THE DAILY EVENING TELEGRAPH PHILADELPHIA, WEDNESDA1, SEPTEMBER 20, 18G9. THE BKITISII ASSOCIATION. A A rorlXAR TALK ABOIT NCIKNCB. At the inaugural meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Scienoa , held in Exeter, England, last month, Trot". Stakes, President elect, made an excellent ddrefis upon some of the leading phanes of cientifio research. Ho first spoko of rHOOBEH8 IN ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCE. Among the varioiw branches of physical cicnco, Astronomy occupies in many respects a foremost rank. The movements of the . heavenly bodies must have occupied the atten tion and excited the interest of mankind from the earliest ages, and accordingly the first rudiments of the science are lost in the depths of antiquity. The grandeur of the i subjects of contemplation which it presents to us have won for it especial favor, and its importance in relation to navigation has aused it to be supported by national ro Bources. Newton's great discovery of univer sal gravitntion raised it from the rank of a science of observation to that of one admit ting of the most exact mathematical deduc tion; and the investigation of the conse quences of this law, and tho explanation thereby of the lunar and planetary disturb ances, have afforded a field for the exercise of the highest mathematical powers on the part of Newton and his successors. Gradu ally the apparent anomalies, as they might have been deemed, in the motions of the heavenly bodies were shown to ba necessary consequences of the one fundamen tal law; and, at last, as tho result of calcula tions of enormous labor, tables were con structed enabling the places of those bodies at any given tiuio to be determined years be forehand with astonishing precision. A still more striking step was taken.' When it had been shown by careful calculation that the apparent motion of the remotest of the planets then known to belong to our system could not be wholly explained on the theory of gravitation, by tnking account of the dis turbing powers of the other known planets, Adams in our own country, and Le Verrier in France, boldly reversed the problem, and instead of determining the disturbing effect of a known planet, sot themselves to inquire what must be the mass and orbit of an unknown planet which shall be capable of producing by its disturbing; force the unexplained deviations in the posi tion of Uranus from its calculated place. The result of this inquiry is too well known to require notice. After these brilliant achievements, some may perhaps have been tempted to imagine that the field of astronomical research must have been wellnigh exhausted. Small pertur bations, hitherto overlooked,' might be deter, mined, and astronomical tables thereby rendered still more exact. New asteroids might be discovered by the telescope. More accurate values of the constants with which we have to deal might be obtained. But no ssential novelty of principle was to be looked for in the department of astronomy; for such we must go to younger and less mature branches of science. ' FRUITS OF THE UNION OF SCIENCES. Researches which have been carried on within the last few years, even the progress which has been made within the last twelve months, show how short-sighted such antici pation would have been; what an unexpected flood of light may sometimes be thrown over one science by its union with another; how onducive accordingly to the advancement of science may be an Association like the pre sent, in which not only are the workers at special meetings brought together in the Seo tional Meetings, but in the General Meetings of the Association, and in the social inter course which, though of an informal charac ter, is no unimportant part of our proceedings, the cultivators of different branches of sci ence are brought together and have an oppor tunity of enlarging their minds by contact with the minds of others, who have been used to trains of thought of a very different character from their own. WHAT ASTRONOMY OWES TO OPTICS. tlifi Bci42ce agronomy is indebted to iv, .,f ntL f.vr ilia hvinr,,'.:!?8 wb-ich regu- late the construction of tlioso optical lnrr" ments which are so essential to the astrono mer. It repaid its debt by furnishing to optics a result which it is important we should keep in view in considering the nature of light. It is to astronomy that we are in debted for the first 'proof we obtained of the finite velocity of light, and for the first nu merical determination of that enormous velocity. Astronomy, ' again, led, forty-four years later, to a second determination of that velocity in the remarkable phenomenon of aberration discovered by Bradley, a phe nomenon presenting speoial points of interest in relation to the nature of light, ' and which has given rise to some dis cussion, extending even to the present day, so that the Astrnnoiner ltoval has not deemed it unworthy of investigation, laborious as he foresees the trial is likely to prove, to deter mine thejeonstant of aberration by means of a telescope having its tube filled with water. If in respect of these phenomena optics received much aid from astronomy, the latter science has been indebted to the former for information which could not otherwise have been obtained. , The motions and the masses of the heavenly 1 bodies are revealed "to us .more or less fully by astronomical . ob servations; but we" C9nH not thus be. .cpue acquainted with ' the chemical nature .t these . distant , objects. Yet, by the -application of tiie spectroscope to the scrutiny of tho heavenly bodies, evidence has been obtained of the existence therein of various element known to us by. the chemi cal examination of the materials of which our own earth is composed; and not only so, but light is thrown on the state in which matter is there existing, which, in the case of nebula) ' enpecially, led to the formation of new idoas respecting their constitution, and the recti fication of astronomical speculations previ ously entertained- I shall not, however, dwell further on this part of the subjacjr,; ' which is now of some years' standing , und ' has been mentioned by more than on 6 of your former Presidents, but will pass on to newer researches in the same direction. j We are aocustomed to apply to the stars that epithet jLed. Night after night they are seen' to have the same relative arrangement; and when their places are determined by careful measurement, and certain small corrections VIiia to known causes are applied to the imme. liHtA results of observation, they are found to have the same relative distances. But m,han instead of davs. the observations extend mnnths or vears. it is found that the, - fixity is not quite absolute. , Defining as fixity ' invariability of position as estimated with tnna to the stars as a whole, and conn mr the cosition of any individual star with the fitara in its neighborhood, we find 4laf a rim A Ox the stars exhibit "proper mo, tioDfl' liow, that ifl, progressive change of angular position as Been from the earth, of rather as they would be seen from the sun, which we may taka fpr tho mean annual place of the earth. This indicates linear motion in a direction transvorse to the line joining the sun with the star. But since our sun is merely a star, a line drawn from the star exhibiting proper motion to our suu is, as regards the former, merely a line drawn to a star taken at random, and therefore there is no reason why the star's motion should bo, except accidentally, in a direction perpendi cular to the . line joining the star with our sun. We must conclude that the stars, in cluding our own sun, or some of them, at least, are moving in various directions in space, and that , it is merely the transversal component of the whole motion, or rather of the motion relatively to our sun, that is re vealed to us by a change in the star's appa rent place. How, then, shall we determine whether any particular star is approaching to or re ceding from our sun ? It is clear that astro nomy alone is powerless to aid us here, since such a motion would be unaccompanied by change of angular position. Here the science of optics comes to our aid in a remarkable manner. The pitch of a musical note deponds, as we know, on the number of vibrations which reach the ear in a given time, such as a second. Suppose, now, that a body, such a3 a bell, which is vibrating a given number of times per second, is at the same time moving from the observer, the air being calm. Since the successive pulses of sound travel all with tho velocity of sound, but diverge from dif ferent centres, namely, the successive points in the bell's path at which the boll was when those pulses were first excited, it is evident that the sound-waves will be someivhut mora spread out on the side from which tho bell is moving, and more crowded together on the side towards which it is moving, than if the bell had been at rest. Consequently tho number of vibrations per second which reach the ear of an observer situated in the former of these directions will be some what smaller, and the number which reach an observer situated in the opposite direc tion somewhat grower than if the bell had been at rest. Hence to the former the pitch will be somewhat lower, and the latter some what higher than the natural pitch of the bell. And the same thing will happen if the observer be in motion instead of the bell, or if both be in motion; in fact, the effect de pends only on the relative motion of tho ob server and tho bell ia the direction of a line joining the two in other words, on the velo city of recession or approach of the observer and the bell. The effect may be perceived m standing by a railway when a train in which the steam-whistle is sounding passes by at full speed, or, better still, if the observer bo seated in a train which is simultaneously moving in the opposite direction. WHAT IS LIGHT? ' The present stat6 of optical science is such as to furnish us with evidence, of a force which is perfectly overwhelming, that light consists of a tremor or vibratory movement propagated in an elastic medium filling the planetary and stellar spaces, a medium which thus fulfils for lirtht an office similar to that of air for sound. In this theory, to difference of periodic time corresponds difference of refrongibility. Suppose that we were in pos session of a source of light capable, like the bell in the analogous case of sound, of ex citing in the ether supposed at rest vibrations' of a definite period, corresponding, therefore,: to light of a definite refrangibihty. Then, just as in the ease of sound, if the source of light and the observer were receding from or approaching to each other with a velocity which was not insensibly small compared with the velocity of light, an appreciable lowering or elevation of rel'rangibility would be produced, which would be capable of de tection by means of a spectroscope of high dispersive power. . . . ; ' The velocity of light is so enormous, about 18.5,000 miles per second, that it can readily be imagined that any motion which we can experimentally produce in a source of light is; as rest in comparison. But the earth in its orbit round the sun moves at the rate of about eighteen miles per second; and in the motions of stars approaching to or receding from our sun we might expect to meet with velocities comparable with this. The orbital velocity of the earth is, it is true, only about the one teq- thousandtn ySTV 9i Vfl" velocity of light. Still the effect of such a velocity on the refrangi bihty of light, which admits of being easily calculated, proves not to be so insensibly small as to elude all chance of detection, pro vided only the observations are conducted with extreme delicacy. , KIRCHHOI F'S DISCOVERT. ', But how shall we find in such distant ob jects as the stars an analogue of the bell which we have assumed in the illustration drawn from sound 'f What evidence can we ever obtain, even if an examination of their light should present us with rays of definite rel'rangibility, of the existence in those re mote bodies of ponderable matter vibrating in known periods not identical with thofjo corresponding to the refrohgibilities of the definite rays which we observe? The answer to this question will involve a reference,' which I will endeavor to make as brief as I can, to the splendid researches of Professor Kirchhoff. The exr.ct coincidence of certain dark lines in the solar spectrum with bright lines in certain artificial sources of light hal previously been in one br two instances ob-: served: and it is to Kirchhoff we owe tho. inference from the ertension of Preost's thoory of exchanges; that a glowin? medium which emits bright l,j!pht of any particular re frangibihty neecBsavif" (at that temperature at least) acts as an absorbing medium, ex-j tiuguishing' light of the same refrangibility.j In saying this it is but j&t to nienliou thut in' relation to radiant tieat (from whence the transition to light 'is easy) Kirchhoff was pre ceded, though, unconsciously, by our own couhtrymtoij Ivfr. Balfour Stewart. Tho in ferericeXvhich Kirchhoff drew from Prevost's theory thus extended led him to make a care-1 f 3 comparison of the places of the dark lines tf the solar spectrum with those of bright lines produced h the incandescent gas or vapour of known elements; and the coinci dences were in many cases so remarka ble as to establish almost to a certainty the existence of several of the known elements in the solar atmosphere, producing by their absorbing notion the dark lines coin- ouing wnn me bright lines observeU. Among ovuer elements muu V mnntioneii in par ticular bvdroccn. tha nit.rnm of which. when traversed by an eleotrio discharge, shows a bright line r band exactly coinciding wuu lue uu ime j, and another witn ttio tl. 11.. J. 1 ! w ... .a iw.nr.Aiu m.H or MU. HUOQINa AND FATHER . . ' HECCHI. Now Mr. lluggiu found that several of the niliVQ 111 An 41..... . ni...iUwiuuiir spectra dark; hues coin ciding in position with 0 and F; and what streuguiens uie bolief that this coincidence, or appurem coineiuenee, is not merely for tuitous, but is uue to a common cause, is, that " the two lines are found associated together, both present or both absent. And Kirchhoff's theory suggests that tho common cause is the existence of hydrogen in tho at mospheres of the sun and certain stars, and its exercise of an absorbing action on the light emitted from beneath. Now by careful and repeated observations with a telescope furnished with a spectro scope of high dispersive power, Mr. Hugging f onnd that the F line, the one selected for ob servation, in the spectrum of Sirins did not exactly coincide with the corresponding bright line of a hydrogen spark, which latter agrees in position with the solar F, but was a little less refrangible, while preserving the same general appearance. What conclusion, then, are we tu draw from the result? Surely it would be most unreasonable to attribute the dark lines in tho spectra of the sun and of Sirius to distinct causes, and to rogard their almost exact coincidence as purely for tuitous, when we have in proper motion a vera aiuaa to account for a minute difference. And if, as Kirchhoff's labors render almost certain, the dark solar line depends on tho existence of hydrogen in the atmosphere of our sun, we are led to infer that that element, with which the chemist working in his laboratory is so familiar, exists and is subject to the same physical laws in that distant star, so distant, that, judging by the most probable value of its annuul parallax, light which would go seven times round our earth in one second would take fourteen years to travel from the star. What a grand conception of the unity of plan pervading tho universe do such con clusions present to our minds ! Assuming, then, that the small difference of rcf ran gibility observed between the solarFand that of Sirius is due to proper motion, Mr. Huggins concludes from his measures of tho minute difference of position that at the time of the observation Sirius was receding from tho earth at the rate of 41 '4 miles per second. A part of this was due to the motion of the earth in its orbit; and on deducting the orbital velocity of the earth, resolved in tho direc tion of a line drawn from the star, there re mained 2!) "4 miles per second as the velocity with which Sirius and our sun are mutually receding from each other. Considering the minuteness of the quantity on which the result depends, it is satisfactory to find that Mr. Huggins' results as to the motion of Sirius have been confirmed by the observa tions of Father Secchi made at Home with a different instrument. The determination of radial proper motion in this way is still in its infancy. It is worthy of note that, unlike the detection of transver sal proper motion by change of angular posi tion, it is equally applicable to stars at all dis tances, provided they are bright enough to render the observations possible. It is con ceivable that the results of these observations may one day lead to a determination of tho motion of the solar system in space, which is more trustworthy than that which has been deduced from changes of position, as being founded on a broader induction, and not con fined to conclusions derived from the stars iu our neighborhood. Should even the solar system and the nearer stars be drifting along, as Sir John Herschel suggests, with an op proximutoly common motion, like motes in a sunbeam, it is conceivable that the circum stance might thus be capable of detection.' To what wide speculations are we led as to the possible progress of our knowledge when we put together what has been accomplished in different branches of science 1 PHENOMENA OF A SOLAR ECLIPSE. I turn now to another recent application of spectral analysis. The phenomenon of a total solar eclipse is described by those who. have seen it as one of the most imposing that can be witnessed. The rarity of its occur-: rence and the shortness of its duration afford,' however, opportunity for only a hasty study of the phenomena which may then present themselves. Among these,' one of the most remarkable seen, indeed, before, but first brought prominently into notice by the ob servers who watched the eclipse of July 7,' 1842 consists in a series of mountain-like or cloud-like luminous objects seen outside the dark disk of the moon. These have been Been in subsequent total eclipses, and more specially studied, by means of photography, by Mr. Warren Do La Rue, in the eclipse of. June 18, 1800. The result of the various observations, and especially the study, "which Could be made at leisure, of the photographs obtained by Mr. De La Hue, proved conclusively that these appen dages belong to the sun, not to the moon. The photographs proved further their light to be remarkable for aotinio power. Since that time the method of spectral analysis has been elaborated; and it seemed likely that additional information bearing on the nature; of these objects might be obtained by the application of the Bpectrosoope. Accordingly various expeditious were equipped for the purpose of observing the total solar eclipse which was to happen on August 17, 1HG8. In our own country an equatorially-mounted telescope provided with a spectroscope was procured for the purpose by the lloyal So ciety, which was . entrusted to Lioutenant (now Captain) Herschel, who was going out to India, one of the countries crossed by tho line of the central shadow. Another expedi tion was organized by the lloyal Astronomical Society, under the auspices of Major Tennant, who was foremost in pressing on the atten tion of scientific men the importance of avail ing themselves of the opportunity. Shortly before the conclusion of the meet- IDg OI ine ABMOUlllliOU ttK v,vu,i,oi jrcur, the first results ol ine ouservawwm weru maun known to the meeting through tho agency the electrio telegraph, in tne telegram r,6Yil by M. Janssen to the President of the lioyul Society, it was announced that the spectrum of the prominences was very bud. inc bright lines, wnne mat ui vuiwuu, showed none, isnei as v ii"fo , sarily was, one point was semeu. iim prominences could not be donds,:in the stn.-.t ...,,. r.r i, ,i tJiimnr either by virtuo ot ntiJno vi iiiu iv" o f i their own heat or by litfht reflected from bo low. They must consist of iucandosoent mat - ter in the gaseous form, n appeurou the moro detailed accounts received by post from the varions observers, ahd put together at leisure, that except in the immediate nsigh, borhood of tho sun the light of the promi-. neuces consisted mainly of three bright hues of which two coincidod, or noarly so, with O and F, and the intermediate one nearly, but,, as subsequent researches showed, not exactly I withl). The bright lines coinciding with O and F indicate the presence of glowing hydro. Ben. Some of tho other lines wore apparently identified with those which would be pro duced by the inoandesceut vapor of certain other elements. : :. - . , This is precious mtormation to have gathered during the brief interval of the total phase, and required on the part of the obser ' 1 , ...... S .;n.-i,nrIiifT the eve from the imposing spectacle of the surround.ug scenery, and coolness in proceeding stea.hly "withsowe definite part of the mumry, when so many questions crowded for solution, and the fruits of months of preparation were to be reaped in three or four minutes or lost vers seii-aeiuiu wimu"---r altogether, especially when, as too ofton hap. pened, the observations were provokingly in terrupted by flyiDg clouds. ; AIDS TO OBSERVATION. ! But, valuable as these observations were, li is obvious that we should have had long to wait before we could have become acquainted with the usual behavior of these objects, and their possible relation to changes which may be going on at the surface of the sun, if we had been dependent on the rare and brief phenomenon of a total solar eclipse for gather ing information respecting them. But how, the question might be asked, shall wo ever be able so to subdue the overpowering glare of our great luminary, and the dazzling illumi nation which it produces in our atmosphere when we look nearly in its diroction, as to perceive objects which are comparatively so faint? Here again tho science of optics comes in aid of astronomy. When a line of light, such as a narrow slit held in front of a luminous object, is viewod through a prism, tho light is ordinarily spread out into a colored band, the length of which may be increased at pleasure by substituting two or more prisms for the single prism. As the total quantity of light is not thereby in creased, it is obvious that the intensity of tho light of the colored baud will go on decreasing as tho length increases. Such is tho cose with ordinary sources of light, like the flame of a candle or the sky, which give a continuous spectrum, or one generally continuous, though interrupted by dark bands. But if the light from the source be homogeneous, consisting, that is, of light of one degree of rofrangi bility only, the imago of the slit will be merely deviated by the prisms, not widened out into a band, and not consequently reducod in intensity by the dispersion. And if the source of light emit light of both kinds, it will be easily understood that tho images of tho slit corresponding to light of any definite refrangibilities which the mixture may contain will stand out, by their superior intensity, on the weaker ground of the continuous spec trum. Preparations for observations of the kind had long been in progress in tho hands of our countryman, Mr. Lockyer. His first attempts were unsuccessful; but, undismayed by failure, he ordered the construction of a new spectroscope of superior power, in which he was aided by a grant from the sum placed annually by Parliament at the disposal of the lloyal Society for scientific purposes. The execution of this instrument was delayed by what proved to be the last illness of tho emi nent optician to whom it was entrusted, the late Mr. Cooke; but when at last the instru ment was placed in his hands, Mr. Lockyer was not long in discovering tho object of his two years' search. On tho 20th of October last year, in examining the space immediately sur rounding the edge of the solar disk, he obtained evidence, by the occurrence of a bright line in the spectrum, that his slit was on the image of one of those prominences the nature of which had so long been an enigma. It far ther appeared from an observation made on the fith of November (as indeed might bo ex pected from the photographs of Mr. Do La Kuo, and the descriptions of those who had observed total solar eclipses) that the promi nences were merely elevated portions of an extensive luminous Btratum of the same general character, which, now that the neces sity of the interposition of the moon was dispensed with, could be traced completely round the sun. Notices of this discovery were received from tho author by the ltoyal Society on October 21 and November 3, and the former was almost immediately published in No. 105 of the Proceedings. These were shortly afterwards followed by a fuller paper on the same subject. Meanwhile the same thing had been inde pendently observed in another part of the world. After having observed the remarkable spectrum of the promiuenceB during the total eclipse, it occurred to M. Janssen that the same method might allow the prominences to be detected at any time; and on trial he suc ceeded in detecting them the very day after the eclipse. The results of his observations were sent by post, and were received shortly after the account of Mr. Lockyer's discovery bad been communicated by Mr. De La Hue to tho French Academy. In tho way hitherto described a prominence is not seen as a whole, but tho observer knows when its image is intercepted by the slit; and by varying a little the position of the slit a series of sections of the prominence are ob tained, by putting which together the form of the prominence is deduced, bhortly after Mr. Lockyer's communication of his dis covery, Mr. Huggins, who had been indepen dently engaged in the attempt to ronder the prominences visible by the aid of the spectro scope, succeeded in seeing a prominence as a whole by somewhat widening the slit, and using a red gloss to diminish the glare of the light admitted by the slit, the prominence being seen by means of the C line in the red. Mr. Lockyer "lad a design for seeing the pro minences ns a whole by giving the slit a rapid motion of small extent, but this proved to be superfluous, and they are now habitually seen with their actual forms. Nor is our power of observing them restricted to those which are so situated that they are seen by projection outside tho sun's limb; such is the power of the spectroscopic method of observation that it has enabled Mr. Lockyer and others to ob serve them right on the disc of the sun, an important step for connecting them with other solar phenomena. REMAKE ABLE 'CHANGES IN PROGRESS. One of the most striking results . of the La1itml study of theso prominences is the 'evidence they afford of the stupendous changes which are going on in the central body of our system. Prominences the heights of which are to be measured by thousands and tens of thousands of miles, appear, and disap-, pear in the course of soma minutes. And a study of certain minute changes of position in the bright line F, which receive a simple and natural explanation by referring them to pro per motion in the glowing gas by which that , line is produced, and which we see , no otheri way of accounting for, have led Mr. Lockyer' to conclude that the gas in question is some-' times travelling with velocities comparable with that of the earth in its orbit. More-' over, these exhibitions of intense action are frequently found to bo intimately connected with the spots, and can hardly fail to throw( light on the disputed question of their forma-! tioii. Nor are chemical composition and pro-: per motion the only physicul conditions of the gas which are accessible to spectral aualy-j sis. By comparing the breadth of the bright, bands (for though narrow thoy are not mere' lines) Been in tho prominences with those' observed in the spectrum of hydrogen ren-J dered incandescent under different physical conditions, Dr. Frankland and Mr. Lockyer have deduced conclusions respecting the pros-! sure to which the gas is subject in the neigh-J borhood of the sun. I am happy to say thatj Mr, Lockyer has consented to deliver a dis course during our meeting, in which the whole subject will doubtless be fully explained.' SOUNPrNO THE DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN. j By the kinkness of Dr. Carpenter, I am enj abled to mention to you the latest results ob tained in an expedition which could not have been undertaken without the aid of Govern, ment, sn nid which was freely given. Last year Dr. Carpenter and Professor Wyville Thomson represented to the President and Council of the Boyal Society the great im portance to zoology and palaiontology of ob taining soundings from grout depths in the ocean, and suggested to them to use their in fluence with the Admiralty to induce them to place a gunboat, or other suitable Vjssel, at the disposal of those gentlemen and any other naturalists who might be willing to accompany them for the purpose of carry ing on a systematic course of deep-sea dredging for a month or six weeks. This application was forwarded to tho Admiralty with the warm support of the President and Council, and was readily acceded to. The operations were a good deal impedod by rough weather, but nevertheless important results were obtained. Dredging was successfully accomplished at a depth of (550 fathoms; and the existence was established of a varied and abundant submarine Fauna, at depths which had generally been supposed to bo either azoic, or occupied by animals of a very low type; and the character of the Fauna and of mud brought up was such as to point to a chalk formation actually going on. , It seemed desirable to carry the soundings to still greater depths, and to examine more fully the changes of temperature which had been met with in tho dos. cent. Another application was accord ingly mado to tho Admiralty in the present year, and was no less readily acceded to than the former; and a larger vessel than that used last year is now on her cruise. I am informed by Dr. Carpenter that dredging has been successfully carried down to moro than 2400 fathoms (nearly the height of Mont Blanc), and that animal life has been found even at that depth in considerable variety though its nmovnt ami Kind are obviously influenced by the reduction of temperature to Arctic cold ness. A very careful series of temperature soundiDgs has been taken, showing, on the same spot, a continuous descent of tempera ture with the depth, at first more rapid, after wards pretty uniform. Thermometers pro tected from pressure by a plan described by Dr. Miller were found to maintain thoir character at the great depths reached, the difference between them and the best ordinary ther mometers used in the same sounding being exactly conformable to tho pressure cor responding with each depth, as determined by the experiments previously made in smaller depths. All the observations hitherto mado go to confirm the idea of a general inter change of polar and equatorial water, the former occupying tho lowest depths, the latter forming a superficial stratum of 700 or 800 fathoms. The analyses of tho water brought up indicate a large proportion of carbonic acid in the gases of the deep waters, and a general diffusion of organic matter. COPPER IN ANIMALS. ' ! The Turaco, or Plaintain-eater, of the Cape of Good Hope is celebrated for its beautiful plumage. A portion of the wings is of a fine red color. This red coloring matter has been investigated by Prof. Church, who finds it to contain nearly six per cent, of copper, which cannot be distinguished by the ordinary tests, ' nor removed from the coloring matter with out destroying it. The coloring matter is, in fact, a natural organic compound, of which copper is one of the essential constituents. Traces of this metal had previously been found in animals, for example, in oysters, to the cost of those who partook of them. But in these cases the presence of the copper was merely accidental: thus oysters that lived near the mouths of streams which came down from the copper mines assimilated a portion of the copper salt, without apparently its doiug them either good or harm. But in the Turaco the exis tence of the red coloring matter, which be longs to their normal plumage, is dependent upon copper, which, obtained in minute quan tities with the food, is stored up in this strange manner in the system of the animal. Thus, in the very same feather, partly red and purtly black, copper was found in abun dance in the red parts, but none, or only the merest trace, in the black. This example warns us against taking too utilitarian a view of the plan of crea tion. Here we have a chemical substance elaborated which is perfectly unique in its nature, and contains a metal the salts of which are ordinarily regarded as poisonous to animals; and tho sole purpose to which, so far as we know, it is subservient in the animal economy is one of pure decoration. Thus, a pair of birds which were kept in captivity lost their fine red color in the course of a few days, in consequence of washing in the water which was left them to drink, the red coloring matter, which is soluble in water, being thus washed out; but except as to the loss of their beauty, it does not appear that the birds were the worse for it. PATENTS. OFFICES FOR PRO CURING PATENTS FORRE8T BUILDINGS, No. 119 S. FOUIITII STKEET, rillLA,, And Marble Buildings, No. 4C0 SEVENTH Street, opposite U. S. Patent Olllce, Washington, D. C. II. HOWSON, Solicitor or Patents. C. HOWSON, Attorney at Law. Communications to be addressed to the Principal, Olllce, Philadelphia. . Q it lm j STATE RIGHT8 FOR SALE. 8TATE Rights of a, valuable Invention juct patented, and for tbe bl.TulKO, CU'I UNli.and (JHii'Plisiu of dried beat, cabluiKe, etc, are hereby ottered fur sale. It is on article ot gmit value to tiroprittoni of hotels and resuturnntx, and it nhould be introduced Into every family. K'I'ATK R Hi HI 8 for sale. Modol can be seen at TKLEGKAfH, Ol'llLK COOPKh'tt 'PG1.NT. N.J. , J 27tfJ id UN DY 4JIOFFM AN j NEW PUBLICATIONS. , JUST PUBLISHED DY I' O KTl.lt fc CO AX US, ! Publishers and Bookseller, NO. 822 CHE3NUT STREET, BniFTINQ WINDS. . Py Itobcrt M. Ballantlne, author of 'floral Inlands," MXiff Crusoe," "UttHooyiie, Urn Sandal Wood Trader," "Wild Man of the Wet," "KlgUtlnff the Flames,' etc etc l6ino. Clota extra, illustrated. Price, ''.Anew and charming book, full of stirring scnes and udvvbtare, by the greatest living writer for boys, hoeo previous works are houuehold words with tha boys of America and Euglaud. . gumwftrp , "PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE I A New Course of Lectures, a delivered at the New York lluieum of Anatomy, embraciiiK the subjoots: How to Livn, and What to Live for; Youth, Afaturity, and Old A e Manhood Generally Reviewed; The Cause of IndisvBiinB ; l latulence and Nervous Diseaaea Aooouuted lor Marriana Philosophically Considered, eto. eto. Pocket volumes ooutaininii tuene lectures will bs for warclod post paid, on rtoeipt of Hi coins, by addriMeinr W, A 1.KARY, Jh.,8. K. corner f Mr 111 and WALNUT titreels, Philadelphia. SU EDUOATIONAL. KITUIIY Ai UU.nV for 1IOYS. No.HU IXHJU8T Street, EDWARD OLARENCR SMITH. A.. M., PrleipL Wft. Ihraul&ra m.t fin. 1 H W.K N 1 1 'P u wi Ai Next session begins September 18th. TAMES FEARCE. M. B.. OROANTAT rt ... ..rx t. s-nniKu svi -w.i i'i.ir5v;jwm Until nf)A till professional duties on OCTOBKK 1 ju mmtti rrHE MISSES GREOORYWILL REOPEN J!"',,rD80H001' FOR YOUMO LADIF8, Ko. toll LOCUM' Street, on MONDAY, Beptember la. 88Qhn' MISS BONNEY AND MISS DILLAYE WILL T"1 th,r BOARIHNO and DAY flfmoot (twentieth year), Kept, 16, at No. 1616 OHttbNUT.Street, srt iculars from Circulars. e 16 7 TlflSS JENNIE T." BECK, TECHERP - Piano, will resume her duties Beptember at No (46 FLORIDA Street, between Kloventu aid Twelfth t. 8 t 2m ft If .v It's. W iJOIIfiPIITTfllP fib,A I 11 ... . ' A, R. TAYLOR'S SINGING ACADEMY, - . mi en i., i ui v uiin uitvLrur lion In Uii KlninB, will open on MO DAY, Heptomlwr a7. Cirrnilan 'l"'.'"""? stores snd at No. 812 Arch street, o 22w "lyEST C11ESNUT STREET INSTITUTE wfH onpnimTim'RW' j'M,re Jj" announce that she Rev I o litHor Philadelphia, t he lute Residence of the Rev. J. O. fiutler, I. 1 a school for Young Indies. Cir- JfVVSf b6. h,M,E0n 'PliV'on at the school, on and ''eVVcrlneiiday, September 15. o jj ijt X 11 E E D G E HILL SCliVo'L, Boarding snd Dr Bohool for Boys, will bentn its nnt session ia the new Academy Building at MKRCHANTVILLE. NKW JERSEY, MONDAY, September 6, 181R Fot circulars apply to Rev. T. W. OATTKLf, ' i 28 tf PrilUllMl II. r-w LAUDERBACH'8 CLASSICAL, BOIHNT1FIO, AND COMMKRCIAI AttAlKMY, ASSEMBLY BUILDINGS, No. 108 & TENTH Street Thoroouh preparat ion for Business or f .'ollegn. hpecisl attention given to Practical Mutliuinatics. Bar vcying, Civil 1' nsineering. eto. A "first-class Primary Depsrtment. Circulars at Mr. Wajburton'a.No. 430 Chesnut st. II IStf CARPET I NQSt ETO. fJEW CARPETING S. railUM, CREASE & SLOAN. No. 509 CHESNUT STREET, Importers and Retailers of Of every description. FALL IMPORTATIONS. NEW DESIGNS IN MOQUETPE, CROSSLES'S VELVETS, 6-4 WIDE, In original and exclusive patterns. 1000 PIECES BRUSSELS, Of the best English manufacture, of new and novel style, many of them designed expressly for us. 1000 PIECES CROSSLEY TAPESTRIES, All the newest styles. ENGLISH AND AMERICAN OIL CLOTHS. McCALLTJM, CREASE & SLOAN'S CARPETING AND OIL CLOTH WAREHOUSE, No. 569 CHESNUT STREET, FHIIADKLPHU, 9 8 wfmlim Opposite Independence Hall. ft E W CARPETS. AXMINSTEBS, WILTONS, VELVETS, BRUSSELS, 3-PLYS AND I GRAINS, Venetians, Druggets, Oil Cloths, Etc. LEEDOM & SHAW, No. 910 ARCH STREET, 9 23 8mrp PHILADELPHIA. fj E W STYLES OF CsAXlFETZNGS, AMERICAN AND ENGLISH, AT TOE LOWEST PRICES. JOSEPH BLACKWOOD, No. 832 ARCH STREET, 9 6 lm Two doors below Ninth, south side. CARPETINGS AND OIL CLOTHS. REEVE L. KNIGHT & SON, No. 1222 CHESNUT STREET, 9 9 wsuilUrp PHILADELPHIA. COPARTNERSHIPS. TIIE COPARTNERSHIP HERETOFORE eiistinir under the firm name of COUNKIJ US A BAKKK was dissolved by mutual consent on July a, 18. The business of the manufactory will be settled and cloned by KOKKKT (JOKMiLlUS. at No. fell CHUItUV htioet, aud that of the store by ISAAC F. 11 A KJCIt. at Ho. 710 C11ESN UT Street. " " BOBKRT CORNKL1UB. ISAAC! V. BAKKK, WILLIAM O. MAKKR. KUHKKT O. COrlNlCLIUS. JOHN t). CORNKUUB. ' KOBKRTO.UAKK.lt, Philad.lohia,:SeptembetK:ES The nndersinned. late of CORNKLIUH A BAKER, have this day entered into a ooimrtneruhip under tha hrm nameol COKAKLIU8 A HONS. Havina purchased the factories (No. 821 Cherry street and b it ill i street nsar Columbia avenue, and ail the ma chinery of the lutelirm, we are prepared to continue tbs ZVUMHYUC tor LttmP"' 8W ' " N ROBKRT OORNKMU8. KORKHT O. OOKVKMto. - -JOHN O. OOUNK1.1UN. , , , . , CHARLES K. CORNELIUS. Philadelphia, Beptember 2. m. a Iia i ?H yPrfT"'1 ROBERT C. BAKER, late of LUKMiLICB A BA KKR, have this dy formed copartnership under the name of ARNOLD A BAKh.lt. httvingurchasod the euUre stock of (roods of tha lnte linn of Cornelius A Baker, at 111) CHK8NU1' Street, they a.e prepared to continu. at that plaoe the sol. of Vlai itujra, LuipsBronMa, eto. 21ia WOODLANDS CEMETERY COMPANY. .'h,,''Uowln Managers sad Officers have baea W'y vvu a us kuv irai i rwjjs ; KLl K. PRIOH, President. William H. Moore. William W. K"en. IDOIIIUVl SJ. Ill inQ. Gillies Dallett, Feroiuand J. freer, Oeorge L. Busby, . Secretary and Tnunmr lnut-'uu if ThWNSKrtlX n. A. Hnivni. 1 be Mangers have paaaod a resolution rmiriiui twthl lot- holders sua Visitors to present ti.-.kme at the eiitranoa for aduiithton to tbe Cemetery Tickets may behsd at uis Otttoa of tbe Cob pan, Ho. ia.AR(JU bu orony tha MaiutKtrv .....-. i
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers