ridge, Glamorganshire. His enterprise met with 
1 the reward he desired in the rectification of maps, 
which some towns had been misplaced to an extent 
ive, ten, or fifteen leagues, or even more! At this 
period there was actually no observatory in Belgium. 
_ The varied labours and scientific insight of the Abbé 
Mann, a native of Yorkshire, who had turned Roman 
Catholic, served in the Spanish army, and become Car- 
thusian, require more than a passing notice. Though 
Halley had previously traced an analogy between the tails 
of comets, the aurora, and electrical emanations, Mann 
might be considered in advance of his time in referring 
these phenomena, with light, heat, and magnetism (as a 
modification of electricity) to the same general principle, 
elementary fire ; and his view, expressed in one striking 
‘sentence, “Tout est analogue et harmonique dans la 
‘nature universelle,” would still be considered as the an- 
nunciation of an eternal truth. The imperfection of their 
‘instruments misled these sagacious reasonersas to the iden- 
tity of the Galaxy, stellar clusters, and nebulz properly so 
called ; but restricting their too general hypothesis to this 
latter class, the anticipation is sufficiently striking which 
_ refers them to assemblages of primordial light or electric 
fluid, the luminous material of which the sun and stars 
are formed, And the words with which Mann commences 
his speculations are an embodiment of wise and sound 
thought: “ On peut bien penser qu’une bonne partie de ce 
"que je vais dire ne sera que des conjectures ; mais quand 
les conjectures sont fondées sur des observations et des 
' expériences, et qu’elles donnent des explications naturelles 
des phénoménes, elles ne doivent pas étre exclues de la 
physique, si on ne veut fermer la porte aux découvertes, 
‘qui ne viennent pour la plupart qu’a la suite de quelque 
_ conjecture heureuse, confirmées peu a peu par de nouvelles 
_ preuves, jusqu’a ce qu’elles parviennent au point d’une cer- 
-titude entiére.” 
_ The doubts with which the first discovery of the planet 
Uranus was received are recorded among these: early 
"memoirs ; they are well known—more so, probably, than 
an anecdote which was communicated to the present 
_ writer by a friend of the illustrious discoverer. When Sir 
Joseph Banks, and other fellows of the Royal Society, had 
- failed to find the new object, Herschel had a portable tube 
constructed of silk, packed it up with his mirrors, and 
gave the doubters the meeting on the roof of Somerset 
‘House, where, the planet having been exhibited, Sir Joseph 
took off his hat and made him a bow, the rest of the com- 
pany following his example. 
_ After the reconstruction of the Academy, a considerable 
time (1816-1834) elapsed before it gave signs of activity ; 
and the state of science in Belgium may be conjectured 
from the fact that in 1823 the question was seriously pro- 
posed by that learned body whether the law of nutation 
was accurately understood, and, as well as the planetary 
perturbations, could be shown to be in accordance with 
_ the Newtonian theory. Two years afterwards, indeed, 
they decreed a prize to the Double Star Observations of 
Herschel and South. But even this was not done without 
such a singular deformation of the latter’s name as must 
_ have much moved his choleric temperament, when he 
recognised himself (not, perhaps, immediately) as “un 
_ Anglais nommé Sawt!” However, during this period a 
_ master spirit was introduced among the members, To 
25 
the energy and perseverance of Quetelet, among obstacles 
of no uncommon kind, was due the foundation of an 
Observatory at Brussels, which received its instruments in 
1834; and with the election of this astronomer at that 
period to the office of perpetual secretary commenced the 
era of scientific and intellectual progress in Belgium. We 
have not space to enter at length upon the subsequent 
history of the Academy ; but will only indicate a few points 
of interest with which some of our readers may, perhaps, 
not be familiar, Such are the following :— 
The extension, by Baron Behr, of the very curious rela- 
tion between the periodic times of the four innermost 
satellites of Saturn to the other members of the system, 
the revolution of Hyperion being quintuple that of Titan, 
The continuance of the alternate recurrence (1, 3; 2, 4; 
5,73 9, 8), with a break in the order and value of the 
relation, will be noted, as well as the probability that 
either the apparent vacancy between Rhea and Titan is a 
real one, or must contain ¢wo undiscovered satellites, 
The periods of the satellites of Jupiter are known to be 
only approximately commensurable ; but the Baron has 
found that the revolution of the fourth equals twice that of 
the third plus 4 of the difference between those of the 
second and first. Then we have Capocci’s idea, in 1850, 
of a parabolic mirror formed by the rotation of a vessel 
of mercury, and utilised for a telescope by a large “ flat,” 
with Krecke’s suggestion that a mass of melted metal 
might thus be cooled into a permanent paraboloid; a 
notice of M. Neyt’s (of Ghent) great success in lunar 
photography with a silvered mirror of 9} inches; of de- 
lineations of Mars executed in 1864, 1867, and 1871, by 
Dr. F. Terby (from whom, by the way, we are expecting 
a valuable monograph of this planet) ; and of a catalogue, 
now in progress, of 10,000 stars. Besides these, there is 
much valuable information relative to meteors, zodiacal 
light, tides, geodesy, and similar subjects ; and the im- 
pression of activity and progress conveyed by Dr. Mailly’s 
excellent memoir is full at once of promise and pleasure, 
We sincerely thank him for his labours, and wish him and 
the Society of which he is so able an historian all possible 
SUCCESS. T. W. W. 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
First Principles of Human Physiology, &c. By W..T. 
Pilter, certificated Teacher of the Science and Art 
Department. (London: Kempster, 1872.) 
AMONG the least questionable services of the South Ken- 
sington establishment are the classes which have been 
held, under the superintendence of Prof. Huxley, and the 
personal guidance of three of our best physiologists, for 
instructing school-teachers in the elements of anatomy and 
physiology. The present hand-book may be taken as one 
result of these classes, and is interesting as an exhibition 
of what physiology looks like from what may be called 
the lay point of view. 
The arrangement followed is that of Prof. Huxley in his 
admirable “ Elementary Lessons,” of which in fact this 
little book is a kind of diluted abridgement. Few readers 
will be sorry to miss the comparison of the three Czsars, 
with the quotation from Hamlet, and the famous story of 
Mrs. A.; but even in his weakest moments the master 
quotes Shakespeare, while the pupil introduces embellish- 
ments without alleviation. 
It is only fair to say that the author writes clearly, and 
apparently has an intelligent understanding of the facts of 
