The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-06-28 00:00:00

source

MEETINGS OF SECTIONS

SECTION A.-MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE.
The principal papers which came before this section were
three by Sir David Brewster, " on luminous lines in certain
flames corresponding to the defective lines in the sun's light,"
" on the structure of a part of the solar spectrum hitherto
unexamined," and "on the luminous bands in the spectra
of various flames ;" also two by Mr. Eaton Hodgkinson,
" on the mode of conducting experiments on the resistance
of air ;" and " notice of experimental enquiries on the
strength of stones and other materials." There were also
two highly interesting mathematical papers, by Mr. Parsey,
" on conic sections as applied to optics," and "on the
geometry of arithmetic."—The section rose rather early, as
did each of the others on account of a meeting of the com-
mittee of recommendations.

SECTION D.-ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY

Great interest was excited in this section this morning by
the exhibition of a cotton plant, which has been raised by
Messrs. Gardner and Bailey, from Sea Island seed. The
plant was placed on the table in front of the chairman, and
was examined with much curiosity. It was in a wooden
stand about 30 inches high, the plant itself being about half
that height above the surface of the mould. It consisted of
one stem, bearing about ten or twelve spreading leaves.
Growth of Cotton in India.—Dr. Royle read a highly in-
teresting paper on this subject. He first showed that the
cotton plant was a native of the new and old world, as well
as of several islands in the southern ocean. He inclined to
the opinion that these plants, though exhibiting great differ-
ence of appearance, were species of the same genus, one being

indigenorl; to one soil, and another to another. There were
thirteen known species of the plant, but the products of four
only were used for commercial purposes. Here the Doctor
referred to some beautifully coloured drawings of several spe-
cies, and explained their distinctive character. The species
commonly cultivated was called helvetius, being the percipium
helve, ius of botanists, which, for distinction, he should call
India cotton; and of this species there were several varie-
ties. The specis known as Brazil, Pernambuco, or Bahia
cotton, had been found in several parts of India ; and it
was doubtful whether it was not also indigenous there, or
whether it had been introduced in some of the many attcmpts
to improve the cotton cultivation of India. It was known
amongst botanists as the percipium Peruviana. Another
species was the Barbadoes cotton, and of this species was the
plant grown by Mr. Bazley, now exhibited, though it was
from Sea Island seed which was black, while some of the
species had white seed. It was a curious fact that the
same species, in different situations, would give differently
coloured seeds, and sometimes, when a plant was long cultiva-
ted from one seed, the colour of the seed changed from white
to black. This had been proved to take place in America,
and the same might occur in India ; consequently difference
of colour in the seed did not always prove the species to be
different. Admitting that the American and India cotton
were different species, it was clear that the difference in qua-
lity was entirely owing to the superior culture bestowed on
the plant in America. There the culture took the character
more of garden than of field culture, each plant being indi-
vidually attended to. Not only was their culture carried on
with skill, but energy—a proof of which was the almost in-
credible increase of the production since 1785, when only a
few bales came into Liverpool. India cotton, on the other
hand, was supposed to have retrograded ; for India was once
the great cotton country. Owing to its inferior quality, the
price of India cotton in this country was lower ; still it had
good qualities, and was useful for mixing with better kinds.
In the cultivation of the plant in India, many mechanical
points, carefully attended to in America, were entirely neg-
lected. Owing to the crowded state of the plants, they ha
not room to fill. From a consideration of the soil and cli-
mate of India, it was clear that it must be favourable to
this plant; all that was needed was care in the culture.
Such being the case, it was surprising that the attempts
to promote its culture there had not been more successful :
but in each case some essential step had been omitted. Dr.
R. then noticed the attempts which had been made in 1818,
1822, 1828, and at a subsequent period to introduce cotton
cultivation in various parts of India, and shewed the causes
of their failure. The Tinnevellee cotton was much deterio-
rated by premature pulling of the pods. In reference to the
last attempt in 1839, the Bombay Chamber of Commerce, in
their report for 1841, expressed their confident hope that by
using Hughes's Tinnevellee seed, and by adopting the neces-
sary care in cultivation, cotton of a very excellent quality
would be produced. Dr. R. then detailed the circumstances
under which the American gentlemen were recently sent out,
to the Bombay, Madras, and Bengal presidencies, to super-
intend the cultivation of cotton there. The experiment in
Bombay had been a failure—if, indeed, that could be called a
failure which had never been tried—the soil there being pro-
perly black cotton soil, and the frequent failures of the Ame-
rican cotton in that soil had been recorded in print before the
late experiment ; consequently no general inference ought
to be drawn from this fact. In the other presidencies, the
experiments had answered fully as well as could be expected,
or even wished. The American planters sent to Bengal had
not arrived till April, last year ; and as the seed time was
in May or June, they bad not had much time for prepara-
tions ; but the result of their experiments had been highly
encouraging. They had continued planting till the 2nd of
August, and though the season afterwards had been ex-
tremely unfavourable, and the plants had been ravaged by
the worm, the general result had been most gratifying, and
the planters expressed no doubt that in a few years, by the
adoption of the American system of planting, the staple of
the plant would be improved, and its cultivation would be
rapidly extended.—Dr. R. read extracts from several letters
and reports of the American planters, testifying the great
change which had already taken place ; and one of them,
Mr. Lowther, declared his conviction that the success of the
experiment was already established, and would be fully
manifest at the close of the next season.—The third set of
experiments, those in Madras. had been less successful, the
soil on which the experiment had been made being highly
unsuitable. Dr. White, one of the planters, in a letter of
the 18th of January last, admitted the nearly total failure of
their efforts, but expressed no doubt that success would be
ensured by persevering in a course of proper cultivation.
In a subsequent letter, in March, he expressed greater
hopes ; and in the following month wrote to' say, that
the result of their labours was anything but a defeat,
and that next season he had no doubt of producing at
least one thousand bales of American and some native
cotton. Hitherto, the average production had been about
two :hundred pounds to the acre, and it would have been
much more bad not a great portion of the seed been
bad. The success of these two sets of experiments,
one in the extreme north, the other in the south of India,
showed that a great extent of country, embracing about 20
degrees of latitude, was capable of producing cotton. The
Doctor here exhibited specimens of the American and native
cotton grown in India, both in the north and south, which
appeared to be of a very respectable quality. There was
every reason to hope, the same careful culture being conti-
nued, that the American cotton now introduced into India,
would not deteriorate, but would retain all its good qualities,
as had been the case with that introduced in Tinnevellee, in
1818. That it would be a profitable speculation there could
be no doubt, as the cultivation cost only six rupees an acre,
while in America it was 15. to 16. He had not the slightest
hesitation in predicting, that in the course of a twelvemonth,
we should have 1,000 bales of India cotton in Manchester.
(Applause.) Dr. Stanger stated that cotton had been culti-
vated with advantage on the coast of Africa, in Sierra Leone,
and at Cape Coast Castle.—General Briggs said he had
brought this subject before the association at their meeting
in 1838, and he had since published a work, in which he had
condensed all that was known on the subject ; and he then
expressed an opinion, that, as American cotton had been
grown in various parts of the world, it might be produced in
India. This was now confirmed; and lie might appeal to
Mr. Bazley, or any manufacturer present, if some of the spe-
cimens exhibited were not quite equal to the Upland cotton.
The general read several extracts from his work, illustrative
of the success which had attended the various attempts to
introduce cotton cultivation in India.—At the close the
thanks of the section were voted to Dr.*Royle, for his inter-
esting paper.

SECTION F.-STATISTICS

Mr. John Shuttleworth, of Manchester, read a paper "on
the vital statistics of cotton-spinners." The object of Mr.
S. was to show that the processes of " fine-spinning" in the
cotton mills in Manchester had no injurious effect on the
health of the persons employed ; and the figures he cited
fully bore out that conclusion.
Sir Charles Shaw next read a paper " on the criminal sta-
tistics of Manchester." It consisted principally of the re-
turns recently made to government by Sir Charles, in his
official character as chief commissioner of the Manchester
police. In the course of a short discussion, Colonel Sykes

made some remarks on the statements contained in the pa.
per, and observed that though they had the experience of Sir
Charles Shaw to prove that the factory system did not pro-
duce immorality, or that the Irish were no more immoral
than others, they had the striking fact, looking at the number
of apprehensions, that one out of every eighteen of the inha-
bitants of Manchester had been in the hands ckt, the police !
Mr. James Heywood submitted some " tables relative to
degrees taken in Oxford and Cambridge during the I6th,
and 18th, centuries," and in

s of the extraorc

panying explanation poin-
ted out the cau.— —wary fluctuations shown by
the tables. The circumstance that the number of degrees
conferred had not at all kept pace with the increase of pop-
ulation, he attributed to the restrictive statutes regulating
the bestowal of university honours.

Professor Baden Powell read a paper on a similar subject
—" academic statistics,"—which he stated to be a continua-
tion of a paper he had read three years ago at the Birming-
ham meeting.—Some curious results were -drawn by the
Professor from the figures he submitted, amongst which*as
the fact, that out of those who were candidates for degrees,
only two out of seven passed.—A short discussion on the two
papers together ensued.

SCIENCT

on the statistics of bir

and deaths."—He solicited attention, in the first place to a
table of the deaths of 10,700 children, under two years of

from 181

.‘ to 1838, extracted from the registry of the
oime-road Cemetery, in this town, whose natal month
as determinable from the stated age ; showing the propor-
tions born in each season of the year, on the one hand, re-
latively to the total of deaths; and, on the other hand, to
the average number of births in the same season in towns, as
estimated by Monsieur Quetilet. The result was that thC
winter births supplied 2.1 per cent. less than their debit
quota of the mortality, and the autumnal births, 2.7 ; while,
on the other hand, the spring births supplied 2.4, and the
summer births 2.5 per cent,t more than their debit quota of
greatest quarterly difference being 5.2 per
between autumn and summer. It thus appeared
Ind summer births had a less probability of ar-
age of two years than winter and autumnal

mortality; the

births.--Estimaiing this relation half-yearly, the general re-
sult gave a deficiency of 4.6 per cent. in the winter quota,
and, of course, a corresponding excess in the summer. A
second inference appeared to be, that children born in a

greatly increasing temperature had a greater probability of
life, up to two years, than children born in a declining tem-
perature. • A third inference was, that the season of birth
ought to form an element in the calculation of the probabi-
lities of life.
Mr. John

Robertson read a paper " on the period of
puberty in negro women," embracing a great number of
facts, the tendency of which was to show that increase of
temperature did not accelerate, as was generally supposed,
the period of puberty.—ln the course of a long and interest-
ing discussion, Mr. Noble mentioned that the same notion
prevailed with regard to the girlg employed in factories, but
he believed it was equally ungrounded.—Mr. Turner ex-
pressed an opinion that the period ofpuberty would be found
to be much about the same amongst all races.—Mr. Robert-
son said the tendency of his paper was to show that this
period was independent of external circumstances, and was
of constitutional peculiarity.

The proceedings in the other section was not important

THE DINNER.
(From our own correspondent.)
On Saturday evening a grand dinner, in honour of the as-
sociation, was given at the Wellington Hotel, Peter-street,
to which the members were invited, the Right Hon. Lord
Francis Egerton presiding, and amongst the distinguished
company we may mention the following names :—His Ex-
cellency the Hon. Edward Everett, the American Minister,
the Right Hon. the Marquis of Northampton, Professor
Jacobi (Berlin), the Bishop of Norwich, Sir William Hamil-
ton, Professor Sedgwick, Sir D. Brewster, Geo. Wm. Wood,
Esq., M.P., Col. Sabine, Dr. Dalton, Professor Whewell,
Sir S. Brisbane, Professor Friziani, the Dean of Ely, the
Dean of Manchester, the Marquis Sauli, R. J. Murchison,
Rev. W. Vernon Harcourt, Sir Charles Lemon,
Dr. Buckland, Professor Erman, Baron de Bach,
eyserling, Col. Weymiss, Sir M. J. Brunel, and Dr,
The toasts, which, after doing honour to royalty
nrincipally to the different
'P eloauenf -

Esq., thl
the Rev.
Count K
StMncror

called f

-- seeches fom America
...„er, the Marquis 4
of .euu
Nortphampton,r thethe Noble Chair-
man, Professors Sedgwick, Murchison, and Buckland, the
Bishop of N---- • ' &c., and the company

teh, the Dean of

,e o'cioc

ST. H

PROTESTANT READING SOCIETY

On Wednesday last, the annual public meeting of this
society was held in the Girls' Sunday School, St. Helens.
The committee had issued nearly eight hundred admission
tickets, being as many as the room could accommodate, and
many persons were disappointed who could not obtain them.
Above the platform was inscribed, " Contend earnestly for
the faith," (Jude iii.,) tastefully encircled with flowers.
Lee Watson, Esq., the treasurer of the society, and others
of the influentia'

lttemen of the tc
re among the company.

1, with many of their

The meeting wai opened with prayer by the Rev. M. J.
FINCH : after which, the secretary, SAMUEL BISHOP, Esq.,
read the report, from which the following is an extract :
" The committee take this opportunity of pointing out to
those friends who may not perhaps be acquainted with the
plan of the society, that it is what its title imports—a read-
ing society: by the character of the books it circulates, it is
a Protestant one: from the smallness of its subscription
money (only 2s. per annum), it comes within the means of
all ; and, by its plan of local districts, it reaches to the very
door of every member, bringing him weekly a little manual
of information of the most interesting and valuable nature,
comprising scriptural instruction—selections from history
and science—missionary and ecclesiastical intelligence—and

particularly an exposure of the unfounded pretensions,

tful machinations of
_Popery

repelled Popery to a distinc

ud, with jealous care, for

the statebyvarious enact

meats against its return ; but we, their descendants, igno-
rant of the danger which had been thus kept out of view,
hare pulled down our ramparts and opened our gates, be-
lieving no enemy to be near. Having, however, been warned
of danger by those champions of our constitution and our
church, to whose exertions in the cause of Protestantism we
are so deeply indebted, it behoves us, in the absence of ex-
ternal defences, to raise up a militia, armed with knowledge,
Practi.ed inThe use °fit. and
_thersfor.
foe with confidence on no higher vantage ground than that
of truth, and relying on no other help than from the spirit
of truth sought humbly in faith." -

The Rev. N. Pou-ocx, president of the society, then
addressed the meeting. It gave him great pleasure, he said,
to have such an opportunity of addressing them, and of sup-
porting an institution which he knew was doing much good
in the neighbouroood, and which was deserving of all, and
more than all, that the report claimed for it. He was aware
that, in standing forward thus to advocate the cause of Pro-
testantism, he would be deemed by many to be committing
an offence against charity. Even Romanism, in the present
day, thinks fit to resound the cry for peace. It has been
mentioned in the Romish chapel of this place, that it was
said by St. Francis de Xavier respecting his converts, that
he had caught his files with a spoonful of HONEY. Peace is
doubtless a good thing, but we are taught that the wisdom
from above is first PURE, then peaceable. We might cer-
tainly use honeyed words if we desired to please men, but
it is our duty instead to sound the trumpet loud and long
when we see the sword corning. It is not our duty to " cry
peace, peace, when there is no peace; " and our Saviour's
words are but fulfilled if it is found that our faithful preach-
ing of the Gospel sets a man at variance against his father,
and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-
law against her mother.in-law. Honey indeed may catch
flies, but it is not our aim to entrap such flutterers of an
hour. We fish for souls • and our' instrument must be the
Gospel net, every mesh of it contracted, and every knot and
loop of it drawn and fastened by the convincing spirit of
Him who sends us forth. Macy Protestants are under a
great delusion in despising the character of Popery. "It is
too absurd a creed," say they, " for reasonable men to sub-
scribe in this enlightened age ; its fallacies and falsehoods
could only have made converts during the dark ages." Let
no man be deceived by imagining that the enlightenment of
this educated age is a barrier to its errors. Until men can
quench the fire of immortality which burns within them,
every heart, that has not been renewed by the Holy
Spirit, will at times long to purchase heaven without
quitting its hold of earth—will experience doubts and
misgivings that poison every cup, however overflowing
with earthly pleasure. To such the religion of Rome is
exactly adapted; for it serves to sooth their consciences by
offering them pardon for their sins without repenting of
and forsaking them, and promising them happiness without
holiness. The carnal mind under the stings of conscience is
ready to fly even to a fellow mortal who pretends a power to
pardon sins;—who offers for money to appropriate to him
the merits of an atoning sacrifice in the mass ;—to prescribe
penances sufficient to counterbalance past iniquities. Yes--
Popery is a religion exactly adapted for two large classes of
mankind—those who want to save themselves by their works
—and those who want to be saved IN their sins. It is said
also that Popery is changed ; that it is no longer the aggres-
sive system that it was. It may change its weapons, but its
character is unchanged and unchangeable. It cannot cease
to attempt conversions and to proselytise; and its members
pursue its objects with a zeal that may shame many of us.
The rev. gentleman read the circular letter from the priest of
the Romish chapel near Prescot, calling confidently upon his
Protestant neighbours/to assist him in establishing schools in
that town, on the plea that the only object would be to train
up the children to be good Christians, and promising that
no force should be used over their religious opinions. He
proceeded to comment on this letter. It exhibited the mo-
dern character of Popery, plausibility and insidiousness.
He was confident, however, it had drawn no contribution
from any member of their Reading Society ; and yet the
writer was justified in his confident appeal, for some of you,
said the speaker, attended their (so called) Catholic Palls ;
but whoever countenances them, or any other of their insti-

tutions, VIT
t

ally deni

ais own holy Protes.

ligion. It would not be necessary for him on that
occasion to dwell on the unscriptural character of Popery.
They were not going to give up the pure faith of their ancient
and apostolic church for the perversions and the novelties of
the creed of Pius—they were not going to adopt the awful de-
lusions of transubstantiation, nor image worship, nor the in-
vocation of saints—they would never admit of a host of me-
diators, nor of any mediator between God and man but the
man Christ Jesus—they were not going to bow down under
the yoke of men who first invented the doctrine of an inter-
mediate state or purgatory after death, and then practice on
the sympathies of their fellow creatures to make and gain of it
for the sake of filthy lucre. The rev. gentleman proceeded to
prove the anti-social character of Popery, and its total in-
consistency with any free or independent government,
and concluded by observing that he by no means
meant to identify all Romanists with the iniqui-
tous system be had been describing. There were hun-
dreds, perhaps thousands, among them who would shrink
with horror from those principles. Yet such was the system
to which they were bound ; such from authentic documents
it was proved to be, and such it must continue to be ; for its
character was now stereotyped on its front. All it had put
forth was stamped since the council of Trent, with the fatal
seal of infallibility, and it did not dare to repeal or repudiate
one act or one canon. It has no other principles of action
than it has always had—to use force where it has the power—
to dissimulate where it has not. Against such a system the
Church of England protests, and he was proud, while he
grieved to say it, that in this country she almost alone pro-
tests against it : our dissenting brethren are honoured (for it
is an honour) by being included in the same condemnation
and anathema which the church of Rome hurls against us ;
but instead of joining with us in the contest, we see their
ministers uniting with hers in complimenting each other
from their pulpits, in opposition to the Church of England.
Such conduct is unworthy of the descendants of the Dod-
dridge's, the flow's, and the Baxter's of former times.

against such a systern we must continue to protest

We protest against its falsehood; we protest against its
wickedness ; we protest against its slavery ; and we will
stand up by God's blessing in the freedom wherewith Christ
has made us free. The rev. gentleman then concluded a
most powerful address of nearly two hours, of which the
above is a very imperfect sketch. He was enthusiastically
applauded throughout, and the meeting dispersed after
singing the doxology,

At a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society,
day, Mr. Murchison, the chairman of the evening, staVe
that a gentleman, employed by Government, inascending t
river Juba, in Africa, from )last to West, on Mon-
had fallen in with
a considerable tract of country inhabited bia race °f Pig-
mies not exceeding four feet in beightigul very curious
views of religion and government, and es y resembling the
type of Herodotus.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

-
Slit,—l have just seen a letter in your paper, from Mr.
Brindley, commenting upon a challenge I have given him.
If he is satisfied with the result of our discussion at Wor-
cester, I have, I think, as much reason to be so, when I
remember that 282 people met, within a fortnight after, to
present me, publicly, with my picture, as a memento of the
estimation in which they held me, and the defence I made."
True, Mr. Brinley had left that city before this happened,
and may, therefore, be ignorant of the fact. He is also,
perhaps, to be told now, for the first time, that the gentle-
man who commenced the onslaught owned, on the fifth night,
that " I had not left them a leg to stand upon," and that the
chief abettor of the opposition, a celebrated M.D., has seen
reason to change his opinion, and is endeavouring to get up
a course of lectures in that city.
So much for the past, and so content was I with it, that
I should not have deemed it possible that Mr. Brindley and
I should again become public disputants, simply because I
fancied that I had left him nothing to question ; but " some
men never know when they are beaten." And I was no less
surprised at his bold reiteration, in London, of his old ob-
jections, than I was annoyed at the weakness or indifference
of the London phrenologists in allowing him even a seeming
victory ; for this reason, and this only : I have called him to
accounts, and if he be sincere in his search after truth,
(which I do not doubt,) I will endeavour, once and for all,
to show him and the world generally, that Phrenology is the
only true science of mind—that it doss not lead to Socinian-
ism nor Infidelity ; but that it is in direct accordance with
Christian doctrines—in complete harmony with Scripture
tenets; that, so far from being mischievous, it must become
the science of all countries ere legislation or education can
be put upon a sure basis, or the innate capacities of man
developed ; that until it reveal the secret, insanity will
remain a mystery and an opprobrium to those who should
understand and cure it ; and that the present lamentable and
bitter diversities of opinion—religious, political, and moral—
which distract mankind, can only be composed by the know-
ledge and practice of that science, which, by teaching man
to know himself. enables him also to know how to deal with
others. I know I can prove this, because I have so often
proved it to most sensitive and pious minds—that mere
accusations pass by me unheeded. Still, though I do by no
means agree with all that Mr. Combe has written, nor allow
that Phrenology is to be made answerable for Mr. Combe's
errors, I yet feel called upon at once to repudiate any irre-
ligious tendency, and claim for Phrenology and myself an
impartial hearing.-1 am, Sir, your obedient servant,

J. Q. RUMBALL

Oster-hill, St. Albans, Herb,
June 25, 1842.

IPA. IMi=lo=c,.•.T'-^''..c--

Vottrp.

HOPES AND FEARS

(For the Liverpool Standard.)

How oft, when stern affliction throws
The icy breath of sorrow round,
Hopes kindly mingle with the woes
That bear us to the ground !

Wherever sportive echoes play
With human speech or human sound,
Whatever passion holds its sway,

How strange the scenes of busy life !
What angel hopes, what tempest fears
Wage, on earth's stage, a ceaseless strife—
Those spreading smiles—these, tears!

And when, with mirth and song, we quaff
The sparkling draught from pleasure's bowl,
How fears invade, and steal the laugh
Fresh gushing from the soul !