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INSTRUMENTS, &c. FOR SALE.

These Notices, which are restricted to three lines each, are inserted free of charge to Subscribers; applications respecting prices and other particulars to be made to the Editor, with a stamped envelope for reply, without which no answer can be sent. For Advertisements with prices and more complete details, a small charge will be made.

Equatoreal Telescope, 5 ft. focus, 4 in. aperture; powers 60, 340, and 450, on extra stout mahogany tripod stand, steadyingrods, levels, large finder, &c., complete. [18] Achromatic Refractor, 5 ft. focus, 3 in. aperture, Equatorially mounted on strong garden tripod, with eyepieces, &c., complete, price low. [41] Achromatic Refractor, 46 in. focus, 3 in. clear aperture, by Dollond, on extra stout tripod stand, with steadying-rods, finder, &c., in case, complete. [ 40 ] Astronomical Refractor, focal length 4 ft., aperture 38 inches, complete on a Portable Universal Equatoreal Stand. [3] Achromatic Refractor, 4 ft. focal length, 3 in. clear aperture, by Wray; with two celestial and one terrestrial eyepieces, on garden stand. [46] Achromatic Refractor, 4 ft. focal length, 3 in. aperture, on brass tripod stand, with achromatic finder, 3 celestial and 3 terrestrial eyepieces, &c. Newtonian Reflector, 7 ft. focus, 7 in. aperture, 8 eyepieces, powers from 30 to 360, Equatoreally mounted.

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Transit Instrument, 5 ft. focus, 3 in. aperture, Ys fitted with agates, for mounting on stone piers.

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Equatoreal Mounting (for Latitude 51 or 52), adapted for a telescope of 6 or 7 ft. focus.-12-inch circles, ratus, &c., all of the most approved construction.

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Equatorial Stand, for a 4 or 5 ft. telescope; 8 in. circles, divided on silver, with verniers and microscopes; tangent screwmotions, &c., in case, price low.

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Improved Varley Stand, with rackwork movements, adapted for a telescope of 5 or 6 ft. focus: fixed upon a circular turn-table, so as to be easily pointed in any direction. Recreative Science: complete in numbers, half-price. [30]

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Instruments, &c., for Sale.-Instruments Wanted. 175

FOR

OR SALE an excellent REFLECTING TELESCOPE, focal length 7 ft., aperture 7 inches, mounted so far Equatorially that with a little care it may be turned on a star or planet in the day-time.-Four Eyepieces.-Price £20 only (less than the cost of the stand), the proprietor having mounted a larger instrument. [11]F

TO BE SOLD A VALUABLE ACHROMATIC TELESCOPE,

Equatorially mounted on cast-iron pillar, by Messrs. Cooke & Sons of York. The Object-glass is 5 inches; focal length, 80 inches; with brass tube, illuminating apparatus, perfectly regulated driving clock, and circles by Moreland. Shows the 6th star in the Trapezium, and elongates readily Mu 2 Bootis. Price 120 guineas. Powers from 50 to 800 Barlow lens, &c. [50]K

OR SALE

FOR

an excellent ACHROMATIC REFRACTING TELESCOPE, by T. Cooke & Sons, mounted on a stout oak tripod stand. Objectglass, 3 inches.-Three Eyepieces.-Solar prism, &c., in good condition. Price £12.-Cost £1755. Apply to B. W., Post-office, Chelmsford, Essex; or to Mr. R. T. Lewis, 1 Lowndes Terrace, Knightsbridge, S.W. [52]L

INSTRUMENTS, &c. WANTED.

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The

Equatoreal Stand Wanted-adapted for a 5-ft. Refractor, with graduated circles; second-hand, at a moderate price. [35] Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. third volume wanted: a good price will be given. [26] Schröter's Selenotopographische Fragmente-a copy wanted, in two volumes. [ 49 ]

OCCULTATION OF KAPPA CANCRI, BY THE REV. W. R. DAWES. -1865, May 2.-Cooke's 8-in. O.G., power 407. Disappearance at dark edge (which was visible), instantaneous. Nothing remarkable. Reappearance well observed with power 407, my eye being directed precisely to the right place on the moon's bright edge. The star pushed out from a smooth part of the edge, just as if a small semicircular-shaped mountain had been suddenly raised at that spot. No projection or clinging to the edge. Both before and after the occultation the star was examined with powers 407 and 560, but no elongation of the disc could be perceived. Definition and steadiness almost perfect, in a rather hazy sky.

Hopefield Observatory, Haddenham, Bucks.

A NEW MINOR PLANET, No. 83 of the Series, was discovered by Dr. De Gasparis, at Naples, on April 26. The discoverer proposes to call the planet by the name of Beatrice, in allusion to the Dante Commemoration.

SPOTS ON THE SUN, 1864.-Professor Wolf states the results of his observations for last year to be as follows:—

Days of Observation

Days of no Spots

Relative Number

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These figures appear to incorporate the observations of Schwabe and Weber, and therefore are not exclusively Wolf's.

THE ROYAL SOCIETY.-Among the fifteen candidates selected for admission into this exclusive corporation, in June, are three Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society-the Rev. W. R. Dawes, Mr. Grant, and Mr. Huggins-all of whom are well deserving of the distinction.

THE METEOROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT.-It does not seem to be decided at present as to the successor to the late lamented Admiral Fitzroy. We are informed that the post was offered to, but refused by, Admiral Henry Durham, the Board of Trade wishing a naval officer to be appointed. The candidates now in the field are Mr. Glaisher and Mr. A. S. Herschel.

ROYAL INSTITUTION.-Mr. William Huggins delivered a very interesting lecture on "Spectrum Analysis," at this institution, on Friday evening, May 19th, which was much appreciated by the crowded audience assembled.

ASTRONOMICAL REGISTER.

LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS-Name received since our last number. Aldam, W., Esq., Frickley Hill, Doncaster.

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We can in no case insert communications from correspondents with whose names and addresses we are unacquainted.

In our next number we hope to present to our readers an abstract of Mr. Brayley's Paper on "Cosmical and Geological Philosophy."

Several communications are unavoidably postponed for want of space. The Index and Title page for Vol. II. are now ready, and will be delivered with the present number; and the bound Volume will shortly be ready for those gentlemen who desire it. Price 128.

The Astronomical Register is intended to appear at the commencement of each month; the Subscription (including Postage) is fixed at Three Shillings per Quarter, payable in advance, by postage stamps or otherwise.

The pages of the Astronomical Register are open to all suitable communications: Letters, Articles for insertion, &c., must be sent to the Editor, Mr. S. GORTON, Stamford Villa, Downs Road, Clapton, N.E., not later than the 15th of the month.

The Astronomical Register.

No. 31.

JULY.

1865.

INFERENCES AND SUGGESTIONS IN
COSMICAL AND GEOLOGICAL

PHILOSOPHY.

BY E. W. BRAYLEY, ESQ., F.R.S.

ABSTRACT (from the Proceedings of the Royal Society).

THIS paper commences with the "Theory of the Sun," embracing the subject of the source of its energies, and the synthesis of ponderable matter. The position, powers, and functions of the sun, as the physical centre of the solar system, are peculiar, and, in fact, unique. The "primary induction" from them, indicating, in the author's opinion, "the principle of philosophical investigation" which should be applied to the sun, is conceived to be "that they imply a corresponding uniqueness and peculiarity in its constitution, characterising also the nature as well as the disposition of the substances of which it essentially consists. But the particular density of the sun indicates that it actually consists both of ponderable and imponderable matter. The nature of the former, as constituting apparently its relatively exterior region, [is] believed to be made known in part by Professor Kirchhoff's researches in prismatic chemistry applied to the sun, as showing that some of the elementary substances of the earth exist also in the sun.

The first obvious verification of this primary induction is presented by the "form of the sun, which, according to the observation of the equality of its diameters, is that of a perfect sphere—a

* Syllabus of Lectures on Astronomical Physics, delivered at the London Institution in 1864, here cited from a revised edition printed for private use; Lecture V.

form which is unique in the solar system, and is probably unknown in terrestrial nature.

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The cardinal peculiarity of the sun, that in which it is unique in the highest sense, is that its radiation exclusively possesses the property of imparting to (inorganic) matter a fit condition for the manifestation of (organic) life; that it is, humanly speaking, infinite in amount, and also the source of all the heat and light, and consequently of all their derivative or correlate forces which are active in the solar system. The illustration of the temperature and expenditure of heat of the sun founded by Sir John F. W. Herschel upon his own experiments and those of M. Pouillet, with Mr. Watson's experimental result that the potential temperature of an infinitesimal area of the sun's radiating surface is nearly thirteen millions of degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, are cited as being in fact nothing more than philosophical confessions that no proportion whatever can be established between any expression for the solar energies and the obvious reality of their incalculable amount.

The author proceeds to enquire what we may reasonably conceive to be the intimate nature of matter in its highest and most elementary character, such as that essential to the sun is in this paper inferred to be, agreeably to the principle of philosophical investigation he has suggested as being alone applicable to the sun, and according to known facts and recognised principles of science. The answer to this question is afforded, he conceives, by modern views of the constitution of gaseous substances as forms of ponderable matter, and of that of the luminiferous ether as an imponderable body. It is deduced from the former, combined with the investigations of philosophers during the last half-century, including those of the late Dr. Thomas Young and M. Cauchy, and of M. Neumann and Professor Stokes, that the ether is characterised by enormous molecular activity, rendering it immensely rarer, but at the same time more truly solid and elastic, than any kind of ordinary or ponderable matter, all forms of which it pervades, even the most dense, coexisting with them in the same space.

The author infers that the substances peculiar to the sun tran

* See preceding note.

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