THE WEST SHORE. June, 1879, 1 are. Mreei- . mannn, the wi ll kmmu French astronomer, hii Imn examining in Im Snlurr the evidences in fvor o( intra Mercurial planets, and particu larly tint furnished l.y Watenn . Swift. On the letter M, Flammarmn says: "While it is xiMilla that tlie American olnervers ut an nitra-Mari-uriel planet, nr eveu two, we cannot, 111 new nl the arecial dillicultira of the situation, the confusion of the figures, and the negative ' natinua of the other ulawrrera, roni-cde it l laj an absolute ami incontraUhla fact that they aaw even ao much aa one. 1'he t.-t la nut )et certain . " Alter reviewing the whole lesti loony thua far available on Una interesting I". ini, the Krench writer luma up aa followa: "The hyjMttheaia of a single Imdy cnmuualiln to Mercury KraviUtinil in clnae proximity ti the aim and on a plane prnlally inclined to the anlar equator aertoa to tia to he ennjicti to objec tinna aa to he untenable. Still, tin mathemati cal theory of iiinveraal attraction pmvea that there la a rauae fur the retardation ohaerveil in the mulum nf Mercury, anil that tlna rauae can not lie foninl hy augmenting the maaa ol Vcnua a uantity now iletermineil with great eiacti liule hut uniat la) sought for in some lIlaxEllaks nuua I I . "ii Mercury anil the aun. Hut tlua maaa may not I a planet worthy of the name nf planet; it may couaiat of a great number of aaU-rmds like the minute fragments which tt.utate hetween Mara anil Jupiter aateroiila i ainall that oftentimes they escape the notice of oheerven of the aun anil of rcliiieca, though e of them may ha Urge enough to lie awn miliar certain rare oouditinns. The latter theory la the one which we adopt. " A N RftrmiJUTBa Lm)OIB ra.m llnrrr. In l.smpell.c pnncil supp!) of augsr ia de nied from Imrta; tha annual proiluctiou of beet augar being sow 7U0.UU0 tons, Ileei.lea thia a large quantity of heel nmlaaaea ia prodini-d, a ponfaW of which ia diatilled ami acoane aort of alnaky made) the atntf remaining in tha retort la potaeaium aalta, which are employed aa Irrtili. Sugar, apinta, ainl talaah have heretofore been the chief produ. la manufactured ffom beet. But Mr. uioent hai now auc Mtaal in realising from the rafuaa that remains a'Ur the I inolaaaca distillation, a comhuali 14a, gaaanus Ualy, which ia raaily cn.lrneed 111U1 liquid form, ml u called ,h,.ri.U of uielhyL Una liquid, obtained aa alaled from l-eela, la meed in tha preparation of some of the aniline oulora; hut it ia now found to ha eapeci ally relaalUe aa a refiigeralmg agent Hy iU raj I i-apnrauoaa temperature of ,VV (', ,,r lain below aero, may be inaiuteiural. which ia far b.low tha freezing point of mercury. Prof ili.ttry aaya that by this 10 ran a mercury iwhnh lieeaea at XI Kahr. below arm) may be Ir. 1 n I.) the pound For tha manula. . 1. lea thia new beat root produ, I pr. miee to bo-.i-me of much imrUm e -AVi. ,4 m. Tt H n manufacture bnla fair to aoftn be aa important induatry in tha United utee A large eaUhliahmant haa recently beam relahliebed ia New York, aad ia now known aa the Muaiu Tia I'late t'oanpenv It vcupiea a building ia Horatio street, where the tinning ia doawi Ut the trua ia rolled at a null I'.lteherf, TW Unaiag boaaa u Kai W( aqaara. Masai wiia a racy raialm applian . The aheeU ia taw rmiiaary war, tha eat or a use. aad lanaaemed o. a ' l Taey are taea cold rolled agaia, -nasal! and pacaeiaii. earn pal law oalha of Kaaaiaa lalWw or palm ml TWaa they paea through aavatal baUaa of ua aaaltaa at a high Wmpara tara, aad again Urvmgk aawdaat and braa ta rial mm taaa aariaaa. Kaaally, they are prdiaheat ah lam I a wool bawafm, Batd aaaaortaat ready fur bo nag aad aaippuaf. TVa annual aaaoant 1 Un ptalea imi.ld ibIo tha I'mlevl Sutaa in is?!, rtocha.1 tha large aau. of a frartaoa abort .J fia,ta,ai.iaai Ci kiuio ruaaoaiKiiA or RarnacTion. The Bnginrtr puhliahea an iutereating paper by Mr. Knbert Mallet on aome curioua phenomena of reflection, which, he obaervea, may give a cue to the explanation of the magic mirrors of Japan. Many yeara ago Mr. Kecks, of the London School of Minei, noticed that the image re flected in bright aunlight from a silver coin, which by abraainn of wear had become practi cally flat, and from which all traces of image and auicracription had vaniahed, waa different, in the intensity of the light rrllected, from what hal once U.n the field or depressed part and from the head. A silver half crown waa struck at the Itoyal mint showing the Queen's head on the obverse side, but without any design on the reverse face, where a Hat surface of polished steel waa placed iu the coining press in place of the usual reverse die. Wheu this llat and Initialled aide waa eipoaod obliquely to bright sunlight, the reflected image thrown upon a flat aurfacc not only presented with much distinct ncaaand accuracy the outline of the head, but alan a irtion of the "Victoria" surrounding it, the nl and inscription lieing shown by a far more brilliant light than the reat This suggests some interesting inquiries in regard to the flow of mcUla. A New ITbou ami a Ivrr Planet. Dr. Temple, of the Ubavrvatory of Arcetri, Florence, anuouncea his discovery, on March 1 1th, of a new neubla, which he at first miatook for a faint comet. IU position for 1879 la R, A., Uh., ISmin., 5aec., N. R )., 86' l'-4. Dr. Temple doacribea it aa a double nebula with two small but distinct nuclei from 15" to 20" apart, and lie ail. la that nebula llerschel II. 32, which ia in tha vicinity, is much smaller and fainter than the one iust diacovered. It occasionally happens that ccleatial I ..-lira are lost aa well aa found Thia has occurred several turn a in the case of the amall plaucta between Mara and Jupiter, which now numlier nearly 200. There ia one of these, however, which, according to Mr. Proc tor, aatrmiomrra would regret to lose. This is the plauel Hilda, which travels in a much wider orbit than any of the othera, and can give more lart uilormatiou imp. . ting the maaa of Jupiter than any other member of the solar system, coming much more fully at certain times under his influence. Unfortunately, Hilda haa been searched for in vaio at its first return to opposi tion, and astronomers begin to fear that the plaust ia, for the time being, lost, IRON KtNI'INU It ia linnet i,,.n....,u apeak of the advantages which iron fencing l.a. a,a ..ver mat winch ilnl duty 111 the dava f our lathers. Thceo are an well Inn- tk.t to recapitulate them would be like telling a twice.ioui 1 ale. me only question is to ascer tain the best kind ol iron fencing to adopt SiKviallv valuable ia that wh ich ia mull imniU and ooatiBaoaa. Much eiDehence haa lot to awe conciuaion mat angular iron la a good deal atrutiger than a solid plate of the aame weight, and, therefore, better adapted for continuous iron I eaciag than Hat ban. strength . of course. a most imporuai lu-m in deciding upon fencing, bat thia ia not tha only ail vantage. Kaon bar, for inaUooe, being aulul, without j.Hiit or weld, it cannot be broken at the ground line. No holes hare to be dug, for the slaaderda are driven direct to the ground, lad are there ervur.lv tiled; thus they are van eaaily erected. Moreover, the upright bar being broader, the f eaciag can be distinctly seen by horeaa aad cattle, and thua the risk of stock running againat it ia considerably redaced. I'tlau Vswaar tVa .aaawawaal 1V. . aX law. t. ltatiituUnft, trporu, un.icr HaU ol My ttd, th awmtnr of Mt pUart o Um '2h amffu Uti fl tn im-turntl, Aeoarditw to th n- hiHinrasmaal ml it. . It . a Z Wv a A SALT afarkag baa been diacorared ia the Lit tia Ceaeraalo; a peaad of aalt to the galloa of water. A riaWI ta predicted in Knsaia by Kussian Jinnnll. Caaasa war. drankeaBaaa, boiidaya, ealtla psagwa, baatlea, laarwaoas aaai aaiilawaasa The perforation of marble by a marine boriaf animal (the sponge known aa Cliona mlphurta) U a novel fact observed and noted by Prof. VeirilL The facts iu the case are briefly aa follows: A vessel laden with Italian marble waa wreaked in 1871, off Long Island, and the exposed por tions of the slabs which occasionally come to light, are found to be thoroughly penetrated to the depth of an inch or two by the crooked, ir regular boringi of thia sponge, and reduced to a complete honeycomb, readily crumbled be tween the Angers. Beyond these borings the stone ia still perfectly sound and unaltered. Prof. errill notices thia aa the first lattaktall recorded where this sponge haa attacked lime stone, since calcareous rooks do not occur along the portions of our coast inhabited by it ; ana he suggest that ita demonstrated ability to de stroy such rocks so rapidly might have aa im portant practical bearing on the use of limestone structures for submarine works. Ia Condensed Sikam Explosive? The fol lowing appears in a Boston daily paper: To economize heat, it ia common to past the steam from the cylinder to the tender in a locomotive, to be used again and again. A similar process through the condenser Is in vogue on board of steamers. For some time Mr. H. C, Blackall, Superintendent of the motive power of tat Dm laware and Hudson It. Co., haa been experi menting with thia condensed steam, and among other important discoveries, haa found that it Incomes highly exploaive without giving any warning, under certain circumstances, which are liable to occur at any time. He thinks it proba ble that some of the missing ocean steamers have he. n blown up by condensed steam, laxoaao tives, he contends, are exposed to the MOM dangor. Now if this is ao, Mr. Blackall ought to make it known aa extensively aa possible lor the safety of life and property. Newly Discovered Fossil Bird Tracks. The lower Connecticut valley seems to be quit aa full of giant foeail bird track, in atone, at the upper region about Turner falls, where Prof. Hitchcock made hia discoveries. Messrs. Cot 4 Fowler have just uncovered, in their quarry on Fowder hill, half a mile west of the Middletield and Durham station, a layer of stone indented several inches with bird track. Several on line are three and one-half feet from each other, and measure fourteen inches on the center claw, and outside claws being separated about a foot at the point. These track were made in the mud and ooae of a ahore that waa evidently washed by the tide, and each incoming tide lepoaited a layer of silt, or mod, which became sufficiently hardened in the sun to retain the form of the impression, and in that shape the mud waa alowly turned to freestone. Hariord, Coaa., Timet. Railway Notes. Since the building of the Mount Washington railway eight similar roads have been constructed in Austria and 8 wi taw land. The engine for the roads were first built with vertical boiler ; next with boiler that were level on an average grade ; now they are built with horizontal boilers like ordinary locomotive. Various methods have beta de vised for enabling the locomotive to work by adhesion of their smooth wheel, aa well a by means of their cog-wheel driven, and by nasaa of either at will No one of tbeae ha been permanently successful, however, 0 that the proper axu traction of a doable engine of this aort ia itill a matter of experimental inquiry. -Srintijk Amrriram. A cl'MOV ancient Mexican library ba been found in the ruins of a vast palace at Xayi, near Chiapas, ia southern Mexico. The WaMjJ are inscribed oa tana rwtoa tablet, half aa inch thick, aad are eappoeed to be sacred 1 natal, bat the language in which they are writtea i aot accurately known. . A. Omni fjaj