1S73.] ^ i i [Chase. 



portion at the surface of the rotating Sun, and designate the mean 

 velocity of retarded oscillation by r, ; the velocity of infinite fall by c. : 

 under auy assumed expansion or contraction of the Sun's mass, 



v, cc —,* while v., OC -»/--• If we wish to find the limiting velocity v° 

 1 >■' - \ r 



for the value of r, (r° = r -s- x 2 ), which renders o^ = v.,°, we have the 



equation 



V° = t' L ° = v 2 ° = »! x- = v 2 X 



. • . X = » 2 -H » x 



Taking Norton's estimate of solar radius (435,061.5) the value of v., is 

 375.5 miles per second, and various estimates of the time of solar rota- 

 tion give the following values of i\ and o . 



Sporer T99 170,440 



Carrington 788 178,920 



Lelambre 787 179,210 



Faye 785 179,660 



Petersen 781 180,470 



De La Rue, Stewart and Loewy 781 180,560 



Herschel, (Bianchi and Laugier) 777 181,460 



Harmonic prediction (^0) 771 182,800 



The velocity of light, as deduced from Xorton's value of solar radius, 



is 183,450 miles per second, which is approximately identical with the 



limiting velocity, v . 



TRANSCRIPT OF A CURIOUS MANUSCRIPT WORK IN CYPHER, 

 SUPPOSED TO BE ASTROLOGICAL. 



By Pliny Earle Chase. 



(Read before the American Philosophical Society, October 3(7, 1873.) 



The work, of which I have prepared the accompanying transcript, was 

 bought in Amsterdam, about seventy years ago. It consists of forty- 

 four manuscript pages, on twenty-four triangular leaves of parchment, 

 measuring nine inches on a side, substantially bound in a hog-skin c >ver. 

 It has been kept in a plush-lined tin case, so that it is in a state of ex- 

 cellent preservation, and appears as if newly written. On the lid of the 

 case is a figure of a dragon, together with the following inscription, 

 greatly defaced, but still distinct enough to be perfectly legible. 



"Ex Doxo SAriENTissnn Co.MiTis St Germain Qui Orbeji Ter- 



RARtJM PERCrCURRIT." 



The cypher consists of twenty-six arbitrary characters. In preparing 



to transcribe it, I counted the number of times each character was used, 



substituting a for the one that occurred most frequently, b for the next in 



frequency, and so on. The words are often run together, but there are 



numerous breaks, which I have indicated, some of which appear to mark 



divisions between words, while others may be arbitrary, or intended as 



blinds. 



* In consequence of the law of eqnal areas. 



