT said the sub-committee would make the best
arrangements in their power.
The subject then dropped.
..... ~.

The CHAIRMAN then said be had mentioned to the com-
mittee, last week, that several protests, respectably signed,
had been received. He thought lie might now venture to
say, that those who bad signed those protests were in entire
ignorance upon the subject, and that the committee would
hear no more of them. Another protest had just been re-
ceived from an American house.

Mr. EvAlls observed that the protests were all the same,
and not one of the parties appeared to have really inquired
into the matter.

The CHAIRMAN added, that a great deal had been said out
of doors, unnecessarily, about the unfairness of the Dock
Committee. A good deal bad also been said upon an al-
leged want of courtesy upon the part of the committee, in not
communicating with the American Consul. He (the chair-
man) should be sorry if the committee suffered in any respect
through any inadvertency or omission of his, because, in
this case, the fault would be his, if such were the fact ; but
he had, in several notes which passed between them, told the
American Consul that the Dock Committee had decided
upon going to parliament, and verbally what they were going
for. lie had told the American Consul the Dock Committee
were going to parliament, that he (the chairman) was going
to London upon the subject, and that if he (the American
Consul) thought it necessary, he would state the object of
the bill to Mr. Everett, the American Minister, to whom he
requested the American Consul would give him a note of
introduction.l2The American Consul said he was not suffi-
ciently intimate with the Minister to do that, and there (as
we understood) the matter rested. He (the chairman) there-
fore thought that all had been done which it was necessary
to do; perhaps it would have been better if he had written to
the Consul, instead of speaking to him verbally, but there
had been no intentional want of courtesy. He hoped the
Dock Bill, notwithstanding all this, would go on satisfac-
torily.
The conversation on this subject then dropped.
An application from Mr. J. S. Jackson, on the part of the
Woodside Ferry Committee, for the use of the George's
parade basin by two boats of twenty tons each, to be used in
conveying furniture, &c._, was read. . _

The SECRETARY read a clause from one of the acts of
parliament, from which it appeared that the committee had
no power to allow the basin to be used as a carrying basin.
The CHAIRMAN stated, that some clauses had been se-
cured in the Peel Harbour Bill ; and although they were not
to the extent which might be wished, still they were satis-
factory.

The:SECRETARY read an abstract of the bill ; from which
it appeared, that if vessels do not ❑se the pier they will not
pay anything. Some discussion ensued on the vague terms
of this clause ; and
Mr. EVANS suggested that the mode of using the pier
should be specified, but the committee did not arrive at any
definite resolution upon the subject.
The committee then proceeded to some financial business,
after which they separated.

At the Central Criminal Court, London, J. W. White, the
captain, and Joseph Younghusband, the mate, of the brig
Native, pleaded guilty to the charge of sinking that vessel in
February last. Sentence was deferred.

BRISTOL SUGAR MARKET, May s.—lmporters having
freely supplied the offices with samples from the late arrivals,
and the trade having shown a desire to purchase, a fair
amount of business has been done since our last report. The
sales consist of about 900 hogsheads and tierces of West
India, and 300 mats Mauritius, at steady prices. No sales
are reported in Bengals, the cargo per Argyle not having as
yet been brought to market. Rums are more enquired for,
but the supply is very indifferent.—Average price of sugar
week ending May 2, is 345. 94-d. per cwt.
THE CABUL DISASTER.—The committee appointed to
collect subscriptions for relieving the surviving sufferers of
those who were slaughtered in Affghanistan is now disolved
and the following is a statement of the fund subscribed :
Amount of subscriptions advertised and received, £4,832105.
3d. Disposed of as follows :—Amount paid into the Hon.
Company's treasury and remitted to India, £4,124 6s. 4d.;
amount paid Mr. Kershaw, as per instruction from Kurnaul
committee, £lOO ; cost of advertisements, £415 ; clerks, £6O;
stationery, servants, messengers, postage, &c. £lO3 3s. 11d.

ANTI-DUELLING ASSOCIATION.—An association has been
just formed for the suppression of duelling. It consists of
320 members, including 21 noblemen, 13 sons of noblemen,
16 members of Parliament, 15 baronets, 30 admirals and ge-
nerate, 14 captains, R.N., 23 col/male and lieutenani-colo-
nels, 17 majors, 2G captains in the army, 20 lieutenants,
R.N., and 24 barristers. They denounce duelling as sinful,
irrational, and contrary to the laws of God and man. They
also pledge themselves to discountenance, by influence and
example, a practice which so greatly dishonours God. Cap-
tain Hope, R.N., and Mr. W. Dunmore, have become hon.
secretaries to the association.—Standard.
DECLINE OF SOCIALISM.—Robert Owen, and a number
of itinerant Social lecturers, have just returned to London
from a tour through the provinces, where they have bee❑
endeavouring to disseminate their pestiferous doctrines.
Their mission has proved a signal failure, as they themselves
confess that they were unable to enlist a single recruit for
Harmony Hall. Failing in their provincial tour, they have
turned their attention to the metropolis, where they are
holding meetings under the pretence of discussing whether
home colonization or emigration is likely to ameliorate the
condition of the working classes, while they seize the oppor-
tunity of ridiculing religion, morality, and the social ties.
But here, as in the provinces, all the exertions of Owen and
his satellites are likely to prove labour in vain, as they can
with difficulty secure an auditory, and when they do so, the
greatest part content themselves with laughing at the rhap-
sody in which the orators indulge.
CHANNEL HARROUIL OF REFUGE.—We rejoice to see
that the subject of a refuge harbour in the Channel has been
again revived. This is a project of Mr. Pitt, which, but for
the demands of the war of 1793, would have been realised
almost half a century ago ; and it is a project, the importance
of which it is impossible to over-rate. A refuge harbour in
a prominent position in a frequented part of the Channel,
and in deep water, would obviate nine-tenths of the wrecks
that annually occasion so much sorrow and such great losses.
To such a harbour all vessels would, in threatening weather,
boldly direct their course, without looking to the doubtful
security of bad ports, that prove so often treacherous and
fatal. The value of such a harbour is, therefore, not to be
measured by the losses that have occurred in its immediate
neighbourhood ; it would be the means of safety to the
whole channel navigation. Dover is the site which we have
heard preferred by most naval men, and a refuge harbour at
Dover would at once render hartnless the Goodwin Sands,
except in cases of gross mismanagement or indiscretion. We
prefer to dwell upon the pacific advantages of such a harbour,
but its uses in time of war could he so great that it were in-
justice to the subject to omit them. A dozen line-of-battle
ships, and a dozen first-class war steamers, with transports,
&c., riding in deep water at Dover, with the facilities of rapid
approach now about to be secured by railroads, would leave
the whole west coast of Europe, from the Baltic to the Tagus,
absolutely at the mercy of Great Britain. Had we possessed
these advantages at any time in the twenty years from 1793
to 1813,h0w promptly could we have terminated the war that so
long tormented Europe, and cost this country £2,000,000,000.
Such an easy outlet to the incalculable power of England
presents a prospect which it would be the extreme of rashness
even to sketch in outline.—Slaudard.

DESPERATE ATTEMPTS AT MURDER.—On the morning
of the ht of May, at Oxfold, within one mile of Kiltemaugh,
a deabolical fellow named Canavan attempted to murder the
servant girl of Martin M'Donagh, who, with his wife and
family, happened to be at the fair of Balla. The fellow en-
tered M'Donagh's house with a view of committing robbery,
but, finding the servant unexpectedly present, he set about
murdering her in the most brutal manner. On her neck he
inflicted with a sharp knife no less than 18 wounds, and cut
off one of her fingers. He then jumped on her body re-
peatedly, having first struck her head three or four blows
with a heavy iron spado. Conceiving that he had deprived
his victim of life, Canavan walked up to M'Donagh's bed-
room, intending to plunder every thing lie could lay his bands
on. The girl crawled out on the road, gave the alarm, and
through the exertions of that active magistrate, Mr. Deane,
and constable M'Guinness, succeeded after a short time in
having her ruffian assailant arrested. lie is now in gaol.
On the night of Thursday last as a servant boy named Mulli-
gan, in the service of Mr. P. Boyd, of Mount-Gordon, was
returning home from this town with some commands for his
master, he was met at or near the Pigeonhole, on the West-
port road, by a boy named AndrewDuett, who accosted him
saying, " Why did you laugh at me as I passed you on the
road ? ' Mulligan denied having done so, when Duett re-
plied, " You lie, you did, and I will put you from hum-
bugging me," at the same time making a thrust at his breast
with a knife. Mulligan warded off the deadly blow by throw-
ing up his arm across his body, when he received a desperate
and dangerous wound on the under part of his arm above the
elbow, cutting in two the artery. The poor boy was con-
veyed to the County Infirmary, where he now lies without a
hope of recovery.— Castlebar Telegraph.
A plan of considerable magnitude has been set on foot,
and will soon be carried out, on the Birmingham Railway,
for the improvement of the men employed upon it. A library
is being formed, consisting of works of a moral, historical,
and religious nature, for the use of the porters, policemen,
&c., upon that extensive line. There are about twenty-two
stations, and forty volumes will be assigned to each station,
to be changed as soon as they have been read through. The
plan has been made, and is being carried into execution, by
the company's chaplain at Wolverton, the central station of
the line, where a great number of workmen are congregated,
and where considerable improvement hasalready been effected.
This is the more interesting as it will probably be followed
by other railway companies and public bodies employing
many labourers. The directors of the Grand Junction Rail-
way have already appointed a chaplain at their station at
Crewe, and may be induced, in this respect, to follow so good
an example. We hear, too, that a library has been established
in the workhouse of St. Matthew, Bethnell Grecn. The re-
lieving officer, from a desire to afford instruction as well as
amusement to the inmates, has succeeeed in inducing the
Board of Guardians to allow a small circulating library to be
placed in the institution, consisting of such books as are ap-
proved of by the Guardians. There are at present 500 vo-
lumes, consisting of books upon religious subjects, history,
&c., the reading of which by the aged and infirm has afforded
to them great relief during their abode in the workhouse.
We announced, some time since, that libraries had been es-
tablished at the several London police stations; the works
either to be read at the station-houses, or taken home under
restrictions ; also among the servants at the Athenaeum Club.
oTfhtehce honusmleidberar clteaatstseenst:ownhtiochthheasammuasrkemedenthteanladstil;es7truyceairosn,
has already borne its good fruits, and will become y more
manifest.

rig POLYTFC:I-IKIC fiOCIETY

The timnthly meeting of this society took place on Tuesday
evening iast, at the Royal Institution, and the proceedings

were of a highly interesting nature to the scientific comnio
nity. The chair was occupied by .lour GRANTHAM, Esq.,
the president, who culled on Mr. Adie for his promised paper

ON M ETA T,S

Mr. Ante read "Aa account of experiments on the
changes in density and crystalline arrangement of metals
when cast or drawn through a steel plate or roller, and after •
wards annealed, under various circumstances." In stating
the object he had first i❑ view at the commencement of his
inquiry, he showed a thermo-electrical arrangement of four
bars of bismuth c•ooihined alternately with four bars of anti-
mony, capable, wh,in heated at one extremity, of developing
chemical action, which electralized copper i❑ sulphate of
copper solution of 201) of Fahrenheit, at the rate of 22 grains
per day, thus producing the total weight of the bars in 164
days, or 174 if the equivalents of the metals engaged be taken
into consideration, while the battery, to all external appear-
ance, had undergone little or no change. To produce this
chemical effect it was necessary that the bars be equally
heated, so that one end had a temperature of 250 degrees
greater than the other.
It was to ascertain if any change in density or mechanical
arrangement of the particles of antimony and bismuth could
be shown as an equivalent for the power which transfers
oxicidizable metals from pole to pole that the experiments
commenced. To enter into details of their connection with
thermo-electrical currents would be foreign to the present ob-
ject, and he would confine himself to what he had found to
be the invariable accompaniment of a long continued unequal
heating of the bars.

When a bar of bismuth was soldered to another of anti-
mony, with pure bismuth for the solder, and the two were
heated for a length of time, in rending the joint asunder, a
minute disintegratio❑ of the bismuth or soft metal at its sur-
face of contact with the antimony was observable. The al-
teration was so slow that it required 40 days' constant une-
qual heating, the joint being always near the melting heat of
bismuth before the change was distinctly visible. With 150
days' action he found the joint to separate with a slight touch,
and a very small quantity of the bismuth was removed in a
pulverent form by gentle rubbing. While this fraction of a
grain of metal was disintegrating at the heated surface of
contact of the two bars, a force had been developed sufficient
to destroy 7 oz. of copper. As the generating battery weighed
8 oz., it was evident, from the rate given, that it was capable
of depositing twice its own weight in a year, under a conti-
nued current of heat.

He had employed three methods for examining the change
of metals :—first, by the fractured surfaces ; second, by their
specific gravitits taken with a delicate balance,—suspending
them by a horse hair, and weighing them in air and distilled
water at a uniform temperature; and third, by the galva-
nometer.

As the application of the third mode of measuring changes
in metals might be unknown to some of the members, he
might state it had been shown that, if we hammer a piece of
platina wire, connect it to the extremities of the galvano-
meter wires, and then apply heat near the hardened part. a
thermo-electric current was indicated by the instrument.
The deflection of the needle in this case was small ; but if a
slip of soft watch sprinc, with a hardened portion in its centre
be substituted for the platina wire, a far more energetic cur-
rent was developed. The effect was only observed during
the period of change in the temper of the steel, and this
change in that metal was invariably accompanied by an alte-
ration in specific gravity. (The lecturer here sheaved the
experiment with the galvanometer, the needle within which
was suspended by a delicate hair : the effect stated was quite
obvious—in the magnetic deflection on a brief application of
flame to the hardened part of the watch spring. The same
experiment was more fully shown at the conclusion of the
lecture, and excited much attention.) The experiment ap-
peared to him to be of much importance in connecting
changes of density in metals with the generation on it of
thermo-electrical currents. With a number of similar expe-
riments on other metals (which he afterwards gave) depended
the application of the galvanometer as a delicate test to indi-
cate that a change in density was going on in a slip of metal.
He then gave the, examinations he had made of each of the
metals separately. How far the results were new he was not
sufficiently acquainted with the labours of others in the same
field to decide ; but, if any of them should serve as guides in
the practical uses to which metals were so extensively ap-
plied, his object would be fully attained.
" Antimony, bismuth, and zinc are (he continued) distin-
guished among metals for their highly crystalline or lamellated
texture. With them we can readily develope what is techni-
cally termed large and small grains in their most varied forms,
and consequently any source of minute change in texture.
Bars of antimony cast in a cold mould present a very short
steel-like grain at the low end of the mould, which gradually
increases in size toward the top. The obvious cause of this
is the difference between the rates of cooling of the fluid
metal at the two extremities. The top of the mould is always
heated before the antimony fills it from the stream of metal
passing down to form the bottom of the bar.

The density at the top of the bar is
„ at the bottom
Here the metal of small grain is 1.47 th, or fully 2 per cent.
specifically lighter than the large; but loss of density is not
a necessary consequence of the small grain ; for several pieces
were melted and slowly cooled with a large grain, and their
density taken, and again remitted and poured on a surface of
dry ice, where they rapidly sink themselves; but the upper
surface continues dry until the whole solidifies. Such pieces
possess a very fine grain, but what is remarkable their den-
sity is exactly the same under both methods of cooling, and
the result differs entirely from what we find in the mould."

He took great pains to verify by repeated experiments the
loss of density in this metal at the lower part of the cast bars
in the cold mould, and invariably found the relative specific
gravities already given. They could not be -.ccounted for by
a greater liability to porosity in one part than in another, for
on breaking up some of the light specimens not a single pore
could be discovered. The chief difference between the two
cases was that in the mould the metal was confined on all
sides, while the pieces poured on ice had a large open sur-
face to flow upon. The sudden cooling of the whole bounding
surfaces of the bar, while the metal in the centre was yet
fluid, in all probability occasioned the loss of density, for
light specimens gained density by annealing. If this were
done in a sandbath, at a uniform temperature, with pieces of
different specific gravities, the rate of gain was invariably
greatest in those that were furthest from the natural density
of the metal ; so that the state of a light bar of antimony was
very analagous to hard steel : both having their four bounding
surfaces quickly cooled, they lost density, which was regained
by annealing.
In endeavouring to ascertain if long continued heating
would change the grain of this metal, he expected that light
bars, with their density and grain in a strained and unnatural
form, would be best adapted for the purpose, as they had
been found readiest to change in specific gravity ; but before
he could rely on any inferences drawn from apparent varieties
of fracture, he found it necessary to examine bars cast with
metal at different temperatures, in hot and cold moulds.
From the appearance of these at various points the operator
might predict the nature of the fracture.
Four bars were now placed side by side in a de-oxidizing
flame, and allowed to remain 120 days. The part enveloped
in the flame was raised to the faintest degree of redness per-
ceptible in the dark, so that the small grained portion must
have approached nearly to the melting heat of the antimony
for three months, yet after this action not the slightest alte-
ration in the size of the grain could be discovered. An at-
tempt to change the texture of the bar succeeded by another
mode, but it amounted to a violent disruption of the parts,
which were heated to near the melting point and quickly
cooled in water. At each succeeding process they lost spe-
cific gravity. One specimen, three times heated and cooled,
lost 1.2-Ith part of its density. This great change annealing
could only in part restore, for the fracture of the bar showed
the lamina: to have been shattered in every direction, with
an unsound appearance in the centre.
Bismuth in some respects resembled antimony. IN'hen
slowly or quickly cooled with a free open surface, there was
no change in its density—a property which distinguished bis-
muth and antimony from other metals. But when bismuth
was poured into a cold mould, the lower extremity of the bar
was found to be light. The mould could be readily raised to
the low heat required to fuse the metal, when the difference
between the top and bottom of the bar was reversed, the lower
half becoming denser. In one respect these metals differed.
Antimony generally gained by annealing; bismuth always
lost. He found these results by similar trials of both me-
tals. Bars of bismuth heated several times and plunged in
water lost 2 per cent. of its gravity. This, as in antimony,
was, due to fissures, produced during the violent dislocation
of the parts. The rate of annealing of bismuth was greatest
with those cast in a cold mould ; in these cast in an open
surface no change arose by long annealing. These variations
were confirmed by the galvanometer. A bar of bismuth cast
in a cold mould is broken in two, and one half annealed and
the other not ; when the necessary connexions are made with
the galvanometer, and the two broken surfaces joined to-
gether, on heating the joint the deflection of the needle in-
dicates the passage of a powerful current from the soft part
to the hard ; but had the mould been heated, the same de-
flection could not be attained—thus confirming the results
given by the balance. Operating with antimony in a similar
manner, energetic currents were developed, but not constant
in their direction—for if the upper half of the bar is soft-
ened, the needle shews that the current passes in the oppo-
site direction from what is given when the lower half of a si-
milar bar is annealed. Antimony and bismuth did not possess
malleability, by which their crystals could be broken ; but
cast in a cold mould was an approximation to this, increasing
their strength even when they lost density.
Zinc, in additioa to a highly lainellated structure, possessed
malleability, and as in a practical application of metals it was
sought to retain the grain when the crystals were destroyed by
rolling, hammering, or drawing, on account of superior
strength, an examination of the changes in this metal was more
likely to be useful than the other two. He had tried to alter the
small grain of a suddenly-cooled bar of zinc into a large grain
by long annealing, but, as in the two other cases, without
success, until the temperature was sufficiently high to pro-
duce partial fluidity. With the drawn or rolled metal a dif-
ferent result was obtained. Zinc was always densest at the
lower part of the casting : the density rose with the rate of
cooling. This effect was opposite in antimony and bismuth,
which might be accounted for by their expanding when they
passed from the fluid to the solid state, while zinc contracted.
Other metals that also contracted in like manner lost den-
sity by sudden cooling, and therein corresponded with anti-
mony and bismuth.

Specific gravity.
Zinc poured on an open surface and slowly cooled 6.924
„ on dry ice ..
„ in a cold mould
Poured with a large unconfined surface, the gain is 2 per
cent., or 4 per cent. when we compare a slowly-cooled piece
with one cast in a cool mould. By rolling or drawing zinc
at a temperature of 300 degrees, the density is increased—
the grain much resembling steel in its fracture. If it be in
this drawn state annealed for two or three days at a tempe-
rature of 200, it will become much more brittle, and the
grain coarser. If a hard-drawn wire of zinc be cut in two,
one-half of it annealed and joined to the other, and both
connected with the galvanometer, a powerful galvanic effect
is produced, and the direction of the current is from the
hard wire to the soft, as in steel, but different from all the
other metals except antimony, in which the development of
the current is influenced by the conditions attending the
casting of the metal. (The lecturer exhibited a variety of
pieces of small bars of the several metals on cards, which
illustrated his opinions in a pleasing manner.)