The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-13 00:00:00

THE PLANET MERCURY.

_

It affords a a high idea of the watchfulness of
the ancient astronomers that they should have de-
tected the existence of the planet Mercury. It
is so close to the sun as never to be seen save
in the full glare of morning or evening twilight.
Laplace says—" A long series of observations
was doubtless necessary to recognise the identity
of the two bodies which were - seen alternately
in the morning and evening to recede from and
approach the sun ; but at length, as one never
presented itself until the other had disappeared, it
was concluded that it was the same planet which
oscillated on each side of the sun." Yet, as the
planet Venus was known by the two names Hesperus
and Phosphorus, so Mercury was for a long time re-
cognised by t he Greeks under the two names of Apollo
the God of Day, and Mercury the God of Thieves,
" who profit by the evening," says Arago in explana-
tion, "to commit their misdeeds." Yet it is fully
as ;,likely that the name Mercury was assigned
to the planet on account of the rapidity of its
movements and the difficulty of detecting it. In
our latitude; the planet is very seldom visible to
the naked eye. It is related that Copernicus, who
died at the age of 70, complained towards the end
of his life that though he had often tried he had
never been able to detect the planet, " in conse-
quence, probably," says Gassendi, "of the thick
vapours which ascend above the horizon on the
banks of the Vistula, where the illustrious astro-
nomer resided." The author of this paper has
twice seen the planet wite the naked eye in the
course of this year, and once in 1863. However,
Mercury fully deserves the comment of an old writer
(named Goad) in 1686, who described the planet
as " a squinting lacquey of the sun, seldom show-
ing his head in these parts, as if he were in debt."
Yet we learn from Lepsius's " Chronologie der
}Egypter" that the Egyptians had watched theplanet
(which they considered sacred to the God Horns)
from the earliest times. The Indians associated
Mercury with Buddha; and the tribe of the Ase-
dites, in Western Arabia, directed their worship
exclusively to this planet. The astronomer Ptolemy,
in the ninth book of the " Almayest," records as
many as fourteen accurate observations of Mercury,
extending back 261 years from our era, and be-
longing in part to the systematic labours of the
ancient Chaldean astronomers. The earliest Of
these observations is dated in the year of Nabonasser
494, or sixty years after the death of Alexander the
Great, on lthe morning of the 19th day of The
Egyptian month Thoth. In the observations, the
planet's place was carefully assigned with reference
to two fixed stars, neither of which, we feel certain,
has ever been visible in our letitudes in such full
twilight as always surrounds the planet Mercury.--
Cornhill Magazine.

A notification has been issued from the War
Department announcing that the Ordnance Select
Committee report that they have examined, with
much interest, the drawings of the mechanism ef
the new French breech-loading cannon, communi-
cated to the British Government by the Emperor of
the French, together with a note which enters fully
into particulars of the rifling and breech closing•
The chief peculiarities presented by the rifling are:
—The bottom groove is continued through the
powder chamber, as a guide for the shot in
loading. The grooves are all deeper at Oa
breech than at the muzzle. The bottom grooke
however, shallowed at the breeeh end of .16113.
and .27in, while it is deepest in the gun there
of •24in. The grooves have all been made 'egg
deep since the pattern of the 16in. gun (which is
the earliest) was fixed, and in the 19in. gun (which
is the latest) are both narrower and less deep than
the others, which tends to show that experiencelo
convinced the French, as it had previously convinced
us, that the studs were made unnecessarily large•
There is an arrangement on all the guns to prevent
the lanyard being pulled until the captain of the
gun is satisfied that the breech is closed; this con'
sists of a catch, or loquet, acted on by a spiral
spring, which closes the opening, so that a knot en
the lanyard cannot pass until the catch has been
forced down by hand. The bodies of the guns
are of cast-iron, strengthened externally with steel
hoops.

The iron armour plated screw steamship Achilles,
26, was placed on Tuesday in Keyham steamyard,
for the purpose of being advanced to the first divi-
sion at Hamoaze.
At the recent meeting of the American Bo3ra
(Presbyterian) of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
the following officers were elected for the ensuing year :1
President —Mark Hopkins, D.D., LL.D. Vice Presides'
—Hon. William E. Dodge. Prudential Committee-oh°'
Stoddard, Nehemiah Adams, D.D., Augustus C. Thon3l3.
son, D.D., Walter S. Griffith, Hon. Alpheus Hardy, 11°,_,b'
Linus Child, Rev. Albert Barnes, Robert R. Booth, DJ."
Abner Kingman, James M. Gordon, Rufus Anderson, DJ)"
Ezra Farnsworth. Secretaries for Correspondence...-seo:
Selah D. Treat, George W. Wood, D.D., and N.
Clark, D.D. Recording Secretary—Rev. John 0. Moll
Treasurer —Langdon S. Ward. Auditors—Joseph a
Ropes and the Hon. Thomas H. Russell. The Sec?
Convention of the General Council of the Eva,ngeli
Lutheran Church in America will be held in Pittsbut
commencing on the 12th of November. At the last nisos
ing of the American Bible Society, eight new auxiliaris,
were recognized and a large number of books greaten:
besides $5OO to auxiliaries at the South. $5,440 Wel!
appropriated for printing Arabic Scriptures in Beyronl7,
for work in Italy, and for printing Microvesian Scripture"
Honolulu.
The fountain on the grounds of Seth B. Fillot't
at Bennington, Vermont, cost 525,000, and is the highs l,
but one in the world. It is drawn from the hills throng'
a six-inch pipe, throwing a stream 168 feet, presenting the
appearance at a short distance of a single silver bar.
grounds about it are thrown open to the public on TO"-
day and Friday evenings.
A California correspondent of the Cincintiat.i
Commercial, who has been travelling oa the Central Pac,/;
fie Railroad, says "it costs ton cents a mile (in coin)
ride on it, and if you lender your fare in greenbacks, Os
insist on their reception, the conductor halts and push%
you off the train. A few days ago a passenger offere4,,
greenback dollar for a ride of ten miles. He was prone'
ditched."
The propriety of changing the site of Yale 01;
lege to more ample grounds is being discussed. The 09'4
of the present location would give a net profit of $200,0".
over what it would cost to buy a new and better onc
Hillhouse-avenue and the Gerard_Halleck estate are the
most eligible situations spoken of. The alumni 01
naturally oppose the change.
The Watchman and Reflector says One of
the gratifying items of the day is the association of nob;
versed Jews in Chicago, under the name of the Wester,.
Christian Brotherhood. The plan is to put in immedisol
operation a system of evangelical labour, consisting:/
preaching, mission schools, tract distribution, &c., etc.,
which the Jewish population may be effectually reach se
Chicago alone has not less than ten thousand Hebr,
within its limits, 'and there are great numbers in other
Western cities." ter
The Citizen newspaper has been purchased
Mr. Peter B. Sweeney for seventy-five thousand dollar
The well-known "Agate" (Whitlaw Reid), of the CI
cinnati Gazette, has connected himself with the editors,(
staff of the New York Tribune. Philadelphia has aO4
paper, the Daily Globe, with T. W. Knot for its New x°'
correspondent.
ADVERTISEMENT:I —Holloway's Ointment and Pills
Comfort, Health, and Safety. - These blessings are beY°B,o
all price in money value. Possessing those no reflectl,„,
person will complain of his position or pecuniary circo76
stances. Holloway's far-famed remedies can every
dig'
be purchased at a trifling cost, and with them most de.
orders may be immediately set right and most diseases
fled. Skin affections, sores, ulcers, superficial and deefs,
seated inflammations, with a long list of other aihno.o,
readily succumb to the virtues of his ointment, wbil!,!,o
ternal complaints yield with facility to his pills. Inyi 0
having these invaluable remedies at hand cannot be „eV
loss for effectively treating their maladies, whatever tylop
nature or duration, since "directions for use" VIC°
every packet.

Births.
0°
BOURNE—On the 12th inst., at Shooter's-hill-road, the •
of C. W. Bourne, Esq., of a son. .ea Of
JENYNS— On the 29th ult., at Toronto, Canada, the
Colonel Jenyns, C. 8., 13th Hussars, of a daughter.
TROOST —On the 10th inst., at Fallowfield, the wife °f
Troost, of a son.

Marriages.
KNIGHT —WiLnEs—On the 11th inst., at St. Paul's Oa'
pel, Samuel Knight, of 16, Maitland-park Villas(i.O.
verstock-hill, to Helen, eldest daughter of the
Wildon, Esq., of Leighton-road,, and Mark-lane (3").'0,
O'CONNELL —PATTERSON—On the 9th at S. 1°11,1.00'
Bayswater, Thomas O'Connell, of St. Mark's-ore
Notting-hill, to Amelia Patterson, of Leicester-0'
Leicester-square.

Deaths.
CLARKE—On the 11th inst., Harvey William Clarke,
of The Rookery, Lower Tooting, aged 42. 030
MATHEw— On the 9th inst„ Captain Wm. Henry 315
h.p., la 45th Regt., aged 35.
00-01
MEncER te
On the 9th inst., at Cowley, near Exeter, lid
ral Alexander C. Mercer, Colonel-Commandant
Artillery, aged 8.5. 01591 glr
WHITTINGHAM—On the 11th inst., at 35, Quee--
nsb
terrace, W., Charlotte Anne, wife of Major-Gal' .

Whittingham, 0 8., aged 381 -
'";
ATTA3VI .2
London : Printed and Published by WILLIA.g AL•-,,, o',
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at Tag SUN 0,11c3, r'''
3.7 C
Strand, in the Precinct of the ;is voy, in the 00'
Itiddlersoz,—Friday, November 13, 18G8,