The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-03 00:00:00

Public Peculation.

TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE 81IN.
SIR,—I have read the interesting report or official state-
ment of the Postmaster-General concerning the numerous
Post-office robberies which had occurred recently, and
which Government can scarcely prevent in such a large
and important establishment. The simple system of
registering letters and parcels containing valuable things,
if generally adopted, certainly would diminish the frauds
connected with the Post-office. But, in this country, this
system would be more popular than it is, if it should
be made cheap and more convenient.
I believe that, if instead of paying fourpence for a regis-
tered letter, the sender of it could effect registration by
means of a penny, or twopenny stamp, marked in a parti-
cular manner, to distinguish it from ordinary stamps on
letters, rendering any application at the Post-office un-
necessary, in order to obtain " the Post-office order," then
the registration system would increase greatly, to the bene-
fit of the Post-office as well as of the public. In some
towns there are particular boxes for "late letters," and for
" newspapers." Why cannot there be a separate box also
for registered and stamped • letters and parcels, as above
suggested by, Sir, yours obediently,
COOK.E.
Braunton, Jan. 1, 1865.

THE SUN'S OCEAN OF LIGHT.—When the Sun
is viewed through powerful telescopes, its surface—
that
n
phoasevedathp:tcutlhia m
this envelope
ehovtotlloeped osrhcouurlddytae
that is, the luminous envelope of the mass—is seen to
the °
Photosphere,pro-
a name now generally adopted. By the elder Herschel,
the surface of this photosphere was compared to mother-
of-pearl. Other astronomers have said that it resembles
the ocean on a tranquil summer day, when its surface is
slightly crisped by a gentle breeze, and an undulating play
of light is reflected from these little billows. Irregular
lines of light are sent back from the crests of the small
waves, and lines of shadow indicate the hollows.
Within the last few years Mr. Nasmyth has discovered a
more remarkable condition than any that had previously
been suspected. Examining the solar surface with
a fine telescope of great penetrating power, this
astronomer has discovered objects which are peculiarly
lens shaped. He describes them as more like willow leaves
than anything else ; but some other observers, since their
discovery, have likened them to rice grains, and others
to some forms of Diatomacem. These leaved forms are
different in size ; they are not arranged in any order ; they
lie crossing each other in all directions ; and they have an
irregular motion among themselves. They are, says Mr.
Nasmyth, "arranged without any approach to symmetri-
cal order in the details, but rather (if the term may be
used) in a sort of regular random scattering." They are
seen approaching to and receding from each other, and
sometimes assuming new angular positions, so that the
appearance, resulting from the combination of simultane-
ous motions among those forms, has been compared to a
dense shoal of fish, which indeed they resemble in shape.
The size of these objects gives a grand idea of the gigantic
scale upon which physical operations are carried out in the
sun. They cannot be less than a thousand miles in length,
and from two to three hundred miles in breadth. The most
probable conjecture which has been offered respecting those
leaf or lens like objects, is that the photosphere is an im-
mense ocean of gaseous matter in a state of intense incan-

flesene,e, and that they are perspective projections of the
sheets of flame. Whatever they may be, it is evident they
are the immediate sources of solar beat and light. —Popular
Science Review.

ECCLESIASTICAL PREFERMENTS.—The master and
sclolars of Balliol College, Oxford, have presented the
vicarage of Bere Regis, with Winterbourne Kingston, in
the county of Dorset, and diocese of Salisbury, worth £330
per annum and residence, population 2,213, and vacant by
the death of the Rev. Carrington Levy, who had held it for
nearly half a century, on the Rev. Francis Warm, M.A.
The living of Maiden Bradley, Wilts, in the same diocese,
has been conferred by the Dean and Chapter of Christ
Church, Oxford, on the Rev. Thomas Waters, 8.A.; vice
the Rey, Richard Rowley, deceased.