The Express.
London, England, 1867-11-12 00:00:00

THE NOVEMBER METEORIC SHOWER.

Mr. J. R. Hind writes to the Times :—" Although
• display of meteors at the approaching November period
is by no means a matter of certainty, it may not be with.
out interest to examine the conditions under which the
shower must occur on the earth generally. The time of
maximum in the shower of November last was, as every
person who witnessed it must have observed,
strikingly well defined. It was fixed by the
united testimony of many practised astronomers
to 111. 12m. a.m. on the 14th, with a probable error
not exceeding two minutes. At this moment the helio-
centric longitude of the earth and of the centre of the
stream of meteors was 51 deg. 28 min. 7 sec. allowing,
therefore, for the progressive motion of the node we shall
not attain this position until 7h. 50min. Greenwich time
on the morning of Thursday next, the 14th inst., half-an-
hour after sunrise in London. The duration of the shower
as a grand display last November was less than two
hours, consequently if it extend no longer on this
occasion daylight will be approaching before the
earth enters the denser portion of the stream. On the
western coast of Ireland the phenomenon may probably be
observed under somewhat more favourable conditions, but
it will be on the Atlantic Ocean and the North American
Continent that we may anticipate the most impoeing
exhibition. On Thursday morning next, at 6 o clock,
the moon, two and a quarter days past the full, will
have an altitude of about 31 deg. above the horizon of
the metropolis in azimuth 79 deg. west of south, and
will be distant from the radiant in Leo about 63 deg. It
is, however, worthy of remark that several of the
grandest meteoric display, on record have taken plsee dm,
mg strong moonlight. In 1366 the moon occupied a pad.
tiou not far from that in which she will be situate in the
present year, and in 1799 she was shove the horizon dur-
ing the whole continuance of the phenomenon. In 1633,
as in 1866, the moon was absent. With regard to the re-
lative intensity of the shower of last November, as com-
pared to that of 1833, we learn, on the excellent autho-
rity of Mr. Baxendell, of Marchester, who was an eye
ivitnees of the latter on the west coast of Central America.
that, in point of numbers and brightness of the meteors,
it far exceeded the .bower of 1860, and hence there may be
reason to infer that the approaching one will also be on •
grander scale. Professor Adams has made the important
discovery that the pro ression of the line of nodes in the
orbit of the November meteors, deduced from observations
extending over upwards of nine centuries, is precisely
that which would be produced by the action of the planets
Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus—thus establishing the ac-
curacy of the presumed period of 334 years in an indisput.
able manner."

The question of the morality of the turf will
engage the attention of the members of the Oxford Union
Debating Society on Thursday evening next, when the
following motion by Mr. C. K Brooke, of University Col-
lege, will be discussed : "That it is the opinion of this
house that horse racing, as at present carried on, is un-
worthy of the support of Englishmen.
G "
THE LATE REAT EASTERN RAILWAY MEETING.
—The proceedings of the Great Eastern Railway meeting
on Friday will be read with interest, at least in the central
parts of Easel, not only as they affect an undertaking so
intimately connected with the comfort and the accommo-
dation of the district, but because there still lingers along
this route some of the old original shareholder who were
associated with Bosanquet and Braithwaite, Butler, and
others, in laying the first foundations of the line. 'They
have seen many vicissitude% and must have grown thin in
feeding upon that sort of hope which this meeting is in-
tended to supply to them. We must own that when we
read the disinterested and self-sacrificing circular of a
number of the directors, we were led to the belief that
there was a prospect of the company being able to establish
pear% without which therecan be no prosperity. The tone of
the discussion which took place, however, has shaken our
faith in that result. The curtain was slighly lifted at the
meeting, and showed the board of directors in the same
antagonism, division of purpose, and confusion which have
characterised so many of the unfortunate gatherings of
the shareholders. These conflicts and constant changes
would depress any company. It is useless to charge a
gentleman with the mission of redeeming the undertaking,
and when be has brought them within sight of even a
dividend on the ordinary stock, to upset the whole and
begin again de nom. However, a committee has been
formed to consider bow, and we suppose by whom, • new
board shall be organised ; and all may yet be well if these
gentlemen are sensible, not only of their responsibility,
but also of the value of those who have served them well ;
and will bear in mind that it is vain to expect the public
to have confidence in the undertaking unless the share-
holders and directors show they have confidence in it them-
'selves and in one another.—Suez Refold.
CRYSTAL PALACE. ON' SHILLING DAY. —•
I MONDAY, Nov. 11.—Admissions on payment, 2,550 ; ditto
by seam tickets. 1,236. Total visitors, 3,806,

THE FERNDALE COLLIERY EXPLOSION.

Up to six o'clock on Sunday evening the ex-
ploring parties had not succeeded in clearing away
the fall in the east district, which cuts off about
twenty of the workmen ; but it was believed, from
the bad smell as of some dead animals, that they
were not far off. An engineer who went down on
Sunday thought the bodies would be reached at
midnight. On Saturday night, about nine o'clock,
a man was rescued alive from this district. The
workmen under Mr. Curnew were startled sud-
denly by the sound of a voice, and having listened
and called out, an answer was obtained in a sort of
groan. Mr. Curnew thereupon fancying the
voice was close by, pushed his hand
through the brattices and touched a body
which was found to be that of a young man about
24 years of age. He was half asleep, but quite
conscious, and when spoken to (after being brought
to bank), said he had been rambling about the
workings and lost his way. He had fallen down
some hours before and was falling asleep when he
heard their voices and called out to them as well
as he could. He is now recovering. It appears
now that about 80 men were at work in the
Duffryn and South Districts when the explosion
occurred, and the fire not having affected those
districts they escaped unhurt. After they were
brought to bank a great many—the greater por-
tion in fact—were afraid to go down to rescue
their companions in the other workings.
A jury. has been empanelled by Mr. George
Overton, coroner, and after viewing the bodies re-
covered, the inquiry was formally adjourned. At
present it is impossible to say the exact number
that have perished, as no account to be relied on
can be obtained. Some say there are 170 in the
pit at the present time, while others say that there
are 253 bodies to be brought up. Should the latter
number prove anything like correct, the extant
of the catastrophe will rival that at Rises,
which took place in December, 1880, when. 141
lives were lost. The vein in which the explosion
occurred is the well-known four foot vein, and was
a portion of the new workings. The pit is worked
on ono level, and is about three hundred
yards deep, but although the vein is known
to be one of the most fiery in the district, the
government inspector a short time since spoke of
the colliery as one of the best managed collieries
in the valley, and the system of ventilation
as good as it was possible to make such
deep and fiery workings. The mode of ven-
tilation was by furnace, and the colliery,
so far as we have been able to learn, was
divided into two main districts—one to the deep
and another to the rise. The explosion, it is be-
lieved, took place in the rise working, and those
that have been saved have been mainly from the
deep side. Immediately after the explosion the
furnace either went out, or bad to be put out in
consequence of the fire in it ; and here it may be
stated is the advantage of machine ventilation,
because, although occasionally air machines gat out
of order, yet when explosions take place there is
no necessity for stopping them.

The following appears in the Timts:
Sir,—l was accidentally present at the above•named
colliery soon after the explosion. The reports came first
by the downcast, and three seconds after by the upcast
vomiting foul gas—the explosion probably occurred near
the pit, as those burnt are found there. This colliery
extends in its present workings from east to west nearly
a mile, and north to south nearly the same distance ;
about 500 men went to work, and but 170 were living
from the pit last night. The frightful sights, misery, and
anguish here are indescribable. In one house a father
and three sons are lying dead, sad nearly every cottage
has a corpse, or is waiting lie arrival ; and how is this to
be aenninted _for? By gas accesszlation. Row long

will our profession allow such horrors to accumulate,
that old workings are capable of belching forth de-
struction, that " lamps," old, defective, and unearned,
become annihilators to these simple and poor labourers,
whose mutilated remains show their poverty by coarse and
overmended attire, as also by their badly-clad, frantic
wives, too horror-stricken for tears? How long will these
shamefully continuous scenes be permitted? Till that day
when the law compels, or engineers have the courage to
tell employers that full and proper ventilation is security
and cheapness in the end, obtainable by new shafts in pro•
(Naive workings at the expense of profits, and that " the
lamp" is an instrument for precautionary investigations
only, and not for the uninstructed miner to earn his bread
by its light at such fearful odds against life ; for, as open
lights are used near the pit's mouth because the ventila-
tion is proper, why should that not be the cue at the
workings!—l am, Sir, your obedient servant, C. M.
BARRER, Member of the Society of Engineers.—Nov. 9.