The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-05 00:00:00

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HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Thursday.
The Queen, accompanied by Princess Helena and
Prince Leopold, drove out yesterday morning.
Earl Russell arrived at Osborne, and had the ho:
nour of dining with her Majesty and the royal
family.

Dr. Norman M'Leod also had the honour of being
invited.

--...,.._.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge has
been staying on a visit to Lord and Lady Londesborough
at Grimstou Park. His royal highness is expected to re-
turn to London to-day.
Prince William, the eldest son of the Crown
Prince and Crown Princess of Prussia, has already received
military rank, having been appointed second lieutenant of
the Ist Regiment of Prussian Guards.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess
of Hohenzollern, attended by the Countess Renaud and
Baron Bmnchitsch, have left Claridge's Hotel for the Con-
tinent.

The Duchess (Emily) of Beaufort is expected to
arrive in town early in the ensuing week from a visit to
the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort at Badminton.
The marriage of the Marquis of Queensberry
and Miss Sibyl Montgomery, daughter of Mr. Alfred Mont-
gomery, and granddaughter of Lord Leconfield, will take
place early in the ensuing month.
The Marchioness (Dowager) Townshend and
Lady Audrey Townshend have arrived at 24, Carlton-
house-terrace, from Raynham Hall, Norfolk.
We understand a marriage is arranged to take
place between the Earl of Dunmore and Lady Julia Coke,
daughter of the Earl and Countess of Leicester.
The Earl and Countess of Essex have left
Brighton for Cashiobury-park, Herts.
Viscount and Viscountess Holnaesdale are enter-
taining a distinguished company at Linton House, Kent.
Lady Annaly has left Thomas's Hotel, Berkeley-
square, for Titness-park, Sunninghill.
The Hon. Captain Elphinstone has left Thomas's
Hotel, Berkeley-square, for Holkham Hall, Norfolk.
Colonel North, M.P., and Baroness North left
their residence in Arlington-street, Piccadilly, yesterday,
for Wroxton-park, Oxfordshire.
We are happy to say that a more detailed account
of the outrage on the Midland Great Western Rail-
way of Ireland places the matter in a different light to that
in which it appeared in our yesterday's impression. it
learn now that the driver was the person aimed at, and
that the shot was fired on the return of the train which
had conveyed Lord and Lady Wodehouse to Carrick-ow
Shannon. It seems that the engine which hauled the train
the first part of the journey had not the protection of
hood, but in consequence of an accident the locomotive was
changed for the return journey, and the driver had the
usual protection. But for this fortunate circumstance be
must have been killed, as the bullet struck and indented
the hood a few inches from the place where he stood. At
present there is no clue to the perpetrator of the outrage,
and the whole matter is involved in mystery. Why all
one should seek to take the life of the driver of a railway
train is not easily answered. Under any circumstances it
is to be hoped that a reward will be offered for the appre-
hension of the individuals concerned in the outrage, ill
order that we may know whether it had a political origin,
or was, as is alleged in some quarters, a matter of private
grievance against the railway company.—herald.

Christmas Lectures at the Royal Insti-
tution.

Yesterday afternoon Professor Tyndall delivered
the fifth of his course of lectures "On Sound." In
the previous lectures the transverse vibrations of
sonorous bodies were considered, and in this lecture
he showed that musical strings and wires have also
longitudinal sonorous vibrations. In the first expe"
riments ilustrating this property of musical strings
a brass wire and a steel wire, each 30ft. long, were
tightly stretched across the lecture room, and they
emitted sounds by rubbing them lengthwise with
a woollen cloth and powdered rosin. In vibra-
tions of this kind, Professor Tyndall stated, it
is the elasticity of the atoms of the string that pro
duces the effect, and that that elasticity is much
more powerful than any force usually applied to
stretch a string. Though a loud note was thus pro-
duced from each wire, it was shown that the tran-
verse vibrations of wire of that length are inaudible
when each vibration is equal to the whole length of
the wire. Longitudinal vibrations may be divided,
in the same manner as the ordinary vibrations of
strings, into separate parts, of nodes and neutral
segments, and by increasing the number of vibrating
segments the pitch of the note is increased, in the
same proportions as when the string vibrates cross'
wise. The note produced by the brass was much
lower than that of the steel wire, but by shortening
the vibration of the former the same note was sounded
by each, and the different lengths of the vibrations in-
dicate the relative velocity in the transmission of
sound through the two metals. Eleven feet of brass
wire and 17 of steel wire give the same note, and the
velocity of sound through brass, compared with
steel, may be thus ascertained to be in the propor-
tion of 11 to 17. When a note vibrates longitudi-
nally it stretches and .contracts in the direction Of
its length, and the pitch of the note sounded by the
vibrations of rods of the same material and thickness
is proportionate to their length. Several experiments
illustrated these properties of bodies when producing
sound by longitudinal vibrations. In rods of diffe-
rent substances the pitch of the note was shown to
be the highest in those that transmit sound the most
readily. When a rod or string is vibrated longitudi-
nally in connection with other sonorous bodies, trans-
verse vibrations are imparted to the latter, and they
produce the sound that is then heard. A harp formed
of upright wooden rods of different lengths was ex-
hibited which was sounded by longitudinal vibra-
tions, and was said to be capable of producing good
musical effects. From the consideration of longitu-
dinal sonorous vibrations in solid substances pro-
fessor Tyndall next proceeded to explain the nature
of the sounds produced by longitudinal vibrations
of the air in organ pipes. In such vibrations, as in
the vibrations of strings, there are points of rest and
vibrating segments, and several very curious experi-
ments were performed to illustrate that property of
air when made the agent of sound. When an
open pipe sounds its deepest note the centre of the
pipe is the part where the air does not vibrate, but
it is also the part where the air undergoes the greatest
variations of density, in consequence of the undula'
tions meeting and separating there. To exemplify
this, three small gas flames were placed on an organ
pipe, one of the flames being in the centre and the
two others at the points of greatest vibration, small
holes having been made near the flames through
which the air might issue. On sounding the pipe
the central flame was extinguished while the others
remained lighted ; but on changing the position Of
the nodal points, the outer flames were extinguished
and the central one continued burning. The note
of a pipe open at both ends is the octave of a closed
pipe of the same length, the pitch of the note in
both cases being inversely as the lengths. The con-
cluding part of the lecture was devoted to the illus-
tration of the interesting phenomena of resonance.
Jars of different heights were placed on the lecture
table, the columns of air in which were of such
lengths as to vibrate in accordance with different
tuning forks. When a tuning fork was struck
against a cushion no sound was heard until it was
held over the jar the column of air in which was
capable of resounding the same note. In this manner
tuning forks of different sizes were brought over the
various jars, the sound being only audible when the
forks were above those which contained the column
of air that vibrated to its note. The same effect
was shown with open organ pipes, and still more
strikingly with a large bell. When a bell is sounded
there are four nodes and four vibrating parts, and
a large tube closed at one end was brought alter-
nately near the points of rest and the parts of
greatest vibration. By this means the sound waB

greatly augmented when the tube was brought near
the vibrating parts of the bell, and at the nodes

there was comparatively no sound.

THE OPPOSITION IN THE FRENCH CHAMBER.--
La France says :—" We understand that the Deputies of tho
Opposition now in Paris met yesterday (Wednesday) at
the house of M: Marie. The object of the meeting was to
arrange as to the conduct of the Opposition in the approach-
ing Legislative Session: It' is stated that the members
present decided to direct their efforts chiefly to the Mexi-
can question."