New-York daily tribune., 1858-10-01

ing stheral medium, tending always u retarTther
advances, diminish their orbits, and bring them
finally into the sun, LeVerrier cautiously replies
that. even if Encke's first suspicious of IT should
not be confirmed, his long and admirable calcuia-
tions Of the subject Of this resistance shows the
handling Of master. A real Talleyrandian reply
But Bsbinet is bolder, and asserts that the CON-
b;ped observations Of returns teach "a yet moth
inc certain On the subject
Prof. b. A. Gould publishes (Sept. 81, Astro-
nomical Journal, p. l54) letter from Encke, an
nouncine the return of the comet under the name
Of Pon's comet begging for American obserya-
tions. and saying that Maclear will study it in the
southern hemisphere. Prof Gould, after discus
.inc new calculations of the fifth comet Of 1853,
now attracting so much admiration, adds: I'VE
"may expect that ii will present magnificent ap-
"pearance in the west after sunset about the be-
ginning of October, and during the first weeks Of
"that month its brilliancy will be four times as
"great as il was ON the 18th OF September last"
The astronomer Secchi at Rome thus writes to
DR.. Peters at Altoona, in Russia, the date of
July 10, the following description of the newly
studied surface of the planet Mars, and sends him
to publish il the AstrOnOm,sehe Naohr'etten two
pictures of the planet taken with an interval OF
about one-third of revolution On its axes. The
spots seen and drawn by Captain Jacob at Madras
in "A are seen in these representations also, and
are therefore to be considered permanent, although
there seems to be some confusion among those
about the pole. On the other hand small round
spot, portrayed by Nader in 1880, has certainly
disappeared. Any one, however, who Will take
the trouble to compare Secchi's drawings OF the
curious group of solar spots seen on successive
DAYS in March "a, Is and l6) 1858, with larger
and better drawing of the same group accidentally
made on one Of the same days, March 10, by
Schwabe, and both of them published by DIR.
Peters. pages 236 and 342 of the Astronomische
~ clrehten, will see howmuch depends on the quality
of the telescope, the condition of the atmos-
phere and the truth Of eye and skill
of hand of the observer, in determining
! these delicate tests of cosmlcal stablhty
or instability in bodies so far beyond our reach.
| For Secchis drawings would lead any one to put
uhhestating faith in the popular theory that the
! spots of the sun are consequences OF vortca' or
whrlwnd movements in the equatorial belts OF Its
atmosphere, so spirally has he drawn them, and so
evidently have the little ones on each successive
day advanced spirally certain distance round the
larger ones. Whereas Schawbes better drawing
shows nos such movement whatever, not trace OF 1t,
but on the contrary curiousy cracked or shivered
condition of each spot in the group, especially the
larger ones, through the cracks in the even black
surface Of which the white light shines with much
sharper edges than around the limit of the spot IT.
self; while the penumbras cracked and gaped
outward like Old and wind tossed palm leaves
There is no certainty therefore, that any but
the principal spots on Mars are stationary. To re-
concie the different drawings, it is quite neces-
sary to suppose that the numerous white patches
about the poles succeed each other rapidly, and
/ therefore are more likely to be masses Of storm
clouds than increasing and decreasing areas OF
snow The least agitation OF the atmosphere
makes the beautiful colors of the planets disc grow
pale and confused. The general surface is a
monotonogs continent crossed by an equatorial
zone of red and temperate zones OF blue, except In
one place where large red island Is surrounded
! by blue channel. Toward the edges of the disc
the red spots become yellowsh as if there were a
martial atmosphere.
At the close of the letter Professor Secchi states
that the great barometrc waves in the terrestrial
atmosphere, which were discovered few years
ago. and have been diligently studied ever since,
have been demonstrated to move from over Lon
don to over Rome in seventeen hours.
The astronomer Faye designed but never exc
cuted zenith telescope. The Astronomer Royal,
Airy, is the only one who made practical use
of one. NJ Porro of Paris, who lately made the
extraordinary lens which the irascible and rather
obstinate lie Verrer took so much dudgeon at,
refused to believe in or have anything to do with,
to the intense disgust of our clever gossip of the
! Cosmos, the good Able Moigns, 81. Porros friend,
this NJ. Porro we say makes an excellent portable
zenith telescope surmounted with cup Of water
| with transparent bottom. AS it is one OF the
few instruments which require no instrumental
adjustment, it must come into general use, when
its merits become known, to determine the latitude
of points upon the surface of the earth. Every
engineer and surveyor, at least every cousty sur
veyor's Office should have one. But there is new
| and curious use to which Al. Antoine Il Abbadie
proposes 10 apply it of especial interest Il
geologists and mathematicians who wish Il
know if the world be perfectly round or not
and how much it weighs; a nice point also il
! isnd-surveying although not at first apparent
He proposes TO use two Porro zenith telesopes a
once one on each side ofs mountain Schehallien i,
Scotland, for example, which has been wighe,
already BY Maskeyne. One of our own ( him high
strait Appalachian mountains running eas t and wes