contains ample accounts of the state of the Observatory during the lifetime of the first Astronomer Royal; and Professor Rigaud has, from the papers above mentioned, and from other sources, filled up the chasm, so far as Halley's occupancy of the office is concerned. The instruments of the Observatory in Flamsteed's time were his own private property; and the jealousy subsisting between Halley and his predecessor, was an unconquerable difficulty in the way of any fair arrangement between the widow of Flamsteed and the man whom, from her husband, she had learned to hate most cordially. Halley was in his sixty-fourth year when he was appointed; and, upon his appointment, found the Observatory "wholly unprovided of instruments; and, indeed, of everything else that was moveable." The descriptions themselves cannot be well abridged. The paper itself is, however, full of interest, not only to the practical astronomer, but also to every one who takes the slightest interest in the history of science. IX. Observations on Halley's Comet. By Captain W. H. Smyth, R. N., F.R.S., &c. Captain Smyth appears to be the first who saw the Comet, on the present appearance of that remarkable body, with the naked eye. This was on the 19th of October, 1835, in crossing the great quadrangle of Trinity College, Cambridge, and it even appeared with "a much finer effect" than through the telescope on the summit of the principal gate-tower of the College which he had just left. These observations will be embodied in a paper which we are preparing, and which will appear in an early number, containing a condensed account of the appearances of the Comet on its several apparitions, so far as they have been recorded. It is sufficient to state here that they were made at Bedford, with the usual instruments and precautions, and, in addition thereto, with an excellent annular micrometer, which was lent to Captain Smyth by Mr. Francis Baily for the purpose. The analytical difficulty of the problem, resulting from the very rapid motion of the comet, is very neatly solved by the "worthy assistant-secretary of the Society, Mr. Epps;" and "the beautiful cometary ephemeris furnished to the astronomical world by Lieutenant Stratford has afforded the means of computing, to satisfactory exactness, the hourly velocities, equating for second and third differences." X. Astronomical Observations. These are of a miscellaneous kind, both as to objects and observers; and very judiciously thrown together in a tabular form. We shall merely state them generally. 1. Observed transits of the moon, and moon-culminating stars, at the Observatories of Greenwich, Cambridge, and Edinburgh. 2. Observed occultations of the fixed stars and planets; by Messrs. Rothman, Henderson, Snow, Fisher, Sheepshanks, Hartnup, and Wrottesley. 3. Observed eclipses of Jupiter's satellites; by Messrs. Rothman, Henderson, and Sir Everard Home. 4. Observations on the Solar Eclipse, November 30, 1834; by Sir E. Home, and Mr. Byron Drury, in Jamaica. 5. Observations on the Solar Eclipse, May 15, 1835; by thirty-nine different observers. 6. Observations of Halley's Comet. At South Kilworth, by Dr. Pearson; at Blackheath, by J. Wrottesley, Esq.; and at various places at sea, by Captain R. Owen, R. N., and officers of H. M. S. Thunderer. 7. Results of Lunar Observations made at Edinburgh, in the years 1834 and 1835. By Professor Henderson, Astronomer Royal for Scotland. Of the address of the Council, or the President's speech on the delivery of the medal, though they enter somewhat into the history of the labours of the Society, we do not feel ourselves called upon to offer an opinion. Every one who looks to the labours of the practical astronomer as bearing upon the decision of the structure of the universe, will be interested in the brief but comprehensive discourse delivered by the President on that occasion, respecting nebula and multiple stars: still we cannot persuade ourselves that so fertile a topic might not have been more efficiently treated than he has done. We must confess, however, that we infinitely prefer the manly and subdued tone of the Astronomer Royal of England, to the laboured splendours of the Astronomer Royal of Ireland. If Professor Airy sometimes says too little, Professor Hamilton scarcely ever fails to make atonement for him by saying a great deal too much: if the one does not say all that might be said, the other says a great deal more than a philosopher ought to say. We prefer the former error to the latter: the philosopher injures his own respectability, and degrades his science itself, when he becomes a special pleader for Philosophy. 404 MISCELLANIES. Biot and Newton. A MEMOIR on astronomical refraction was lately read at the Académie des Sciences, in which the distinguished author, M. Biot, successfully proved that there was one honour, not hitherto supposed to belong to him, yet due to the illustrious Newton, namely, that of having discovered the theory of astronomical refraction. M. Biot having perused with close attention the letters of Newton to Flamsteed, published in the past year by Mr. Baily, found in them the complete series of ideas that Newton had followed out in order to calculate the table of refractions which was subsequently published in his name by Halley, in the Philosophical Transactions, 1721, without the slightest reference to the means employed to form it. It is thus certain that Newton was in possession of differential ex pressions of astronomical refractions similar to those used at the present day, and that he had deduced from them, theoretically, his table for the case of an uniform temperature. M. Biot, in order to exhibit them in a simpler form, went through the calculations of Newton, and by them arrived at the same numerical results as those which are furnished by the methods now in use. "Thus," remarked M. Biot, "we have yet to add to the vast number of other discoveries made by this great man that of the theory of astronomical refraction. If we reflect that he was obliged, as his correspondence shows, to discover for himself, one after another, all the physical bases, and all the meteorological elements, of this theory, and that at a time when no person but himself suspected that the indications of the barometer and of the thermometer had the slightest relation with these refractions, and that he at length attained, approximatively it is true, but by a method direct, and due to himself alone, the same numerical values which the mathematicians of the following age regarded as one of the grandest results of the improved integral calculus, we shall, without doubt, admit that such an acquisition was one of the finest works of his immense genius, and one which, beyond all others, best demonstrates the sagacity with which he seized all the constituent elements of the complicated phenomena which he submitted to investigation." That this act of justice to the departed English mathematician should have been neglected by his scientific countrymen is, to say the least, remarkable;-that it should have been rendered by a Frenchman, and by a philosopher so eminently qualified to appreciate the discovery, and that he should have deduced it from a correspondence supposed, by some persons, slightly to tarnish the lustre of a splendid reputation, is one of the most striking and gratifying events in the progress of modern science. Is there no academy of either nation (for both countries are now equally interested in the commemoration of this glorious event,) patriotic enough to offer the following subject for a prize in painting? BIOT announcing to the ACADÉMIE DES SCIENCES, a century after the death of NEWTON, the discovery by the illustrious Englishman of the theory of Astronomical Refraction. Apparent Connexion of Aurora Bo realis with Rain, Wind, and decreasing Atmospheric Pressure. AN examination of our Meteorological Journal for October will show that an unusual quantity of rain fell during that month, particularly in the early part of it, and that it was in this wetter period that the auroras were of considerable splendour, and most numerous. The first aurora observed, occurred on September 30th. On the following day there was a decreasing barometric column, a strong south-west wind, and torrents of rain. On October 4th another aurora occurred, and on the next day a decreasing column, and a fall of rain amounting to nearly an inch and a half. An aurora on the 11th, in the evening, displayed, during four hours, luminous arches, and a vast field of light. Again, on the next day, there was a gradually decreasing column; rain; and then came on those south-west gales which were so severe and fatal on the coasts. The last observed aurora was visible on the 18th, and attracted universal notice in the metropolis, from the great extent of its deep-red colour*. Rain followed, but the barometric column, in this case, did not sink; on the contrary, it steadily rose, and its ascent exceeded the mean height. A comparatively dry period succeeded; the atmospheric pressure remained high until the 27th: it then fell with the northwesterly wind which preceded and brought in the late cold weather and deep snow. Advantage of Chlorine in the sion of Iron. made at Brest, that when the weight of the atmosphere elevates the mercurial column of a barometer in., the mean level of the sea, (taken as in the preceding article,) is depressed about fourteen times as much, or 1 inches. The proportion of the specific gravity of mercury to sea-water being as 13:3 to 1, M. Daussy concludes that the mean level of the sea may be considered a true barometer, its changes always corresponding with those of the atmospheric pressure. This remarkable result having been disputed by Mr. Lubbock,-as, in the observations made on the tides at London under his supervision, no indication of this connexion was detected,M. Daussy felt obliged to ascertain, by experiments made at other points, if the fact observed at Brest was merely local, depending upon the immense basin, so nearly shut in, which spreads itself Conver-before the entrance of that port. He took advantage, for this purpose, of some tidal observations, which were Ir has recently been discovered at an iron-work in Germany, that by producing ordered to be made by the Government a disengagement of chlorine in the finery-in 1835, on different parts of the French furnaces used for converting iron into the second and third qualities, an article may be obtained equal to that of quality No. 1. This new process has been carried into effect in the furnaces on the Lower Rhine, and is said to have completely succeeded. coast, and principally of those at L'Orient, where the localities were favourable to the convenient observation of high and low water. He compared these with the barometric observations made at the same place during the months of August, September, October, November, and December, 1835. The result of this comparison confirmed his previous opinion, of the correspondence between the greatest heights of the mean level of the sea and the lowest of those of the barometer, except that the motion of the mean level is a little more marked at L'Orient than at Brest. M. Daussy was further convinced that this effect was not owing, as some persons are disposed to believe, to the influence of the wind. "To determine this," he says, "I observed, successively, during each kind of wind, regarding both its force and direction, and examined if the heights given by the mean level did not, in each series, follow an order analogous to that of the barometer; I was soon convinced, that the same law of variation did take place, and in all winds,-that is to say, that the wind remaining constant in direction and force, it was always found that the height of the mean level varied with the effect of atmospheric pressure." The number of these observations was small, and the conclusions drawn from them can apply to the port of L'Orient only: they are the following. First, That light winds have little influence on the height of the mean level, whatever may be their direction. Second, That fresh breezes have still less influence. Third, and lastly, That gales and strong winds from the N. and N.E. depress the mean level about 3 inches, and that similar winds from the S. W., S., and S. E., elevate it to the same amount. Since the publication of these latter observations of M. Daussy, Mr. Lubbock has been induced to examine further into this interesting cause of variation in the mean level of the sea, and which had, previous to M. Daussy, escaped attention. He has announced, that Mr. Dession, having, at his request, calculated the heights and times of the tides at Liverpool for the year 1784, and compared the results obtained by him with the barometric heights of the same year made by Mr. Hutchinson, this conclusion is arrived at, namely, that for in. depression of the mercurial column, there is a corresponding elevation of the mean level of the sea, amounting to one inch. With regard to the epochs of the tides, no sensible connexion with the atmospheric pressure was observed. This is a remarkable and satisfactory corroboration of the fact observed by M. Daussy. It may now be desirable to adopt the term, Standard Level of the Sea, (or some similar one,) when elevations are referred to the sea-level, meaning by the new term, the mean level of the sea at a certain constant height of the barometer. Lifting of the Kremlin Bell. IN the month of July, in the present year, a successful attempt was made to raise the enormous bell which had been so long buried in the earth, in the Kremlin, at Moscow. This bell, one of the wonders of Moscow, was cast, in 1733, at the command of the Empress Anne, by a Russian founder, Michael Motorine. It is, according to Clarke, 21 ft. 4 in. high; at two feet from the bottom its circumference measures 67 ft. 4 in.; its diameter at that height is consequently about 21 ft. 6 in. Its thickness, at the part intended to be struck by the hammer, 23 in. The Russians estimate the weight at 12,000 poods, which is nearly 200 English tons. The reputed elegance of its form, the style of its bas-reliefs, and the richness of its metal, composed of gold, silver, and copper, contributed to make it remarkable as a specimen of the advanced state of the art of casting in Russia, at the epoch of its execution. M. Montferrand, a gentleman greatly distinguished in Petersburgh by the numerous works he has executed, was intrusted with the direction of the operations. As the bell was lying in a cavity in the ground, and more than thirty feet below the surface, a large excavation was made to clear it. Over this was constructed a strong and lofty scaffold for the attachment of the blocks, and for the temporary suspension of the bell at a proper height. At half-past five in the morning of the 5th of July last, the authorities of Moscow and a large number of spectators being assembled on the spot, prayers were offered up for the success of the attempt, and the operations commenced on a signal given by M. Montferrand. Six hundred soldiers instantaneously set-to at a large number of capstans. The enormous weight was mastered, and the bell was soon seen to rise slowly in the pit. Forty-two minutes elapsed during its elevation to the necessary height. No accident occurred. The first operation being finished, the next was to build a platform beneath the suspended bell. This was completed in eight hours, and the bell lowered upon it. On the following day it was placed on a sledge, and drawn, by means of an inclined plane, up to the pedestal intended to support it, and there finally left, on the 26th of the same month. This colossal work of art is, after all, but a mere curiosity. Its use as a bell is impossible, from a fracture, about seven feet high and two feet wide, in the lower part, where, as has been stated, it is 23 in. thick. The cause of this gigantic injury rests entirely upon conjecture. Thermometer indicating Mean the mean temperature of the atmo- |