and as that possibly (say 150 miles) is above the average limit of visibility, we perceive perhaps why we do not often see shooting-stars very low down in the horizon. It might be desirable as frequently as possible to record the length of the visible arcs described by shooting-stars, and the time in moving along these arcs, to see if the average varies at different hours of the night, for different quarters of the heavens, as well as at different times of the year.

F. In making averages from tabulated statements, say for a whole year, in reference to meteors, the enormous preponderance of meteors seen on a few days only, viz. August 9-12 and November 10-13, which, being periodic and generally moving in parallel right lines and in one direction, must have a tendency to disturb to some extent any attempt to fairly tabulate the more scattered observations during the rest of the year.

However, Olmsted's account of the great meteor-shower in 1833 seems to prove that there were then hardly any known meteoric appearances (whether as regards tracks, luminosity, size, direction, velocity, &c.) which were seen on that night that one is not accustomed to see or read of at all other times put together. Most, too, were seen in the east, and moving from thence towards the north-west; so that we might not unreasonably infer that most shooting-stars at all times much resemble each other.

G. Humboldt describes a shower in Mexico, on the night of the 12th of November, 1799, thus :-" They rose from the horizon between the east and north-east points, described arcs of unequal magnitude, and fell towards the south." They were seen in many other parts of North and South America on the same night, and in Labrador they were observed to fall down towards the earth.

No. 9.-Meteors of August 1860.- At Paris, Coulvier-Gravier states the mean hourly number at midnight, of shooting-stars, on August 9th was 62; on August 10th, 54; or about ten times as large as in the middle of July. At Rome, the observations of Secchi gave a decisive maximum on the 10th of August. The observations of Bradley at Chicago, and of Herrick at New Haven, Connecticut, U. S., gave the increase of shooting-stars on the nights of the 9th and 10th of August, 1860, at about six times the common average, and their apparent direction nearly all from the vicinity of the constellation Perseus.

At Yale College, Connecticut, U. S., 565 falling stars were seen on the night of the 9th of August and morning of the 10th, between 10 P.M. and 3 A.M., by six observers. The majority first appeared in the south-west quarter of the sky, with a westerly direction; several left behind luminous trains, but appeared to explode: none seemed larger than Venus; three-fourths conformed to the usual radiant in Perseus.

none

Meteors of November, 1860.-In the United States a slight tendency to an increase over the average was noticed; the conformable ones coming from the usual point in Leo, exactly as in the great shower of November 13th, 1833. Professor Twining, of New York, observed on the morning of the 14th fourteen meteors, of which nine were conformable and five not conformable.

The total number actually observed by Professor Kirkwood and five assistants in Indiana, on the night of the 12th of November and morning of the 13th, in six hours, amounted to 381, distributed as follows:

The Shooting-stars of August 1861.-" M. Coulvier-Gravier has forwarded

to the French Academy his annual report on this subject, especially for August 9th, 10th, 11th, but including the time from July 15th to August 14th. The average number of these meteors per hour, at midnight, for July 15th, 18th, 19th, was 65; for July 28th, 29th, 30th, was 13'6; for July 31st, August 1st, 2nd, was 224; for August 4th, 5th, 6th, was 27.2; and for August 9th, 10th, 11th, was 508. For August 12th, 13th, 14th, the average per hour was only 244. M. Coulvier-Gravier's calculations show that the year 1858 marked the term of the decrease of the number of these phenomena since 1848-the epoch of their greatest number. Since 1858 their number has gradually risen; and we may hope therefore for the reappearance of the meteoric splendours of August.

Further observations on these brilliant phenomena, by Father Secchi, at Rome, appear in the Cosmos. On August 9th, forty shooting-stars were seen between 9 and 10 o'clock P.M.; on August 10th, between 9 and 101⁄2, 133 appeared; and in the same period of time on August 11th, the number fell to seventy. Secchi therefore concludes that these phenomena are not meteorological, but cosmical. He adds that he considers the most rational explanation to be the admission that the sun is surrounded, in addition to the comets and planets, by a ring formed of small bodies, which cuts the ecliptic at the point where the earth is situated on August 10th; and as every year the earth returns to this point on the same day, and as, also, this point may correspond with a condensed portion of the ring, we therefore see a great number of these small bodies, attracted by the mass of the earth, fall into it, and become inflamed by contact with our atmosphere. This theory he considers to be confirmed by the constancy of their directions, which are parallel and contrary to that of the earth in its orbit on that day."-Extract from the Illustrated London News' of September 14, 1861.

Note.-In generalizing from observations on the August periodical meteors at any one spot on the earth's surface, it should be remembered that the hourly numbers seen vary considerably with the locality. In 1833, the great and wonderful display of meteors on November 13th was almost entirely confined to the area of the United States; and the total numbers per hour observed of late years simultaneously at different stations appear to vary. Secchi's theory of the ring of meteors is pretty much that which Sir John Herschel advanced some time ago, and seems to be well worthy of acceptance; their orbits must in all probability be more elliptic than that of the earth's orbit.

August Meteors.

"SIR,-The August meteors this year have been more numerous than usual. Last year, both at the August and November epochs, the sky was completely overcast; so that it was impossible to determine their number, or, in short, to make any observations at all. During the August epoch of the present year (1861), although there was much cloud at times, there were periods of clear sky which enabled me to make some good observations.

"Several letters in the Times have given a Persei as the point of divergence of the August meteors; this is not correct, as the point is very near n Persei: a line drawn from ŋ Persei to a Cassiopeia will pass through this point at a distance of less than 20 from 7 Persei. The meteors increased in number as the night progressed, i. e. there were more about 2 A.M. than at

10 P.M.

η

"The nearer the meteors were to n Persei, the shorter were their paths; those with long paths were mostly 45° or more from this point. Those near Perseus were longer in moving over 1° of space than those at a distance from this point.

"The meteors about Perseus were mostly small, some only just distinguishable, the larger ones were usually 40° to 60° from η Persei.

"A meteor, almost upon the point of divergence, scarcely moved amongst the stars. The year before last I saw one exactly on this point; it became visible, increased in magnitude, and then disappeared without moving.

"No meteor was observed to move towards n Persei, all moving away from that star. On the 14th there were a number of meteors discordant, but on the 11th and 12th scarcely one whose path produced backwards would not have touched the point near ŋ Persei.

"There was a great similarity in the meteors. Nearly all had tails or streaks which lingered for a short time after the meteors themselves had vanished, and nearly all were of the 2nd to 4th magnitude.

"A meteor seen through a telescope of 21⁄2 inches aperture, with a power of 20, had a decidedly planetary appearance, the tail being phosphorescent-looking, not fire-like. The duration was too brief to make any very careful observations; and the meteor itself was small, viz. 3rd magnitude.

"The weather on the above days was warm, and the wind between W. and S.W.

*Observatory, Beeston, August 20th, 1861."

"E. J. Lowe."

No. 10.-M. Le Verrier has just applied the results of his researches on the four planets, Mercury, Venus, the Earth, and Mars, to the rectification of existing astronomical tables. From the perturbations observed in the orbits of these planets, he has come to the conclusion that there exists in our system a considerable quantity of matter which has not hitherto been taken into account. In the first place, he supposes that there must exist within the orbit of Mercury, at about 0.17 of the earth's distance from the sun, a mass of matter nearly equal in weight to Mercury. As this mass of matter would probably have been observed before this, either in transit over the sun's disc or during total eclipses of the sun, if it existed as one large planet, M. Le Verrier supposes that it exists as a series of asteroids. Secondly, M. Le Verrier sees reason to believe that there must be a mass of matter, equal to about one-tenth of the mass of the earth, revolving round the sun at very nearly the same distance as the earth. This also he supposes to be split up into an immense number of asteroids*. Thirdly, M. Le Verrier's researches have led him to the conclusion that the groups of asteroids which revolve between Mars and Jupiter, and sixty of which have been seen, and named, and had their elements determined, must have an aggregate mass equal to one-third of that of the earth. He thinks it not at all unlikely that similar groups of asteroids exist between Jupiter and Saturn, between Saturn and Herschel's planet, and between the latter and Neptune.

Haidinger reports that M. Julius Schmidt, of the Royal Observatory, Athens, is continuing his observations, it is said, on the phenomena presented by the luminous trains of meteors, with interesting results. It is intended to publish some particulars in the next year's report on luminous

meteors.

The following recent publications on meteoric literature may be especially noticed.

1. Versuch eines quellenverzeichnisses zur Litteratur über Meteoriten : von Dr. Otto Buchner von Giessen. Published at Frankfort-on-Maine, 1861. 2. By the same author, and a very valuable and comprehensive work,

* It is very possible the meteorites which from time to time fall to the earth may be the representatives of this group of Le Verrier's.

Die Feuermeteore, insbesondere die Meteoriten historisch und naturwissenschaftlich betrachtet. Giessen, 1859.

3. Kengott über Meteoriten. Zurich, 1860.

4. Recherches sur les Météores et les lois qui les régissent: par M. Coulvier-Gravier. Paris, 1859.

:

5. Ueber den Ursprung der Meteorsteine von P. A. Kesselmeyer. Frankfurt am Main; accompanied with a most valuable catalogue of meteorites and 3 maps.

Report on the Action of Prison Diet and Discipline on the Bodily Functions of Prisoners.-Part I. By EDWARD SMITH, M.D., LL.B., F.R.S., Assistant Physician to the Hospital for Consumption, Brompton; and W. R. MILNER, M.R.C.S., Surgeon to the Convict Prison, Wakefield. With Appendices.

THE Committee appointed at the late Meeting of the British Association, "to prosecute inquiries as to the effect of prison diet and discipline on the bodily functions of prisoners' have the honour to state that they have fulfilled the task assigned to them so far as time and opportunity have permitted; but they regret that, on the one hand, they have not been able to gain access to some information which they required, and, on the other, that the great extent of the inquiry has prevented the completion of the series of researches, to which they attach great importance. Hence they purpose on the present occasion to present the first part of their report, which will include some general remarks on the management and present system of dietary and punishments in county gaols, with the various researches which they have hitherto made into the influence of prison discipline over the weight of the prisoners, the precise influence of prison punishments over the respiratory function and the elimination of urinary products, with the ordinary discipline of the gaol and with certain forms of labour.

In conducting their researches the Committee have had in view not only the letter but the spirit of the resolution by which they were appointed, and have understood their prime duty to be the elimination of important physiological facts, for which the discipline enforced in gaols offers good opportunities. Whilst, therefore, determining the various matters which will be discussed in this the first part of their report, they have also been very desirous to investigate some of the more recondite questions in nutrition-as, for example, the relation of the nitrogen ingested to that egested; and having obtained the valuable aid of Mr. Manning in making chemical analyses, they have concluded two extended series of inquiries at Coldbath Fields and Wakefield Gaol, in which the relations of the ingested and egested nitrogen have been largely inquired into; but the great care required in this part of the inquiry, and the very extended character of the subject, have induced the Committee to withhold the results hitherto obtained until another occasion, when, should they be permitted to do so, they will present them with additional inquiries in the second part of their report.

With these explanatory observations, the Committee proceed to state the results of their inquiries, and, first, to offer some general remarks upon the management, the dietary, and the punishments in county gaols.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

THE MANAGEMENT OF COUNTY GAOLS.

The management of county prisons is placed almost exclusively in the hands of the County Magistracy, and is therefore liable to as much diversity as there are Boards of Visiting Justices. The Secretary of State must approve of any "rules" within the meaning of the Act, and he also approves of the scale of dietary; but hitherto he has not exercised his power to insist apon uniformity in dietary; and hence, within certain limits, the Visiting Jusices regulate the dietary. There are also three* (nominally four) Inspectors of Prisons for England, appointed by the Home Secretary, who visit the prisons periodically, and report their condition to the Home Office, and also suggest to the Visiting Justices from time to time such changes as they may think to be desirable; but they have no power to interfere with the orders of the Visiting Justices, if the orders are within the provisions of the law and the "rules" of the prison. Hence the sole authority in county gaols under formal conditions is the Board of Visiting Justices. There is a scheme of dietary which was recommended by the Home Office, under the administration of Sir James Graham; but it is not always adopted, and there is no plan whereby uniformity is ensured.

It thence follows that there is the greatest diversity in the gaols both as to punishment and dietary, and to a consideration of this your Committee directed their first attention.

A "Return of Dietary for Convicts, &c." was issued in 1857, which gives the dietary in the various convict and county prisons, but there has not been any general return obtained as to the nature of punishment inflicted, and the plan pursued in carrying out hard-labour sentences. As it was very desirable that some authorized information upon these points should be introduced into this report, Mr. Bazley, M.P., most readily and kindly undertook to move for one in the form given in the Appendix (II.), but, after having it entered upon the "Orders for the day," he failed to obtain the sanction of the Government, and withdrew it. The Committee venture to hope that the British Association may think this of sufficient importance to lend their aid in obtaining it during the next Session of Parliament, and would remark that, although the proposed return has a formidable appearance, its tabulated character tends to reduce, and not to increase, the expense of printing and the labour of writing.

PUNISHMENTS.

In the absence of this authorized return, the Committee quote the results of an inquiry previously made by Dr. Smith, who addressed a letter to the governors of upwards of sixty county gaols, and was favoured with their replies. The general expression of the results is as follows:

"In our county prisons some find no labour at all, others only that of ordinary trades, others have crank-labour + alone, others treadwheel-labour alone, whilst in many one of the two, or both of the two latter forms of hard labour are conjoined with some kind of trade. In many the treadwheel and crank are unprofitably employed, whilst in others they are used as mills or pumps. In some, women even work some kind of crank and the treadwheel.

* The number is now reduced to two.-Feb. 1862.

+ When the term "crank" is employed in this report, it is intended to indicate the instrument turned by hand, and technically known as the "hard-labour crank." This differs from other hand cranks only in that it is purposely arranged for non-remunerative work, and indicates the number of revolutions which have been made in a given period.