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^ JgEOEHBEB 6,1856.] (THE LE1DEB, 1167
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" ¦ ¦ ' /HVifiMt /(TrrWttnl VEU-UfU. VJlyUUiUlU „.
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[IK this m;:iM.imrEXT. as alx. opinions,...
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There is no leaxnod man bub will confess...
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THE MOOK'S MOTION. (To the Editor of Hie...
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THE MOON'S ROTATION. (To the Editor qf t...
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ASSURANCE FOR ASSURERS. (To the Editor o...
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* Post. Ofllco London Directory, under t...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The La.W Of Babbits. Five Men, On Saturd...
gdription ha » feeea opened on their behalf , to which we earnestly hope the contributions pf ihe public will be liberally devoted . Meanwhile , what an ignominious state of tilings— - thafe the law should permit such an outrage , and- ' -that the bench of justice should Tie encumbered by such a ridiculous person a & Lord Hastings ! _
^ Jgeoehbeb 6,1856.] (The Le1deb, 1167
^ JgEOEHBEB 6 , 1856 . ] ( THE LE 1 DEB , 1167
" ¦ ¦ ' /Hvifimt /(Trrwttnl Veu-Ufu. Vjlyuuiulu „.
4 >^ € mm i .
[Ik This M;:Im.Imrext. As Alx. Opinions,...
[ IK this m ; : iM . imrEXT . as alx . opinions , however extreme , abe A ^ LLOWKU AN KX . IMCKSSION , . THIS EDIXOJt' UECJiSSAmLY UOI-Ud UIMSKtli IiK .-jL'O > S ) BI . E f . OK XOJiJS . l
There Is No Leaxnod Man Bub Will Confess...
There is no leaxnod man bub will confess he hath much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and his judgment ^ sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for him . to read , why should it not , at least , be tolerablefor iris adversary to write ?—Milton
The Mook's Motion. (To The Editor Of Hie...
THE MOOK'S MOTION . ( To the Editor of Hie Leader . ) . ¦'¦ ¦ Dec . 3 , 1856 . Sill ,, t- Tlus subject has been ably discussed iu you » columns . It was mooted more than one hundred and twenty years ago : and the rotary dogma of the astronomers wa 3 then successfully -upheld by Ferguson , who produced every plea for it , in an essay , now before me , "which has been put forth , in
this revived controversy . The common sense of the public mind is now , however , more freely exercised , and the idolatry of great names , . and tbe passive difference of opinion to authority , less servile than in . any past time . I believe the general public to be very extensively convinced that the old astronomers erred in attributing any motion of rotation on an axis within it ,. to the moon ; and equally so in asserting that the rotation of the earth is complete in the sidereal day .
The former fallacy is , I think , sufficiently disproved by the fact that there is no axis or centre of rotation within the moon ; and that all points in her boay describe concentric rings round the distant centre of her orbit , and none round any point u-itkin her body . All lines drawn from any part of the moon to thecentre of her orbit are radii of that orbit . These facts are perfectly incompatible -Hth the definitions of rotating bodies given by all the best mathematical and mechanical authorities , such as llutton , Barlow , Grier , & . C ., who make it a cardinal condition of rotation tliat each point in the rotating body shall describe a circle round a centre witJtin itself .
It is perfectly obvious that water in a basin , owing to its gravitation , maintains its parallelism by allowing the basin to . turn round it , which is in effect the same thing as if it rotated the contrary way to the revolution of the basin . This nowise proves the rotation- of the bmiit , on Us oini axis , but simply that it turns round : which no . one denies that the moon dpes . The sole question is , how ? Will Lieutenant Morrison or Professor Whewell deny that ally revolves romul one ' s head in a given manner , which keeps flying round it , as we sit in an express train from Bath to London , because it is also going in nearly a straight line from one terminus to tile other , at the same time ? This is precisely the case with the moon in its double course round earth and sun . A body may have half a dozen distinct motions at once .
The sidereal day being the measure of the rotation cf' the earth is a positive blunder ; winch I have a very simple mechanical instrument to demonstrate . TJb , e rotation of no rotating globe , which is at the same time revolving in an orbit , can be complete until it presents the same meridian line again to the centre of its orbit . If its rotation be measured by any fixed point , external to that orbit , the retimi of the meridian line to it ishastencd , or in other words shortened , by the orbital movement added to the rotatory one .
The practical effect of tnking the sidereal day as the measure of time , is merely that of complicating ( not of falsifying ) all astronomical calculations . They measure by sin immense number of tenths of Beconds a little short , anil instead of , twenty-four hours . They thus make the yo : ir consist of ; 1 O (> [ sidereal days or rotations instead ofaGyfc solar days atid rotations , as tho fact is . Tho one extra turn is TOercly the orbital revolution which the moon alone has . It turns without rotating .
I ' do not intend to discuss tins matter at length ; butaa I began it T . could not refrain from thus back-Wg the very ublo support my effort to abolish a tottering error ( maintained elsewhere with much dogmatism and ill-temper ) has mot -with m your coluiivms . —I am , Sir , yours very obediently , JjiMXGElt SVJIONH .
The Moon's Rotation. (To The Editor Qf T...
THE MOON'S ROTATION . ( To the Editor qf the Leader . ) 3 rd Dec , 1856 . Sin , —There appears , to me , a total misunderstanding on the part ; of Mr . Kenward , and partly so with Mr . Morrison ,, as to the real question at issue-In the four concluding paragraphs of Mr . Best ' s article is acknowledged all that has as yet appeared against it , with the exception of what Mr . Morrison says , — -that " the moon does not really move round the earth a . t . all , but moves in close company with the earth around the sun once a year . " Whether this motion round the earth , be reaL or apparent does not affect the real question . Nothing to me appears more clear , than that the article of Mr . Best is confined to a disproval of separate , independent , axial motibu . Can that motion be proved ? That is , can it be proved that the moon turns on an axis within herself ? This is the legitimate question ; to contend for that which is already in our possession , is to combat with a shadow . I would here respectfully observe , that- to talk of synodical periods , and to remind us of the precise velocity of the earth through space in her annual course round the sun , does not reconcile the never-varying appearance of the moon , so far as we can see her , with her having separate , independent axial motion . Mr . Kenward , it appears , does not understand what I rnean by relative or subordinate , and prK mary motions . Did it not recur to his mind during his experiments , that the motions of the basin , water , and straw were all relative to hte motion , and subordinate to it ? That when his , the primary , motion ceased , that of the basin , water , and straw , being subordinate , ceased also . And does Mr . Kenward think that the moon would continue in the earth's path round the sun , were the earth alone to be obstructed ? For the solution of this proposition I will not appeal to Sir W . Herschell , but to Mr . Kenwarcl in his reflective moments . Should he , after due reflection , negative this proposition , he will then perceive the motion of the moon to be su . bordina . te , and that of the earth primary- "What else Mr . Kenward professes not to understand he has saved me the trouble of answering , by himself drawing ; a positive conclusion . , . I am , Sir , yours respectfully , , John Ta-ylor .
Assurance For Assurers. (To The Editor O...
ASSURANCE FOR ASSURERS . ( To the Editor of ' tke Leader . ) Sir , —In the good old times of Haroun-al-Raschid they used to nail bakers by the ears to their own door-posts when bread rose to an inconvenient price . " Investigator" believes in this sort of political economy . He would decimate , or quartate , the two hundred and odd assurance offices , and thus reassure assurers that they should receive a shilling's worth of assurance for every shilling 1 . Now , I believe , on the other hand , that by the -working and counterworking of the two great laws —centripetal and centrifugal—of the social system—Association and Competition—all social and economical relations would adjust themselves . Laissezlesfaire ! and , with as harmonious regularity as the rotation of "the planetary bodies in their orbits ( I shall say nothing here of the rotation of the moon on her own or any other body ' s axis ) , all social , developments would correct their own aberrations , and society would at length discover and retain the destined tenor of her final course . Let me state " Investigator ' s" argument analogically . There arc 25 G 7 bakers in the London Directory * ( let "Investigator" count them ) . Surely wo need not so many persons to devote all their time and energies to tho manufacture of losives and muffins , when one well-constituted and economically conducted " Metropolitan Muffin and Crumpet Punctual Delivery Company , " with one manager , and an organized staff of agents , clerks , and carriers , would supply the whole of London , and every eater of bread would probably save a penny or twopence a loaf in the shape of expenses now incurred from tho hungry competition of 25 G 7 rival establishmentsone balcer to every 1000 of tlie population , ' including women and Jews , ' although these may bo held to be separately accommodated by tho 7 ? I retail confectioners , whom I find at pp . 1650 to 1 G 53 of the standard statistical classic nbovc referred to . The two hundred assurance offices have their sphere of operation over all the British and Colonial world ; the most ambitious of tho 25 (> 7 bakers—10 bakers to every assurance office—do not extend beyoiul omnibus distance of Charing-cross . II the Poisons and the Scratchleys cannot remedy the evil , the matter , depend upon it , must mend itself . It is not to be done by legislative interference , but by the gentle peristaltic persuasion of X .. VIS 3 KS 5 Faiilk .
* Post. Ofllco London Directory, Under T...
* Post . Ofllco London Directory , under tho immediate and special patronage of her Majesty's Postmaster-General . Fifty-seventh annual publication . London : Kelly ( iud Co . 18 / 30 " .
The " Apollo and Makstas" ov Raphael —Some particulars -with respect to the opinion entertained by Dr . vyaagen on the authenticity of this picture Yof which , as the regular subscribers of the Leader will remember , we gave an engraving in the first year of our existence ) aie contained in theJVem Preuasische Zeitung speaMngof a recent meeting- of the Wtssenschaftlicher Kun & tverein ( Scientiic-Art Society ) . We there read : — " The secretary of the- society raised a doubt whether already , in 1505 ( the date given , to the picture ) , Raphael was acquainted ¦ with the Apollo Belvidere—the character of which has some resemblance to the Apollo in the icture
p —as Raphael did not go to Rome until some time after . Tie original drawing for the picture by Raphael , in the Imp . e HeaJi Accademia deUe Bella Arti di Venezia , and which the Venetian . Catalogue , pointing to the picture in Mr . Morris Moore ' s possession , expressly and emphatically declares to be undoubtedly by Raphael ,, places- the authenticity of that picture beyond doul > £ . At the meeting of the WissenschaftllcJur Kunsiverein , there was no one , -with , perhaps , the exception of Dr . Waagen , who , on inspecting the daguerreotype , & c , taken from- the painting and submitted to the meeting by Mr . Morris Moore , did not at once . recognise Ui a . s a genuine design by Raphael . "
KEVEESAi OS A . IteCRTEIS . OE THK PbEBOGAOTYE CouaT . —Dr . Lushington , at a sitting of a Judicial Committee of the Privy Council last Saturday , delivered judgment in the case of Scoular v * Piororight . It was , he said , an appeal from a decree- of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury , -whereby the- judge of- that court pronounced for the will propounded in , Hie cause , and condemned the next of kin in . part of the costs . The will was propounded by Mr . Plowright , one of the executors named therein , and , was- opposed , by Mr . G . Scoular , the only brother and next of kin of tke deceased , Mr . William Scoular , a sculptor in Dean-street , Soho , who died in July 1854 , a few days after the dating
of the will , leaving personal property to the amount of about 400 OL Dr . Lushington said theirXordships were of opinion that the will was ., not the spontaneous act of the testator , who would seem to have been , acting under control and duresse . The will was prepared by a Mr . Edwards , the person principally benefited by it , and he , by his own admission , concealed the fact of execution from everyone during the lifetime of the deceased , and destroyed the instructions fox it . Their Lordships could not therefore affirm the judgment of the Court below , but would advise her Majesty tliat the decree must be reversed ; and , believing it to be a case in which gross fraud liad been perpetrated , they must condemn the party propounding the will in . all . the costs
incurred . . ' . '¦¦ The New Bishop of Ripon . —Lord Palmerston ., on . Friday week , offered the vacant Bishoprixfof Ripon . to the Rev . Robert Bickersteth , by whom it was accepted . The newbishopbelongsto the Evangelical section of theChurch of England . He is a nephew of the late Lord Langdale , and originally studied for the medical profession ; indeed , he is even now a member of the College of Surgeons and of Apothecaries' Hall . It is stated that thfl honour now conferred on him . came quite a 9 a surprise . The new bishop is only a little above forty .
The Weather . —We have been through the whole of this week in mid-winter . Not only is Scotland and the north of England covered with snow , and ice-bound , but the metropolis also has beea visited with intense frost . During Monday night , tlie thermometer at the Royal Humane Society ' s receiving-house fell ass low as 19 deg ., being 13 deg . below freezing point . At nine o ' clock on Tuesday morning thfe mercury rose only to-23 dcg ., and even at noon , in the sun , rose no higher than freezing point . The wind was variable , but the principal quarter was north-west . The barometer iadexed ,. during the chief part of the day and the previous night , 30 ' 12 deg . Tho Serpentine River in Hyie Park
was completely frozen over , but was in such a palpably dangerous state that Mr . Superintendent AVillinms issued orders that no one was to bo allowed to go upon it . On the Long Water in Kensington Gardens , however , there were crowds of skaters and slideis . Two men fell in , but -were rescued by the Humane Society ' s officers . Several persons also fell through on "tlie ornamental waters in the Regont ' s Park . No casualty of tliis kind occurred on tho round pond in Kensington Gardens , but a gentleman who was skating fell on his head , split it open , and was talcen up insenaiMe . H < j waa afterwards , however , enabled to walk home . —A tliaw set in in London on Thursday , and has continued up to the moment of our going to press . ¦
The Southawi'ton Election . —Mi , Edwin James lmsi mysteriously disappeared from Southampton , and for some days pa 9 t has not even communicated with his committee . Ilis supporters were therefore brought to a complete stnndstlLl , and , having called a meeting , they indignantly resolved to abandon the missing ; Queen ' s Counsel who had so unceremoniously abandoned them . Mr . Alderman Andrews , tho present Mayor , was then iiwiled to come forward , which he consented to do , if Lie could sec one-thousand signatures to the requisition . A requisition Avas immediately put in circulation , which received tlie signature of nearly every elector present ; anil "James ' s Committee" is now accordingly converted into " Andrews ' * Committee . " Sir Edward JJutler , the Conservative candidate , ' and Mr . Weguelin , still continue their canvaas with much activity .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 6, 1856, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06121856/page/15/
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