NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 135 



nebulous matter, whose existence he 1m assumed to account for the 

 phenomena described in his paper. This unexpected and unlooked-for 

 agreement, between results arrived at from considerations and by methods 

 so totally different, seem-; to establish the existence of this ring with quite 

 as much certainty, as the results of the profound researches of Ad. mis 

 and Leverrier established the existence of Neptune before that pi met 

 had been actually seen. This ring, however, owing to its proximity to 

 the sun, may never be seen, and, like the dark companions of Procyou 

 and Sinus, it may only be known to us through its action on the other 

 bodies of the system of which it forms a part. Should future researches 

 place its existence beyond doubt, this will, it fs believed, be the first 

 instance in which the conclusions of physical astronomy have been con- 

 firmed by the results of an investigation of magnetical and meteorologicil 

 phenomena. Whether, however, the hypothesis which the author has 

 ventured to put forward be accepted or not, it is now very evident that 

 .observations of solar phenomena merit a much larger share of attention 

 than has ever yet been devoted to them. It has long been suspected that 

 the same causes which produce the spots on the sun's disc must in some 

 way have an important influence on the phenomena of our own atmos- 

 phere. The facts now given, convert this suspicion into a certainty ; and 

 it is perhaps, not too much to say, that meteorology can never take rank 

 as a true science while our knowledge of the sun remains in its present 

 imperfect state. Moreover, there is little doubt, that many question* of 

 high physical interest depend for their solution upon our obtaining a 

 more intimate acquaintance than we yet possess with the operations 

 which are going on in the great center of our system. 



TELEGRAPHING BY MAGNETO-ELECTRIC MACHINES. 



We copy from the Washington Chronicle the following communica- 

 tion, apparently furnished by the well-known electrician, Dr. Page : 



"The introductory report of the Patent Office for 1863 ventured 

 upon the following anticipation : ' It is not too much to say that the 

 days of telegraphing by the galvanic battery arc numbered, and that 

 the magneto-electric machine will erelong take its place for this as 



{^ " ' A 



well as for many other purposes.' At that time it was well known 

 that the magneto-electric machine was successfully working Beards- 

 lee's dial telegraph; but we'witnessed, on a recent evening, the ex- 

 traordinary feat of working the Morse telegraph, between Washing- 

 ton and New York, with one of Beardslee's little magneto-electric 

 machines, occupying space less than a cubic foot. The correspond- 

 ence was kept up over the People's Line with perfect freedom for 

 more than an hour, and the Morse operator rattled off the messages 

 as if he were perfectly at home. The sound of the instrument is 

 musical, differing from that of an ordinary receiving magnet. The 

 Commissioner's Report alludes to the firing of gunpowder through the 

 distance of one hundred miles by means of this little machine, but 

 on the night in cjuestion we fired gunpowder in New York, a distance 

 of two. hundred miles, and the operators there fired gunpowder in 

 Washington with perfect ease by the same little machine used to work 

 the telegraph. It was a, perfect success, and one of the most inter- 

 esting and splendid achievements of modern science. If the Atlantic 



