The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-24 00:00:00

NEW PLANETS.

,
coverer eLr eovfe rtrhi
ee rp,
awhoseplanet
Nfeapmt
ue
naes the e okrneivf
.t svi;
written a letter of the highest interest to poet'
the astronomer, on the subject of certain tinacc-f the
able discrepancies between the observations °` o,oj,
transits of Mercu over 'the disc of thee ace,llll the results of calculation. The facts
lows :—The theory of the sun having bl results
fully revised, and compared woodyhe_;
of 9,000 observations of that trfer-curi
various observatories, the motion of 1"-e",.0 21
had in its turn to be revised. Now there a' ro,s
isferencild
observations of the inner contacts of
disc with that:of the sun, taken within a Peirisen re-
-151 years, viz., between 1697 and 1848, anc• „ fire-
liable ; yet in these transits there appears to be
~Z se-
gressive error, which amounts to as much asni",,a, to
conds of an arc in 1753. Now, can it be supP°s-0
explain such a constantly repeated divergcncehoold
such men as Lalande, Cassini, Bouguer, ts:c•fli
have committed mistakes amounting to seve',ivg
nutes of time, and mistakes, progressively va,rtar
from one period to another ? This would be absallio.
impossible. But there is another curious circus'
of
inotlefo,
stance, viz., that by increasing the secular
the perihelion by 38 seconds, all the above .observe'
is
tions are found to be correct to a second “L'r •er
some cases even to half a second ! 31•
then proceeds to show, that in order to esf"al-a to
addition of 38 seconds, we should hual'
increase the mass attributed to Venus .14„Illted
tenth of its amount. This mass cale-Aso
to be the 400,000 th part of that°Meier
been however, found, by other calculations, 111.45.
too large, so that increasing it is out of the (I"
tion. Hence M. Leverrier concludes that the tebo
cess of the motion of Mercury's perihelion Inus,,
owing to some other cause as yet unkno"„o,,f
us, and this cause he supposes to be either 'be,
planet, or a series of small bodies circulating 10..
tween the sun and Mercury.—M. Faye' ~,ilLnces
municating this letter to the Academy oD,,,e'„'"fop'
suggested that all the astronomers of -""lijt
should now direct their attention to the snla
spots on the disc of the sun, in order tails° iv,
whether there were among them any numite Po d
it
netary bodies which had hitherto escaped hbserfter
tion. Such bodies had often been lookeob
without success ; but this proved nothing, 6ra;
rt*irches having been made at mere hoz° re.
now, however, there were serious grounds ford be
peating such attempts, and total eclipses
ving Nveu'. nof
the most advantageous periods for obser 1-00,
minute body in the immediate vicinity of the 0
A total eclipse, he added, would be visible 004
Spain and Algeri t in July next. SuPPcse all ars
tronomer at Campvey, for instance, to Plot.
himself exclusively for such an observation, ling if,
ing everything else relating to the eclipse ; be
a quarter of an hour before the proper tinl.
remained in a dark room in order to guard his
r rays'
from the dazzling influence of the sola3a
whose effects continue for several rninuteS,
cause vision to be indistinct at the decisive bed
ment, he might, as soon as the eclipse had reactot
its maximum, observe the heavens with the gre,trto
accuracy, and perhaps discover what had hit'oo,
escaped notice under less favourable circutustanc

___.---
THE WRECK OF THE EXPRESS STEAM FAC„V,;:i.
—SOUTHAMPTON, Friday.—By telegraph from the vis
nee Islands we learn that the South Western Con3Pteu
steamer Expremb under the commando f Capt. Mabb, vivi be
wont ashore on the Corbiere Rocks, off Jersey, ha 5,11;,%, oc''
come almost a total wreck. The severe storm ri"4- go.
curred on Wednesday evening did her consider 0
Last evening her bow was loose, and she appeared t° bewent
worse,l n 1 much longer.
an should The
breaking up. This morning her masts and boilers boo
over the side, and it was evident the ship could ll° a for
outtheher, 4ect
will not survive the shock. A report is current to theide•
anweoaththerersthorams bberceoamkeu;l;ege sjo
that her commander had attempted to commit ell
titer,
Although nothing can be done on board exceptat low I'o', tbe
every exertion has been made to save the moveabe:l. 1 ...4
ship. The engines and boilers have been taken t, p"
the furniture and ship's stores have all been sevea
_toot
TILE RUSSIAN AND INDIAN LOANS._
.3..."15 per
already paid on the Russian loan of X12,000,000,21°,10 to-
cent., and a further payment of 13 per cent.
pent.foils duo will
then alments, el _.,
day. The contract price having been 68, 40 per oar-
en remain to be discharged in three i
10th of Poo°,
ing respectively on the Ist of November, the 1 ,_ in whice
ber, and the 25th of January. The uncertainty
remain on the question whether there is any uounnjoinge6
balance yet to be thrown on the London St °,‘ ~;
d the sc—P b°,
the Russian Government have allowed the subsctbriorastot°
continues to exercise a depressing effect, an
_.,e,t, of 25 re.;
fallen to to i die. There will also be a J..
PaYThe prct lrtr,.'
cent. on the Indian loan on Tuesday next. s ,
_lover, el
of the £5,000,000 remaining to be pai‘d utnito, nu
The two realet°l°l4
will consequently be but £437,500. 25t11 of
£1,750,000, and the amount to be pro
fixed for the
instalments of 26 per cent. each are
October and the 22d of November. tjee
A goy,
Bart., will of the late Sir Jarase
~.
.id',, n this occas! r.".
proved in the Supreme Court by his
sworn under 851 s
Jejeebhoy, Bart., late of DoinbayPsoanrsseeTtrNevroniot'oaf:La.)
property, personal and real, .vas
rupees—XB,soo,ooo.