The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-09 00:00:00

A 2V_ETV PLANE'II

Our readers must recollect M. Leverrier's sur-
prising communication to the Academy of Sciences
on the 12th of September last, in which he announc • 1
a certain error in the secular motion of the perihelion
of Mercury, which could not be otherwise explained
than by supposing another planet to exist between
Mercury and the sun. It would now seem that M.
Leverrier, to whom the world owes the unprece-
dented prediction of the existence of the planet
Neptune, has had the no less unexampled good
fortune, richly duo to his scientific attainments
and unceasing energy, of seeing his second pre-
diction also verified. The Intra-Mercurial planet
has been found ! Such is the astounding intelli-
gence anncuuced to the Academy by M. Lever-
rier himself. And not only has it been found,
but it was so several months before M. Leverrier
discovered its existence by calculation ; and,
stranger still, the finder is not an astronomer, but
a physician (1)r. Lescarbault by name, living at
Orgeres (Eure-et-Loir). The facts are simply
these :—On the 2Gth of March last the sky was
overcast in many parts of France, but the sun
shone brightly on the plateau of Orgeres. Dr.
Lescarbault, happening at the time to have a little
leisure, took an observation of the sun through his
telescope, and saw, to his surprise, a small, round,
black spot pass over the sun's disk. He carefully
noted down the time, and afterwards calculated
' that the chord described by the planet subtended an
arc of about nine minutes and thirteen seconds.
M. Leverrier having published the result of his
calculations in September last, the doctor wrote to
him to acquaint him with the above fact. This
was a sufficient reason for M. Leverrier to set
out for Orgeres. Here he learnt that Dr. Les-
carbault was a man of great learning and uni-
versally respected, and that he had but one fault—
that of troubling himself too much about the stars !
On arriving at Dr. Lescarbault's abode, M. Lever-
rier was astonished to find a regular observatory
there, with instruments chiefly contrived by the
doctor himself, in consequence of his very limited
financial means. The worthy physician, not having
a chronometer, has nevertheless made himself a
pendulum, striking seconds, by means of an
ivory ball and a bit of string ! D.I. Leverrier asked
him many questions on his observations, and his
manner of acquiring the data relating to the new
planet, and received the most satisfactory answers:
According to M. Leverrier's calculations, the chord
described by the planet must have subtended an
arc of nine minutes and seventeen seconds, so
that the doctor, with his clumsy apparatus, was
only four seconds vc rong. The doctor estimates the
diamer of the new planet at 310 leagues, and the
inclination of its orbit to the eliptic at 12 degrees.
If such are its dimensions, it is likely that there are
more planets still in that region. Its revolution
round the sun is performed in 19 days and 17 hours;
in its greatest elongations its distance from the sun
does not exceed 7 degrees, while Mercury's elonga-
tion is 25 degrees. It was lucky that M. Leverrier
had resolved upon going in person for the doctor's
observatory being strangely deficient in paper, his
calculations were generally written in charcoal on
a deal board ; and when it was full the doctor used
to plane it down by way of cleaning it. This pre-
vious deal board, charged with all the calculations
relating to the planet, has been obtained by M.
Leverrier, and presented to the Academy.

Mr. Tom Taylor has dramatised Mr. Dickens's
last serial story, A Tale of Two Cities," and it will be
produced by Madame Celeste at the Lyceum Theatre.
We (Sunday Times) regret to learn that Miss
Reynolds' health is so delicate that she will be unable to
appear in the dramatic performance before her Majesty and
the Court, on next Wednesday, at Windsor Castle. Miss
Reynolds had been cast for Helen, in " The Hunchback,"
the piece selected for performance on that occasion. Miss
Amy Sedgwick will personate Julia in the play.

- -
DESTRUCTIVE FIRE.—DUBLIN, Sunday.--About
10 o'clock this forenoon a fire broke out in the parish church
of St. Andrew, better known as the Round Church, and in
less than two hours the roof fell in and the whole building,
with the exception of the outer walls and the vestry-room,
was a smoking mass of ruins. The fire was believed to
have been caused by overheating the flue in a stove which,
communicating with the woodwork, speedily sit the whole
church in a blaze. Like all the parish churches of Dublin,
St. Andrew's had no claims to architectural beauty, but
was rather a substantial and commodious pile, with a vast
deal of woodwork in the interior. Until recently it was lit
with the chandelier which belonged to tho old House of
Commons in College-green, but the relic is now in the
keeping of one of the Dublin museums.
THE GREAT SHIP COMPANY.—It is rumoured

(says the Observer) that at a board meeting held on Friday,
the directors of the' Great Ship Company unanimously re-
solved to resign, and that it is to be intimated to the meeting
of shareholders, called for Wednesday next, that they hold
office only until their successors shall be appointed. Mr.
Lever, M.P., accompanied by Mr. O'Beirne, and some other
gentlemen, paid a lengthened visit to the Great Ship yesterday
(Saturday), and minutely iaipected her machinery, saloons,
cabin accomodation, and cargo room, with reference, we be-
lieve, to the offer lately made by Mr. Lever, for chartering
the vessel, which was stated and explained some time since
in this journal. In the arrangements which he has organised
for the employment of the ship, Mr. Lever contemplates,
' should his offer be accepted by the shareholders, adopting
Southampton as her port of departure from England.
There have been no railway proceedings during
neegc.oontisattriuonctsiofnor etfh ae
the week of any importance. Meetings have been held in
some parts of the country to forwardth
few local projects. The long pending
lease or sale of the Waterford and Limerick to the Great
Southern and Western have at least definitively fallen
through. The proposed conversion of the Regent's Canal
into a railway is expected to meet with strong opposition
before Parliament. The promoters of the line, however,
assort that they are certain of success. The amalgamation
scheme of the Caledonian, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, and
Scottish Central will also encounter strenuous resistance
from various local public bodies. At the adjourned meet-
ing of the Ceylon the directors' report was unanimously
adopted.- It was stated that the works have not been ab-
solutely stopped, but are being carried on at a moderate rate,
with the view of keeping the officers employed, and of
being able to show some progress in case the Govern-
ment determine to carry out the whole or a portion of
the line. By the next meeting the directors hope to
be able to give full information respecting any pro-
posal that may have been received from the authorities.
The vestry of St. Bride have passed a resolution in favour
of the proposed extension of the London, Chatham and
Dover, to Farringdon-street.

THE ISTHMUS OF SUEZ.—A Paris letter in the
Independance of Brussels says :—" In consequence of an
understanding come to between France and England, the
difficulties relative to the Isthmus of Suez are now probably
removed. Also, in order to be agreeable to England, the
French Government has sent orders-to its fleet at Algesiras,
the presence of which at that place caused a certain degree
of dissatisfaction to England, to return to Toulon. This
fact will be made officially known in the course of a few days.
In return for this friendly proceeding on the part of France,
the number of English vessels at Algesiras and Gibraltar is
to be reduced nearly one-half; the vessels reduced are not,
however, to return to England, but to go to Malta for the
rest of the winter."

THE RELIGIOUS REVIVAL IN WOLVERHAMPTON.
—On Wednesday night at least 1,600 people assemblcsi at a
" united prayer meeting" held in the Ex, hanre Wolver-
hampton, and if there had,leen room bt IS tst 2 0(10 -would
have congregated fo beseech the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit upon that town —Manchester .Examiner.
LORD CLYDE.—Some of our contemporaries; an-
nounce that Lord Clyde may 1e expected in England about
the middle of this mouth. We are more inclined to -think,
however, that the gallant General will arrive about tl and
of February, when doubtless the country will gives him
such a reception as his great services deserve.—drml aid
Navy Gazete,