Year: 1873




buy hat. This gentleman was a friend
of the family who lost the child, and whose
name was Richard. He observed on en-
tering the shop that the keepers name
was Richmond. This triflng and partia
coincidence would have made no impress
sion had he not directly afterwards poticed
a surprising resemblance between Rich
mond the halter and the Richard family
Of Quebec. Going home to his lodgings he
wrote the adventure to his mother, who
lives in tina. town, and after posting the
letter felt strongly moved to return and
cross-question Richmond touching his ori-
gin. This was done, and to some surprise,
tor Richmond declared that he had been
reared from infancy by an Indian woman
whom he had been taught to regard as his
mother. She had always been kind to
him, but never, until lying on her death
bed, confessed the fact that she had stolen
him from his parents door when an infant,
had brought him into the forest among her
own brethren, and raised him for her
own. His family name she said she had
forgotten, but gave that Of Richmond as
OSibS oOhOouiuS iiAC IL. 1AiUCI Vic oHuth .
death the young man went to Quebec and
tried to find his people. But the change
of name, his own extreme ignorance and
simplicity, and the probable absence at
the time of his parents, prevented his sue
cess. Afterward he made his way to
Montreal and got into the trade he was
following when discovered. The story was
quickly conveyed to the Richard family,
and the mother came on to Montreal where,
by certain birthmarks known to herself, she
was able to corroborate the identity of her
long-lost child. The process being the op
posite of that employed with an equally
mysterious halter in BOX and Cox" is
pronounced entirely satisfactory by the
Canadian Press, which is consequently in
the enjoyment of a sensation of strictly
home manufacture, combined with the
rare merit of strict veracity.-N Y.
TineS


THE ORIGIN OF MErEoRs AND COMETS.
Proctor has recently advanced an idea
as to the origin Of comets and meteors
that may seem to be but the revival of an
old opinion, and one supposed to have
been exploded. The researches of Schia-
parelli and Newton and Others. in that
they showed the regular members of th
solar system, seems to have temporarily
satisfied the inquiry as to the remote orig
in of these bodies. The former astronomer
assumes them to exist generally through
out the insterSeller spaces, and to be sue
cessiyely drawn to one and then to anothe
sun, while Proctor reasons that these bodr
les are now found to travel in groups or
streams, that it is difficult to conceive how
our sun could draw a connected stream Of
meteors to itself at any given epoch, and
| that if these bodies were elected from the
selt-lumlnous stars, we may with equal
plausibility suppose similar bodies to have
| been elected from the planets of our system
when they were in molten condition.
| He accordingly shUws tue voly r"Ua~-~A-
degree of force required to eject meteor
from the surfaces of the outer planets, and
examines the orbits of such periodical
comets and meteors as are at present
known. In accordance with the sugges


tion of A. S. Herschel, he deduces the in
teresting conclusion that comets expelled
from Jupiter would mostly have direct
motion, or one in the same direction as his
own. while those elected from Neptune


would be as likely to have retrograde as
a direct motion. Proctor concludes that


many comets have sprung from Jupiter


and Neptune, and at least one from Uran-
us-the latter being the well-known No


vember meteor stream, or the Leonldes


which Hind has shown to be connected


with Tempels comet.-Harper's Magazine


for AuguSt.