MISCELLANEA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 139, 3 September 1853, Page 9

MISCELLANEA.

Inauguration op the Great Indian Pekinsula. Railway.—Saturday, the 16th April, 1853, must be a memorable day henceforth for ever in the annals of India—memorable as the greatest of battles, and surely more glorious, for peace hath its triumphs as well war, and this iifjbf. them. The Great Indian Peninsula Railway was this day inaugurated ! At about two o'clock, the preparations for their reception being perfect, those who had accepted invitations to proceed in the train began to assemble, and by three o'clock the platform, three hundred feet long, with a continuation, was occupied as closely as it could be by European ladies and European and native gentlemen. The platform was neatly matted, and, opportunely for the company, carefully screened on the western side, not only from the rays of the sun, but from the high north wind which was blowing all the afternoon and carrying with it immense clouds of dust. The whiteness of the screen and the ceiling of the platform were tastefully relieved by festoons formed by flags and cloth of many colours^ In front of the platform we counted eighteen flags; prominent among those in the early part of the afternoon floated the ensign of St. George of England, but it was soon displaced by the Union Jack. Captain Barr, and Mr. Roche, traffic manager, acted as Masters of Ceremonies. At about three o'clock they began to allot places to the ladies, and the:yhaving been accommodated, the gentlemen were recommended to secure places for themselves, which they did very speedily, so that by a quarter past three few could be seen on the platform. At half-past three o'clock in the afternoon, a royal salute was fired from the ramparts of

Fort St. George, immediately after which the well-filled train, consisting of fourteen first, second, and third class carriages, drawn by three locomotive engines, and containing in all, it was said, about five hundred persons, started irom the terminus at Boree Bunder. Tens of thousands of persons surrounded the spot; and as the moving mass swept along the way, still there were tens of thousands looking on— men, women, and children—perched on wall tops, on the branches of trees, even on the masts of Arab buglus along the harbour; from windows, and from the tops of temples and of houses ; from every eminence around the town ; finally, when the train had passed the more densely populated parts, still the surrounding fields were studded with spectators.— Besides the inhabitants of Bombay Proper, and the neighbouring country, there were in those crowds people from Scinde, from Cab'ul, from Affghanistan, from Central Asia, from the Persian Gulf, from Arabia, from the East Coast of Africa, and one might say literally from all the ends of the earth. Who' shall attempt to describe the emotions which filled and animated those vast throngs of human beings ! A passenger in the train looking out upon them, as it sweeps along still faster and faster, could only notice the vivid gestures of some, the silent amazement and awe of others, and the loudly expressed wonder and applause of the greater number. Every Englishman must; have congratulated himself on being one of the dominant race that day. The scene was worth to England the addition of many regiments to its army. It has added sensibly to the power of the empire, and will undoubtedly prolong it. It is not merely the inauguration of a railway thirty miles long. It is the commencement of a new era, and while time and history last, the memory of this day can never pass away.—Bombay Gazette, April 18.

New Motive Power. — A company, just established in New York, have issued a prospectus of a new power, and claim for it the most extraordinary and marvellous qualities. It is called Salomon's carbonic acid gas engine, and the projectors represent their belief that it is destined soon to surpass the highest anticipated performances of Ericsson's caloric-engine, as much as Capt. Ericsson believes his power capable of eclipsing all previous efforts. The proprietors call it the " crowning work of motivepower," which is about to consummate and characterise the meridian glory of the 19th century. Carbonic acid gas is generated in any desired quantities, by the action of diluted sulphuric acid upon chalk. At the orninary temperature and pressure, carbonic acid attains the gaseous state ; but when subjected to the pressure of 36 atmospheres, or 5401b5. to the square inch, at a temperature of 40 deg. Fahrenheit, it has a pressure of l,oßolbs. to the square inch. Its expansibility by heat, therefore, will create a motive-power of unlimited capacity. Mr. H. W. Adams, a practical chemist, made such experiments in 1850 with this gas, in its generation, its reduction to a liquid by a pressure, and also to a solid, that he feels justified in reporting on the value of the invention, and in testifying to its immense power as a mechanical agent. The practical operation of the new engine is as follows :—" The gas is generated, in the first instance, as before mentioned, and is forced from the generator, under a pressure of 5401b5. to the square inch, into a reservoir of small copper tubes, all united so as to form but one conduction main for the liquid, and so bent that a considerable length of this tubing is placed in an air-tight box, whose temperature is kept at 32 deg. by an exhaust pump, worked by the engine. Upon entering this copper tubing from the generator, the gas is reduced to a liquid, and the condenser is thus charged. The pressure upon this copper tubing is now 5401b5. to the square inch. A force pump, worked also by the engine, is connected to one end of the copper tube, and at every stroke forces a given amount of carbonic acid gas into a gas holder, or substitute for a steam-boiler, whose temperature is kept at 45 deg. When the liquid enters this reservoir, it is at once expanded into gas, and exerts apressure of l,oßolbs. to the square inch. Under this pressure, a valve opens its communication with the piston, which is worked by the gas ; then an escape valve opens in communication with the other end of the copper tubing, or condensor,while, at the same moment, the jfirst-named egress valve closes, and another opens at the other end of the piston. The result isj that the piston is forced back into the cylin-

der under a pressure of l,oßolbs. to the square inch/while the gas at the other end of the piston is forced out into the copper tubing and condensed to a liquid by an instantaneous reduction of temperature to 30 deg., and under a pressure of 5401b5. to the square inch. Thus a perpetual circuit of power is kept up." This new power is said to be comparatively inexpensive; and, among other advantages, that it will not probably cost 5 dollars to run a vessel from the United States to Europe.

A deputation of merchants from London, have waited on Louis Napoleon to give his Majesty an assurance on the part of the commercial intrests in England of their strong desire to maintain pacific relations with France. His Majesty replied very cordially to the address, and declared that he participated in the sentiments it expressed. He afterwards entertained the deputation at dinner. This proceeding is regarded in England with feelings of unmixed dissatisfaction. It is not considered seemly that Englishmen professing to represent the "merchant princes' 1 of England should, to use the language.of an indignant remonstrance from a writer in the Times, " bend their knees and bow their backs at a shrine at which the rank and intelligence of France refuse to do homage." The Empekor of France.—Louis Napoleon is not ye.t forty-four, and, though he has lived a free and even dissipated life, does not look as old by seven or eight years. He is about five feet seven inches high, barely as much, perhaps, —and is not at all like the Napoleon family in features. He has dark hair, rather straight, and a thick black moustache, worn, it is said, to carry off the yastness of his nose! His face is oval-shaped, and rather long than square. From his knees down he is out of proportion, as his legs are too short for his body. He has a sort of green, fishy eyes, in which there is no speculation. Indeed, his eyes quite spoil him. His voice is sonorous and clear. He is an accomplished man, master of at least half-a-dozen languages; a ready.and clear writer; and good military authorities say that his work on artillery practice shows him well acquainted with the art of war. His character is a compound of will, firmness, and secretiveness. The new Emperor's civil list is to be fixed at a million sterling, besides the proceeds of the forests and domains, which are estimated at £300,000 ayear more, and the run of 27 palaces.

Lamentable Affair.—M. Emile de Vauxonne, Judge at the Court of Appeal, went to the shop of M. Gobert, gunsmith, to get a pair of pistols repaired. By an inexplicable chance, it happened that the pistols were loaded, and on M. de Vauxonne touching the trigger of one of them to show M. Gobert what the pistol required, the pistol went off, and the charge struck the gunsmith obliquely in the breast. He at once fell on the ground, crying ont, '• I am a dead man." M. de Vauxonne, horrorstruck at what had occurred, seized on the other pistol, and blew out his brains. When medical aid was brought to M. Gobert, it was discovered that the wound which he received is not likely to prove of any gravity. This fact renders the precipitancy of M. de Vanxonne the more to he lamented.

Odd Justice.—The Quakers resident in Philadelphia applied to their society, as they do not go to law, to decide in the following difficulty* A. is uneasy about a ship that ought to have arrived; meets 8., an usurer, and states his wish to have the vessel insured: the matter is agreed upon. A. returns home and receives a letter informing him of the loss of his ship. What shall he do ? He is afraid that the policy is not filled up, and should B. hear of the matter soon, it is all over with him ; he therefore writes to B. thus, " Friend B. if thee hasn't filled up the policy, thee needn't, for I've heard of the ship." " Oh, oh, thinks B. to himself, "cunning fellow, he wants to do me out of the premium." So he writes thus to A., " Friend A., thee bee'st too late by half an hour, the policy is filled up." A. rubs his hands with delight: yet B. refuses to pay. Well, what is the decision ? The loss is divided between them. Perhaps this is even-handed justice, though unquestionably an odd decision. Education is a companion which no misfortune can repress, no crime destroy, no enemy alienate, no despotism enslave. At home a friend; abroad, an introduction ; in solitude, a solace; in society, an ornament; it chastens vice: it guides virtue ;it gives at once a grace, an ornament to genius. Without it what is man? A splendid slave—a reasoning slave.