The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-11-02 00:00:00

RETURN OF THE LIVERPOOL.

Accounts were received on Wednesday from Cork and
Dublin announcing the return of the Liverpool, which put
into the Cove shortly after three o'clock on Monday, ten day s
after her departure from Liverpool,
Almost every day since her departure she has been ob-
structed by contrary winds. Ou Thursday last she encoun,
tered a hurricane. She had accomplished nearly one-third
of her voyage, when it was found that,.owing to the unfavour-
able state of the wind, she could:net make more than three
or four knots an hour. In conteiluenee of this diminution of
speed the consumption of fuel was
.34 ;muiew that it %vat
found advisable to put back.
One of the letters received states,, that so dreadfUl Was the
weather, that in order to make head against it the 'us= p 7
lion of fuel was exceedingly great, nearly' 400 tons of coals
were consumed in ten days. I'he accounts received:in Dub-
lin state, that the Liverpool was to set out again on Wed-
nesday.
The following is the official account Conanutticafil by Mr.
John Pollock, agent to the Transatlantic Steam Company.
" I have this moment received advtces from Cork and Dub-
lin, to the effect that the LiverpOol, having experieliced a
succession of severe gales, with a tremendous hurricane on
the 25th instant, the captain deemed it prudent to put back,
arriving at Cork on the 29th instant.
" She lost her figure bead, and had reached 10ng,.21, 50
la►. 47.

" Mr. Shaw, the company's marine manager, (who went
with the Royal William, first voyage,)-being in Dublin,,pro-
ceeded instantly to Cork, and w►ll accompany her to New
York.
"The Liverpool will take in an additional supply of fuel,
and is expected to sail again this day"--(Wednesday). ,

. „
(From the Cork Constitution, of Tuesclay.).
"Daily information has been obtained vessets.arriviOg
at Liverpool of the Liverpool steam ship. .She'vriis. malting
very good progress, and was breasting a heavy sea and ad-
verie winds in gallant style. When seen upon,one,osealiop
off Tusear, her engines had stopped, an occurrence common
to steamers on a first voyage, and she was blowing off' her

steam."
The above is from the Watetford Mirror of yesterday !twin-
ing; but by the Shipping Nose received yesterday evening
front our correspondent at Cove. it will besseen that, after
encountering the dreadfully boisterous weather of, the lastweek,
week, she has been obliged to put about and run-in here for
coals. . .
• Even the elements are against the Whigs.. This vessel• is
the bearer of important despatches for lArd .D,urhasn„."• or
the person," whoever he may be, "administering.the Govern-
ment." She carries, it is understood, the prayer of her Ma-
jesty's ;Ministers--anti it was first stated, the prayer of her
Majesty herself—that his Lordship would re-consider his re-
solution, withdraw his resignation, and resume the reins of
Government. For this she was detained Tour-and-twenty.
hours bevOnd her appointed time in Liverpool, and for this a
"Queen's Messenger" was despatched
.bv her for Canada!
.
Yet here we have her,—Messenger and despatches, "auto-
graph" and all—at the Cove of Cork, and ere •she reaches
her destination, Lord Durham may be in London t-, It is no
fault of hers, however.... The vessel is a good one, and was
making her way gallantly, when arrested by, the terrible
storms which she has had to contend with since her depar-
ture. She has put in, as we have stated, for coals, and we
presume will start immediately on receiving her supply,

LIVERPOOL MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.

LECTURES ON ASTRONOMY. •

On Saturday evening John Wallis, Esq. deitreted4his
second lecture.
A spherical body can revolve upon an axis passing trough
it iu any diameter, but an oblate spheroid can only rev-Wive
upon its short axis. - Upon this simple circumstance. depeeds
the return of our seasons as well as the, lives or a number of
animals, for were the earth not flatter at the poles than at
the equator it would be liable to a continual change.;. of axis,
by which what we call the equator might be converted into
the poles and the poles into the equator. The • tendency
which bodies have to assume the form of an oblate spheroid
when put into rapid 'evolution is capable of demonstration
in a variety of methods : thus, if two thin spherical hoops be
caused to rev Ave rapidly upon a whirling tube upon an axis •
passing through the edges of the hoops, the hoops will be
contracted in the diameter of their axis and expanded in a
cnntrary direction. This Mr. Wallis illustrated by..a piece
of beautiful machinery.] All the planets arc subjectao, the
same law as the earth, and will only rotate upon- theirshortest
axis. [The principle of this law was strikinglvdemenstrated
by Mr. Wallis, by means of the whirling jable„ upon which .
he caused a number of differently forthed inbstances to ro-
tate, and when left to their -own-free action, whether then
are chains, flat discs, oblate spheroids, or ellipsoids, therall
revolved upon their shortest axis.l If. the earth „vvere,aere-
volve once in 84 minutes, the centrifogal_ force we:aid:be so
touch increased at the equator as to balance the attraction of
gravitation, the consequence of which would be thirtlhere
would be nu weight there, so that the least push Would send
any loose article off the globe, and those articles whick We.
now consider the heaviest would then become the iighttat•
[Mr. Wallis illustrated this by means of a couple of lased
tubes containing leaden shots, water, and atmospheric air, in
equal proportions which he placed upon a whirling table at
angles of about 30°, and caused to rotate with some velocity.
The consequence was that. the leaden bullets rushed'to the,
top of the tubes, the water stood next to it and the, „actifos-
pheric air descended to the bottom. The planet Jopilex IA hiCh
is eleven times the diameter of the earth, revolves in less than
half the time of tlfe earth, therefore there must be an irntriense
disproportion between the weight of a body at the poles ;and .
the equator of that planet.
Having disposed of the apparent diurnal motion of the. sun
by the diurnal motion of .our own globe, we shall attend 10
the apparent annual motion of the sun. The sun is 400 mil-
lions of nines more distant from its than the moon, and as
they both appear alike in size, must be immensely larger.
The apparent annual motion of the sun can he as- readily
explained as its apparent diurnal motion.—[The lecturer.
illustrated this by placing two balls, of unequal sizes, attached
together by means of wire, upon a whirling table. Wheli
the centre of gravity was placed upon the centre of motion,
the halls revolved without any tendency to fly off the table
by centrifugal force; but no sooner was the centre of gravity
disturbed than the balls flew to the side, and would no longer
rotate indifferently.]-s-When bodies arc.. of different sizes, the
centre of-gravity alters. Thus, if one were'eiglit'tithei the
-size of the other,- the centref gravity viotild be eight times
as near to the laree body as to the small body, •and- the- same
to any extent. Thus, the sun being so lunch largerthan the
earth, the centre of gravity about which. both orits, revolve
is
so much nearer to the sun. We cannot make the earth re'
volve about the centre of the sun, nor can the earth he made
the centre of motion to the sun: but the centre of-gravity
between both must be the centre around which-they-will:both
revolve. The moon is only the 68th part of the weight of
the earth. Now, we know the diameter of the sun to-be-from
110 to 111 times that of the earth; and it would be composed
of very light materials, indeed, if it were not heavler than
the earth. But whatever the diameter of the'sun, if it *elf,
of the same weight, the centre of gravity would 'lse-ctie-ba"
the distance between the sun and the earth. • -
It is the annual motion of the earth-which, enables psi;°
reckon one of our largest portions of time, the seasons. , e
find that the sou is not always at the sairie distance frail the
earth, therefore the earth does not describe a cirele-routialhe
sun; neither does the moon describe -a circular 'nett."
around the earth. Far from it, and we do not find .aacipgle
instance in the universe of any bodies deseribing.circles,
is there a single instance iu which the same orbit is refie"te't
by the same body; anti yet; notwithstanding these greli
changes, there is one grand conservative principleliy which
the mean distance of a planet is constantly maintained, s 0
that there is no danger, however eccentric the-orbit of aoY
planets leaving its mean distance. By accurateaneasure:
ment of the sun, we find that its semi-diameter is given foi
every day in the Nautical Almanack. At the. beeinniog
January the sun appears largest, so that we are clearest 1'
sun in our winter, and farthest from it in July—our sun-oer'
At the other side of. the equator we- find the same -circuto-
stances to happen, namely, that the sun is farthest in surir,
mer, and nearest in winter. But while we are farthest fr°ll.;
the sun we move slowest, and rice versa so what is lost' in ow:
way we gain in the other. T his is the case with all bodies re.)
volving around others.. and is very obvious with respecthe
fne moon. The moon's distance differs as 32 to 38, but
sun a only differs by the 33d of the whole amount. The di ;s.
ferenee of the sun's diameter at different periods As, at
16 deg. 43 min. to 16 deg. 17 min. Here then we see th ,
we revolve in a kind of oval orbit around the sun. The ecit
centricity of an orbit is the difference between the real V":
of revolution and the fo.
The difference of timecus we shall advert to next, and thisenl!

more difficult than is perhaps imagined. Every' beiPg'
dowed with consciousness and memory must .hvie a noti°_,,
of the succession of time. But we must hate some rueou,k`o
of time, otherwise we should have no two individuals "A, •
would agree in the time of day, according as their occu„P,7o
tions were agreeable and disagreeable.- We enuld measi",c'e
iur time by the stars, as they move equally, in consequeor.

7_- -
of the motion of the earth on its axis,iinictims ticc geL whe
.
-

rect measure of tie. is en ger of t_ (;13
astronomer has hism sidreallbis andth nisti solar tfittErclacks. The 5 re-
clock is never regulated by the sun; because the sun d
,00t
times comes to the meridian 20 minutes too-soon, L!"

others 20 minutes • too late. if we measure -our time oYi
),.0
stars, we get true time, and the astronomer always elnY ler,
that means. Sidreal time begins with the first point a r"1"„rs
and this standard is universally followed by all astroo'n;nt
throughout the world. The observer has a transit instr"uithe
to watch the passage of a star or any other body acirossocol
meridian. We • find that in the year there are -:366 si the
revolutions, whilst the sun has only come 365 times f°35!..
meridian. This- arises from the sun rgradeallv Being 'end
ward at the rate of 3 minutes, 56 and-ten.twelfths of a bcciivi,
per day. The week and the month are mere artificial `Jest
sions of time, and have nothing to do with astrononnos
phenomena; but the year is the period in which we_iries,
around the sun. We are thus surrounded with (jill.i..cut our
and there are such minute details to be aftende'dlo a 100
observations, that we ought to the thankful to those men at ,ve
have brought their calculations to such perfection °sinle
can reckon time for 1000 years without the error "f aor ti.ei
day.' A sideral day is not the 365th, nor the 30311) ni coy
other integer pallor a year. The year,. therefere, is "(.1,, very
mensurable be the dav, and we are thus placed in ' and
n
great difficulty. We find that the )ear is 365.(fa_Yls;ntiO,
8:
about a quarter. A confusion took plsee in the c", dais;
11- from the supposition that the year consisted of 3CNioriatl
. which was found too much. -Julius Caesar liamil that_"l.usioo
his reign, chronology was thrown into the utmost c°.l:ied f.',
e' from the overlooking of this circumstance. He all'...'doeea
! Sosogenes, an eminent astronomer of his time, %di° '0,0,4.1
hint to make a leap year : he said, do not. every Yearand :',e
the 6 hours, but add them together every 4 years,.,av, l
shall then have an extra day. By this means we ,beye,str:
days in February in leap-year, (but this is much). • :..; in .laj
46, before the Christian era was allowed to con _seer:
days, and thus they continued the 'adjustment a tr., .1,2 inv
But now, as the addition of G hours per ;mount w". 7,,, were
1 rules too much, in the course of succeeding centuil_'-',, wer'
they error crept into the calendar. The itstronotn7o. Lhoe
al
called upon by Pope Gregory the 130„ twacconaitol.'s epo`ji
- and they found that the seasons had fallen back 9 ' ',,ratitte
them, so that were the same mode of computation if, be co,
to go on for century after century, the seasons 0." o.as Or':
pletely out of their place. so far as the 03 ie
r''darfolloWin/f.
cerned. . The mode which was adopted the,
the nine da„';
it was found that if they omitted to reckon -„ 00-1
they would be correct. This was aecordinglY.fil'TeprjevevveteY
hero 1582. The present mode in Which the evl be lear.,./th
is by omitting to add the day in February at tite,the %ie.
closing three ceuturies out of four, so.that We eliii 005,9, 'e
century with an arrear at
.21 hours. Flier,
i'.,
li amount. .1,
be a trifling error unaccounted for, which ,x,'
t, Liossitaie,
day in 200{1 years and must then he attende4ange in ')htit
the only nation ,their not adopted this
oursl,y
~:od-ronsecpsetttly, time is tliffe-reot •from _
ce_.
12 days. • • instal' . 5
,
.
axii a'r°— old
The seasons arise from purely mechanical eircu , ,„,tien
If a planet were to go round the sun with itt.s),4.
~,iall.,t. %Noon
' Ito the lin
perpendicular to the plane of the orbit,
,i
ect
have no seasons,—this is the case with c,el)_esi.ions.
.., ii
and the planet Jupiter, neither of Which have
by inaon"l
Mr. Wallis then illustrated the
'y
'of l'ireat delight. .
number of orrtries and tratisparencieesas7ieb
explained his object, and were productive
~. .
. ........................—esse-e-'"'-'7 . _ b. floe pre
is- - lore or Buffer
° WORT EIY dl, ImiTArrioN.—The tat
_16,, 4 clothes
• ,
seated an editor of that city with an entire.
ttly4 pair. °I
The editor of the New York Slot rec,:stpa„er_. broke
~,
at once clearly
spectacles in trying to read a Welsh ne . I
•tion o - o .
of an amicable solution of tan exalted
.
HAN 0 VER, Ocr. 20.—There really
d personege,durin.go
'floe long conference which an ""ft.(the prinCiPal advocwallm
late visit to Verdes, had with one o
el,
ma ,_,...___Than
the
of the.constitution of 183.3,. and overtuirt.
ec:7z:4",5"
a.nd ia
Seenift o
u-bricul-tioiltiictauttiioonrist;
possesses the.greatist influence.amoq6.h,
tune.
...„ ..
Second Ghanibek,-Tinthorise this coop tur