The Sun.
London, England, 1834-09-20 00:00:00

their course, who ruled the thousand suns in their systems,
and whose name was " the Eternal."

Colonel SYKES reported from the Section of Statistics ;
where Mr. Drinkwater had stated the progress which had
been made by the Statistical Society of London, which now
consisted of 400 members connected with every part of the
kingdom. Captain Maconochie had read a long and inte-
resting paper on the population and state of crime in
France, from which he deduced the important fact, that
education was not always a guarantee against the com-
mission of crime ; but was a mighty instrument, either for
good or evil, according as it was directed ; and that the
great object of education ought to be the cultivation of the •
moral feelings. In 100 crimes against the person,- eighty-
six were committed by men, and only fourteen by women ;
and in the same number of crimes against property, seventy-
nine were committed by men, and twenty-one by women.
Two-fifths of all the crimes committed by women against
the person were infanticide. A considerable increase had
taken place in the number of second convictions ; but the
Captain remarked, that those sentenced to the galleys
seldom rendered themselves liable a second time to punish-
ment.—[The word " galleys" was mistaken for gallows
by a large portion of the audience, from the similarity of
pronunciation, and excited a laugh, which neither Colonel
Sykes nor many of his hearers appeared to comprehend.]
Mr. WHEWELL then delivered a lecture on several in-
teresting phcenomena connected with the tides. At the
last meeting of the Association, the investigation of this
subject was pointed out as of vast moment, and one from
which facts of great importance were likely to result. Mr.
Whewell observed, that the state of information with re-
spect to tides amongst philosophers was exactly in the same
situation as that with respect to many other parts of astro-
nomy amongst the unlearned. Only one fact was known
to the learned regarding tides, that they were produced by
the attraction of the moon and the sun ; but as to parti-
cular details they were entirely ignorant. It was for this
reason that he called attention to the subject, upon the
occasion alluded to ; so as to induce intelligent individuals
to give what information they could on the subject, and
also enter upon investigations. At Bristol, a society was
instituted for the purpose of prosecuting inquiry ; and the
neighbourhood of Bristol was, of all parts, the best calcu-
lated for it, for there the tide frequently rises and falls
from fifty to sixty feet. A person might walk at low water
along the valley of the river, and see the ships lying dry,
as it were fixed to the walls, and never dream that in a
few hours these vessels would be visited and floated by the
tide. Bristol is thus peculiarly adapted for making ob-
servations on the tides : and to facilitate these inquiries,
a self-registering instrument was constructed for the
purpose of ascertaining their rise and fall. By this
instrument, the relative heights at different periods
of high water were ascertained, being delineated
by the machine upon a sheet of paper, one of
which was exhibited to the meeting. By this means
the interesting fact first developed by Newton, from
observations made by a gentleman residing at the very spot
where the instrument is now placed, was put to the proof
and verified, namely, that at certain periods of the year the
evening tides were greater than the morning, and other
periods the morning tides were greater than the evening.
In the rise from the neap to spring tides, the increments
are not regular, but alternate, low and high. At London,
and other places the fact above stated was not found to
hold true ; but that was occasioned by the relative position
of land and water. Mr. Whewell then described the man-
ner in which the tides were brought to our costs, and
showed that the great tidal wave which rolled in_ the At-
lantic was broken into three different branches in approach-
ing our island, in consequence of which two tides met at the
mouth of the Thames, one of them twelve hour's after the
other, so that the tide at London was compounded of both
a morning and an evening tide. In order to prosecute the
investigation of this phenomenon, application was made to
the Admiralty to direct the attention of the Preventive
Coast Guard to the subject ; and the officers of that ser-
vice had shown an alacrity and zeal in the matter which
was worthy their character. He had received their obser-
vations during a fortnight in June last, but he had not yet
had time to examine these, except very partially. He had
reason to believe, from a hurried glance, however, that they
would be of great value ; and they were at present under-
going discussion by direction of the Admiralty. Mr. Whe-
well concluded his interesting remarks by expressing, in
very warm terms, the feelings of gratitude entertained by
himself and other strangers of the Association, for the kind
and hospitable reception they had met with in Edinburgh.
Professor SEDGWICK went at some length into a general
review of the results of the labours in the Geological and
Geographical Section during the week ; in the course of
which the Learned Professor dwelt upon the relation which
subsisted between the geological formations in the sister
kingdoms. Geology, he observed, had made a very impor-
tant advance during this meeting. M. Agassis, in particu-
lar, had brought to light several very important facts rela-
tive to certain organic remains. The Professor, after
concluding his review, took occasion to congratulate the
Association on the countenance which had been bestowed
upon their meetings by the presence of so manv of Scot-
land-s-aa:ughiefs, and ---conctuded by re-eChoing the senti-
ments of Dr. Abercrombie, that the pursuits of science,
instead of leading to infidelity, had a contrary tendency—
that it went rather to strengthen religious principles, and to
confirm them.
The company separated at eleven o'clock.