The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-25 00:00:00

THE RIVER PLATE.

If the news by the Brazil and River Plate steamer
proves in this instance true, as an exception to a
general rule, there are indications of the termination
of the Paraguayan war. The dates are to the 23d
Nor., and it is asserted that on the 3d Nov. Marshal
Lopez attacked the allied position at the head of
8,000 men, and after a desperate fight was defeated.
If the figures given be true, the fight must have
been desperate, for it is alleged that half the Para-
guayans were killed and wounded, and that 2,040,
including 72 officers, were only the portion of the
killed that the allies had buried, and that more
were being hourly discovered on all sides. Half
the attacking column, according to this account,
had been destroyed, and 1,900 muskets collected
on the field. The muskets are certainly not
in proportion with the men killed, and the
extraordinary fact is admitted by the Brazilians,
that 7 pieces of artillery, one a 32-pounder,
were captured by the Paraguayans. The Allies
lost upwards of 700 men, besides the artil-
lery. It appears. also that four days after the
desperate defeat the Paraguayans made anothersortie
in which they lost 200 killed and 30 prisoners. The
figures belie the truth of the story. It is asserted
that three Paraguayan steamers had attempted to
escape, and that but one of them succeeded, the
other two being sunk. Messrs. Tait, of London
and Limerick, have just completed a contract for 10
years with the Belgian Government for a monthly
mail service between Ostend and the Brazils. The
line will consist of four powerful steamships, fitted
for first-class passengers only, and sailing from
London on the 14th, Ostend on the 16th, and
Falmouth on the 18th of each month ; the home-
ward bound ships leaving Buenos Ayres on the
Ist, Montevideo on the 3d, and Rio Janeiro on
the 10th of every month. The City of London,
the pioneer ship, sailed from Falmouth yesterday,
at four p.m., upon her second voyage, and she
will be followed in succession by the City of
Buenos Ayres, the City of Brussels, and the City
of Rio Janeiro. On the return voyage all the
ships will call at Falmouth to land mails and pas-
sengers, and then go on to discharge cargo at
Antwerp and in London. The following telegram
from Paris explains the mystery of the above
figures :—Paris, Dec. 20.—The Moniteur of this
morning states in its bulletin that on the 3d
of November the Paraguayans carried the allied
camp by storm, but not having the necessary pre-
cautions, they were attacked in their turn and
driven back with great loss. Their object was,
however, partly attained, as they had to destroy
the enemy's magazines and to spike a number of
their guns.

CAUSE OF TIIE GLORY OF SUNRISE AND SUNSET.
—Dr. Lommel's theory of the glowing colours of sunrise
and sunset, originally published in Poggendorff's Annalen,
has given occasion to 11L.. Sorby to ni:she known in the
Pitiosophical Magazine that in ➢larch last ho read a paper
before the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical
Institute, on the colour of the clouds and sky, in which, as
appears from the printed summary, much of the learned
German's explanation is anticipated. Transparent vapour of
water absorbs mostly the red rays of light, while the lower
strata of the atmosphere offer most resistance to the passage
of the blue rays. By these two simple facts the glorious
phenomenon seen at dawn and eve are accounted
for. Of course, it must be understood that tho sun
is low ; for directly overhead the sky looks blue,
and the quantity of transparent watery vapour may
be estimated by the colour ; the darker the blue
the more vapour—a fact which meteorologists may
avail themselves of. Mr. Sorby shows how all the
tints—green, yellow, purple, orange—that are seen
at times around the rising or setting san are pro-
duced; and he may, perhaps, expect a remonstrance
from poets and sentimental people, who, regarding the'
magnificence of the eastern and western sky as of celestial
origin, will bo shocked to learn that it is terrestrial, and
due for the most part to impurities in the lower strata of
our atmosphere.