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

NEW PLANETS.

M. Leverrier, whose fame as the theoretical o_s"
coverer of the planet Neptune is well known, 17
written a letter of the highest interest to M. Fay
the astronomer, on the subject of certain unaeeeeß..
able discrepancies between the observations of 11-1
transits of Mercury over the disc of the sun
an
the results of calculation. The facts are as It
lows :—The theory of the sun having been ear,":
fully revised, and compared with the reenl
of 9,000 observations of that body taker 't
various observatories, the motion of
had in its turn to be revised. Now there are !i!
observations of the inner contacts of mercurr:
disc with that:of the sun, taken within a period 01
151 years, viz., between 1697 and 1848, and all re:
liable ; yet in these transits there appears to be a Pr!
gressive error, which amounts to as much as nine sro
conds of an arc in 1753. Now, can it be supposed., t t
explain such a constantly repeated divergence, ta
I, la
such men as Lalande, Cassini, Bouguer, 11-°lli,
ug
have committed mistakes amounting to several
in
nutes of time, and mistakes, progressively varying
from one period to another ? This would be absolutely
impossible. But there is another curious circuol;
stance, viz., that by increasing the secular motion es
the perihelion by 38 seconds, all the above observ.e"
tions are found to be correct to a second, and in
some cases even to half a second ! M. Leverrier
then proceeds to show, that in order to explain this
addition of 38 seconds, we should have t°
;-
increase the mass attributed to Venus by on
tenth of its amount. This mass, calculateo
to be the 400,000 th part of that of the sun, hag
been however found, by other calculations, rather
too large, so that increasing it is out of the gees-
tion. Hence M. Leverrier concludes that the IL"
cess of the motion of Mercury's perihelion must be
owing to some other cause as yet unknown, t°
us, and this cause he supposes to be either Yew
planet, or a series of smallpp bodies circulating be
tween the sun and Mercur M. Faye,
-
in be
municating this letter to the Academy of Science*
suggested that all the astronomers of
should now direct their attention to the smallest
over
spots on the disc of the sun, in order to disc
whether there were among them any minute Pla-
netary bodies whieh had hitherto escaped observe"
tion. Such bodies had often been looked
each
without success ; but this proved nothing:, 011 c,
rcsairches having been made at mere hazara
now, however, there were serious grounds for r.e7
peating such attempts, and total eclipses would De
the most advantageous periods for observing an/
Europe
minute body in the immediate vicinity of the Bunn
•
A total eclipse, he added, would be visible i
Spain and Algerit in July next. Suppose an
tronomer at Campvey, for instance, to prepse7
himself exclusively for such an observation, neg
le.t.
ing everything else relating to the eclipse ;
a quarter of an hour before the proper time, 0!
remained in a dark room in order to guard his eye'
from the dazzling influence of the solar rays;
whose effects continue for several minutes, anu
cause vision to be indistinct at the decisive nu;
ment, he might, as soon as the eclipse had reachec,
its maximum, observe the heavens with the greatest
circumstance&
escaped notice and er pless favourable
accuracy, and perhaps discover what. had hitherto

-;.----_
TIIE WRECK OF TIIE EXPRESS STEAM PACKET.
—SOUTHAMPTON, Friday.--By telegraph from the Chair
nel Islands we learn that the South Western Compaq!
steamer Express, under the command of Capt. Mabb, whieu
went ashore on the Corbi6re Rocks, off Jersey, has now be'
come almost a total wreck. The severe storm which 00
curred on Wednesday evening did her considerabledamage•
Last evening her bow was loose, and she appeared to be fall
breaking up. This morning her masts and boilers wen:
out much longer. The weather has become changed
over the side, and it was evident the ship could not bola
for
tho worse, and, should another storm break upon her, _l3l
will not survive the shock. A report is current to the errec"
that her commander had attempted to commit suicide.
Although nothing can be done on board except at low wat
terh! ,
every exertion has been made to save the moveables of
°'
ship. The engines and boilers have been taken out, en
the furniture and ship's stores have all been saved.
THE RUSSIAN AND INDIAN LOANS.—The amount
already paid on the Russian loan of £12,000,000 is 15 per
cent., and a further payment of 13 per cent. fall due r?,-,
day. The contract price having been 68, 40 per cent. will
then remain to be discharged in three instalments, inetur.:
iug respectively on the Ist of November, the 10th of Decef;
ber, and the 25th of January. The uncertainty in welt'
the Russian Government have allowed the subscribers
remain remain on the question whether there is any unaperopriaan__
balance yet to be thrown on the London Stockbxch 4;
continues to exercise a depressing effect, and the scrip
„. to
fallen to ito k dis. There will also be a payment a 7,K.
cent. on the Indian loan on Tuesday next. The proli:Th..
of the £5,000,000 remaining to be paid up, is, howevoercer2.
£1,750,000, and the amount to be provided on this
ma. occasion
will consequently be but 1137,500. Tho two ro ,41
instalments of 25 per cent. each are fixed for the zu,
October and the 22d of November.
jejAeeLFhovit,TruazfrEt.etes
The whol oi
proved in the Supreme Court by his sons. of
under 85 lass
property, personal and real, was sworn
rupeos-0,400,000.
~ --
laterf ho
willßo iu boafy ,t. hPe airas too° Smi err ejhartilin_
et!, ;; -0
•