The Annual of Scientific Discovery, Or Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art: Exhibiting the Most Important Discoveries and Improvements in Mechanics, Useful Arts, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Astronomy, Meteorology, Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology

Excerpt from The Annual of Scientific Discovery, or Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art: Exhibiting the Most Important Discoveries and Improvements in Mechanics, Useful Arts, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Astronomy, Meteorology, Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, Geography, Antiquities

The twentieth annual meeting of the British Association commenced in Edinburgh, on July 31, and continued for one week. It was more numer ously attended than usual, and eminently successful in all its objects. Sir David Brewster, the President, in assuming the chair, briefly alluded to the progress made in several departments of science 'since the former meet ing of the Association. In his glance at astronomy, he stated that Mr. Lassell, of Liverpool, had recently been able to observe the very mi iinute, but extremely black shadow of the ring of Saturn upon the body of that planet. He observed the line of shadow to be notched, as it were, and almost broken up in a line of dots; thus indicating mountains upon the plane of the ring. After noticing in a highly complimentary manner the new law discovered by Mr. Daniel Kirkwood, of Pennsylvania, he says: This law requires the existence of a planet between Mars and J apitei and it follows from the law that the broken planet must have been a little larger than Mars, or about miles in diameter, and that the length of its day must have been about 57 5 hours. The American astron omers regard this law as amounting to a demonstration of the nebular hypothesis of Laplace; but we venture to say that this Opinion will not be adopted by the astronomers of England.

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