The Sun.
London, England, 1835-10-03 00:00:00

THP StTN, LONDO_Si, sATritrav, OCTOBER 3, 1835.

USLiOIOLTS LifiERT Y.

"The following is the invitation to the Duke of Sns-
_sex, to dine with the new Sheriffs. His Royal High-
ness's answer, which could not be read at the dinner,
in consequence of the great pressure of toasts and
speeches, will be perused with interest
" Guildhall, Sept. 15i 1835.

" TO. HIS ROYAL HIGIIIER,S THE buitt Ot sussEt.
" Sir—By the direction of the Sheriffs elect for London
and Middlesex, their Under Shrriffs have forwarded to
your Royal HighnesS an imitation to their itiauguration
dinner, which, in conformity with ancient ctistoro, will take
place on the 30th instant, and they earnestly hope that
the festival will be graced by your Royal Highness's
presence.
Mr. Sheriff Salomons is a gentleman of the Jewish
religion, whose ancestors have conducted an extensive mer-
cantile establishment, within the city of London, with
high honour for upwards of a century, but who have
been prevented, by the exclusive laws of the City, from
all participation in the honours Of civic ogice, although
they. have been subjected to all the dues and duties of
citizenship.
" To the honour of the present age) a portion of these
absurd Lind unjust regttiationg Loa been removed by cer-
tain by-laws of the corporation, sanctioned by an Act of the
Legislature; passed during the last Session, and Mr. Salo-
mons has been selected by the citizens of London as the
first ibernber of the Jewish community elected to the distin-
guished honour of one of its Sheriffs.
" The noble- exertions of your Royal Highness, during
a series of years, to obtain for the subjects of the Crown of
Great Britain equal privileges, without distinction of reli-
gious faith; ifidtice Mr. Salomons to hope that your Royal
Highness, will be graciously pleased to give. the high
sanction of your royal presence at an etertamment which
(in addition to its customary objects), will celebrate the
harmonious concurrence of' the Legislature, the Corpora-
tion, and the people, in the extinguishment 'of sectarian
differences, the removal of practical grievances, and the ad-
vancenient of liberal opinions.
" I have the honour to be,.your ttoyal Highness's
" Most obedient humble Servant,
(Signed) " CHARLES PEARSON.",
• " Kensington Palace, Sept. 28, 1865.
" TO THE UNDER-SHERIFFS FOR LONDON AND MIDDLEIgX.

" CIENTUMEN-I have to acknowledge the receipt of an
invitation card from the Sheriffs elect for London and
Middlesex, to their inauguration dinner, which will be
given on the 30th of this month.
"It is with unfeigned regret that I am compelled to de-
cline so honourable a testimony of their esteem, which
they have evinced towards me. The unfortunate malady
under which my eye-sight is at present labouring totally
incapacitates me from attending any public festival whatever.
" The Sheriffs elect will therefore clearly understand that
no other circumstance but the state of my health could
have prevented me of availing myself of the opportunity thus
afforded me by their kindness, to express particularly the
sentiment of approbation with which I have perused their
admirable letter.

" It would have been no small gratification to me to have
joined in the celebration of an event so calculated to fur-
ther the best interests of the State, by its peculiar tendency
to strengthen and increase the goodwill of every individual
towards our common country, _ . .

" My opinions with regard to these great questions, which
during the last thirty years have at different periods engaged
the attention of the legislature, are well known ; they were
not hastily formed, but were the result of mature delibera-
tion, and I adopted them, because in my mind they were
in unison with the principles on which the British Constitu-
tion is founded, a Constitution which I have been taught to
revere as beautiful in theory, and which I felt assured was
capable of being reduced to a correspondent symmetry in
practice.
" Gentlemen,—For wise purposes, as they no doubt luta.
gined, and under the extraordinary circumstances of that
period, they might possibly have been justified in what they
did, the statesmen of the 17th century enacted sundry penal
laws, and laid some restrictions upon the liberty of consci-
ence in this country. But was it to be supposed that a
statute of disabilities should remain in force, when the ne-
cessity which had occasioned its enactment no longer ex-
isted ? Such, however, unhappily was the case, and men,
I grieve to say, are found who, in defiance of that more ge-
nerous spirit of liberal and improved thinking which was
and is diffusing itself around, had power sufficient to main-
tain the narrow view, and to continue the ancient prejudices
of times long past and gone. Happily for us, gentlemen,
we have lived to see the extinction of most of these anti-
social and, I may truly add, anti-Christian notions—their
extinction I mean, as far as can affect the government of
this great country.-

" bentlemen,—lt is in regard to the expression of your
opinions on those important points that my approbation has
been given. lam not, however, insensible to the favour-
able terms in which you have noticed my public conduct.
Next to the testimony of his own conscience, the applause
of his fellow citizens must be grateful to every man. Be
assured, therefore, that I deeply feel the value of the com-
pliment bestowed on me. I cannot conclude my letter
without requesting you to offer most particularly to Mr.
Sheriff Salomons my warmest congratulations on his attain-
ment of that high civic dignity which has been an object of
his just ambition. That he will discharge the duties of
that office with honour and fidelity I entertain no doubt.
That his year of Shrievalty may be passed through with
pleasure and satisfaction to himself is my hearty and sin-
cere wish ; and now, with once more repeating my regret
at being prevented from attending on this highly interesting
occasion, and thus from witnessing this additional triumph
of civil and religious liberty,
" I am, Gentlemen, your obliged,
" E. AUGUSTUS."

LORD BROUGHAM FORTY YEARS

AGO.

(From the Morning Advertiser.)
The following notes of a paper, written by Henry
Brougham, jun., when he was a lad, will, we have no
doubt, be read with attention, by thousands of Lord
Brougham's admirers. The paper affords striking
evidence of early developement of talent of no ordinary
description :
" Experiments and Observations On the inflection, Poke..
tion, and Coloure rf Light. By HENRY BROUGHAM, Jun.,
(now Lord Brougham and Vaux.) Read before the Royal
Society on the 28th of January, 1796.
" It has always appeared wonderful to me," says Mr.
Brougham, " since nature seems to delight in those close
analogies which enable her to preserve simplicity and oven
uniformity in variety, that there should be no dispositions in
the parts of light with respect to inflection and reflection
anolagous or similar to their different refrangibility. In or-
der to ascertain the existence of such properties, I began a
course of experiments and observations, a short account of
which forms the substance of this paper. For the sake of
perspicuity, I shall begin with the analytical branch dithe
subject, comprehending my observations under two parts—
flection, or the bending of the rays in their passage by bo-
dies, and reflection. And I shall conclude by applying the
principles there established to the explanation of phenomena,
in the way of synthesis. ,

" As in every experimental inquiry much depends on the
attention paid to the minutest circumstances, in justice to
myself, I ought to mention that each experiment was set
down as particularly as possible immediately after it was
made ; that they were all repeated every favourable day, for
nearly a year, and before various persons ; and as anything
like a preconceived opinion, with respect to matter of theory
that is in dispute, will, it is more than probable, influence us
in the manner of drawing our conclusions, and even in the
manner of recording the experiments that lead to these, I
have endeavoured, as much as possible, to keep in view the
saying of the Brahmin---' that he who obstinately adheres
to any set of opinions may bring himself at last to believe
that the fresh sandal wood is a flame of fire." Mr.
Brougham's experiments and remarks would occupy nearly
one hundred quarto pages—to follow them very closely
is here out of the question ; we, therefore, present a
few notes on the more strikini, portions of his
investigations. " Into my darkened' chamber (says he)
I let a beam of the sun's light through a hole in a
metal plate (fixed in . the window-shut), of one-fortieth
of an inch diameter, and all other light being absorbed by
black cloth hung before the window and in the room, at
the hole I placed a prism of glass, whose refracting angle
was 45 degrees, and which was covered all over with black
paper, except a small part on each side, which was free
from impurities, and through which the light was refracted,
so as to form a distinct4nd tolerably homogeneous spec
trum, on a chart at six feet from the window. In the rays,
at two feet from the prism, I placed a black unpolished
pin (whose diameter was everywhere one-tenth of an inch)
parallel to the chart, and in a vertical position. Its shadow
was formed in the spectrum on the char, and had a consi-
derable penumbra, especially in the brig•ltest red, for it was
by no means of the same thickness in all its parts ; that in
violet, was broadest and most distinct ; that in the red,
narrowest and most confused ; and that in the interme-
diate colours, was of an intermediate thickness and de-
gree of distinctness. It was not bounded by straight,
but by curvilinear sides, convex towards the axis, to which
they approached as to an asymptote, and that nearest
in the least refrangible. rays. Nor could this be owing to
any irregularity in the pin, for the same thing happened in
all sorts of bodies that were used ; and also if the prism
was moved on its axis, so that the colour might ascend and
descend on these bodies ; still, wherever the red fell it made.
the least, and the violet the greatest shadow." Mr.
Brougham goes on with another experiment, and concludes

that the rays of the sun's light differ in degree of inflexi-
bility, and that th.osq which are least refrangible are mast
infr.ribk ; and furibef, that 9ie most inflexible rays arc
also the most deflexible. Having fsiirtd that the parts t;f
light differ in flexibility, he proceeds to learn too thblFs ; in
what proportion the angle of inflection is to that of deflec-
tion at equal incidences ; and secondly, what proportion the
different fletibilities of the different rays bear to one another.
After a few introductory remarks on reflection, he observes,
" The sun shining into my darkened chamber through a small
hole 1-40th of an inch in diameter, I placed a pin of 1-30th
of an inch in diameter in the cone of light (one half inch
'from the hole), inclitiod td the raja at an angle of about
45 deg., and its shadow was received on a chart parallel to
it, at the distance of two feet; The shadow was surrounded
by three fringes on eachsiciel discovered by Grimaldo.
Beyond these there Were two streaks of white light diverg-
ing from the shadow, and mottled with bright colours,
very irregularly scattered up and tiGwr. ; but on using
another pin, whose suiface WAS well polished, and plac-
ing it nearer the hole than before, the colours in
streaks became much brighter (and the streaks them-
selves flinch narrower), being extended from one side to
the oiler, tid that, adept hi a very few points here and
there,'no white was now to Ito ikterif and on moving
the pin the colours moved also ; but they disappeared
if the pin was deprived of its polish, by being held in
the flame of a candle, or if a roll of paper was used instead
of the pin ; also they were much brighter in direct than in
reflected light, and in the light of the sun, at the focus of a
lens, than in his direct unrefracted light. Placing a piece
of paper round the hole in the window-shut, I obse?Ved the
colours continued there ; and, inclining the chart to the
point where they left off, I saw them continued on it, and
then proceed as before to the shadow. If the pin was held
horizontally, or nearly so, they were seen of a great size on
the floor, the walls, and the roof of the room, forming a
large circle ; and if the chart was laid horizontally, and the
pin held between the hole and it, in a vertical position, the
circle was seen on the chart, and became an oval by inclin-
ing the pin a little to the horizon." The Learned Author
concludes his researches with seven propositions :
" Ist. The angles of inflection and deflection are equal at
equal incidences.
" gd: The lino of inflection is to that of incidence in a
given ratio.
" Pd. The sun's light consists of parts which differ in de-
gree Of inflexibility and deflexibility ; those which are most re-
frangible being least flexible.
" 4th. The ficaibilitics of the rays are inversely as their re-
frangibilities ; and the *eats.= by flexion is divided by the
harmonical ratio, like the spectrum by refraction.
inci-
dence, Wept in particular (thoughc,?mmon) combinations of
circumstances, and in the meats rays of the ;;:ectrum.l
least
" Bth, The angle of reliction is not equal to that of "
6th. The rays which are most reftatrok, Pre ea re-
flexible, or make the least angle of reflection.
" 7th. The reflexibilities of the different rays are inversely
at their refrangibilities ; and the spectrum by reflection is di-
vided in the harmonical ratio, like that by refraction."