that he is enabled to represent all the rates very nearly by the formula: 865-165' sin lat.

Consequently the sidereal rotation of the equatorial photosphere is accomplished in 30-86 days, and of that at a latitude of 50° N. or S.-the highest point at which spots have been observed-in 28-36 days.

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We said of the photosphere: the Sun itself-whether it be the gladebedeckt world imagined by Sir Wm. Herschel, or the incandescent globe required by both the old and the new philosophies-has revealed none of its secrets to Mr. Carrington. But it is clear that it must be content with one only of these differing rates of motion; and the question is, which is it? Sir John Herschel, in an admirable article on sun-spots, in the last number of the Quarterly Journal of Science, deals with this question. Mr. Carrington considers that the views of Professor Thomson on the Mechanical Energies of the Solar System" are supported by his discovery, supposing that the Sun itself travels more slowly than the equatorial photosphere. He remarks;-"In the absence of an impressed motion from some such external force, it would be expected that the currents of the surface of the Sun would resemble those of the Earth's ocean and atmosphere, and be westerly and toward the poles in the tropical latitudes, and easterly in the higher latitudes; the direction of rotation in such cases being the same, and the equatorial region in each the hottest." Besides determining anew the elements of the Sun's equator-in other words, the position of the Sun's pole-star-Mr. Carrington has put us in possession of an important fact regarding the minimum period of sunspots. He detected "a great contraction of the limiting parallels between which spots were found previously to the minimum, . . . and soon after this epoch the apparent commencement of two fresh belts of spots in high latitudes, north and south, which have in the subsequent years shown a tendency to coalesce, and ultimately to contract, as before, to extinction."

In Sir John Herschel's paper, to which we have before alluded, there is a passage which shows in a very strong light the value of these remarks of Mr. Carrington. In attempting to account for the phenomena of sun-spots by the presence of a nebulous ring, he writes:

"Let us suppose (and such a supposition has not been deemed inadmissible in attempting to account for the periodical return of meteors) the existence of an elliptic ring of vaporous, nebulous, or small planetary, matter, with such a major semi-axis (4.979) as corresponds to a periodic time of each of its particles: =1111 years; of such eccentricity as to bring its perihelion within the limits of the solar envelopes; and revolving either in the plane of the ecliptic or in some other plane at a more considerable inclination of the sun's equator. Let it be further assumed (still in analogy with assumptions not regarded as unreasonable in the meteoriferous ring), that the distribution of the circulating matter in it is not uniform-that it has a maximum and minimum of density at nearly, but not quite, opposite points, and no great regularity of gradation between them. It is very conceivable that the matter of such a ring, introducing itself with planetary velocity into the upper and rarer regions of the sun's atmosphere at an incidence oblique to its regular and uniform equatorial drift, might create such disturbances as, either acting di

rectly on the photosphere, or intermediately through a series of vortices or irregular movements propagated through the general atmosphere, should break its continuity and give rise to spots, conforming in respect of their abundance and magnitude to the required law of periodic recurrence. If the change of density from the maximum to the minimum were gradual, but from the minimum to the maximum more abrupt, so as to allow the disturbances to subside gradually and recommence abruptly-the fresh and violent impulse would be delivered first of all on a region remote from the equator (by reason of the obliquity of the ring), and would give rise to a recommencement of the spots in comparatively high latitudes.

If the section of such a ring as we have supposed at its aphelion were nil, the period of 11.11 years would be strictly carried out; the maxima and minima would succeed each other with perfect regularity, and the paucity and abundance of the spots in the several phases of the same period would follow a fixed ratio. But if not, the several parts of the ring would not revolve in precisely equal times-the period of 11.11 years would be that of some dominant medial line, or common axis of all the sections in which a considerable majority of its matter was contained and the want of perfect coincidence of the other revolutions would more or less confuse without obliterating the law of periodicity, which, supposing the difference to be comprised within narrow limits, might still stand out very prominently. Now, it might happen that there were two such medial lines, or more copiously stocked ellipses, each having a maximum or minimum of density, and that their difference of periodic times should be such as to bring round a conjunction of their maxima in 56 or any other considerable number of years; and thus would arise a phenomenon the exact parallel of Dr. Wolf's long period and his series of greater and lesser maxima."

We have given this extract to show the value of a single well-ascertained fact; and we congratulate our author upon the possession of that sagacity which, by limiting his field, has enabled him to produce such facts.

V. MISCELLANEOUS SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

1. Medal of the Royal Society to Prof. William Thomson.-At the meeting of the Royal Society of April 18th last, the Keith medal was presented to Prof. Wm. Thomson, with the following remarks by Sir DAVID BREWSTER, Vice-President of the Society and Chairman of the meeting:- "Professor William Thomson, who was elected a Fellow of the Society in 1847, has, during the last seventeen years, communicated many valuable papers to the Society which have added greatly to the value of its transactions. These papers, and others elsewhere published, relate principally to the theories of electricity, magnetism, and heat, and evince a genius for the mathematical treatment of physical questions which has not been surpassed, if equalled, by that of any living philosopher. In studying the mathematical theory of electricity he has greatly extended the general theorems demonstrated by our distinguished countryman, Mr. Green, and was led to the principle of electrical images,' by which he was enabled to solve many problems respecting the distribution of electricity in conductors, which had been regarded as insolvable by the

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most eminent mathematicians in Europe. In his researches on thermodynamics, Professor Thomson has been equally successful. In his paper 'On the Dynamical Theory of Heat,' published in our Transactions for 1851, he has applied the fundamental propositions of the theory to bodies of all kinds, and he has deduced many curious and important results regarding the specific heats of bodies, which have been completely verified by the accurate experiments of Mr. Joule. No less important are Professor Thomson's researches on solar heat contained in his remarkable paper On the Mechanical Energy of the Solar System-his researches on the conservation of energy as applied to organic as well as inorganic processes; and his fine theory of the dissipation of energy, as given in his paper On a Universal Tendency in Nature to the Dissipation of Mechanical Energy. To these we may add his complete theory of diamagnetic action, and his investigations relative to the secular cooling of our globe, and the influence of internal heat upon the temperature of its surface. The value of labors like these could not escape the notice of the Council of this Society, and they would have entitled their author to the Keith Prize bad they not been presented to the Society when the prize was devoted to other branches of science. It is not, therefore, for these researches and discoveries that the Keith Medal has been awarded to Professor Thomson, but for the very interesting and important discovery in abstract dynamics which he has communicated to the Society during the biennial period appropriated to physical sciences. In presenting this prize to Professor Thomson, I am proud to think, and I am sure that all here will participate in the sentiment, that Scottish science has such a representative in the University of the west, while, in our own, it has one of kindred genius and power."-Reader, April 23, 1864.

2. Sir R. I. Murchison.-The Wollaston Gold Medal was awarded to Sir R. I. Murchison by the Geological Society, at its annual meeting. in February last, for his "distinguished services in Paleozoic Geology, especially (1) for his great work entitled the Silurian system, (2) his work on the Geology of Russia, and (3) for his discovery of the true relations of all the rocks beneath the Old Red Sandstone that form the Highlands of Scotland."-Reader, March 5.

3. Man formerly accompanied by the Reindeer in Central France.LARTET and CHRISTY have found in caves in central France (that of Eyzies and others) a floor-breccia containing bones of the Reindeer and other animals, ashes, fragments of charcoal, flint chippings, and weapons. and utensils of Reindeer bones and horns, with slabs of stone having sometimes the forms of animals scratched upon them. Among the remains of the Reindeer, several vertebræ are sometimes found united, and also jointed bones with their parts still in connection, showing that the animals must have lived in the region; and the long bones are usually broken in the same uniform way, and evidently to get the marrow out. The remains of the common stag, wild boar and hare are very rare. A few teeth of the Irish Elk (Megaceros Hibernicus) are found, and an occasional dental plate of the old Elephant (E. primigenius) is met with. There is no written record of the existence of the Reindeer, or of a subarctic climate, in what is now temperate Europe.-Nouv. Obs. de MM. Lartet et Christy, etc., Comptes Rend., Iviii, Feb. 29, 1864.

AM. JOUR. SCI.-SECOND SERIES, VOL. XXXVIII, No. 112.-JULY, 1864.

4. Extracts from a paper on the Geography of British Columbia and the Condition of the Cariboo Gold District; by Lieut. H. S. PALMER, R.E.-Lieut. Palmer mentioned that since the first discovery of gold in British Columbia in 1858, fresh deposits had gradually been traced farther and farther northward. till ultimately the well-known fields of Cariboo had been reached, 500 miles from the mouth of the Fraser. Entrusted with the task of a general survey, he details the geographical outline of the colony, the seaboard of which extends 500 miles, protected throughout almost its entire length by Vancouver and Queen Charlotte islands. This seaboard is indented in the most extraordinary manner by deep bays and arms of the sea, presenting an extent of sheltered inland navigation, and an actual length of shore-line, such as are nowhere equalled on any similar stretch of coast in the world.

The most marked physical feature of the country, viewing it from the shore inland, is the parallelism of two mountain ranges with an elevated intervening plateau of rolling country 100 miles in breadth. The coastline of mountains is known as the Cascade or Coast range, 120 miles wide, the western slopes of which are covered with the most magnificent forest. Its sea-front is everywhere bluff and abrupt and quite close to the shore, except where the Fraser falls into the San Juan Fuca Sound, when it recedes some 40 miles. The eastern side of the range is drier, the trees more scattered, and the general profile less abrupt. The principal crest of this chain is about 5000 feet above the sea, a peculiar characteristic being the almost entire absence of peaks. The rivers on the east side are naturally longer and less impetuous than those on the west; but occasionally some of them rise on the plateau, and thread the mountains till they fall into the sounds. Above some of these, glaciers are said to have been seen; but nothing authentic seems to be known on this subject.

The scenery of the table-land, which is well suited for pastoral purposes, is described in high terms; the rivers having occasionally hollowed out for themselves channels of immense depth, in which occur splendid cascades, some of which are mere fissures; in other cases running through broad-terraced valleys, or in vales of gently undulating slopes covered with grass and picturesquely dotted with yellow pines. Here and there are pretty sheets of water, which, like the rivers, are well supplied with numerous kinds of fresh-water fish. Above 3000 feet, the grass, which gradually gets less nutritive with the increased elevation, gives place to a universal mantle of dwarf fir. Here farming has proved moderately successful at an elevation of 2100 feet, but Lieut. Palmer doubts whether a considerable time must not elapse ere enough grain can be raised in the more sheltered and well-irrigated valleys, to admit of its finding a market at the mines or settlements.

Just beyond begins the second mountainous range, which extends without a break to the watershed of the Rocky Mountains, which as far north as the Peace river, flowing eastward, forms the eastern boundary of the colony on this side. The only portion of this unexplored region where white men are to be met, is Cariboo.

Cariboo lies in the elbow formed by the upper waters of the Fraser, and is bounded on the south by the Quesnelle river. A marked phe

nomenon is the confused congeries of hills of considerable altitude, from 6000 to 7000 feet high, thickly timbered, whence subordinate ranges radiate as centres. Each valley thus formed is the bed of a stream of more or less proportions, from the tiniest, called gulches' by the miners, which may be jumped over, to respectable-sized rivers. All these have long since been prospected,' every creek having been discovered to be more or less the site of the richest deposits of gold. A circle of three miles radius from the top of Bald mountain contains five creeks, two of which are the most notorious gold-beds in the colony. Snowshoe mountain contains the headwaters of no fewer than six of these, within a similar area, the streams in every case radiating to every point of the periphery. The views from the summits of these mountains are described as splendid.

A succession of auriferous deposits have been traced, following the general trend of the main chain of mountains extending from the southern boundary of the colony to the Peace river, i. e., over 7° of latitude, while the extremities, so far as ascertained, lie between the meridians of 119° and 122° W.

The winter of Cariboo appears to be much more severe and prolonged than that of the coast, or of Vancouver Island, and will much retard the development of the mines, which are accordingly during that season 'laid over,' as it is termed-i. e., the laws enforcing the mode of working them, &c., are remitted for the time. The thermometer sometimes falls to -35° C. (31° below zero of Fahr.), when of course nothing but underground claims can be worked. The thaw, which commences about April, renders Cariboo for a season anything but an enviable residence, owing to the rains and the steaming mists, while locomotion is all but impossible. In past years the trail at this season has been loathsome from the numbers of horses that lay unburied after succumbing to the tremendous toil of conveying the first convoys of provisions.

Although for ten or eleven months in the year the country has a gloomy, cheerless aspect, August and September being the only bright exceptions, it is remarkably healthy. The sun is late in making his appearance, even in midsummer, owing to the hills enclosing the diggings on every side.

Of late 400 miles of excellent waggon-roads lead from Yale, the present head of steam-navigation, so that the entire distance from New Westminster to Cariboo can now be accomplished in from six to seven days. The author, in summing up, said that at the estuary of the Fraser, the winters somewhat resembled those of England, though the extremes were greater; and that the rainfall there is about 54 inches annually.-Proc. Roy. Geogr. Soc., March 14th, viii, 87.

5. A newly discovered pass across the Andes.-Señor Cox, the son of an English physician at Valparaiso, has discovered a pass across the Andes, not over 2800 feet high in its most elevated part. He started in 1862 from Port Montt, a new German settlement now containing 15,000 inhabitants, near the island of Chiloe, and proceeded by way of the two lakes Llanquilhue and Todos os-Sautos, and crossed over the pass to the almost unknown inland sea of Nagel-huapi (Lake of Tigers), on the eastern side of the Andes.-Proc. Roy. Geogr. Soc., May 9.