Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-01-24
LECTURE AT THE sxrrHsoS1As.-Al large spd,.

hAcI0hh AT THE SMIrHsoNfAN.--Al large audi
ehce was assembled last evening at the Smith
eohiah, on the occasion Of the lecture of Prof
PIERCE on "Comets,,
Inc lecturer commenced by saving that IN,
Nuo!ect OF the comet was one WORTHY Of Drofonnd
withy 90, owing to the peculiar connection it had
WIN the progression of the human mind. In
eaIIy tunes their history was popularity asso
t Sa, with extraordinary events, supposed to
c"rna, ielahon to the appearance Of each special
Gone' also with the deaths of remark able men
~, the same connection; and especially when
the comet assumed fearful appearance, IA of =
swolu or sclmeter, they Were supposed to be
wicsad messengers OF evil coming from the
wIcked gods Yet the earliest reference which
there IS OF any appearance Of a comet he appre.
hended to be of a dill; rent nature There Was a
passage In Homer which he thought might be
considered as having reference to the comet i'm
which it is represented as a messenger of Jnniter
from Heaven to earth
In following out the theory Of the comet. he
should rather be compelled to pursue the course
whichwas generally avO;d ed-the order of natural
investigation by philosophy instead of that of the
analytical form, in which the teacher was most
pleased to clothe these investigations, when he
brought them to the public eve
One of the first practical suggestions of the phvs
zeal law OF comets came from that nation which
was peculiarly fitted for dealing i'm Speculate We
theorles but which possessed the least scientific
genius OF any OF the ancient nations He referred
TO Italy. The suggestion to which he had refer.
ence was that their bodies like all Others notwitb
standing their irregularity would be found finally
u be bject to law and If they were only stud led
carefully, and catalogues made Of them and pre-
served from time to time, that then 1t would I'M
donbtedly be found that they had reyularitvin all
their motions as other stars that appear from time
to time in the heavens. But from the time of
Seneca to the period at which Kepler lived the
world was not convinced Of this fact A thousand
years elapsed from the time of the first suggest on
tohomer when II was proven con aai rev mat
comets did, in reality, move in path just as reg
ularly as the planet of the earth-a path precisely
OF the same nature, that is, of a comic section In
early times the forms and movements Of comets
were studied by the philosophers as mere matters
of curiosty-of speculation, having nothing to do
with the actual world. When kepler made the
discovery Of the motion of the planet in a comic
section, then it was found that the learned men of
Greece had, in reality, been studying the actual
world
Here, the lecturer remarked was one of those
remarkable indications Of the relation of the hui
man mind to the physical universe, which every
one who was DESTROYS Of seeing, believing or real
izing that man was made in the image Of his Gre
atOr, must feel the greatest deligh in cOntem pa-
ting. This was not only true in science, but it
was one of the most striking and certain proofs
that the intellect which there was all tbrough the
universe was the same as that which filled their
sOnls-the same in kind, but different in degree
The lecturer detailed, in an interesting manner
the process by which comets were identified This
was Ill the comparative distances of the various
comets from the earth; also by their course in
the heavens. Some comets approached very near
the sun He might instance that which appear.d
in 1913. which extended across the heavens
almost from one horizon to the other and that
went so near the Sun that it doubtful il it id
not actually strike Its atmosphere while pursuing
its course round it. While there Were some COM
cts whose approach to the sun had not been much
within the orbit Of Jupiter there were some again
that had been out SO far as Just to be capable of
being seen by the strongest powers of the telescope
I'm regard to the computation of the precise pc
rlods OF comets return, the lecturer proceeded
to show that it was impossible to make observa-
tons delicate enough to determine the period Of
comet when 1t is many hundreds Of wears i'm its
orbit All the comets that had been identified
had been recognized, not by computation that has
been hSed at any time determ lining when they
should return, but by the naked eve seeing that
they were the same. This was attributable to
numerous causes
The speaker dlated at considerable length on
the various aspects of the nebula or tail of the
comet. This, he remarked, had always been re-
garded as a phenomenon altogether incapable of
solution. Philosophers had long regarded it as
mere shadow. There was a whimsical idea en-
tertalned by some that the comet was great
celestial insect, which, in approaching the sun,
turned its tail away.
After dwelling at length on this point. the lec
turer announced that the nucleus or head of the
comet would be the subject of the next lecture on
"Wednesday evening.
FURTHER DISCLOSURES. - Yesterday, Justice
Ferguson repaired to the county Jail to make fur
ther investigation relative to other robberies in
which it was suspected that the Locke and Marry
man gang was concerned, and took the following
affidavits:
ROBBERY OF A. AND T. RICHARDS STORE, NAVY
YARD.
John LOck. swOrn.-Abo the both December
last, AlOnZo Marryman. Richard MarrvTnan Ma
rion Ward and Caleb Hill came to witnesses house
late at MIG ut, and insisted upon his going with
them. Lock was unwilling. and his wife used
every means To diSSuade him from going with
them; witness went, and they all proceeded to the
store Of Alfred and Thomas r chards; witness and
Hill Were stationed at the end of brick shed
about a hundred yards from the store; Alonzo and
Richard Marryman entered the store by back
window; witness passed by the window and saw
them In the store, and afterwards saw them get
out Of the window. Alonzo and Richard passed
the goods out of the window to Ward who took
them to Lock and Hill, ut the corner of the shed
Witness recOllects the following goods: or
boxes segars 10 or 20 lbs. of tobacco, key butter
| jug whisky, demi John do and lot of tao ks
The goods were all taken to Alonzos room and
from there the tobacco was taken to CLARK house
Witness and Richard sold nearly all the butter
and gave the money to AlonzO.
THE BOAT STOLEN FROM GEORGETOWN
John Lock, swOrn.-A bout the last of September
last, AlonZo Marryman and Ward went to George
town and witness with them Witness was Sta
toned on the wharf and remained there some
time, when Alonzo and Ward returned with
boat. Witness got into the boat and he and Ward
roWed and AOnzo steered. They took the boat to
Buzzard point and pulled 1t up. The next night
Alonzo. Ward, Clark, Richard Marryman and
witness went to the point, Richard and Clark
painted the boat black. In night or two after all
of them started down the river i'm the boat having
on board provisions for a week cruize, and a lot
Of merchandise, including Richly shoes and gro
ceries stolen from Burdne. The next day they
stopped on the Virginia side to eat They then
started again. but were Overhauled in the river by
the owners of the boat, who took the boat from
them and all it contained, putting them ashore the
other side of Fort Washington The foregoing
statements of Lock were confirmed by Ohm Ben,
jalnin. James Morgan and VIM. Mattngly. who
identified Richard Marryman. Lock and Clark as
the three who We're in the boat and also by MIR
Alfred Richards who identifies some Of his goods
and says his clerk will be able to identify more of
them.
THE THEATRE "A very large audience greeted
NJ r. Jas f.. Murdoch and company at the theatre
last night and were well repaid for their pains by
an excellent performance of the play of Money ;,
We repeat orr declaration made in the course Of
the performances of the same company here in the
week before last. that whole il is an infinitely
better company than had previously appeared on
w ashington boards at any previous period for
twenty years, at least Thus Mr. Murdoch now
the very first actor in this country is I'D mir,hI,
sustained. Mrs. Gladstane. always a great favor
lite with our play going felow-citizens by the by.
is mig htiy w inning golden opinions having orsd-
ually, by close study, made herself an actress
worthy, indeed, to share fairly with such an actor
as MIR. Murdoch such popular applause as now
NJ ~ -,