Ombrological Almanac. Seventeenth year. An essay on Anemology and
Ombrology. By Peter Legh,[170] Esq. London, 1856, 12mo.
Mr. Legh, already mentioned, was an intelligent country gentleman, and a
legitimate speculator. But the clue was not reserved for him.
The proof that the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right
angles looked for in the inflation of the circle. By Gen. Perronet
Thompson. London, 1856, 8vo. (pp. 4.)
Another attempt, the third, at this old difficulty, which cannot be put
into few words of explanation.[171]
Comets considered as volcanoes, and the cause of their velocity and
other phenomena thereby explained. London (_circa_ 1856), 8vo.
The title explains the book better than the book explains the title.
1856. A stranger applied to me to know what the ideas of a friend of his
were worth upon the magnitude of the earth. The matter being one involving
points of antiquity, I mentioned various persons whose speculations he
seemed to have ignored; among others, Thales. The reply was, "I am
instructed by the author to inform you that he is perfectly acquainted with
the works of Thales, Euclid, Archimedes, ..." I had some thought of asking
whether he had used the Elzevir edition of Thales,[172] which is known to
be very incomplete, or that of Professor Niemand with the lections,
Nirgend, 1824, 2 vols. folio; just to see whether the {84} last would not
have been the very edition he had read. But I refrained, in mercy.
The moon is the image of the Earth, and is not a solid body. By T^{he}
Longitude.[173] (Private Circulation.) In five parts. London, 1856,
1857, 1857; Calcutta, 1858, 1858, 8vo.
The earth is "brought to a focus"; it describes a "looped orbit round the
sun." The eclipse of the sun is thus explained: "At the time of eclipses,
the image is more or less so directly before or behind the earth that, in
the case of new moon, bright rays of the sun fall and bear upon the spot
where the figure of the earth is brought to a focus, that is, bear upon the
image of the earth, when a darkness beyond is produced reaching to the
earth, and the sun becomes more or less eclipsed." How the earth is
"brought to a focus" we do not find stated. Writers of this kind always
have the argument that some things which have been ridiculed at first have
been finally established. Those who put into the lottery had the same kind
of argument; but were always answered by being reminded how many blanks
there were to one prize. I am loath to pronounce against anything: but it
does force itself upon me that the author of these tracts has drawn a
blank.