MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 584, 8 March 1851, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

Important Discovery in Ventilation. At a time when cholera, with an appalling voice, calls the most earnest attention to house ventilation, and dreadful explosions and loss of life in mines demand no less anxious efforts to devise means for the prevention of these calamities, we have much satisfaction in anticipating that human residences may be supplied with a continual circulation of wholesome air, and the most dangerous subterraneous works be preserved against accidents from foul currents or fire-damps. Dr Cbowne has enrolled a patent for Improvements in Ventilating Rqoms and Apartments,

of the perfect efficacy of which, we beli there cannot be a doubt, and on a at once most simple and unexpected, ty', out going into details at present, w e dt state that the improvements are based u an action in the syphon which had not pre^ # onsly attracted the notice of any exneyL . " ter; viz., that if fixed with legs of'UDeT'i length, the air rushes into the shorter | and circulates up, and discharges itself f ro °' the longer leg. It is easy to see how r a pjd this can be applied to any chamber, j Q id to purify its atmosphere. Let the orifice 1 the shorter leg be disposed where it can C ceive the current, and led into the chium-' (in mines, into the shaft), so as to Co " that chimney or shaft into the longer l e g s J you hove at once the circulation complete a similar air-syphon can be employed in jL, aud in the lowest holds, where disease nJ" Derated in the close berths of the crowded sea men, be rendered as fresh as the upper deef The curiosity »f this discovery is, that syphon reverses the action of water, or O tb er liquid, which enters and descends down in the longer leg, and rises up in the short er leg! This is now a demonstrable fact; bow is the principle to be accounted for’? d puzzles our philosophy. That the air j n (U bent tube is not to the surrounding alnios - phere as water, or any heavier body, j Se d dent: and it must be from this relaiin.. .t ,i the updraft in the longer leg is caused. .J I the constant circulation and withdrawal 1 polluted gases carried on. But be ibis as ; >| may, one thing is certain—that a more nsef- 1 * and important discovery has never been mJ for the comfort and health of civilized mJ We see no end to its application. Therebl not a sanitary measure suggested to which J may not form a most beneficial adjunct. ThtJ is not a hovel, a cellar, a crypt, or a bld close hole anywhere, that it may not cleaDgl and disinfect. We trust that no lime willd lost in bringing it to the public test on alarpi scale, and we foresee no impediment to id being immediately and universally the public weal. We ought to remark ltd fires and heating apparatus are not at all J cessary ; and that, as the specification J presses it, “ this action is not prevented bj making the shorter leg hot whilst rhe longs remains cold, and no artificial heat is neces-l sary to the longer leg of the air-syphontil cause this action to take place. [Extraordioan as this may appear, we have witnessed the experiments made in various ways, with lubti from less than an inch to nearly a footmanmeter, and we can vouch for the fact being perfectly demonstrated. Light gas does descend the shorter leg when heated, and ascend the longer leg, where the column ofliti is much colder and heavier. —Ed. L.G]Literary Gazette. i Monarchs of old in a New Home.-| Yesterday the winged bull and lion from Nineveh quietly took up their abode in the veil tibule of the British Museum. There is sod thing solemn and striking in the placid grail deur of the effigies of the old kings whief adorn the front of these mystic animals; sk| their quiet transit into their new home, fill the singularly expressive calmness about tbsl faces, had an effect altogether unique. Tkj capitals of Assyria have been ransacked fej the amusement of the citizens of a remote iri land in Western Ocean—and when our tors shall come the searchers after antiquitiesmrf search the relics of Ninus in the ruined cifi| tai of the House of Brunswick. It is i| mawkish sentimentality to say that the ftj sage of these old monarchs into their new big was peculiarly affecting. One would alnitfi fancy that they surveyed the strange croij around them with a mild beneficence. ' pleaded for the respect due to their fall® ; grandeur. The Egyptian effigies posses! boldness and heaviness of aspect which k £t | ; sympathy at a distance ; but all the softnej and beauty of the far times of to glow in. the faces of the new beings, ’J can almost be said to throw the hallowing nity of their past glories over the enterpt'j energy, and determination of araceasgnj and powerful, and yet more interesting, t® their own.-— Atlas, Oct. 12. J - '1 he Royal British Bank has annouo ce | its customers its intention to issue, in c, i where it may be desired, promissoiy notespyg able to their order for any portion or f° r j lull amount of the balances that against their names either in the shape credits or drawing accounts. Thus a p efi l having £5OO at the Bank, and wishing! • give security to some other person to that | i tent, might obtain at the Bank P ronilsS ‘l i notes to his own order, with which hi® ■ would be debited, and which he coU . J i hand unendorsed to the person in ■ hold as a guarantee for any’ transaction s tween them, while the interest allowed J j i Bank would still accrue to the s Other conveniences contemplated by th® 1 J • of these notes are, that they would anS ' ,f J . the purpose of remittance, in the •as Bank post bills, and that they j , 1 under proper circumstances, be re®® 1 |

i strangers, who v/ould refuse a check, in the . •uncertainty of its being honoured. The simple I effect of the plan would be, that it will enable | the depositors of the Bank to carry negotiable i evidences of those deposits at all times in their i pockets, without losing the interest that is alI lowed upon them ; and it is therefore an apI patently unobjectionable experiment, although I a novel one, to increase the advantages to trade | which are constantly arising from the legiti- | mate extension of banking facilities.— Times. I Home for Emigrants.—The Liverpool I Town Council* in a special meeting, adopted I an amendment which negatived a nroposal by I* the Dock Committee to establish and maintain a home for emigrants at that port; “an object which her Majesty’s Government and the Emigration Commissioners alike approve,” j and which in the opinion of the Committee | was itself desirable and necessary. Aiderman g Braroley Moore supported the recommenda-

tion of the Committee, by giving a history of the course which the emigrant runs from the time that he lands at Liverpool :—“ When ythe steamer arrives, and before he puts his Efoot on the quay, there are a set of men waitling for him called men-catchers and runners. [These men don’t even wait to ask his object, or what he is about; but they first of all seize upon the poor man’s luggage, and he has /great difficulty to contend even with that. ■-Then he is taken to a lodging-house ; for Brhich the man-catcher gets his commission— Shat is, bis first commission. When he does /that he next takes him in charge to engage fijjs passage. On that he gets a second comImission. That done he then goes back to ftlfe lodging-house keeper—mind I am only Speaking of the disreputable part of the lodg-ing-house keepers, because there are some highly reputable. Many of these men are in league with the man-catcher and runner; and fthey say to the emigrant, this money which you have will not be of any use to you where (you are going to ; you must have it changed into dollars. They take him to the moneychanger ; and he there gets a third commisfeion. It would only weary you were I to delta il the gradual plunder; but the last measure gof all, after plundering him in this manner in [every step be takes forward, is this—at the ieleventli hour, when the emigrant is about to |go on board his vessel, he has some exorbitant demand put into his hand—at the eleventh hour, when the man knows that the Immigrant has no means of redress, when he jcannot go before a magistrate without losing Ins passage ; tbereiore he pays the money, releases his goods, and leaves the country Sfrith all those bitter and unkindly feelings [which these incidents have awakened, and gtakes them with him to the country where he ■s going... .About 164,000 emigrants passed last year through this port ; and the trade mad now become so important, and was so distinct, that vessels had been expressly constructed for this live-carrying trade, which was found to be a profitable one. The tonfage in our docks which emigration employed Bras very great. Last year it numbered 600 large vessels, of 500,000 tons. Thus it was • matter of great importance to the Dock estate, and it deserved the very grave consideration of the Council, lest they should lose Such a valuable branch of trade. It was such Sn important trade that it should be kept in Kjiverpool, and connected with the Liverpool Jlocks.” The opposition to the proposal was UJhiefly grounded on the principle that “emigration is not a Liverpool but a national quesMon, and that Government ought themselves jj> come forward and establish the institution Which it advised." The amendment was car■ed by 29 to 6. ■ Manufacture of Bank Notes. —About |Je year 1819, a great outcry was raised ■gainst the Bank for not adopting a style of Bote which could not be imitated, and thus ■reveal the sad sacrifice of life which, unEapnjly for the country, about this period was ■bo common. The subject at last became so ■fessing, that the Government appointed commissioners to investigate the causes of the numerous forgeries, and whether a mode could devised whereby the forging of bank notes Might be prevented. Previous to this invesflgation, the Directors of the Bank had been Ifcdeavouring to remedy the evil, many plans Saving been submitted to them, all of which ®ey were obliged to reject. At one time 5* c y were about to adopt a curious and very V trinphinn Cnte rttinHnn nnln r»v« MB* J •**UUU.!UU IUI plAMl*U££ bUU UUkU W ll WWhll ■des so exactly alike as to appear one im■ession ; when a workman came forward and Hpowed that the same thing might be done by y e simple contrivance of two plates connected w a hinge, The Commissioners, as a means Hl facilitating their inquiries, requested the B°urt of Directors would furnish them with re jected plans,.by which it appears they ■ceived a hundred and eighty projects for B eir adoption : these together with the cor■spondence which accompanied them, were ®gularly classified and arranged. A state- ■ erit of trials to which they had been sub- ■ C , > B P ec ' mens of the proposed originals,, Hg of the imitations executed by the Bank,

were also submitted to the Commissioners. Ihe Bank also placed before the Commissioners seventy varieties of paper made at their manufactory by way of experiments, in which almost every alteration recommended for adoption had been tried, and in some instances anticipated by the manufacturer. The colour of the paper is peculiar, and cannot exactly be imitated by a forger except at great expense. The combined thinness and strength of the paper is also unique. The paper is made in pieces large enough for two notes; each note before it is sized weighs about eight grains, and if then doubled it is strong enough to suspend a weight of thirty-six pounds ; with the addition of about a grain of size it will suspend fifty-six pounds. The texture of the paper is also peculiar; it has a crisp feel, invariably the same, and such that bank clerks of experience can readily detect forgeries by this test alone. Then the wiremark, impressed in the making by a frame, costly to make and difficult to use, is practically inimitable. Each note has thin rough edges, uncut, not to be produced by any mode of cutting paper that is not made expressly for the purpose. The paper for printing is damped with water in the exhausted receiver of an air-pump. The ink used in tbeplate-prin-ting is made of Frankfort black, which is composed of the charcoal of the tendrils and husks of the German grape ground with linseed oil. This ink has a peculiar and very deep shade iof black, common black inks being tinted either with blue or brown.— Lawson's History of Banking, Algeria.—A deplorable accident took place on the 13th at Oran, on the exercise ground of the garrison. Some of the soldiers having seen a snake in the grass pursued it, and the reptile, in order to escape, crept into a cannon which had been left there since the last time the artillery firing at a mark. The men, not supposing that it was loaded, determined to smoke the snake out of its hiding-place. One of them accordingly thrust some lighted materials in at the end, whilst another put down a lighted stick into the touch-hole. The piece at once went off, killing one man, and wounding three others more or less severely. These latter were taken to the hospital, where hopes were entertained of saving their lives.— Galignani.

Marr'iages in England.—About a century ago the marriages in London were under 6000 a year, they are now four times as many. In all the country the increase has been most remarkable in the metropolis and in Manchester. In particular localities the proportion is found to differ. Thus Yorkshire, the seat of the woollen manufactures and of prosperous agriculturists, appears to be the most marrying district in all England, Lancashire and Cheshire, the cottou districts, coming next, and London thiid. Staffordshire and Worcestershire, Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire stand next, followed by other counties more or less blessed by the presence of Hymen, but decending gradually till we reach the matrimonial zero, which is found in the agricultural parts of Middlesex. The average annual mumber of weddings is about one hundred and twenty-three thousand. It would help a winter s night amusement to decide how many pounds' weight of Californian produce must be wanted for the rings. How many garlands of orange blossoms for the hair and bonnets of the brides ? The probabilities of marriage of course vary ; but the rules seem to hold that about one in seventeen unmarried women- between the ages of fifteen and forty® five, are married throughout the country. Marriages have their seasons. They are less numerous in winter and numerous after harvest in the December quarter ; the births and deaths, on the contrary, are most numerous in the winter quarter, ending in March, and less numerous in the summer quarter, ending September. War diminishes marriages by taking great numbers of marriageable men away from their homes, whilst a return of peace increases marriages, when soldiers and sailors with small pensions are discharged, Trade and manufactures have also become more active in England on the cessation of wars, and the employment and wages thus adduced have contributed Stillmore to add to the numbers of those entering the marriage state. The establishment of new, or the extension of old employments, promotes marriages. The cotton manufactures, the canals of the last century, the railways of the present day, are examples. Indeed, an increase of their incomes is taken by the generality of the people for the beginning of perennial prosperity, and is followed by a multitude of marriage's. There are only about fifteen persons married annually, for the first time, out of a thousand living. There are about five children born in to avery marriage.— Dickens' Household Words. Rags.—lt is like the mill of the child’s story, that ground old people young. Paper! White, pure, spick and span new paper, with that fresh smell which takes us back to school and school-books. Can it ever come from rags like these ? Is it from such bales of

dusty rags, native and foreign, of every colour ■ and of every kind, as now environ us, shutting out the summer air, and putting cotton into our summer ears, that virgin paper, to be written on, and printed on, proceeds? We shall see presently. Enough to consider at present what a grave of dress this rag-store is ; what a lesson of vanity it preaches. The coarse blouse of the Flemish labourer, and the fine cambric of the Parisian lady, the court dress of the Austrian gaoler, and the j miserable garb of the Italian peasant; the woollen petticoat of the Bavarian girl, the linen head-dress of the Neapolitan woman, the priest’s vestment, the player’s robe, the Cardinal’s hat, and the ploughman’s nightcan all dwindle down to this, and bring their littleness or greatness in fractional portions here. As it is with the worn it shall be with the wearers ; but there shall be no dust in our eyes then, though there is plenty now. Not all the great ones of the earth will raise a grain of it, and nothing but the Truth will bp-—— HoziSsKold. Inverness Sheriff Criminal Court. —A singular case came before this court on the 14th Aug., which excited great interest in the north. It arose from a love affair, in which a young man, Mr. Donald Macdonald, Baliloch, North Uist, had become affianced to a young lady, Miss Jessie Macdonald, daughter of Mr. Macdonald of Balranald, Harris, Miss Macdonald’s family appear to have considered the match as unfitting for the young lady, and wished her to transfer her <1 flPrt V n »-» r. /-—A-.— T—— J uuuvnuuo IV vuupci, IqCIUX XVI AJUIU Maciionald ; but she persevered in her attachment to Macdonald, iu order to prevent an elopement she was sent to her uncle, Mr. Macdonald, of Rodil, Harris •, but her suitor, with several of his father’s servants, took a boat and sailed for Harris, and on landing early in the morning proceeded to Rodil-house. Mr. Macdonald would not allow them to enter, but, finding the door open, Donald Macdonald and his party went in. A scuffle took place at the door, in which Mr. Macdonald’s clerk and his shepherd were struck by the invading party. The lady was soon ready to set off, and the whole party were again speedily on board the boat, and sailed to Gairlocb ; from thence the young gentleman and lady proceeded to Edinburgh. A special defence was set up by the prisoner, and read to the court and jury, to the effect that the prisoner went to Rodil for the accomplishment of a legal engagement, and if any riot took place it was not on account of the prisoner, but of those who opposed him. Leiters were read from the young lady which showed she was anxious to be united to the young gentleman, and that the elopement was with her own consent. The jury returned a verdict of “ Not guilty." The verdict was received with great applause. —Aberdeen Journal.

A Roman Catholic correspondent of the Times writing on September 30, supplies the following details of the ceremonies attending the elevation of the new cardinals :—“ln the Consistory of this morning his Holiness named Dr. Wiseman cardinal, under the title of Archbishop of Westminster. The Consistory of this day is ou.e of the most remarkable in modern times, from the circumstance of ten out of the fourteen cardinals having been chosen from foreign states, and only four of them being Italians. As soon as Dr. Wiseman received the notice of his elevation, he placed himself upon the threshold of one of the state rooms at the Palace of the ? Consulate, where his reception takes place to receive the congratulations of the cardinals and ambassadors, who send their attendants for the purpose. This afternoon each of the new cardinals will proceed with the blinds drawn to the Vatican, where his Holiness will give them the red beretta or cap, after which Cardinal Wiseman, in the name of the others, will return thanks, standing. As they leave the Pope’s apartment they will receive from an attendant the red zucchotta or skull cap. They will afterwards go home with the carriage darkened as before, and during the next three days they must remain always at home. This evening the cardinals, ambassadors, and nobility, Roman and foreign, present their congratulations in person to each of the new cardinals. The cardinals who reside in the city usually request one of their own family, or some lady of rank, to receive the princesses ana otner laoieswno may wish to oe presented on the occasion. Our countrywoman, the princess Doria, will do the honours for Cardinal Wiseman. On these occasions there is generally a grand display of the diamonds and jewels of the noble Roman families. On the mornings of Tuesday and Wednesday the Roman princes will visit the new cardinals in state. The great ceremonies, however, are reserved for the following day, Thursday. At an early hour the new cardinals take the oaths in the Sistine Chapel, whilst the other cardinals assemble in the Sala Duckie, hear the chapel. The new cardinals kneeling, received the red hat from the Pope, with an admonition that its colour is to remind them that they are to he ready to shed their blood, if

necessary, for the Church. They are then embraced by their colleagues, and take their places among them. Te Deum is afterwards sung, whilst the new cardinals are prostrate on the floor. At the secret consistory each cardinal receives a sapphire ring, for which he pays 500 crowns, for the benefit of the missions to Asia, China, and other countries, and a title or church is assigned to him. I believe that Cardinal Wiseman will receive the title of St. Prudentiana, who is stated by ancient authors to have been a granddaughter of the celebrated British chieftain Caractacus, and whose church is said to contain memorials ofthe earliest days of the preaching of Christianity in Rome.

An aged in Liverpool, named Splatt, had two sons settled in Australia, who, after repeated invitations, prevailed upon them, though it was late in their day of life, io transfer themselves and their four daughters to a home in the Antipodes. But their four daughters were in business, which must be relinL j _ j _ _* j ijutoucu, auu vuuir nine urupciiy uuiivurieci into cash, or merchantable commodities for export, before the important change could be made. This was done, and about eight hundred pounds in cash, and rather a large amount of suitable goods, were prepared for the voyage. Affairs being arranged, the whole party , of six took leave of their friends in Liverpool; where, on the last Saturday evening of itheir sojourn, mingled feelings of regret and affection were indulged in by a circle of social and attached friends. They were to embark for Australia on board a vessel in the Clyde ; to reach which they proceeded on the Monday in the Orion. In a few hours five of the six met with an unexpected death, and the whole of their valuables were lost; leaving the aged gentleman (about seventy one years of age) stripped of his wife, daughters, and property, “ all at one fell swoop.”