1-10 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



water. The deepest water to be encountered between Ireland and 

 Newfoundland is about 2,400 fathoms, and one mile being equal to 

 1,014 fathoms, therefore 1,014X11=11, Io4, and 2 -400=4 -64: the 

 cable having thus a strength equal to 4'64 times of its own vertical 

 weight in the deepest water. 



ON CELESTIAL DYNAMICS, IJY DR. J. R. MAYER. 



The movements of celestial bodies in an absolute vacuum would be 

 as uniform as those of a mathematical pendulum, whereas a resisting 

 medium pervading all space would cause the planets to move in shorter 

 and shorter orbits, and at last to fail into the sun. Assuming such a 

 resisting medium, these wandering celestial bodies must have on the 

 periphery of the solar system their cradle, and in its center their 

 grave ; and however long the duration, and however great the num- 

 ber of their revolutions may be, as many masses will on the average 

 in a certain time arrive at the sun as formerly in a like period of time 

 came within his sphere of attraction. All these bodies plunge with a 

 violent impetus into their common grave. Since no cause exists 

 without an effect, each of these cosmical masses will, like a weight 

 falling to the earth, produce by its percussion an amount of heat pro- 

 portional to its vis viva. 



From the idea of a sun whose attraction acts throughout space, of 

 ponderable bodies scattered throughout the universe, and of a resist- 

 ing ether, another idea necessarily follows, that, namely, of a con- 

 tinual and inexhaustible generation of heat on the central body of 

 this cosmical system. Whether such a conception be realized in our 

 solar system, whether in other words the wonderful and permanent 

 evolution of light and heat be caused by the uninterrupted fall of cos- 

 mical matter into the sun, will now be more closely examined. 



The existence -of matter in a primordial condition moving about in 

 the universe, and assumed to follow the attraction of the nearest stel- 

 lar system, will scarcely be denied by astronomers and physicists ; 

 for the richness of surrounding nature, as well as the aspect of the 

 starry heavens prevents the belief that the wide space which separates 

 our solar system from the regions governed by the other fixed stars 

 is a vacant solitude destitute of matter. We shall leave, however, 

 all suppositions concerning subjects so distant from us both in time 

 and .space, and coniiue our attention exclusively to what may be learned 

 from the observation of the existing state of things. 



Besides the 14 known planets with their 18 satellites, a great many 

 other cosmical masses move within the space of the planetary sys- 

 tem of which the comets deserve to be mentioned first. 



Kepler's celebrated statement that "there are more comets in the 

 heavens than iisli in the ocean," is founded on the fact that, of all the 

 comets belonging to our solar system, comparatively few can be seen 

 by the inhabitants of the earth, and therefore the not inconsiderable 

 number of actually observed comets obliges us, according to the rules 

 of the calculus of probabilities, to assume the existence of *a great 

 many more beyond the .sphere of our vision. 



Besides planets, satellites, and comets, another class of celestial 

 bodies exists within our solar system. These are masses which, on 

 account of their smallncss, may be considered as cosmical atoms, and 



