New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-03-29

attraction or gravity Is communicated o'o'
the abyss of 2SoO,OOO,OO) miles that lies be-
tween Neptune and the sun. This influence
has long been recognized in the tides OF
ocean, Of late years the fact OF similar but
much greater effects in our atmosphere nave
been ascertaincd. The body OF air that
surrounds us is FIR more unstable IMAM
water; slight change in its density at
any point, starts wide-spreading tram Oh
consequences. A wave, tide, movement or
the air, may be to tho earth beneath 1t a
storm, a cyclone, q devastating hurricane. IL
is noticeable that the Influence that astrologers
claimed for the heavenly bodies proceeded not
especially from the fixed stars, but from the
planets. 1t was said to be exercised particu-
larry at their cOnjunctions; that IS, wnen 'he
sun, the earth and planet were most nearly
in q straight line. If, now, we con-
cede that the attraction Of gravity OF
planet can produce o disturbance IN our
atmosphere, it is manifest that commotion
would be most likely to take place az the
periods of conjunction, when the forces pro-
ceedng from the planet were added to or
subtracted from those of the sun, just as
spring tides and neap tides in the ocean re-
suit from the suns power being added 10 or
taken from that Of the moon.
Great storms, ruined harvests, and the
social and political commissions that thence
ensued. may have been, however, only part
of the consequences of barOmetric changes
The late Prof. Lyell was among the numer-
Gus advocates of the theory that changes IN
the pressure of the atmosphere, by influencing
the confined gases in strata below the surface
of the ground, give rise to earthquakes
Numerous comparisons of records yet to be
made will be needed for full support TO
this theory but already many re-
markable condolences have been noted. AS
an instance, it is stated that the great earth
quake at Hong Kong last Fall gave its most
violent thrOb, stopping all the public ciochs'
at the very moment when the thermometer re-
corded the fiercest blast of wind OF that terri
bio night Collateral evidence on this subject
has been found in comparison between
records of weather and of mining explosions
The result for England in 1872 indicated that
SO per cent of the explosions of that year
were connected with barometric, and IL per
cent with thermOmetric changes
Upon no one point in the matter or diSpel-
ling popular superstitions have scientific men
been more persistent and successful than IN
respect to comets First, their dangerouSness
as portents was set aside by physical con-
ception of them as masses OF matter. linen
the chances of comet striking the earth
were shown to be exceedingly few, although
such collision at the close Of the last centu-
ry was much discussed as q possibility. A
favorito notion was that this would be the
means provided for the final destruction
of the world by fire. Then came
variety Of evidence that comets were al
together Of q thin and vaporOus matter
Astronomers saw stars through their densest
parts. Among Jupiter's satellites, comet
became entangled, and while its own path was
utterly deranged, they moved on mistaken IN
their orbits. Bat now, after we have had the
comet resolved into a harmless vapOr, and
identified it with the will-O'-the-wsp that
floats over dccaylng marshes, the theory asso-
ciated with Schiaperelli's name, breaks in
upon our serenity. 1t is shown that i'm
mense trains of stony meteOrlteS follow, IL
they do not constitute comets. Very sub
stantial entities are these bolides and aero
lites Some of the most approved OBJ
servations last year, on COggia's comet, showed
for it, at least in part, such a constitution.
From another field of research comes, in sew
eral different forms, evidence that the sun is
surrounded by an immense ring OF meteorlc
bodies. Any disturbing influence exercised
upon this ring would be reflected in great
changes of the SUMS atmosphere, even if-which
is not improbable-some portion OF the meteor
ic masses might dash in upon it. Sudden convul-
slons in the suns atmosphere are followed by
great connections in our own; and 1t seems
not at all improbable that all this train OF
disturbance might follow the near approach
of comet to the sun.
Again: recent discovery tends to prove the
unity of the forces that govern matter. That
there should be a strong suspicion of SINH
lar unity in matter itself, seems natural. New
evidences favoring this notion havo been
brought forward even within a twelvemOnth
by an eminent student of the spectroscope.
II is now generally conceded that differences in
the quality Of substances are frequently mere
divergence In the mode OF motion of their
atoms. 1t is not q very long step from this
conception, to suppose that there is but one
sort of atoms, and that all the differences
of substances have originated in changes of the
motions and combinations of their atoms
changes impressed in the case of the sixty-odd
elements, during the intense heat of the neb-
ulous epoch of the solar system. But if we
take this step we must no longer fling derisou
ON the alchemst who hoped by the fires of his
laboratory to transmute the baser into the
nobler metals, saying as did Basil Valentine
therefore think most diligently about this
"often bear in mind, observe, and compre-
"hend that all minerals and all metals together
in the same time and after the same fashion