The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 19, 1868.

THE NOVEMBER STAR SHOWERS.

The Daily News comments on the recurrence again this
year of the November star showers, speaking of it as the
most remarkable fact yet recorded concerning those mys-
terious bodies, the meteors. "In the first place, the mere
occurrence of the display is remarkable, without any
reference to the part of the world in which it was
seen. We believe that no instance is on record of the
appearance of a shower in four successive years.
In 1865 a well-marked display was seen in parts of
Europe ; in 1E66, as we all remember, a splendid shower
was seen in England ; in 1867 a fine shower was seen in
America ; and, lastly, this year a shower has been
seen in England. Now, when we come .to consider
the real meaning of this succession of showers,
we are at once struck with the marvellous
extent of the meteoric zone. The part of the
zone to which the shower of 1865 was due had moved
off upwards of 500 millions of miles at the hour when
we were watching the display of 1860, and at
the same hour the part which was to cause the
display of 1867 was more than 500 millions of miles
from us (measuring along the zone itself). Here, then,
at once we had an extension of the richly-strewn part of
the meteor-zone over I,COO millions of miles. But now
we find that we must assign to it a yet greater
extension, since the part which caused the display of
1867 was more than five hundred millions of miles away
from us when Professor Phillips was watching the shower
on Saturday at Oxford. All this is very wonderful, bui
it is not so much in this light that the occurrence of this
year's display is to be wondered at as in another respect
Conceive the meteor-z )ne as an enormous ova
hoop in space, extending far out beyond the orbit
of distant Uranus. That hoop is not fixed, but
slowly sliding round (bodily—we are not referring
to the swift motion of the individual meteors), so that each
year the earth has to advance a little further in its path
before reaching the meteor-zone. That fact had been esta-
blished by observation, and Professor Adams had shewn
it to be a necessary result of the attractions to which the
meteor band is subjected by the planets. But
what has been shewn by the occurrence of a
display on Saturday last is even more remarkable ;
for we learn from that event that the hoop of
meteors is subject to other and irregular changes—which
may be compared to the vibrations that might affect areal
hoop made of some elastic material—and these changes
appear very extraordinary when their extent is considered.
The same facts establish the existence of there marvellous
vibrations, and the wide range which belongs to them. Last
year the display should have attained its maximum at
half-past seven, whereas it really did so at half-past nine.
In those two hours the earth travelled 130,000 miles, and
by that amount the hoop had been twisted out of its mean
shape. But this year we have a yet more remarkable
change. The display, calculated from that of 1866, should
have attained its maximum at about half-past one in th..
afternoon of the 13t1), and, calculated from that of lab,
year, two hours later. From the splendour of the shower
seen by Professor Phillips at Oxford, and by observed
at Valentia, it is clear that the display really attaine.
its most brilliant phase at about three in the morning of
the 14th, or twelve hours after its calculated time. In
tv. a hours the earth travels nearly 800,000 miles, and
such was the change of place exhibited by the meteor bawl
over and above the calculated change due to the 510 w...,
progressive shifting dealt with by Professor Adams. at
is clear that a long time must elapse before astronometa
and mathematicians will be able to master all the intri-
cacies and peculiarities which characterise the movements
of this grand cosmical zone.

FOREIGN NOTES.

THE PRINCESS ROYAL OP PRUSSIA.

It has been confidently asserted in many quarters that
the exchange of visits between the Princess Royal of
Pnissia and the Emperor Napoleon had a political object.
A correspondent of the Statidard, writing from Munich,
has some interesting remarks on what he terms this event-
ful meeting. He says that the aim of the Princess Royal
was to tranquillise the Emperor with regard to the future
policy of Prussia. The English lady possesses much
influence over her husband, and is naturally desirous of
peace. She has a sister in South Germany, and near rela-
tions in Denmark, all of whom might be losers by a con•
flict. Her husband at present is no great power in the
State, so thoroughly paramount is the great Prussian
statesman. But the King is aged, and the probability of
his outliving the French Emperor is very small. It is,
therefore, of the utmost importance to the sovereign of
France to be able to calculate with certainty
on the direction which the heir presumptive to
the Prussian throne will follow. "To enlighten
his Majesty on this point was' the object of the Princess
Royal's visit to Paris. In tl.e name of the Crown Prince
the Emperor was assured that the jealousy or amour propre
of France would on no account be wounded by an attempt
to cross the Maine, and thus aggrandise Prussia in that
direction. Prussia would conscientiously abide by the
provisions of the Treaty of Prague. It would, moreover,
fulfil the conditions named in paragraph 5, and be quite
ready to annul the violations of paragraph 4, which
France, very justly, cannot hut view with distrust."
These are very definite statements, but they are not
unreasonable. This much is certain : the alliance between
the royal houses of England and Prussia must, so far as it
goes, be an influence on the side of peace.