utterly overthrown in favor of what they used to call the celestial spaces, if there had been a planet which by chance was put

near the place assigned to Neptune at the time when the discovery was made.

EARLY IDEAS OF AVIATION.

Aerial Navigation; containing a description of a proposed flying machine, on a new principle. By Dædalus Britannicus. London, 1847, 8vo.

In 1842-43 a Mr. Henson^[24] had proposed what he called an aeronaut steam-engine, and a Bill was brought in to incorporate an "Aerial Transit Company." The present plan is altogether different, the moving power being the explosion of mixed hydrogen and air. Nothing came of it—not even a Bill. What the final destiny of the balloon may be no one knows: it may reasonably be suspected that difficulties will at last be overcome. Darwin,^[25] in his "Botanic Garden" (1781), has the following prophecy:

Darwin's contemporaries, no doubt, smiled pity on the poor man. It is worth note that the two true prophecies have been fulfilled in a sense different from that of the predictions. Darwin was thinking of the suggestion of Jonathan Hulls,^[26] when he spoke of dragging the slow barge: it is only very recently that the steam-tug has been employed on the canals. The car was to be driven, not drawn, and on the common roads. Perhaps, the flying chariot will

be something of a character which we cannot imagine, even with the two prophecies and their fulfilments to help us.^[27]

THE SECRET OF THE UNIVERSE DIVULGED.

A book for the public. New Discovery. The causes of the circulation of the blood; and the true nature of the planetary system. London, 1848, 8vo.

Light is the sustainer of motion both in the earth and in the blood. The natural standard, the pulse of a person in health, four beats to one respiration, gives the natural second, which is the measure of the earth's progress in its daily revolution. The Greek fable of the Titans is an elaborate exposition of the atomic theory: but any attempt to convince learned classics would only meet their derision; so much does long-fostered prejudice stand in the way of truth. The author complains bitterly that men of science will not attend to him and others like him: he observes, that "in the time occupied in declining, a man of science might test the merits." This is, alas! too true; so well do applicants of this kind know how to stick on. But every rule has its exception: I have heard of one. The late Lord Spencer^[28]—the Lord Althorp of the House of Commons—told me that a speculator once got access to him at the Home Office, and was proceeding to unfold his way of serving the public. "I do not understand these things," said Lord Althorp, "but I happen to have —— (naming an eminent engineer) upstairs; suppose you talk to him on the subject." The discoverer went up, and in half-an-hour returned, and said, "I am very much obliged to your Lordship for introducing me to Mr. ——; he has convinced me

that I am quite wrong." I supposed, when I heard the story—but it would not have been seemly to say it—that Lord A. exhaled candor and sense, which infected those who came within reach: he would have done so, if anybody.

THE TRISECTION AND QUADRATURE AGAIN.

A method to trisect a series of angles having relation to each other; also another to trisect any given angle. By James Sabben. 1848 (two quarto pages).

"The consequence of years of intense thought": very likely, and very sad.

1848. The following was sent to me in manuscript. I give the whole of it:

"Quadrature of the Circle.—A quadrant is a curvilinear angle traversing round and at an equal distance from a given point, called a center, no two points in the curve being at the same angle, but irreptitiously graduating from 90 to 60. It is therefore a mean angle of 90 and 60, which is 75, because it is more than 60, and less than 90, approximately from 60 to 90, and from 90 to 60, with equal generation in each irreptitious approximation, therefore meeting in 75, and which is the mean angle of the quadrant.

"Or suppose a line drawn from a given point at 90, and from the same point at 60. Let each of these lines revolve on this point toward each other at an equal ratio. They will become one line at 75, and bisect the curve, which is one-sixth of the entire circle. The result, taking 16 as a diameter, gives an area of 201.072400, and a circumference of 50.2681.

"The original conception, its natural harmony, and the result, to my own mind is a demonstrative truth, which I presume it right to make known, though perhaps at the hazard of unpleasant if not uncourteous remarks."

I have added punctuation: the handwriting and spelling

are those of an educated person; the word irreptitious is indubitable. The whole is a natural curiosity.

The quadrature and exact area of the circle demonstrated. By Wm. Peters. 8vo. n. d. (circa 1848).^[29]

Suggestions as to the necessity for a revolution in philosophy; and prospectus for the establishment of a new quarterly, to be called the Physical Philosopher and Heterodox Review. By Q. E. D. 8vo. 1848.

These works are by one author, who also published, as appears by advertisement,

"Newton rescued from the precipitancy of his followers through a century and a half,"^[30] and "Dangers along a coast by correcting (as it is called) a ship's reckoning by bearings of the land at night fall, or in a fog, nearly out of print. Subscriptions are requested for a new edition."

The area of a circle is made four-fifths of the circumscribed square: proved on an assumption which it is purposed to explain in a longer essay.^[31] The author, as Q. E. D., was in controversy with the Athenæum journal, and criticised a correspondent, D., who wrote against a certain class of