LESSONS IN ASTRONOMY. 



359 



CONTKA. A Latin word used in aooooatt, signifying agauut 



or on th-- ..//. / 



! IU.BANU. A term applied to goods imported or exported 

 ii/iiiiist the laws of the laud, or without complying with iu 



i UACT. A verbal or written agreement between two or 

 i Orson*, which bind* them to certain relative specified 



ai-t-. 



ICACTOR. A capitalist or person who binds himself to 

 rtain works, or to supply certain quantities of 

 goods or material)) upon specified terms ami eomlitions. 



i ONS. Small printed warrants for interest, attached to 

 I...H.U lor the purpoH'j of being out uff and presented as each 

 payment bocoinon due. 



;.SE OF EXCHANGE. The current rates for exchanging 

 the money of one country for that of others, as applicable to 

 bffli. 



IT. A term expressive of trust or confidence, and used 



when property in supplied upon the understanding of payment 



at u future period. It is also applied to the commercial standing 



ami position <>> persons who, as the case may be, are said to be 



' or lad r>vi/i'f. 



niTOR. Ono to whom money is due. 



CURRENCY. Tho money of, or that which passes for money 

 in, a country. 



CUSTOMS DUTIES. Duties levied (as a means of revenue to 

 a country) on the importation or exportation of goods. 



DAYS OF GRACE. The number of days allowed beyond the 

 expressed terms of a bill before payment can be legally de- 

 manded. They vary very much in different parts of the world, 

 but in tho United Kingdom and the United States three days 

 are allowed upon all bills, except those payable on demand or at 

 sight. Tho followin 

 respective places : 



Amsterdam 



Antwerp 



Altona 



Bahia 



Barcelona 



Berlin 



Bilboa 



Bordeaux 



Bremen 



Cadiz 



Dantzic 



Fraukfort-on-the-Main 



Geneva 



Genoa 



Gibraltar 



Hamburg 



DEAD OR IMPERSONAL ACCOUNTS. Accounts not dealing 

 with persons but with things ; such as Bad Debts Account, 

 Profit and Loss Account, etc. See also " Lessons in Bookkeep- 

 ing," III., Vol. II., page 154. 



DEBENTURE. A Custom House certificate entitling tho 

 exporter of imported goods to a drawback of tho duty originally 

 paid on importation. 



DEBENTURES. Deeds by which a company mortgages its 

 property for borrowed money ; the condition being that tho 

 holder has the right to seize the property if he bo not repaid at 

 the stipulated time. 



DEBIT. An entry on the Dr. side of an account. 



DEBTOR. One who owes money. 



DECLARATION OF TRUST. A written affirmation of confi- 

 dence in the person in whose hands is placed the management 

 and control of an estate or business. 



DEL CREDERE COMMISSION. An extra commission paid to 

 an agent for guaranteeing the payment of an account which he 

 has been the means of opening. 



DEMURRAGE. Compensation paid to the owners by the 

 charterers or freighters of ships, for their detention beyond a 

 stipulated time. 



DEPENDENCIES. Assets liksly to accrue, but which cannot 

 be exactly determined. 



DEPOSIT. A sum of money placed at interest with a banker 

 for a specified time. Tho person doing so is termed a Depositor, 

 and the account recording the transaction a Deposit Account. 



DERELICT. A ship abandoned at sea. 



DETINUE. An action for the recovery of withheld property. 



:.-. 



<t be a r 



DBTIATIOM. 



terms of the policy of insurance. If it be a departure from 

 the ooone laid down for the ship, without actual imniiMMj. 

 such a* stress of weather, it thereby vitiate* the bmuuac*. 



LiuecTon. One of body of proprietor* depoted by the 

 rent with power to control and direot it* opeiitiom. 



DUOOUXT. A percentage allowance on prompt payment* of 

 money. As applied to share* or stock, it indicate* the dspmh 

 tion below the price at which mob share* or stock* wen tamed 



DISHONOUR or A BILL. The refusal to accept a bill by the 

 person on whom it in drawn, or the failing of an acceptor to 

 pay it when it become* doe. 



DISSOLUTION or PARTNERSHIP. The act of breaking mp 

 an association formed for the porpoee of trade, or the act of 

 retiring from such asuociation of on* or more of the parthn 

 rammd. 



DISTRXNOAS. A writ commanding a person to be fmnflasd 

 for debt, or for his appearance on an appointed day. 



END. The periodical divUion of the profit* of a com- 

 pany. Tho di*trilmti<-ii among creditors of the property of a 

 bankrupt is termed u dividend, as is also the annual payment 

 of interest on tho National Debt. 



DOCK. An artificial basin for the reception of ships, and to 

 assist thorn in loading and unloading. 



DOCKET. A ticket or direction tied to goods ; also a sum- 

 mary of any document or legal instrument. 



DOCK WARRANTS certify as to goods in charge of the 

 Dock Companies, and specify the ship by which they were 

 imported, the importer, 'late of entry, to whom deliverable, the 

 distinguishing marks, packages, and the gross and nctt weight, 

 with the date at which warehouse rent commences. 



DOCK WEIGHT NOTES contain specifications similar to those 

 in the warrants. They are deliverable to purchasers of produce 

 on payment of any deposit, and entitle them to the warrants on 

 the completion of their payments. 



LESSONS IN ASTRONOMY. XV. 



SHOOTING STARS METEORITES ECLIPSES, THEIR THIOBT 

 SOLAR ECLIPSES BAILY'g BEADS BID FLAMK&. 



IN addition to the celestial objects already referred to, we shall, 

 on a clear night, be almost certain to see falling or shooting 

 stars. These are much more abundant at certain seasons of the 

 year than at others, but yet scarcely a night elapses without 

 some being visible. For a long period little or no notice was 

 taken of them by astronomers, it being believed that they owed 

 their origin merely to gaseous exhalations from the earth, which 

 became ignited in the atmosphere. 



It was found, however, that at some times the number seen was 

 immensely greater than at others, and instances were recorded in 

 which they outnumbered the ordinary stars, so that the display 

 was termed a star or meteoric shower. Humboldt speaks of 

 one of these which he witnessed on the 13th of November, 

 1799, when travelling in South America, and says : " Towards 

 morning wo witnessed a most extraordinary scene of shooting 

 meteors. Thousands of bodies and fallirg stars succeeded each 

 other during four hours. From tho beginning of the phenomenon 

 there was not a space in the firmament equal in extent to three 

 diameters of the moon which was not filled every instant with 

 bodies or falling stars." On tho 13th of November, 1831, anothot 

 grand meteoric shower occurred, which was followed by others 

 en the same date in 1832 and 1833. 



The hist of these seems to have been one of the most brilliant 

 and splendid which has been recorded. Tho whole of the sky 

 appeared to be on fire, and in many places the utmost terror 

 and alarm was caused by the sight. One observer wrote : 

 " The scene was truly awful, for never did rain fall much 

 thicker than the meteors fell towards the earth." Many of the 

 meteors were observed 1 to leave behind them luminous trains, 

 which remained visible for a greater or less period. 



Ono remarkable fact was observed during the shower, and 

 that was that all the shooting stars appeared to radiate from 

 a single point in the constellation Leo. This point remained 

 constant while the shower lasted, and thus showed that those 

 meteors arose from some source altogether independent of the 

 Earth, and removed from its surface, as otherwise tho spot 

 would have moved with the rotation of the Earth. 



Those displays wcro seen to the greatest advantage in 



