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458TAB ADELAIDEwafer, u ave been koown to lark la the constitution, end fettle on the cheat whan per tie# ain't ea yoong m they did need to be, nor yet u titm os their pise.When we got eahore we ed’at m loh o! a nil* wey journey, end then got to Addleeed. eod thankful I were not be e Uyls os rooke a reglar wreck full of water like that their ateamor, tho' with do live* loot.Net tut wot there’d been another reglar eblp-wreck eloee by ae were called Hsyriok the Red, aod passengers drowned a« well at sailors, aa U all flesh and blood the eaoie aa waa all friends, tho' some la more anfiberous than othere thro' belo need to the era from the month aa la ow they gete them wages.I were glad to get my thlnge off, and arter dinner felt doaey thro not aria’ ad a night’s rest, aa I never can get aboard ship, and were glad of a meal, aa I reglar relished, with a drop of eomething ’ot arter it thro’ a feeling of a chill. So eet by the fire for forty winks.All at a sudden it come over me aa I’d been and left my redioule aboard that steamer, aa I moat go back for, and there I was aboard that tog again, a daahin thro' them wild regln briny helefanta, aa waa a bllin like eoap and and# all around me, and a roar in like baiLa. Wherever ii the steamer, aaye I. On the rocks, aaya a voice. Lor, I aaya, and my redioule along with it. Aa are got my port money in it with my fiat-bottle and amellin salts and a nutmeg grater with a silver fruit knife, aa belonged to my grandmother aa lived 'ouaekeeper with a lord mare's ancle by the mother-side, let alone a bit at Spanish lickerish aa is a fine thing for the artburn, with a luoky fourpenny bit la a moleskin puras, as ave got a ole in it; and all my keys, as shall hare to break open all my locka when I get home for my night things.Says a lady as was next me, wot a mu my the Priuce of Wales were'ut aboard aloDg with all the rest of the royal family.Well, I aaya, life is sweet for all partikles with them as ave fsmliea whether royal or not.Yes, aays Queen Wictorier, as were a setting there like a picter, with all er royal prodigy round her. Right you are Martha say a she, and tho’ I am come incog, aa the say in is, aa rneana unbeknown, to soe the Kxybiahun I did not eapect aa they'd ave took and run mo down like this.I says run you down your majesty, not a bit on it, wby bless your royal art they woahips the ground as You walks on, aa is vrerry aperient by the way as they treats them noble Guvnors as you sends out for to act in your royal name asla nothink but respects every where - 8hoaays dont »ay a word as I'm ere as ono pmin under the uame of Mra. Brown.Lor I says wby that* my uame. Ush, ahe aaya keep it dark, that's a good soul.I says I’m the toorn for silonoe your graahna majesty. Jest then the weasel give a wioleut lurch, and sent us all a sprawlin.Save the Queen. I oilers elp, and I eard a loud larf, and looks up and see as I was a settin on tho arth rug with all friends round me a try in to elp me up. For I’d been and a.l a nap arter diouer in one of them chairs os ad shiftiu seats as I'd been and wriggled oat of tho socket in my dreams. So went to bed dead best to ave my dream out.(To bt con/in/tcrf.)SCIENTIFIC.THE DISTANCE OF THE SUN.We have before us a copy of an address entitled “ The determination of the Barth’s distance from the Bun,” read at the anuual raect-ir g of the South African Philosophical Society at Cape TowD.by tho President, Mr. David Gill, F.R.A.8., Astronomer-Royal, stationed ot the Cape Town Observatory. The address was delivered on July 30 of the present year, thus only a few weeks ago, and has been reprinted from the Cape Ti-nts. The question *• What it the distance of the Sun from the Kartlr ? ruiy appear to the illiterate as of Impossible solution, while Ibe mere theorist who has a knowledge of the rudiments of trigonometry unapplied to practical purposes may suppose tual it can eatily be answered. The former may ntk incredulously, *' How can you presume to know anything of the dldance of au object situated so immeasurably beyond your reach f The latter refer* to bis diagrams, explains that when two angles and one side of a plain triangle are given the other sides are easily found; and applying this rule to the problem iu question be iufers that the sun's distance may ba easily oaloulated by its horizontal parallax, the diameter of the earth being known. Mr. Gill, in discussing this ■unject, shows that It is much more intricite than might at first appear. Thus, the earth itself Is not a perfect sphere ; its distance from the sun la a constantly variable quantity ; the apparent altitude of a heavenly body is affected by refraction ; refraction itself varies with tbe density and pressure of the atmosphere; tbe diameter of the earth is so small as compared with the distance of the sun that the horizontal parallax presents wbat surveyors call a very “ ill-conditioned triangle” to deal with, and, however carefully the observations may be conducted, instrumental errors are always present to vitiate the final result.Ifr. Gill supposes tho case of a surveyor being required to determine by trigooometty the distance of a church spire twelve miles off to within a hundred yards, the observer being limited to a baso line of seven feet, and adds “The surveyor would probably dooliao to eutor-teinany such idea, and would proaouuce the whole thing impossible, and yet lie would hive an easier teak than the astronomer, who sets blia-■elf to determine with a base equal to the earth's diameter tho distance of the sun to half a million of milt*. In reference to the importance of at least an approximate sulutiou of the problem, the lecturer shows that the distance of tbeiun is tbe uult of luoasure employed by the astronomer in his trlangulatiou of the heaveus, “the base line by which he can measure the dimensions of the solar system, and the only means by which ho can hope to arrive at area faint crude guesses of the van’nessof the creatiou and tbe glory of the Creator.1’ But this is no*.all. The solution of the problem Is of interne practical value. “It plays an importiut part ia the Calculation of tho mutual perturbation* of tho moon and planets, aud therefore oa the predictions of the Nautical Almanac, by the aid of which our fleets navigate the trackless ocjsn A1 ter referring to the research.* of ArUtir-chus and others in this direction, aud tho discovery by Kepler of tho three groit laws of planetary mot«uu that bear his name. Mr. 0:11 discus*'s at hug'h the proposed methods of determining tbe sun's dist ur:e by oWrvetiou* of the transit of Venus, au I sh-ws th.it, not witbs‘.*r.dirg tho liniu.'itM' tro iVe an 1 expense of sen-Ul'g taunts to virloui dl»unt ata*fo:i«£ii both In ini-j.' »r • ». tin' res :!*« tVu oVaiuc I tv. r** by ! u i:u*“i.i ► p i ;f I'vnr.t, pi'Iv h-.'.vi* • • h- lost.id* *f I • '1 : rtuuif '•* v u.V !/•• s* rv» d HI n | *- r • I y frno lb it dini ill*.. lt;i i ying with cextaiutjr whit tho observer* dcairiJoaa being the same phenomenon In each instanoe. They ** saw a gradual approach of the two limbs a gradual shading or softening of those two limbs into each other, but nothing that was •harp, precise, and definite.’' So also the observers at different stations use each different language to express what they saw that it ia really difficult. If not impossible, to select correspond log phrases for tbe observations.Subsequently Mr. Gill explain* several other proposed methods of determining tbe suu's distauoe, including what are technically knowa u the ** parallactic inequality, as deduced from tbe relative attractions of the heaveulv bodies, the ** light equation” as determined by it* velocity and abberation; the parallactio displacement of Mars deduced from observations of that planet when in opposition to tbe sun; the method proposed by Leverrier dependeut upon “ tbe variations produced from year to year and from century to century upon tbe orbits of the plancteby tbe attraction of the earth,” the suggestion of Dr. Gal le of Breslau, to employ one of the small planetoids, whose orbits lie between Mars and Jupiter, thus avoiding the uncertainty caused by tbe diso of Mars; and finally, tbe method proposed by Sir George Airy, of utilizing tbe rotation of the earth ae a me*aa of viewing tbe planet Mare from two different points, instead of employing two observers at different points of the earth's surfaoe. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to explain Id popular terms the relative advantage* of theae several methods, and the obetaolea that lie in the way of their practical applioatioo, without a good deal of circumlocution. Mr. Gill in tbe discussion of these subjects has, however, brought them down to the apprehension of the ordinary Intellect without tbe unnecessary use of technical terms. He then informs us that in 1874, while preparing for the obaervatlon of tho transit of Venus, it occurred to him that the methods suggested by Sir George Airy and Dr. Galle might be oombined witn i satisfactory results. He accordingly imtitatsd a series of observations of tbe planet Juno, conducted at Mauritius with the aid of an improved heliometer, with very satisfactory conclusion*** to the snperiority of the method employed. The distance of tbe sun thus deduced was 933 millions of miles; the distance obtained by Mr. Gill from S3 seta of observations of the plauot Mars, made at the Isle of Ascension in 1877. under the auspices of the Royal Astronomical Society, being 03 07 milliousof miles. On the whole, the lecturer arrives at the coociasion that a series of further observations of tho inferior planets will in the end lead to the determination of the sun’s distance, with a higher degree of accuracy than any other, aud he adds,“ it has also this advantage, that almost every year some minor planet or other is favourably situated for such observations.”Mr. Gill coucludes his very interesting and instructive address with tho fallowing eloquent remarks:—”Surely nothing cau teach a more striking lesson ot humility tbau a history, auch an 1 have given, of the struggle to catch one r»y of tho Divine intelligence which surround* and upholds us. You see what labour, what concentration, what devotion arc needed, not only by individual men. but by successive generations of men, in order to advanoc oue step in tbe upward path which leads to the Goil-bocu truth. You see with wbat cire and cau-tiou, with what deep thought and anxious questionings have boon laid tho foundation-stone* of tho fair structure of modern astronomy. A fair and noble struoture truly, and one that fills the soul wilh an earnest longing to raise it a little higher; for, alas! it is no ladder reaching to heaven—only a wayside Bethel with its spire pointing skyward*. We know that onr eye# are toward tbe light, but w** only see through a gloss dsikly, for the tioio has not yet come when wo shall know even as we are known, uud rrjoioe in the full understanding that *2 he heavens declare the glory of God.’ ”The Zv ducal Liout.—This curious phenomenon may now bo seen on auy cloudless evening about 7 o'clock rising obliquely above tho western horizon iu the form of a pyramid, with its axis lying along the ecliptic. The spectator should place himself iu a position where no g«-lights or othtr artificial lights are visible. The Zodiacal Light is sometimes mistaken for tbe Milky Way, but it is evidently in wow way connected with the Sun, though we believe its came is still * matter of conjecture.THE NATURALISTTHE OCTOPUS.Mr. Thomas Grove, of Goolwa, write* as follows.—“As you have given us some note on the above subject perhaps the following account of a personal tussle with one of those interesting creatures may be acceptable. Some ten years ago, being on a visit to T-sammis, accompanied by two young ladies, I oue day took a trap and drove from Hobart Town to Brown's River. Leaving tbe trap at the publio-house, I strolled down tbe beaob on the backs of the Derwent, and took tbe ladies scrota tho stream (Brown's River). We took our walk up the shore towards Hobart Town as far sue some shelving rocks, where the ladies caught sight of some eyes, as they described it, iu the bottom of a hole of water in a cavity of tho rock*. The hole I should say wss about as Urge as s one-hundred gallon tub and about two feet deep. The water waa perfectly clear and still, aud on carefully looking iuto ft tome very queer eye* could be seen. Being armed (of ooowsitj) with a good hooked walking-stick, I begsu to prod the object, aud foood it to Do elastic, somethlug like the swollen carcass of a drowued sheep. On turning the hooked end of th* •tick, and tying to hook it up, I found I had au active antagonist to deal with. After many hauls I brought to tbe surface the bighe of something looking very much like a skinned conger tel, but which broke off from tbe boJy and I lost it. By this time I had come to the conclusion that my game was an octopus of no small dimensions, and then commenced such a tussle as must be engaged in to enable auy oue to form au idea of. 1 hive hauled out m.\ny a largo pike and salmon in tbe old couutry, and Dot a few mullaway iu this. but. those struggles were but a trifle to this oue. Knowing well tho danger of bis catching hold of me, but, as you aay, ‘ Englishman-like, not liking to bo beaten/ 1 stuck to bim. and for some time—such was the excitement 1 will not say how many mi autos— tho strife coutinued, I trying to book him oat, and ho trying to again fastou himself to the bottom. I was #om«wbat puzzled a* towbvt sort of an octopus I«ii straggling with, as 1 occasionally saw more eyes tbau two. Ultimately be decided it was best fo coma out, or I succeeded in forcing bim out, and then we looktd at esch other. Wbat he msy have thought o! me deponent sayetb not, but such a look and such eyes I uever before saw, nor shall I or ray c'uupvuluns ever forget them. To me they looktd like those in tho head of a veiy large ox after tbe skin bad bei-u tik-n off. The r»»ck I bal lauded him on was a il it stone, sloping some 12 br 15 feet to the water's edg'1, towards which (alter a abort pause) he s-nt out cm- or two of thoio undu rlhabltf tentieh**, at ], n»t 5 l«« i Io„g; an 3 L-nring 1 might have . i.i-»h r rout.d inya-If, I otf uM'.tS si nnl he I't.-.v hi;:* If ir/oth** wrtir of the liver, causing ^ u.u^a cjuudoUju bi the
Newspaper Details
Adelaide Observer
Adelaide, South Australia, AU
Sat, Sep 11, 1880
Page 37
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USA 28 Dec 2022
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