SAMUEL S. RANDALL, Editor. TERMS. Single copies 50 cents; seven copies $3.00; twelve copies $5.00; twenty five copies $.0.00; payable always in adAll letters and communications intended for the District vance. [No. XII. minate here. The haloes or nebulous atmospheres of these stars become more faint and diminish in diameter until the object in view assumes the form of a fixed star distinguished from its companions by a small and almost imperceptible halo. From these phenomena Herschel concluded that notwithstanding the changes Beool Journal, should be directed to the Editor, Albany, N. Y. of the individual nebulæ might extend over periods Post Paid. From the Steam Press of Weed, Parsons & Co., 67 Statestreet, Albany. Physical Science. The Nebular Hypothesis. In more The observations which led Herschel to his well known hypothesis in reference to the nebulæ, are recorded in the paper submitted by him to the Royal Society in 1811. The first, or (as he conjectures) the original condition of the luminous fluid, is its perfect diffusion throughout the regions of space. advanced objects there are a greater or less number of spots, brighter than the general mass. In a third class, these spots increase in brightness, and appear at length like nuclei around which the nebulous matter is condensing in virtue of some internal attractive energy. In a class still farther advanced, is presented the phenomena of groups of nebulous matter, with two or more centres of condensation about to break up or I to divide into separate round nebulæ. The process of separation seems to have proceeded farther in a fifth class, the original matter having actually become broken up, preserving close relations of contignity, and sometimes apparently resting on a very faint oval bed of light. Whatever the number of nuclei, the phenomena are substantially the same: And a perfect and continuous gradation seems thus established of regular circular bodies, increasing in brightness and in compression towards their centre. too vast to admit of human observation, their masses were nevertheless ultimately destined to be transformed, in virtue of regular laws, into organized stars, and that this slow transforming process was the proximate origin of the varied phenomena of the stellar heavens. Falling Stars. It has been demonstrated that these meteors move through the air with the average velocity of twenty miles in a second-as swiftly as the earth in its orbit: in any volcanic eruption, luuar or terrestrial, or any a velocity altogether too great to have had its origin conceivable explosion, while it is much too small to be attributed to electricity. From a variety of observations made in Europe, it has also been demonstrated that this velocity is not uniform in all meteoric bodies, but that it ranges from ten to two hundred and fifty miles per second-the least velocity being too great to belong to a satellite of the earth, and the greatest tenfold more than sufficient to throw a body out of the region of the sun's influence. The height of the meteors was likewise found to vary from six to six hundred miles. Proper Motions of the Stars. Minute changes in the places of certain of the fixed stars have been discovered by modern astronomers, which force upon us the conclusion either that our solar system causes an apparent displacement of certain stars, by a motion of its sun in space, or that they have themselves a proper motion. Some years since Sir William Herschel supposed he had detected chan By contemplating the separate nebula in conjunction with their combination into nuclei, Herschel dis-ges of this kind among two sets of stars in opposite covered that far the greater number of the former points of the heavens, from which he drew the infewere spherical, and that they were arranged in a re- rence that the solar system was in motion towards a gular series, each successive term of which evinced a point in the constellation Hercules; but other astrono progressive augmentation of light about the centre. mers have not found the changes in question such as After passing through classes of objects characterized would correspond to this motion or to any motion of by a gradually increasing indefinite illumination, he at the sun: And while it is a matter of general belief length recognized a defined central disc, which became that the sun has a motion in space, the fact is not conmore and more defined and concentrated until he ar-sidered established. The stars being the points of rived at the nebulous stars. Nor does the series ter-departure from which all celestial measures are taken, it is obvious that if their positions vary arbitrarily, or according to laws not ascertained, all the elements of astronomical calculation must partake of a corresponding uncertainty. That several of the stars undergo a gradual change of place, is a fact of which there can be no doubt: but their motion is so slow that it can hardly become visible to the naked eye in a great number of years. Of all the stars in which astronmers have recognized proper motions, there is none whose annual displacement exceeds five or six seconds; and in general it is much less. Yet even these, in course of time accumulate to considerable quantities, and render frequent revision necessary. Nothing is yet known of the nature of these motions; whether they are performed about a distant centre, or are di rected to a fixed point in space, they may for all prac tical or scientific purposes be regarded as uniform for the period of centuries. It cannot be doubted that stars are bodies of the same nature with the sun, and consequently endued with attracting powers. However much then, the impression which any given star receives from another or others may be diminished by the enormous distances which intervene between them or neutralized by being made in opposite directions, it is inconceivable that these forces can be so exactly balanced as to have no tendency whatever to motion: The strong probability then is in favor of the hypothesis of the proper motion of the stars: including the sun of our own sys tem. tions of the radius vector, and the latitude and longitude of the planets, was well understood, and had been fully explained by La Place in the Mecanique Celeste; including the theory of the secular variation of the elements, the limits of variation of the eccentricity and inclination, the unlimited variation of the perihelion and node, and the permanency of the axis ma jor. The long inequality of Jupiter and Saturn had been calculated; the acceleration of the moon's mean motion, explained; and the inequalities depending on the sun's parallax, and on the earth's ellipticity, pointed out. The remarkable relation between the motions of Jupiter's three first satellites which exists in consequence of their mutual perturbations, had been explained. The lunar theory was nearly perfect. The general methods of computing the perturbations of comets had been illustrated by La Grange. The theorems for precession, change of obliquity of the ecliptic, &c., were almost complete. In 1808 La Place published his supplement to the third volume of the Mecanique Celeste, and La Grange immediately followed it with equivalent results obtained by a different process. These essays may be regarded as having com pleted the theory of planetary perturbations. In 1824 Bessel published a method of investigating separately the effects of perturbation produced by a planet's action on the sun, and on another planet,— the question having been long previously agitated whether the absolute force of the planet on these bodies was the same. In 1830-32 Mr. Lubbok and Mrs. Furnished with the instruments and improved meth- Ivory published several papers on the general probods of modern times, the practical astronomer may lem of perturbations, the objects of which were among measure the distances, determine the magnitudes, dis-other things to give expressions for the variation of cover the great laws of movement and even ascertain some of the inequalities of the motion of the heavenly bodies. Knowing these general facts, and that all bodies mutually attract each other according to simple and invariable mechanical laws, the physical astronomer may proceed to weigh the masses of the sun and planets, define the devious path of comets, and investigate all those irregularities and inequalities in the motion of the innumerable planetary host so perplexing and apparently inexplicable in their aspect, but which are notwithstanding, simple consequences of fixed and unalterable laws. "Our knowledge of the laws of the motions of the planets and satellites," says Mr. Whewell in his treatise on Astronomy and General Physics, "is far more complete and exact, far more thorough and satisfactory than the knowledge we possess in any other department of natural philosophy. Our acquaintance with the laws of the solar system is such that we can calculate the precise place and motion of most of its parts at any period past or future, however remote; and we can refer the changes which take place, in these circumstances, to their proximate cause, the attraction of one mass of matter to another acting between all the parts of the Universe." the elements which shall be true to all orders of the disturbing force, and to show the identity of the results obtained by perturbation of the elements and perturbation of the co-ordinate. In 1820 Nicolai investigated the secular variations of the earth's orbit, in verification of those given by La Place and La Grange. In 1828 Prof. Airy of Cambridge, announced the discovery of a small inequality of long period in the earth's motion produced by the action of Venus, and a corresponding inequality in the motion of Venus produced by the earth; and in 1830-31 Carlini of Milan, commenced the investigation of an inequality in the earth's motion depending on the sun's distance from the moon's perigee. In 1832-3 the mass of Jupiter was determined by Prof. Airy, from observations of the transit of his satellites, during the time of their greatest elongation, to be more than 322, and less than 323 times that of our own globe. Chemistry. Chemistry is that science which examines the constituent parts of bodies with reference to their nature, proportions and modes of combination. It consists in an investigation into the composition of the elementary principles of matter, their mutual agencies, and Progress of Astronomical Science. their susceptibility of acquiring new properties by At the commencement of the nineteenth century, the entering into new combinations: and considers the method of investigating and expressing the perturba-effects which result from the action of the particles of "1. The discovery of the proximate, if not the ultimate elements of all bodies, and the enlargement of the list of known elements to its present extent, of between sixty and seventy substances. matter on each other, and which to a greater or less The principal results of modern chemistry have extent change the nature of bodies, so as to make been thus enumerated by Sir John Herschel, in his celethem something different from what they were before. brated discourse on the study of Natural PhilosoMost of the subtances belonging to our globe are con- | phy." stantly undergoing alteration, and one variety of matter becomes transformed into another. Such changes, whether natural or artificial, whether slowly or rapidly performed, are termed chemical: and the object of chemical philosophy is to ascertain the causes of these phenomena, and the laws by which they are governed. The gradual and nearly imperceptible decay of the vegetation of a fallen tree and the rapid combustion of fuel in a common fire, are alike chemical operations, differing in degree, of a common element. "2. The development of the doctrine of latent heat by Black, with its train of important consequences, including the scientific theory of the steam engine. "3. The establishment of Wenzel's law of definite proportions, on his own experiments, and those of Richter, a discovery subsequently merged in the greater generality of the atomic theory of Dalton. "4. The precise determination of the atomic weights of the different chemical elements, mainly due to the astonishing industry of Berzelius and his unrivalled command of chemical resources, as well as to the researches of the other chemists of the Swedish and German school, and of Dr. Thomson of England. "5. The assimilation of gases and vapors by which we are led to regard the former, universally, as particular cases of the latter: a generalization resulting chiefly from the experiments of Faraday on the condensation of gases, and those of Gay Lussac and Dalton, on the laws of their expansion by heat compared with that of vapors. "6. The establishment of the laws of the combination of gases and vapors by definite volumes, by Gay Lussac. "7. The discovery of the chemical effects of electricity, and the decomposing agency of the Voltaic pile, by Nicholson and Carlisle; the investigation of the laws of such decompositions by Berzelius and Hisinger; the decomposition of the alkalies by Davy, and the consequent introduction into chemistry of new and powerful agents in their metallic bases. At the commencement of the eighteenth century, chemical philosophy, began vigorously and successfully to be applied to the useful arts, and directed to the investigation of nature in all her various departments. Previous to the time of Cullen, the science of chemistry had been regarded in the light of a valuable appendage to medicine, and as useful, chiefly as it contributed to the improvement and more general success of medical remedies. That eminent physician and accomplished scholar, adopted a more enlightened and comprehensive view of the science, as not only capable of throwing light on the constitution of bodies, but of conducing to the improvement and advancement of manufactures and of the arts generally. The discoveries of Dr. Black, relative to the composition of limestone, the existence of latent heat, and of the operations of heat in changing the state of bodies, converting solids into liquids and liquids into gases, form a most important epoch in the history of chemical philosophy; disclosing as they do the hidden causes of many intricate phenomena, and the germs of many of those gigantic improvements in machinery, which have "8. The application of chemical analysis to all the given so powerful an impulse to modern civilization. objects of organized and unorganized nature, and the discovery of the ultimate constituents of all, and the He demonstrated that the change of solids to the li-proximate ones of organic matter, and the recognition quid state, was uniformly accompanied by the absorp-of the important distinctions which appear to divide tion of heat, which is concealed or latent in the liquid, so as not to be indicated by the thermometer. His theory assumes that heat is a material substance of excessive tenuity, existing in bodies in variable portions, perceptible to our senses, and affected by the thermometer, in a free state, but occasionally entering into union with other substances, or separable from them, in accordance with the usual laws of chemical attraction; that in fluids it is combined or latent, but ongress of chemical and crystallographical knowledge.' their conversion into solids, it is separated in a free or The theory of electrical equilibrium, and the laws of the distribution of the electric fluids over the sursensible state. Many, however, of the ablest and most face of bodies in which they are accumulated, have scientific philosophers of the last century, seem dis-been elaborately investigated by the ablest mathemaposed to regard heat as the result of a vibrating mo- ticians. They are based upon the assumption of a tion among the particles of matter, the vibrations in-law of attraction and repulsion, similar to those of gravity and magnetism. creasing in rapidity and extension with the increase of heat, accompanied in fluids by a motion of the particles around their axes. This hypothesis seems to have been favored by Newton; and is strongly supported by the imponderability of heat and its continuous extrication by friction, as well as by several other facts, apparently explicable solely by the vibratory theory. pro these great classes of bodies from each other. "9. The application of chemistry to innumerable processes in the arts, and among other useful purposes, to the discovery of the essential medical principle in vegetables, and to important medicaments in the mineral kingdom. "10. The establishment of the intimate connection between chemical composition and crystalline form by Hauy and Vauquelin, with the successive rectifications the statement of that connection has undergone in the hands of Mitscherlich, Rose, and others, with the pro The great strength of chemical research has been expended in the formation and analysis of the salts. With a vast number of these compounds we are already acquainted: upwards of two thousand having been either described or indicated. The doctrine of isomorphism has recently proved of great use in determining the true atomic constitution of many compound bodies. Its law, as announced by Mitscherlich, in its utmost generality, is as follows: provide for raising a similar amount, which lessens "The same number of atoms combined in the same way produces the same crystalline form, and the same crystalline form is independent of the chemical nature of the atoms, and is determined only by their number and relative position. This law has undergone a slight modification since its original promulgation, not how ever in any way affecting the conclusions to be drawn from it in respect to the atomic constitution of bodies. In his annual report for 1849, the State SuperintenIt has proved" observes Mr. Johnston in his report on dent presented strong testimony to show that the office chemistry before the British association in 1832, "emi- of county superintendent had been unwisely dispensed nently useful in clearing up the constitution of crystall-with. His predecessors, without exception, disappro ized mineral substances, and of many artificial com- ved of the abolishment of the office, and were right in pounds in which the presence of apparently foreign insisting that such an officer is needed, as the medium bodies seemed to set at defiance the theory of definite of communication between the department and the 900 proportions. Many varieties of the same mineral oc- towns and 11,000 school districts under its care. "The cur in nature, agreeing in form and other external territory is too large," says the State Superintendent, characters, and distinguished from one another only its subdivisions too many, its relations too diverse, by slight shades of difference; in all of which while the local officers too numerous, and the interval between the chemist found the same predominating ingredients, the department and them too wide to permit that actual he detected in some specimens the presence of small and minute supervision which is necessary to an effiquantities of bodies not generally occurring in the cient administration of the school laws." species. The conclusion to which all analyses pointed was that the atoms of certain classes of acids, of cer-ed with the subject to the plan proposed by the State tain classes of bases, and of certain classes of elementary substances, possessed each the same ultimate form, and might, therefore, be substituted for, or made to replace each other without altering the form of the crystalline compound into which they entered as constituent parts." REPORT Of the Committee on Literature in Relation to Petitions for Amendments to the Act Establishing Free Schools throughout the State. The committee on literature, to which was referred various petitions, praying for amendments to the act establishing free schools throughout the State, passed March 26, 1849, REPORT: That it is evident from the memorials submitted to them that the present laws require, in some particulars, a careful revision to make them accomplish fully the ends of their enactment. The chief objection in the minds of those unacquaintSuperiutendent, was probably the expense. By the present system, the nine hundred town superintendents, at a compensation averaging $75 a year each, cost the State $67,500; or to be accurate, as the number of towns in 1849 was 873, the cost was $65,475. Deducting from the 128 Assembly districts those embraced within cities having Boards of Education or city superintendents, not more than 100 will remain as the number to furnish superintendents in the way proposed by the Secretary of State, and set forth in the act herewith submitted to the Senate. At $500 each, the cost would be but $50,000, a positive saving of more than $15,000, while the system would give to the schools the constant supervision of competent men, paid for their whole time, and proud of an honorable office. The benefits of such a change cannot be easily overrated. The vast array of school districts spread all over the State would be quickened into rivalry and good discipline. Reports would be more readily and correctly returned to the Department of State, and new energy every where inThe complaint of a meeting of citizens of Orange fused. The present organization is like that of an army county that the school laws of this State, by repeated without officers between the corporal and the staff, its alterations and amendments have become voluminous regiments without colonels, its companies without capand complicated almost beyond.comprehension, so tains. This would be deemed but a sorry simplification much so as to require radically revising, simplifying and of the art of war; yet almost such is the condition of abridging," is by no means unjust; and as the first step our school system. This Committee, therefore, reccmtowards the permanent establishment of the free school mend that the suggestions of the State Superintendent, system, this committee recommend a revision and sim-confirmed by another year's experience, be favorably plification of the school laws by the Secretary of State. considered and acted upon It has become apparent, however, that much of the The objection to restoring the office of county supeopposition to the new school law has arisen from a re- rintendent is simply that a county is often too large to luctance on the part of the tax-payers to vote the neces-permit the proper care of all its schools by one person. sary money for the due maintenance of the free schools. Assembly districts furnish more convenient divisions of Some districts have even voted to diminish the number territory. of months during which their schools shall be kept open The free school law has received a very large majorifrom eight months to four, content to give their chilty of the votes cast in this State in its favor. Fifty-five dren half the teaching which the law intended, rather counties voted for the law, and only four against it. than submit to the smallest tax. Such an expression of the public will is not to be disregarded. Rate bills are still regarded with favor, because they fall, not upon the property of a district, but upon the parents who have children to send to school. Many parents, however, under the old system, kept their children at home, because they could not afford to pay, and because they were not willing to confess the pauperism which alone entitled them to free schooling. It should be the aim of the State to make admission to its schools the absolute right of the child of every citizen, a right which it shall be no meanness in the rich man to enjoy, nor degradation to the poor man to claim. By the ninth article of the constitution, provision is made for the annual addition of $25,000 to the capital of the Common School Fund. The revenues of the canals will soon allow a portion to be devoted to the support of schools, beyond what is required for interest, repairs and accumulation. The rate bills for 1849 amounted to $439,699.63; and we have therefore to Thoroughly persuaded that free education is of the last importance to the welfare of the State, the committee on literature do not hesitate to recommend that the full provision by towns or districts according to law, for the maintenance of free schools, during at least eight months of the year, shall be the condition on which, and on which only they shall receive any portion of the public school fund. The benefits of free education are not now for the first time to be doubted. Nothing valuable comes with out toil and cost. Our hopes of political freedom, of personal security, of unforced conscience, all hold by the anchor of faith in the intelligence of the people. France has the opportunity of freedom, but not the people of which freemen are made; nor the schoole which rear good citizens. The day is coming, we already see its dawning in for at least eight months in a year, shall receive any share of the public mouey. our own State, when education shall be by all held as necessary as food; and whenever the reign of peace on earth shall begin, with the sword will also be laid aside §3. The Comptroller is hereby authorized to loan the shackles of the convict, and our prisons shall be from the Common School Fund to the supervisors of tarned into colleges and free schools. At present we any county in which the amount required by the second have but the alternative between prisons or schools; section of the act hereby amended shall not have been between a people educated, self-respecting self-restrain-raised, a sum equal to such amount, on the production ing, or an unreasoning populace, ignorant of the history of a certified copy of the resolution of such board to of the past or of the learning of the present, ever ready to apply for such loan: And it shall be the duty of such become the tools of a demagogue and to act over again board, at its first annual session thereafter, to levy and the massacre of St. Batholomew, or the Reign of Terror collect upon the taxable property of the county, in the Already the farmer is exposed to the midnight mur- same manner as other county taxes are levied and colderer, who, (as has just occurred in New-Jersey,)|lected, an amount sufficient to repay said loan, with climbs by an upper window into his house, and slaugh- interest; and when collected it shall be the duty of the ters wife and husband in their bed-chamber. That county treasurer to pay over the same to the Comptrollmurderer was an untaught stranger, who came, unbles- er; but such towns or districts in said county as shall sed by a free school, to our shores, and revenged him- have duly raised their share of the amount required by self upon a prosperity he envied, by robbery and out-law, shall not be subject to the levy and collection of rage. Almost three hundred thousand strangers, like the county tax as herein before provided. him untaught in such schools as ours, land every year at the single port of New-York. Shall we not protect ourselves against their children, if we cannot against them? Between the standing army of school masters, and the armed police; between the spelling book and the bayonet, there is no difficulty now in choosing. Let us seize the opportunity; let us insist upon upholding our schools, and New-York will sustain as proud a reputation for the best free education, as she now does for the best system of prison discipline. The committee submit to the Senate the following JAMES W. BEEKMAN, AN ACT Further to amend the act establishing free schools § 1. The second section of the act entitled "An act establishing free schools throughout the State," is hereby amended so as to read as follows: $2. It shall be the duty of the several boards of supervisors, at their annual meetings, or at any special meeting duly convened (in pursuance of law,) to cause to be levied and collected from their respective counties, in the same manner as county taxes, a sum equal to twice the amount of State school moneys apportioned to such counties, and to apportion the same among the towns and cities in the same manner as the moneys received from the State are apportioned. They shall also cause to be levied and collected from each of the towns in their respective counties, in the same manner as other town taxes, a sum equal to the amount of State school moneys apportioned to said towns respectively, and such further sum as the electors of each town shall have directed to be raised, at their annual town mee ting, in pursuance of law. § 4. The omission of the board of supervisors of any county to raise the additional amount required by the second section of the act hereby amended, at their last annual meeting, or to direct the loan herein before provided for, to be made, shall not be construed in any manner to effect or invalidate the duties and powers conferred and imposed upon the trustees and inhabitants of the several school districts by the third and succeeding sections of said act: And all proceedings heretofore had in the several districts, under and in pursuance of the sections aforesaid, are hereby confirmed. § 5. The office of town superintendent is hereby abolished on and after the first Monday of November next. § 6. There shall be in each Assembly district, except in those cities or villages which now have, or shall hereafter have, a city superintendent or board of education, a superintendent called the Assembly superintendent; he shall be elected by the people, and shall hold his office for three years. He shall receive an annual salary of $500, one-half of which shall be a county charge, and the other half shall be paid from the unappropriated revenue of the Common School Fund. He shall perform all the duties now required by law from town superintendents, except the receipt and disbursement of moneys. 7. It shall be the duty of the supervisor of each town to receive and disburse the school moneys belonging to his town. §8. Assembly superintendents shall have appellate jurisdiction over all school district controversies, subject to review by the State Superintendent. § 9. The tax list and warrant for the collection of the respective amounts required to be raised under this act by the inhabitants or trustees of the several districts, shall be made out and delivered to the collector within thirty days after the expiration of the respective terms of school provided for, and shall embrace only such portions of the amount so raised as are required to meet the actual expenses of such terms. When collected it shall be the duty of the collector to pay over such portion of the moneys raised as may be applicable to the payment of teachers' wages, to the town superintendent of the town in which the school house of the district is §6. When the said voters of any district at their an- situated, subject to the order of a majority of the trusnual meeting, (or at a special meeting called for that tees in favor of such duly qualified teacher as may have purpose in pursuance of law,) shall refuse or neglect to been employed by them; and the residue of the raise by tax a sum of money, which added to the sum amount so raised shall be paid over to the trustees, to apportioned to said district by the State, and the mo- be by them expended in pursuance of the vote of the ney raised by the board of supervisors, under the sec-district, or for the purposes specified in this act. ond section of this act, will support a school in said § 10. Section 16 of chap 382 of the Laws of 1849, is district for at least eight monthis in a year, keep the hereby so amended as to read as follows: school-house in proper repair, and furnish the necessary §2. The sixth section of the act aforesaid is hereby amended so as to read as follows: " 16. Sections fifteen, eighty-three, one hundred and fuel, then it shall be the duty of said trustees to repair six, one hundred and seven and one hundred and eight, the school house, purchase the necessary fuel, and em- of chapter four hundred eighty, Laws of eighteen huuploy a teacher, or teachers, for eight months, and the dred and forty-seven, and section three, chapter two whole expense shall be levied and collected in the man-hundred and fifty-eight, Laws of eighteen hundred and ner provided in the third section of this act; and no forty-seven, are hereby repealed." district so refusing or neglecting to make provision as required by this act, for the proper support of a school 11. It shall be the duty of the Superintendent of Common Schools to cause to be prepared, published. |