The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-11 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY.

PENSION WALLIS, LUCERNE, August 9.

The Queen, travelling as Countess of Kent, ac-
companied by Princess Louise, Prince Leopold,
and Princess Beatrice, arrived at Lucerne at 10.30
on Friday morning.
The Queen was much fatigued by the journey
and great heat, but has bccu able to drive out 10
the neighbourhood since her arrival.

The Prince and Princess of Wales, atteuded
by the lion. Mrs. llardinge, General Kuollys, and
Major Grey, left Marlborough-house last evening
for Abergeldie Castle, Aberdeenshire.

LITERATURE.

The New Principia ; or, True System of Astro-
nomy. By 1.1. J. Morrison, F.A.S.L., Coni-

mauder R.N.

Captain Morrison has for some years been very
well kno.vn as a highly accomplished master both of
astronomy and mathematics. He has evidenced his
ability as a student in each of those grand sciences
by works displaying a large amount of research
and a yet larger amount of originality. Nothing
that he has hitherto written upon either theme,
however, can in any way vie in daring with the
remarkable pamphlet-treatise here submitted to our
consideration. Although in a purely tentative
manner, it undertakes to sweep altogether on one
side, as obsolete from this time forth and for ever,
the whole Newtonian System as based upon the
law of gravitation and upon the balance or
equipoise produced by the relative influence upon
each other of the centrifugal and centrepital
forces. Newton's conclusion was " that the power
of gravity was sufficient to give the planets a mo-
tion in a straight line, but that it required the
power of the Almighty to deflect that motion into
an orbit." Not satisfied, according to Captain
Morrison, with this partial or inferential profanity,
as he deems it to have been, the followers of New-
ton, he says, going very much farther than their
master, "refer all motion and nearly all formation
to the power of gravity alone." Sir Isaac Newton's
chief dogma, it will be remembered, is, that " each
particle of matter attracts all other particles in the
universe in the inverse ratio of the distances from
each other." Commenting upon which dictum, our
pamphleteer exclaims, "So that every particle of
matter in a sack of flour attracts every particle in
the miller's snuff-box, and vice versa." Adding,
" How wonderfully this clears up the mystery Of
creation, and makes all that was hitherto full of
doubt as plain as a pikestaff !" Captain -Morrison's
first argument against the credibility of the New-
tonian scheme of the Solar System arises out of the
consideration that, although the Earth in going
round the Sun once each year, and being at a dis-
tance from that body of nearly 95,000,000 of
miles—consequently twice each year minor-
ing double that distance, or, in other words,
190 millions of miles—nevertheless, "we are
informed," he argues, " that this vast and tremen-
dous distance makes no kind of difference in the
appearance of the fixed stars as a rule ; and that
the Pole Star, for instance, does not appear to be
removed even the fraction of a second from its
place at the vernal equinox, when the earth has
reached its destination at the autumnal equinox.'
Observe—supposing there were but one second of
parallax discernible, which there is not—the dis-
tance of the Pole Star (the nearest of the fixed
stars) from the earth would then be--what? Why
more than thirty-nine billions one hundred and
ninety-one thousand millions of miles! To put it in
numerals-39,191,000,000,000 ! But —one second
or one fraction of a second of parallax there is not
discernible—"and therefore," argues our Iconoclast
of Newtonianism, " the Pole Star must be supposed
to be much further away." Furthermore, he asks
Is it not far more reasonable and satisfactorY
to think and believe that the reason we can dis-
cover no kind of parallax in the Pole Star is, not
that it exists at this wondrous distance, but that
the earth does not move at all from its place at the
vernal equinox ; and that, therefore, there should
needs be no kind of parallactic angle formed with
the sun." Not only was it the belief of Aristotle
and Ptolemy, he insists, but it was the belief of 3
thousand great men since their day that the earth
is at rest and in the centre of the solar system. Far
beyond the authority:of Ptolemy or of Aristotle, or
of all the Pagan sages combined is the emphatic and
reiterated declaration, he maintains, of Kingnalid
as set forth in the ninety-third and ninety-sixth
Psalms, " The earth is established and cannot be at
all shaken"—in Hebrew Alph thacun thabel, be;
thamut—in Latin (the Vulgate) Etenini firmat'D
orbem terra, qui non commovebitur—inF r ench (Jaques
de Bay, 1572) Certainement it a affermy le monde,
lequel ne se bouge point—or, in the English version,
"The world, also, is stablished, that it cannot he
moved," or, ill other words, " cannot be at all
shaken." Hence, " The New Principia, or the
True System of Astronomy," as here set forth hi
R. J. Morrison, F.A.S.L., Commander R.N. i°
it, that this daring little treatise of 64 page,
"The:Earth is proved [to quote the declaration 0°
its title page] to be the Stationary Centre of the
Solar System." Not only that, but—again quoting
the words of the title-page—" the sun is shown t°
be only 365,006 miles from the earth—and the
moon only 32,828.5 miles distant"—the sun travel-
ling yearly in an ellipse around the earth----the
other planets moving about the sun in ellipses
also. How all this is " demonstrated" by Captal:
Morrison, the reader may readily understand °
turning to an examination of the pamphlet itself"'
a pamphlet as daring in it 3 design as in its yell
title as " The New Principia."

HOUSES FOR THE LABOURING CLASSES.—A rAt:
liamentary paper shows that under the Act of 1866 the
Public Works Loan Commissioners have agreed to advan's.
£lB,OOO for the erection at Penge of thirty pairs of four
roomed cottages and thirty pairs of five-roomed cottage'
by the Metropolitan Association for improving the dvirei;
hugs of the industrious classes ; £2,500 for the erection°
Highgate of forty-eight tenements of two rooms each niZ
the Highgate Dwellings Improvement Company;
for the errection of six blocks six stories high on the Prta
tannia-street Estate, King's-cross-road, by the ImPrnl.so
Industrial Dwellings Company, the blocks to coroPrnio-0
tenements of one, two, three, or four rooms each ;
the erection, -by the same company at Greenwich, of
blocks to contain forty separate dwellings, twenty of We,
rooms, and twenty of three rooms ; £20,000 for the et%
tion by the same company, and also at Greenwich, a s,o
blocks, each to contain twelve tenements of two re °,136
each, and twelve of three rooms ; and £13,000 for tie
erection at Liverpool, by the corporation, of 146 soPairsflo
dwellings, 84 of two rooms each, 42 of three r°°:;e
each, twenty of four rooms each. The borrowers g4.1.c,f
security of the estimated value of double the lanolin'
the loans.
LONDON STATUES —Six years ago a Parlialll.;
tary return gave a list of public statues or monuments IA
London belonging to the nation, exclusive of those
of
palaces (other than St. Stephon's-Lall in the Felintat
Westminster) or in cathedrals. The list she of
there were then 18 such statues in the open air
Achilles, Richard Cceur de Lion, King Charles 1.,
James. James 11., Queen Anne (two),
Ring George 111. (two), King Georgo IV., the ego
gent, the Duke of Wellington (two), Lord Nelson, pr.
Sir C. Napier, Canning, Major-General Havelock, and
Janner. There are also 12 statues in St. Stephen's-113,00,
viz., of Hampden, Alden, Walpole, Falkland, Clasen
and
Somers, Mansfield, Fox, Chatham, Pitt, Grattan,
Burke. Mr. liankey, ou whose in )tion that return 700‘...
ordered, has now, on a like motion, obtained a suPPl°aLor,
tary return of statues erected since the date of the f 0 ac,
It adds nine more to the lilt—the statues of Sir J. 3‘l_4_,
King Goorgo
of
Erigor, erected in 1863 in the grounds of Chelsea 1-1:of
tat; of Sir Charles Barry, erected in 1863 in the al., th°
Westminster ; of Sir J. Franklin, erected in 180 In_
et
garden of Carlton-house-terrace; and s'x statues, se,,fa
unfinished, in Westminster-hall, of King James i1%00f,,
Charles 1., King Charles IL, King William 111.04)140
George IV., and King William IV. The li.sts cfo
_6O
every Sovereign of this kingdom since the time oti
1., except King George I. and Queen Victoria,la,:e
tutor,
also Queen Mary, the consort of William ill.
erected
hf
of Sir J. M‘Grigor and Sir Chas. Barry werje eliraernenut:ril
subscription ; the seven last-mentioned by 1 ar
grant.