470 Scientific Intelligence, 6fc. 



whole of the expense of the quarrying will be saved to subscribers, 

 leaving only 25,400 rupees to be provided. The subscriptions al- 

 ready amount to 40,0130 rupees ; leaving a large sum to cover un- 

 foreseen expenses. The whole work, it is proposed, should be si- 

 milar in structure, to the Plymouth Breakwater; but, of course, it 

 will be on a much smaller scale ; that of Plymouth being in 56 

 feet water. 



III. — Meteors seen periodically on the 12th and 13th November. 



In 1833, professor Olmstead, of Newhaven, observed some remark- 

 able meteors on the 12th and 13th of November,* and in 1834 he 

 noticed a recurrence of these on the same days. He has brought 

 forward sufficient proofs to substantiate the fact of their having 

 been seen at a number of different localities. Professor Bache has, 

 on the other hand, published the evidence of several persons, who 

 did not see them. It appears from some accounts which we have 

 received from the Cape of Good Hope, that Sir John Herschel ob- 

 served a display of similar phenomena on the same day in 1835. — 

 These facts are too remarkable to be overlooked, and may ultimately 

 lead to some interesting deductions. 



IV. — The Existence of a New Planet suspected. 



On the 15th of February, M. Arago read to the Academy of 

 Sciences, an extract of a letter from M. Cacciatore, Astronomer at 

 Palermo, to Captain Smyth. The Sicilian astronomer announces 

 in this letter that he saw, in the month of May, 1835, near the 17 th 

 star of the 12th hour of the catalogue of Piazzi, another star of the 

 7th or 8th magnitude. Having taken the distance of the two stars, 

 he found that in three days the distance had increased. The mo- 

 tion of the second star was about 10 seconds of right ascension on 

 the eastern side, and a minute, or a little less, towards the north. 

 In consequence of the state of the weather, he could not succeed in 

 tracing it. From the slowness of its motion, he conceives it must 

 be situated beyond Herschel. — (Bibliotheque Unto. Jan. 1836. 



V. — Hypothesis respecting the Greater Quantity of Rain which 

 falls at the Surface of the Earth, than at considerable Eleva- 

 tions. 



When we find two individuals, at distant periods, coinciding in 

 their deductions from observation, without having any knowledge 

 of each other's views, we cannot fail to infer that the latter bear 

 with them the stamp of correctness, or at least of plausibility, — 

 whatever may be thought of the want of research exhibited by 

 the second person. Such a remark is applicable to the theological 



* Sillimah's American Journal, for 1835. 



