M. Clocz on Met hylic Alcohol. 451 



and Jupiter, would, so far as it is a law, indicate that there is 

 no planet nearer to the Sun than Mercury, because, the di- 

 stances according to that law being «, a + b, a + rb,a + r%,hc., 

 the quantities a and b are determined by the distances of Mer- 

 cury and Venus. 



It may also be remarked that, if the law of gravity be absolute, 

 there is no security for the stability of a system of stars, whether 

 the system be the Milky Way or a nebulous cluster ; for, how- 

 ever small the mutual attraction between the constituent bodies 

 may be, in the course of ages it must produce a general move- 

 ment towards the central or densest region. But the forms of 

 the Milky Way, and of certain nebul?e (as that of Orion) seem 

 to present an utter contradiction to any such tendency. Ac- 

 cording to the theory of gravity I have proposed, although the 

 ordinary law may be exact througli the solar system and far 

 beyond, there must be distances at which the condition that the 

 excursions of the vibrating particles of the sether are large com- 

 pared to the dimensions of the atoms, ceases to be fulfilled. In 

 that case the attraction changes to repulsion. Thus neighbour- 

 ing stars may be repulsive to each other, while the action of the 

 accumulated waves of the whole system upon outlying stars is 

 attractive. The stability of the system would thus be secured 

 in a manner analogous to that in which^ according to the view I 

 have taken of molecular forces, the constituent atoms of bodies 

 are held in positions of equilibrium. This theory would receive 

 confirmation if the proper motions of stars should be found 

 to be periodic. 



It will be perceived that the theory assumes that all bodies 

 are centres of waves of large and constant magnitude, which may 

 be regarded as the aggregate effect of minor waves propagated 

 from the individual atoms. How the waves originate, and by 

 what operation they are maintained, are questions, I think, 

 within the reach of mathematics, but of a different kind from 

 those discussed in this communication. They are of the same 

 order as questions respecting the origin and permanence of 

 action of other physical forces, as light, heat, and magnetism. 

 Cambridge Observatory, 



November 21, 1859. 



LXX. Chemical Notices ffom Foreiffn Journals. iJy E. Atkinson, 

 Ph.D.jF.C'.S,, Teacher of Physical Science in Cheltenham College. 

 [Continued from p. 2!)0.] 



CLOEZ* has investigated the action of bromine and of chlorine 

 on methylic alcohol. By the action of bromine he obtained, 

 besides bromide of methyle and hydrobromic acid, an oily amber- 

 * Comptes Rendus, vol. xlviii. p. C42. 

 2G3 



