wich, but the weight of evidence is on the side of the distinguished foreign astronomer.
The most remarkable evidence of growth is the dusky, transparent ring, discovered by Mr Bond, in 1850. There is evidence, indeed, that it was seen before, but its nature was not suspected. It was seen crossing the ball of the planet, but it was taken for a permanent belt of the planet. The question arises. How should it be so distinctly seen and recognised by several independent observers all about the same time? Mr Dawes in England, and Father Secchi at Kome, discovered its nature independently, and that with far inferior telescopes than those which, at a previous period, could not detect it. This leads to the surmise, that, although not developed for the first time, it now received such an accession of brightness as no longer to be mistaken. This is confirmed by the detection of actual growth since its discovery; and M. Striive is quite clear that it has widened, and crept nearer the ball.
This new ring confirms the supposition that the system is composed of meteoric matter. The matter is so rare, that we see through it, as we would see through a cloud of dust or a shower of hail. The meteoric bodies may be of considerable size, but they are not so close as to intercept the light of the planet. The phenomena do not agree with the hypothesis, that the ring is gaseous or fluid. M. Strüve has also detected a division in the dark ring, so that it is of a
