The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-16 00:00:00

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Closing Prices—Gold, 1401. Sterling Exchange
on London, 1094 ; 5-20 U. S. Bonds, 1131; Illinois,
121 ; Erie, 701-. Cotton—Middling upland, 29.
PHILADELPHIA, August 14.
Petroleum—Standard white, 28.

ARRIVAL OF THE PERSIA.
(Via Queenstown.)
The royal mail steamship Persia arrived at
Queenstown at 9.30 a.m. io-day (August 16), with
84 cabin passengers, and $7,000 in specie. She
landed all the mails, consisting of 116 sacks, and
15 passengers, and proceeded for Liverpool at 9.40
a.m. All well.

NEW YORK, Aug 7, Morning.

The Democrats carried the electionsin Kentucky
by a majority of 60,000, electing Mr. Helm gover-
nor, nearly all the members of the Legislature, and
Mr. Galtoday, as member to Congress, to All the
vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Hise.

General Sickles has ordered the postponement of

the reassembling of the North Carolina Legislature
until further notice, and has directed the suspension
of trial by jury until the jury lists are revised.
General Pope has ordered all civil suits against
officers for acts done in pursuance of military
orders to be abandoned.
General Sheridan has removed the city treasures
from New Orleans and appointed his successor.
The State military authorities of Tennessee have
assured the protection of all negroes discharged by
Conservative employers for voting the Radical
ticket.

The Union meeting held at Covington, Ken-
tucky, on the evening of the 31 inst., was dis-
persed by a mob.

Negro troops, armed and equipped, participated
in the Radical procession at Prattsville, Alabama,
on the 3d inst.

Admiral Palmer, of the United States navy, has
gone to the capital, it is reported to demand the
person of Santa Anna, who is still a prisoner at

Campeche.

The Attorney-General has received complaints

that the military commander at Wilmington ob-
structs the serving of civil processes issued by Chief
Justice Chase in North Carolina.

General Michel has resigned the command of the
military forces in Canada. . _

A.dvices received here from Vera Cruz to the 24th
ult. state that the city was healthy. The Presi-
dential canvas was progressing quietly.
All the foreign Consuls at Vera Cruz, except the
American, had lowered their national flags.
It is reported that Marquez, the brother of Mira-
mon, and other Generals, are organising a large
force in the mountains.
Lozada still defies Juarez.
The Austrian frigate Elizabeth was about to
return to New Orleans, the Mexican authorities
refusing to surrender to the commander the body
of the late Emperor Maximilian.

FRANCE.
The annual public sitting of the Five Academies
of the Institute of France was held yesterday under
the presidency of M. Lebrun, the director. M.
Villemain, perpetual secretary of the French Aca-
demy, and other distinguished members, were pre-
sent. The papers read after the president's address
and the proclamation of the grand biennial prize
were :-1, Report of the competition of 1867 for
the Volney prize for linguistic excellence; 2, An
examination of some facts relating to Faustina,
wife of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, by M. Renan ;
3, The Academy of Sciences in 1789 and 1793, by
M. Bertrand ; and 4, Mazarin, by M. Wolowski.
The present was the fourth occasion on which the
institute has had to award the biennial prize founded
by the Emperor in favour of " the Work or the
Discovery most suited to do honour or service to
the country." The name of Felicien David, the
laureate proposed by the Academy of Fine Arts, was
and, in crowning the
the president pro-
mrecoesiiovaeld
nounced on him a high eulogixlm. M. Vallers for his
wwoirtkhs
oafcctliammtaotoiomnp,
oser,
" Persian-Latin Dictionary," M. Schleicher for his
"Compendium of thelndo- German tongues," divided
the Volney prize between them, and a favourable
mention was accorded to M. Schuchardt. M. Re-
nan's paper, which is an attempt to clear the memory
of the Empress Faustina from the infamy that his-
tory has stamped upon it, was received with much
favour. The sitting of the French Academy for the
distribution of the prizes for acts of devotedness
and those for literature will take place towards the
end of the month, as already stated. M. de Falloux
will deliver the address on the former.
The receipts at the Exhibition by the turnstiles
on Monday were 55,7301 r. The restaurant omni-
bus gave 4,838 repasts at an average of Ifr. 45c.
each.
The bulletin of the Paris Observatory of yester-
day morning gives the following as the atmospheric
situation :—" The wind all over Europe is gentle,
except in Norway, where it blows rather hard from
the south west. On many points of the western
coasts the sky is overcast. The sea is 4'alrn. The
glass everywhere remains high, and has changed
but little." In Paris yesterday the weather con-

tinned clear, still warmer than before, with a slight
breeze from the east. At three the thermometer
marked 33.5 10 Cent. (92 1-5 Fahr.)

ME7EOROLOGP.

The Journal des Conna issances Medicales pub-
lishes an extract from an essay written by Marshal
Vaillant on the transparency of the atmosphere,
and the forecast of the weather which may be de-
duced from it. " After a few days' fine weather,"
the Marshal says, " accompanied by an easterly or
north-easterly wind, it happens in the central parts
of France that objects
which are at some distance
from our eyes, such as horizons bounded by hills,
the summits of mountains which were only per-
ceptible through a mist rendering their outlines
) occasionally
indistinct, suddenly become perfectly clear and well
defined, the eye distinguishing details that were
utterly hidden from it before. The atmosphere thus
acquires a wonderful transparencYwhich
even imparts a certain degree of crudeness to
the landscape. The top of Mont Blanc in such a
case is visible in a direct line from a distance of 60
leagues and upwards. And yet this extreme trans-
parency of the air is an almost certain harbinger of a
change of weather and imminent rain. This singular
circumstance may be explained as follows : When
a cold wind, such as those we have mentioned, pre-
vails on the surface of the earth, it acquires warmth
from the latter, and therefore rises, traverses the
strata above, mixes them imperfectly together, and
causes disorder as regards densities and tempera-
tures. In the same way the dry air which begins to
touch the soil derives from the latter a certain de-
gree of humidity which the strata above do not
get." The Marshal then proceeds to show that the
rays of the sun do not, under such circu4nstances,
reach us in a straight line, but broken by different
densities, and the atmosphere is therefore indistinct.
When a south or west takes the place of the pre-
ceding ones, being already
in the upper strata,
where the air, being warmer than the earth, has no
longer any tendency to rise, it descends towards
the earth, which deprives it of its superabundan t
warmth, and remains there. In this case therefore
the atmosphere is not disturbed, and rays of light
reach us in a line which, though slightly curved,
appear to us straight. Hence there is distinctness
of vision, just at the time when the strata nearest
, the earth are charged with humidity, and a clear
154 in that OW i 8 the precursor of rain

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.—This Day.