The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-28 00:00:00

THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

A correspondent, "C. C.," writes to us as follows
—A few months since you published for me a couple of
letters upon the subject of admission to the Reading room
of this institution, of which privilege I have availed myself
at various times since Michaelmas last. I think that the
attendants are generally attentive and civil, and, in the
asking for books, I have not observed any particular decay.
But, there is one point of some public interest which is
worthy of notice.

There seems to be no settled rule or information respect-
ing periodicals, or, at least, respecting country newspapers.
Catalogues have been prepared and improved with great
care, but this class of literature is still a sealed book, as far
as the " index " is concerned, and I doubt whether the
attendants themselves know what files of newspapers they
possess. I have had occasion to refer to a country news-
papers of some years' date, but it was not in the catalogue•
A. civil attendant looked for the file, and he brought it at
the end of an hour I I wanted another provincial news-
paper of the same date, and, necessarily, 1 applied to another
attendant, who said, sharply, " Oh I you must find it in the
Index." Now, it was not in the Index, yet it may be, like
its companion, in the Museum. These provincial papers
are valuable for reference with respect to title deeds, etc.,
and, clearly, the public ought to know what files of papers
the library contains, and which, at the present, cannot be
known. The catalogue of London papers is vague also ;
for the only copies indexed of the Horning Star newspaper
refer to 15 numbers which were published in the year 1832,
of a paper so called I Whether it is intended to make out
a regular complete catalogue of provincial and Landon.
newspapers I cannot state, but it is clear that such refer-
ences are much required, and that serious inconvenience is
caused by their absence ; and I hope the Museum autho-
rities will endeavour to remedy this omission, for the sake of
the public, shortly.

THE LATE GALES AND THEIR CAUSES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR—The proximate causes of the late severe gales
having been explained in my last, we may noW
come to the original causes, These are still in some
measure concealed ; so that we still " see through
glass darkly ;'' but yet we perceive that in all cases
there is deposition before we can look for motion

in the atmosphere. The question arises, ", What
causes this deposition ?" The answer must be
change in temperature, for in all cases we may trace
this change, Then, since the Earth is always in
the same place as regards the Sun at any given pe..
riod of the year, it follows that there is some other
cause than the Sun for the changes of temperature.
These I attribute directly to changes in the condi-
tion of the electricity of the atmosphere; and, if we
take from the " Nautical Almanack" all the cases
during the last three years of conjunctions of the
Sun and Mercury, we get 19 instances, of which
we find 16 cases in which there were storms of wind.
The three exceptions were 22d May and 22d July,
1861, and 3d August, 1863, all summer periods.
Thus we may see that an electrical change takes
place whenever the Sun, Mercury, and the Earth
come into a straight line; and since the planets do
act powerfully on the Earth by their light, we may
conclude that this action is electrical, and so that it
changes the temperature and produces storms, as in
the above cases. The fact being admitted that we
have storms whenever the San and Mercury are
found in conjuction, we may account for the recent
storms by the circumstance of the planet Mercury
being at the time in Aphelion, when his motion was
extremely slow. This effect the Moon increased by
changing her declination on the 4th, when the hur•
rican was raging. The next period of the conjunc-
tion of the Sun and Mercury will be on the 25th
January, 1864, at and after which I expect some
very severe gales of wind.—Yours, &c.
It. J. MORRISON, Commander R.N.

Idea in

MR, Fox TALBOT is said to have sticceeL
subject
is
producing an exquisite engraving on steel I
a scene in Java, and it is asserted that 5,000
rThet
can be printed from such plates without denterrew , n
g
FIRES.—On Saturday
• a belonging to Mrs
abont half-pest 2 o'clock, on the prorezinse:ss at Lower Bel-
T. Thwaites, a tailor,
carrying on buvrs
as made by a
grave-place, Pimlico. The discovery
passing
morning
police-
constable of the B division,
who'rOund liethefloor. at once
sent
off for the assistance of the Royal
raised an alarm, and
Society's fire-escapes and ng
ines. I a course of a few
e
minutes two of the escapes attended, under the charge of
n th
Brooke!and Cotterell• The former
Conductors
machine, and succeeded in bringing
ascended his
10
down in safety persons. He next made an
m
attempt to !aye rs. Tarrant from the second floor.
He took her in his arms, but owing to alarm and ner-
vousness she shook herself from his grasp, and both she
and the conductor fell to the ground. They were picked
nr, and a medical man was sent for. On arriving he pro-
nounced the injuries to be serious, and he recommended
their nrmediate removal to the hospital, where they remain
in a very dangerous condition. The engines of the parish
and land steamers, three manual power engines, and the
Torrent, irom Hodges's distillery, were early in their
attendance, and plenty of water was obtained, but the
flames could not, be extinguished until the building was
nearly destroyed. The total loss is very considerable, but
it is understood that the principal sufferer was insured.
Before the above fire was extinguished another happened •
on the premises belonging to Mr. John Bute, a boot and
shoe manufacturer, carrying on business at No. 3, Britan-
nia-place, Fulham. Mr. Staples, the chief officer of the C
district of brigade, quickly attended, as well as a land
steamer. A good supply of water was obtained, but the
fire was n A extinguished until Mr. Bute's premises, con-
sisting of two stories, were burnt down, and the house of
Mr. Flick, oil and colourman, No. 4, and those of Mr.
Williams, a dairyman, damaged by fire and water, The
fire was caused by a spark flying from a lighted candle
among the bedding. The loss will fall principally upon the
Globe Fire-office.