THE ZODIACAL LIGHT. 349 



material resources of life. Seeing the value of a knowledge that 

 goes below the surface of things, in 1852 he wrote his conviction that, 

 " ere long, a knowledge of the principal truth of chemistry will be ex- 

 pected in the political economist and statesman, as it already is held 

 indispensable to the manufacturer and physician." And, seeing the 

 meanings and the mysteries that cluster around the primary forms of 

 matter, he wrote at another time : " It is not the mere practical utility 

 of these truths which is of importance. Their influence upon mental 

 culture is most beneficial; and the views acquired by knowledge of 

 them enable the mind to trace, in the phenomena of Nature, proofs 

 of an infinite wisdom for the unfathomable depths of which language 

 has no expression." 



THE ZODIACAL LIGHT.* 



By Pbofessor C. E. BRAME, A. M. 



THE purpose of this contribution is to draw attention to a phe- 

 nomenon which has received too little notice, and has been 

 strangely neglected by astronomers, but wiiich, in fact, if the conclu- 

 sions of the author of the work under review are coi-rect, is to the 

 inhabitants of the earth one which emanates from a very near and 

 remarkable cosmical body. 



The third volume of "The United States Japan Expedition" 

 records a series of observations on the zodiacal light, which were made 

 by Rev. George Jones, A. M., chaplain in the United States Navy, 

 from April 2, 1853, to April 22, 1855, during which time he accom- 

 panied that expedition sent out by the United States Government, 

 under the command of Commodore M. C, Perry. It also contains the 

 observations and theories of other astronomers, particularly those 

 made by the celebrated Dorainicus Cassini, a distinguished savant of 

 the seventeenth century, attached to the Royal Observatory at Paris, 

 who was the greatest cosmologist of that age. 



The deductions of our author are 1. That the zodiacal light is 

 emitted by a nebulous ring, with the earth for its centre; that is, there 

 is a ring of nebulous matter around the earth ; 2. That 00 is the full 

 width of the stronger light, and 90" its full width including the dif- 

 fused light; 3. That it is on both sides of the ecliptic; 4. That it may 

 be seen in some latitudes under favorable circumstances, forming a 

 continuous arch across the heavens; 5. That it must rotate on a com- 



> Third volume, United States Japan Expedition. " Observations on the Zodiacal Light 

 from April 2, 1853, to April 22, 1855 ; made chiefly on board the United States Steam- 

 frigate Mississippi, during her Cruise in the Eastern Seas and her Voyage homeward ; with 

 Conclusions from the Data thus obtained." By Rev. George Jones, A. M., Chaplain, U. S. 

 Navy. 



