The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-27 00:00:00

NOTTINGHAM—SATuRper.

A moderate show of wheat to-day, with a fair inquiry, at
2s to 3s over late prices. Barley very limited in supply,
well taken off, and late prices were supported. Beans in
good demand, at full prices, but scarce. Oats 6d to is up.
—White wheat, from 39s to 448 ; red wheat, 38s to 425.
Barley—malting, 308 to 378 ; grinding, 27s to 295. Oats,
old, at 248 to 30s Od; new, 198 to 255. Beans sold at 38s
to 42s per qr. ; new, 35s to 38s.
Flour, fine, 29s to 31s; super, 83s to 385:per 20 stone.

DUBLIN—FRIDAY.
A strong attendance to day. Supply moderate, and an
improved demand for both Irish and foreign grain at an
advance of 6d on all wheat and Indian corn. A fair inquiry
for oats at 3d over late rates. Flour steady, but value
unchanged.

a. d. s. d.
Wheat, white 24 0 to 26 6
Do., red 2l 6 to 24 0
Do., new
Barley
Oats
Do., black — 0 to 0

a. d. s. d.
Oatmeal lO 0 to 13 0
Beans..
Bere
Rapeseed 0 to 0
Bakers' flour
Indian corn

Foreign Mail Packet List.

MAILS DUE.

Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton. .. June —.—
via Marseilles
Brazil and Cape Verde, by British packet. July 5.4
Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena.. June 29
"'tuna, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton. June—.
via Marseilles ...June 27.

Falkland Islands..
Gibraltar, via Southampton ..... June —.
India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton June—.
via Marseilles June 27.
India (Bombay), via Southampton June 25.
via Marseilles July 5.
Portugal....
Itialta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton June —.—
via Marseilles July 5,
Newfoundland .. June 22.
Oporto and Vigo
U. S. and British N. America, by Brit. packet June 30.
by U.S. packet
by Canadian packet June 24.
All parts of West Indies, including Chill, Peru, 1 June 28.
California. and British Columbia..

PHYSICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE SUN.—Oar
readers must recollect the intense interest with

which the public received the announcement of MM. Bunsen
and Kirchoff's wonderful discovery of spectrum analysis,
and the surprise which was caused by the fact that the
chemical constituents of the sun might be determined by
this valuable method of investigation. The conquests of

seieuee, however, are sometimes dearly bought, and the
- - -

acquisition of a new theory will occasionally compel us
to relinquish another which, though it answered its

purpose, is found to be incompatible with the new
discovery. This was the case with the constitution of
the sun according to W. Herschel's theory, which supposed
it to consist of a dark nucleus, surrounded with a high at-
mosphere, the upper part of which only was in a state of
combustion, and was called the photosphere. When a spot
was remarked on the surface of the sun, it might easily be
explained by this theory by saying that the burning enve-
lope had, by some convulsion, been torn open, and that the
dark nucleus thus became visible through the gap. The
facules, or wrinkles seen on the burning surface, might
be explained by the vehement action caused by a tem-
perature infinitely superior to any we can produce on
our earth. The instantaneous changes of form observable
in the spots were equally well explained by Herschel's
theory, and Arago had proved the gaseous nature of the
Photosphere by showing that it did not emit any polarized
light, which it would if it were liquid or solid. But M.
Kirchoff overthrows this convenient theory, by declaring
that the sun's nucleus, instead of being dark, is even more
luminous than the photosphere, because the spectrum
formed by the passage of solar rays through prisms
presents the black bands observed by Wollaston in 1802,
and since studied by Fraunhofer, instead of the brilliant
bands produced by the vaporised metals, constituting the
visible incandescent surface of the sun. Unwilling to forego
the advantages accruing from Herschel's theory, M. Petit,
the astronomer of Toulouse, in a paper addressed to the
Academy of Sciences, describes two observations made by
him for the purpose of measuring the distance of the
nucleus from the photosphere. From this delicate

tion it appears that the nucleus, which ceased to be visible
in a spot at a distal-ice of nine seconds from the sun's limb,
was still visible at ten seconds, which by calculation gives
for the altitude of the sun's atmosphere a value equal to
the earth's radius. Hence, Herschel's theory would seem
to be ccniirmed.—Gaignani.