New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-02-21


The great interest attaching to this Planet is due to
the splendid luminous ring which encirces !, in the
plane of TIA equator. What lie; how it came there
what keeps il in position; what immediate purpose II
serves, no man can tell. Maupertius thought it was
the tail Of comet which the planets attraction had
CON PEELED to circulate round him II probably sug-
gested to Sir VIM. Herschel his famous Nebular Hy-
pothesis which Lapacs adopted and developed SO eab-
oratey at any ratio seconded the suggestion which
the sight of unresolved nebue started in his mind.
Indeed, il the solar system was evolved according TO
this fascinating theory behold yonder hung up in the
heavens for all men to see sample of satellite just
az it has been ioughed of by the primary, and be-
fore rcDg itself up into moon. In fact we see God
at work forming worlds, the centuries roll by but
that need not sarle us for it Is as easy for Him to
make world as to make flower, which we see him
doing constantly without ever thinking that it is the
creative hand Of God, directly shaping it and ntng ii
with beautiful forms and colors.
II was always considered, without much question
probably, that the ring sold until Mr.. George r.
Bond suggested from observation and Professor Perce
demonstrated from theory, i's fuidity. The latter
showed that the planet incompetent to sustain any
ring; that the ring is held in equilbrio BY the action OF
the satelles and that to be sustained 1t must OF
necessity be fluid. The theory seems to be that the
satellites which, eight in number reyolve IN the plane
Of the ring which is coinciden. as already rem arked
with that of the planets equator cause great secular
tide in the fluid ring, just as the moon does in the wa
tiers of the ocean. Ii should be remembered that the
density of the ring is somewhat greater than water
Now Observe what follows from this theory in case OF
our own planet indeed under the moons action as well
az of the ring Of Saturn under the like action OF its eat
elites The friction Of the particles of the fluid mass
upon each other in the movement Of these great tde
Saturnan and terrestrial alike, tends TO retard the mo-
ton of the mass revolving in the opposite direction
Hence gradual Ices and final extinction OF such mo-
ton, although for centuries napprecabe In case Of
the ribbon.ike, fluid ring Of Saturn this effect will be
very great as II must reyolve round its center OF
gravity which ia quite the center Of figure Of the
urinary. in the same periodic time which satellite
would have if situated at the distance from the
planet. Now this distance is such as to give to the
mass period considerably less than Sturnian day
While the ring, being fluid, the different concentrio
zones of il will flow upon each other those neares: the
planet being carried around with greater velocity than
those more remote. From this it would appear that
there will ensue from the action of the satellites great
tide in the ring at least daily, resulting in rapid loss
of notion This leads us to expect that some impor-
tant change in the constitution or position OF the ring
is not remote contingency Indeed, Professor PIERCE
thinks it will be ruptured within century. How long
duration has elapsed since it first assumed ts present
shape and constitution is not known since 1t has only
been watched at furthest, during the two centuries
and half of mans possession Of the telescope. Per-
haps this problem may he solved and the precise era
determined when the ring became detached from the
plan etary mass if it ever did. The prevalent idea now
seems to be that is about be precpated upon the
face of the planet which, in the event Of It's occurring
would be severe blow to the Nebular Hypothesis or
theory of planetary evoation since God takes no step
backward The creative laws which He has impressed
upon matter owe forward before the eye of man toward
tie development of new FORMS Ii the planets and
moons have been formed by the peeing off Of equato
rial matter from rotating parent mass, and subse-
quent rolling up into spherical form, in obedience to
the law of the mutual attraction of matter it may be
safely predicted that the ring of Saturn will be
pre- cipitated upon the body of the planet
The best telescopes Disclose several divisions in the
ring in the direction of its circumference. From what
has been said it is evident that the number Of these
dyiions limited only by the range of the telescope
Professor PIERCE calculates there may be many az
twenty in a ormal condition Of the ring The def
" bite width of these elementary rings" he remarks
" is to a certain extent analogous to the definite size
" the drops of water from vial" very remarkable
feature was discerned by Professor Bond of the Cam
bridge Observatory, Macs, in 1850, although it had
been indstincty noticed but scarcely recognized by
Dr. GALL of Berlin ia 1885, viz: that the nmost zone
Of the ring is seDi-tansparent, admitting the surface
ofthe planet to be seen through it.
Mr.. Robert Hunt, III lecture before the School of
Mines, London mentions beautiful experiment illus
tratiDg how a revolving mass may evolve riBg and
how the ring may be sustained after being thrown off
He states that if drop of oil be introduced into mix
ture of water and alcohol of the came specific gravity
OIL it will swim in the very center of the fluid,
perfect sphere. If into properly arranged glass box
we pass fine wire through the sphere of OIL and by
means of handle the globle to revove slowly
tie sphere becomes oblate spheroid by increasing
the motion, we fatten it still more; until at certain
rate of revolution il becomes disc when a ring of oil
is thrown Off from the central globule, and though
separated by intervening water it revoyes AT precisely
the rame rate.
The thickness Of the ring is estimated to be not
far from one hundred mies. In consequence of this
ribbon-ke structure the ring will be invisible in most
telescopes when the edge presented to tie Observers
and this will be the case when the relative position of
Satun and the Garth is such that the plane of the ring
passes through tie earth, which will occur in the plan
cts equinox, e., twice in the of SaturTian
year. The last occurred in lSlS The epoch Of the
next is lS6l-2
In the most powerful telescopes, oNeyer, the edge
of the ring remains visible throughout the equinox and
being somewhat more reflective Of the solar light
than the body Of the planet the edge appears bur-
nished thread Of silver drawn across the disc OF the