MATHEMATICS AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. NEW PLANET. A new planet of great brilliancy has been recently discovered by M. Chacornae, of the Paris Observatory. THE COMET OF 1856. M. Rabinet, an eminent French astronomer, and member of the Academy of Sciences, in an article recently published, has given some interesting details respecting the comet which is expected to make its appearance about the year 1856:"This comet is one of the grandest of which historians make inention. It was seen in the years 104, 392, 683, 975, 1264, and the last time in 1556. Astronomers agreed in predicting its return in 1848, but it failed to appear. Already the obser vatories began to be alarmed for the fate of the beautiful wandering star. Sir John himself had put a crape upon his telescope, wheu a learned calculator of Middleburg, M. Bomme, reassured the astronomical world of the continued existence of the venerable and magnificent comet. Disquieted, as all other astronomers were, by the non-arrival of the comet at the expected time, M. Bomme, aided by the preparatory labors of Mr. Hind, has revised all the calculations, and estimated all the actions of all the planets upon the comet for three hundred years of revolution,— the result of this patient labor gives the arrival of the comet in August, 1858, with an uncertainty of two years, more or less; so that from 1856 to 1860 we may expect the great comet which was affirmed to be the cause of the abdication of the Emperor Charles V., in 1556." COLORS SEEN THROUGH THE STEREOSCOPE. At a recent meeting of the Manchester Photographic Society, Mr. Dancer read an interesting paper on the stereoscope and its application to photography. A practical discussion followed, in the course of which Mr. Sidebotham drew attention to the results produced by looking at two different colors through the stereoscope. Blue and yellow, he said, produced (to his sight) green; red and green produced a dirty white; a blue spot and red bars produced purple bars and white; and the two colors that seemed most readily to combine were blue and red, producing a bright purple. Blue and yellow did not form a good green in the first instance, and required looking at a short time.-Mr. Dancer said that to some persons' sights different colours combined more easily than to other persons', to whom each colour seemed to predominate alternately; and the eye, he thought required some education, as it was only by looking steadily that the colours were re-composed an 1 the result seen.-In one instance, Mr. Sidebotham stated that bars of different colors produced a check of one colour, the other being entirely lost; and the solution of this singularity, it was suggested, might be arrived at by throwing the prismatic colors upon paper. AMERICAN TELESCOPE. The Telescope recently procured for the Observatory at Ann Arbor, Michigan, is the third in size in the world. The object glass is thirteen inches in diameter Few persons have a correct idea of the time, the toil and the skill requisite to pre pare one of these glasses. First, there are the manufactures of the rough disks. A mass of glass weighing about 800 lbs. is melted together. When in a state of perfect fusion, the furnace is walled up, and the whole is left to cool gradually. The cooling process occupies some two months. By this process the glass is annealed. Afterwards the furnace walls are removed. The entire mass is then fractured, the manner of doing this is a secret with the manufacturers; but it is accomplished in such a way that every piece is homogeneous in refractive power. The pieces are next softened by heat and pressed into moulds, giving disks of different sizes. The telescope-makers purchase these and grind them into the required thickness and lens form. Two separate disks, one of crown, and the other of flint glass, are necessary to form an object glass. One of these is concave, the other convex. It is by the union of the two that the object glass is made achromatic. The grinding is a slow and most difficult process as the utmost exactitude must be attained. First the edge is ground to enable the maker to see whether the glass is clear and without air bubbles. It not unfrequently happens that many disks have to be rejected. When a very superior glass is finished, it is of great value. The twelve-inch of the Cincinnati Observatory alone cost $6,000.-Chicago Journal. CANADIAN INSTITUTE. FOURTH ORDINARY SESSION 1855-56. MEETING -Saturday, 19th January, 1856. ALFRED ROACH, Esq., Toronto. GEORGE DESBARATS, Esq., Toronto. CAPT. ALEXANDER CREE MEIK, Toronto. JOHN SHAW, Esq., Toronto. JAMES FISKIN, Esq,, Toronto. Junior Members: Mr. CLARENCE MOBERLY, Toronto. Mr. C. W. PATTERSON, Toronto. On the motion of Professor Wilson, seconded by Sanford Fleming, Esq., it was resolved: That the Canadian Institute knowing the persevering and valuable efforts which have been made by its first President, W. E. Logan, Esq., to bring the Geological resources of the country prominently forward, and observing with much satisfaction the honorable position in which Canada has been placed in England, and more recently in Paris, in a great measure through his endeavors: it is the opinion of this Institute that some acknowledgment of Mr. Logan's valuable services is richly due to him—and with that view it is resolved that the following gentlemen constitute a Special Committee to report at the next meeting, on the best manner in which the object should be carried out :-Messrs G. W. Allan, F. W. Camberland, and S. Fleming. The donation was announced from the Hon. J. M. Brodhead, Washington, of the "United States Astronomical Expedition," vols. 1 and 2, quarto; and the thanks of the Institute were voted to the Donor. The following Papers were read: 1. By the Rev. Professor Young, M. A., "Examination of Professor Ferrier's Theory of Knowing and Being." 2. By Professor Hind, M. A., "Communication from Major Lachlan, relative to a simultaneous system of meteorological observations throughout the Province, including a letter on the subject from Professor Henry, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute." On the motion of F. W. Cumberland, Esq., seconded by T. Henning, Esq., it was resolved: That the communication of Major Lachlan be referred to the Editing Committee, with the request that if the same be published in the Journal, it may be accompanied by an explanatory statement of the present position of the subject in Canada, and the action hitherto taken in the matter by this Institute. FIFTH ORDINARY MEETING-26th January, 1856. G. W. ALLAN, Esq., President, in the Chair. F. W. JARVIS, Esq., Toronto. I. F. TAYLOR, Jun., Esq., Toronto. The following Donations were announced, and the thanks of the Institute voted to the Donors: 1. From George W. Moneypenny, Esq., Commissioner of Indian Affairs, U. S. per the Hon. J. M. Broadhead, of Washington: "Schoolcroft's History of the Indians in the United States." Part 5th. 2. From the Rev. A. C. Geikie, of Toronto: "Grammaire Raisonnée de la Langue Russe," by Ch. Ph. Reiff, St. Petersburg; 1828-29. 2 vols. The President intimated that the Special Committee appointed to consider the most proper measures to be taken in acknowledgment of the public services of W. E. Logan, Esq., had the subject still under consideration, and would report to the Institute at its next meeting. George William Allan, Esq., President, then read the Annual Address. On the motion of the Rev. Thomas Schreiber, seconded by Oliver Mowat, Esq. Q. C., the thanks of the Institute were voted to the President for his Address, and ordered to be entered on the minutes. Dr. Wilson presented the Report of the Committee to which was referred the Communication of Major Lachlan on the subject of a system of Meteorological Observations throughout the Province. The Report having been read and adopted, was ordered to be printed in the Journal, along with Major Lachlan's communication. The following Papers were then read: 1. By J. G. Hodgins, Esq., Deputy Superintendent of Schools: "Memorandum on the steps which have been taken by the Educational Department to establish a system of Meteorological Stations throughout Upper Canada." Resolved, That Mr. HODGINS' communication be printed along with the other papers relative to Meteorological Observations in Canada, and that it be accompanied by a reduced copy of an illustrative map exhibited by Mr. Hodgins. 2. By W. D. C. CAMPBELL, Esq., of Quebec. "On a Method of Determining the Errors below 329 Ft. of Mercurial Thermometers which have been compared and corrected above the freezing point." Ordered, That the thanks of the Institute be conveyed to Mr. Campbell for his communication. 3. By PROFESSOR WILSON, LL.D.: "On the Traces of the Ancient Miners of Lake Superior." SIXTH ORDINARY MEETING-February 2d, 1856. G. W. ALLAN, Esq., President, in the Chair. The following Gentlemen were elected Members: J. R. WILLIAMS, Esq., Bond Head. A. J. PELL, Esq., Toronto. R. J. GRIFFITH, Esq., Toronto. HON. J. A. MACDONALD, Toronto. The donation from John Fisk Allen, Esq., of Salem, Mass., was announced, of his illustrated account of the Victoria Regia, or Great Water Lily of America. Ordered, That the thanks of the Institute be conveyed to the donor for his valuable gift. The President, on behalf of the Special Committee appointed with a view to some fitting recognition of the services rendered to Canada by W. E. Logan, Esq., the First President of the Canadian Institute, reported as follows: REPORT. The Special Committee appointed to consider the best means to be adopted to mark the sense the Institute entertain of the very valuable services rendered to Canada by W. E. Logan, Esq., both in his capacity of Provincial Geologist, and as Commissioner to the great Exhibitions of London and Paris, beg respectfully to recommend: That immediately upon Mr. Logan's arrival in Canada, a communication be ad dressed to him by the Secretary on behalf of the Institute, requesting that he would be pleased to sit for his portrait, to be painted at the expense of the Institute, and hung up thereafter in their Hall: That as soon as possible after Mr. Logan's arrival in Toronto, a special general meeting should be convened, at which that gentleman should be invited to attend, to receive an address to be presented to him by the Institute, expressing the high sense they entertain of the services rendered by Mr. Logan to the cause of science generally, and more especially acknowledging the very great obligations all Canadians are under to him, for having by his untiring energy and perseverance in the discharge of his duties, as one of the Commissioners to the great Exhibitions of 1851 and 1855, contributed to make the mineral resources of Canada most widely and favorably known, both in England and on the Continent. The Report was adopted, and remitted to the Council to carry out the recommendations contained therein, so soon as Mr. Logan shall arrive in Canada. Mr. Pell intimated, in furtherance of the same object, that he would be happy to present to the Institute a frame for the contemplated portrait of its former President, so soon as it shall be completed. The following Papers were then read: 1. By JAMES BROWNE, Esq. “Experiences in Australia; forming the first part of a series of Papers on the Aborigines of Australia." 2. By PROFESSOR KINGSTON, M. A. : Mean Meteorological results of Toronto for 1855." MONTHLY METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER, AT THE PROVINCIAL MAGNETIC OBSERVATORY, TORONTO, CANADA WEST-FEBRUARY, 1856. Latitude. 48 deg, 39'4 min. North. Longitude, 79 deg 21 min. West. Elevation above Lake Ontario, 108 fect. 2.38 0.097 0.136 0.073 0.104 Pain inches. in Inches. Snow Barom. at temp. of 32°. Temp. of the Air. Day. 6 A.M. 2 P.M. 10 P.M. MEAN. 6 A.M2 P.M 10PM ME'N Av'age, A.MP. MP.M Mean Tens. of Vapour. || Humidity of Air. Direction of Wind. Mean Velocity of Wind. tion. 6 2 10 6A.M 2 P.M10PM MF' 123 .300 .825 -397 .3562 129.256 29.069 29-202 29-1710 20.0 28.4 15.8 21.50 .451 .430 -5.7 9.0 .87.87 .78.84 Calm SWbW WbN .81 .66.82.76 25.23+ 1.80.127.132.104.119.93 035.111 11 .450 .181 28.934 8.20-15.48.043.037.054.046.75 .47 .81 .69 WbS 6.73-16.63.046.059.048.047 1747 28.0 33.0 26.9 28.90+ 5.63.136.169.189.145 23.15.054.031.019.032 .8318-18-7 2.3 -5.0-6.88-30.13.018.032-032.027 1290 10.1 20.2 24.4 19.00 W16S 0.0 16.8 12.8 14.12 7.98 0.070 0.094 0.079 0.080 .81 .69 .80 .76 W 11° N W 4° S W 17° N W 9 N 10.54 12.87 7.54 10.71 none 9.7 |