The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-25 00:00:00

ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.

At the last sitting M. Pelouse read a report on
a paper by M.Gelis, entitled "On the Action of
Heat on Neutral Organic Substances," divided into
two parts ; the first comprising all that relates
to the action of heat ou saccharine substances,
and the second containing ail the facts relat-
ing to starch and leculak.. Having confirmed
the fact that the volatile produCts resulting
from the decomposition of sugar ' are solely
composed of particles of steam, without
the slightest trace of permanent gases, M. Gel's
has examined the fixed residues obtained by the
operation. These residues, far from consisting of
a single substance, contain three different ones,
which are successively obtained by continuing the
action of heat for a sufficient length of time.
These three substances he has called caramelane,
caramelene, and carameline, the three different
vowels in the last syllable marking the order in
which they are produced during the operation.
They differ in taste, appearance, and colouring
power. They are decomposed by several tests, and
especially by acids. Caramelano only differs from
sugar by a deficiency of two equivalents of water,
and, like sugar, it contains twelve equivalents
of carbon. Caranielene contains still less water,
and thirty-six equivalents of carbon ; and carame-
line is almost anhydrous, and contains 96 equiva-
lents of carbon. The report concluded with re
commending the insertion of M. Gdlis's labours in
the "Memoires des Savants Etrangers." Marshal
Valiant and Admiral Du Petit-Thouars presented
papers on the grape-blight, and M. Delavergne sent
in an apparatus for sulphurising vines. M. Ville
wrote to claim the right of priority regarding M.
Bousingaules observations respecting phosphate
of lime as manure.
(See Messenger, Dec. 5.) To this
claim M. Bousinganit replieci that lie had not by
any means attributed to himself the discovery of the
favourable action of phosphate of lime as manure, a
fact which is by no means new • and that he only
claimed to have proved that phosphate of lime un-
mixed with an azotated substance did not produce the
same salutary effects.—M. Waraksine sent in a
description of a machine for sorting seeds. The
contrivances at present in use merely separate seeds
according to size, the largest being preferred for
sowing ; M. Waraksine, on the contrary, has suc-
ceeded in sorting them by weight, that being the
most important element for securing a good
evopilis
he has ascertained by numerous experiments.lasynsitneernlicnoendsipsisaninel,eutntdinegrtthheeseaeczltsiofanl vertically upon
of a horizontal
current of air. The
fall e
seeds, in receiving
and are projected by t—
heahNeieisntelsieneedds
planev
tor lacapayr:
ticular spot ; while the lighter
the impression of the currents
it deviate from the
vertical line, and are projected elsewhere.—
M. Maumene communicated a paper on alcholic
fermentation, establishing : 1. That sugar may be

transformed by fermentation into alcohols differen-
fri m common alcohol ; 2. That the tartaric acid of
grapes is transformed into sugar as the fruit ad-
vances to maturity.
THE SOLAR ECLIPSES OF 1858.
On this subject M. Faye has just read an inte-
resting paper, with a view to call the attention of
astronomers to the questions which may be either
entirely solved or at least considerably elucidates
by the observation of those important phenomena.
What, he asks, is the sun ? It is a fiery globe com-
posed of two concentric parts of very unequal
Cal
den-
sities. The inner part constitutes a spheri
nucleus, and the outer one a kind of very extensive
atmosphere. At a certain distance from the centre
this atmosphere is covered with a continuous sphe-
rical layer of a peculiar kind of clouds, which are
luminous and constitute the fiery globe visible to
us, the photosphere of•the sun. Under this principal
layer there is the comparatively dark surface of the
nucleus ; and above the photosphere there are the
last highly rarefied and usually invisible strata of
the general atmosphere. From the nucleus gaseous
eruptions issue, partially
dissipating and extinguish-
ing the luminous clouds of the photosphere, nay
rising beyond it into the extreme strata (whisli
only become visible by a faint light at the time of
an eclipse), where they form those torrents of va-
pour known by the name of rose coloured
protu-
berances. The volume of these vapours is some-
times a thousand, and even two thousand times
the size of our globe. M. Faye now draws a
parallel between the present condition of the sun
as above described, and what must have been the
state of our earth when the crust which now con-
ceals its central fire was not yet formed. It Wag
then a diminutive sun ; the whole mese of its waters
swam in the atmosphere under the form of steam,
with the immense mass of carbonic acid which has
since been absorbed by calcareous matter. These
vapours, which were invisible and transparent in
the vicinity of the then liquid nucleus, were con-
densed at a considerable altitude, so as to form a
continuous involucrum of white clouds brilliantly
illuminated by the rays of the sun. Seen from
distance, our earth must have presented this pho-
tosphere to the eye. Immediately above it there
must have been the last strata of air in a high state
of rarefaction, and therefore incapable of support'
ing any of those luminous clouds or aqueous
vapours ; immediately below there must have been
a layer of dark clouds or fogs constantly dissi-
pated by the radiation of the nucleus ; and lower
still a dense atmosphere weighing upon the still
denser smoke, incessantly issuing from the
nucleus. M. Faye concludes this hypothetical
picture by supposing that volumes of Pe did at
times penetrate through the photosphere, pro-
ducing gaps in the stratum lof white clouds ;
in which case a distant observer would, through
these gaps, have seen the dark nucleus of the earth,
just as we at present see that of the sun through
the gaps in its photosphere, which appear to us as
dark spots. Now, whether this theory really ex-
plains the process actually in progress in the sun can
only be ascertained by an exact observation of eclip-
ses. The eclipse of Sept., 1858, will onlybe central
and total to the inhabitants of the southern conti-
nent of America, where there are but few astrono-
mers and observatories. M. Faye, however, pro-
poses to establish two observatories for the occasion
—one at Ignape on the coast of Brazil, and other
in Peru at 1i deg. south cf Cape Blanco. But the
first eclipse, which is to take place next March,
though not central as regards France, will be very
nearly so : for the spot whence it might be seen is
only 32 kilos. from the island of Ouessant ; and an
observer stationed on that island will see the eolipse
with a deviation of only 14 seconds from the centre.
At Brest the observation would not be so favours'
ble, the minimum of breadth in the solar crescent
being 25 seconds ; at Paris it will be 3 min. 22 50.5
a very unfavourable condition for observing'
physical condition of the sun. M. Faye now pot's
out various precautions to be taken by astronomers
in making their observations. First he adviseS
them to divest themselves of all preconceived theo-
retical notions,whichmight induce them to neglect
essential circumstances for others the importance
of which may be mere matter of opinion. They
ought therefore to mark down the situation of the
solar spots on the day before and the day after the
eclipse, in order to see whether they really coincide
with the protuberances observed during the ohsell"
ration. Secondly, the observer should husband
his eyes—that is, avoid looking at the sun or re-
ceiving its direct rays, until the very moment of
the observation ; else he may be unable to see all
the expected phenomena with sufficient nicety.
Thirdly, in order to avoid the irregular refractions
caused by the air within the tube of the telescope,
when rarefied by long exposure to the sun, the in-
strument ought to remain covered with a white
cloth, having previously been pointed to the proper
spot in the heavens until the moment when the
observation is to begin. This precaution, M. Faye
contends, is of the greatest importance, and its
being neglected is the cause of frequent error. So
great indeed is the effect of this refraction that
the disc of Saturn has sometimes been seen in
the form'of a square, with its angles slightiy rounded
oit

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Saturn's ring, and the double stars ; with •the same telescope
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BIRTHS. l
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of Daniel
23 dinst V Dynes, .Eq.,
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CARTWEttIiT —On the 2:3d Inst., at Hawley-road, Kentish
town, the wife of J. R. Cartwright, Esq., of a son.
HICKS—On the 24th inst., at Streatham-hill, Mrs. Francis
Hicks, of a daughter.
THOMAS--On the 24th inst. at 106, Stanley-street, &dor
ston-square, the wife of' James Lewis Thomas, Esq.,
Deputy-Surveyor, War-office, of a son.
MARRIAGES.

Loxes-0n na
daughter
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of
fi inst.,
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et
Frederickh eßr i t s h EBme
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rewe ArTilston, Esq., of Odell Castle, Bedfordshire,
Inspector-General of Prisons and Convict
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Ireland.
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Emily,ng