already suggested in other ways is confirmed by the evidence of the actual eruptive power possessed by the sun. We see that millions of years ago, when Jupiter and Saturn were active suns, they probably possessed the power of ejecting flights of bodies from their interior as the sun does now, and many millions of years ago, when our earth and her fellow-terrestrial planets were sunlike bodies, they were similarly active (each in its degree). For it is, of course, obvious that though a body like Jupiter would have nothing like the sun's eruptive energy (in amount), such an orb would need nothing like that energy to eject matter from its interior never to return. So with a globe like our earth. The sun must eject a body with a velocity of three hundred and eighty miles per second, that it may never return to him; and Jupiter would have to impart a velocity of about forty miles per second to reject forever a mass erupted from his interior; but in the case of our earth a velocity of seven miles per second would suffice to carry ejected matter forever away from her (apart, of course, from the chance of subsequent capture by acciden tal encounter with the parent orb, whose course the track of the ejected mass would always thereafter approach or intersect). Now, though no volcanic explosions which at present take place eject bodies from the earth with anything like this velocity, yet remembering the intense activity of an orb in the sunlike stage, as compared with the energies of the life-bearing stage, we see that even apart from the evidence given by solar explosions, and from the subsidiary evidence given by the meteoric paths, we might safely infer that the volcanic outbursts taking place during our earth's sunlike stage were probably quite sufficiently intense to eject matter forever from her interior. If such an explosion as that of Krakatoa can take place now, outbursts of the mightier sort necessary for meteor ejection may well have occurred when the earth was a small sun. We have similar actual evidence even in the case of the giant planets; for, whatever theory may be formed of the great red spot on Jupiter, there can be no doubt that a disturbance affecting an area nearly as large as the whole surface of the earth, and lasting seven years in full activity, implies most tremendous energies when Jupiter was in the sunlike stage of his

career.

As to the future, we cannot speak so confidently. We know not what the bodies are, if bodies there be, which will

hereafter become suns. Possibly the great gaseous nebulæ are forming into stars. It seems unreasonable at any rate to suppose that as there are suns much younger than our own (Secchi's first order) as well as suns much older (Secchi's third and fourth orders) and suns long since dead (being dark), there are not also suns as yet unformed.

Ranging through space we recognize in every star a sun, not only like our sun pouring out light and heat, but doing doubtless such other work as our sun is doing. If he pours out in a single explosion thousands of meteoric bodies, in the millions of years of his life he must have poured out many millions of millions of such bodies. The millions of millions of other suns which people space must have done likewise. So that inconceivable numbers of bodies expelled from existent suns must now be traversing space.

In such meteor streams or comets we find the explanation of those comets which reach our neighborhood from outside the planetary system. Some of the comets of long period may be regarded as having had their origin from our own sun, but only those whose paths approach very near to his globe. For although planetary perturbations might prevent a body ejected by the sun from actually returning to him, as, if undisturbed, it must inevitably do, such perturbations could not pos sibly give to a sun-expelled body a path passing far from the sun's globe.

on

The comets, therefore, or meteor sys. tems which travel around the sun orbits passing far outside the planetary system, and those whose orbits carry them away from our sun never to return, are explained as flights of bodies ejected either from our sun himself (in the case of a very small proportion only) or from other suns.

But among the suns there are some so much mightier than the rest that we might expect the meteor systems sprung from them to differ in marked degree from all others. I refer to the giant suns like Sirius, Vega, Altair, and others of Secchi's first order.* Sirius, judged by the quantity of light he emits, is probably at least a thousand times larger than the sun; and we may infer that the other suns of the same order are in like degree superior to our sun both in size and in energy.

Surely the meteor flights ejected from these giant suns would be as markedly

As classified by their spectra.

distinct from those ejected by our sun and his fellows, as these meteor flights are distinct from those ejected by the giant planets, and these in turn from those ejected by the earth and her fellow planets of the terrestrial order. In particular, the velocities of comets or meteor flights ejected from Sirius, Vega, and their fellows, would be apt to exceed enormously the velocities belonging to meteors ejected from suns of the same order as our own. When I was first led to adopt the thedry which I have here indicated, I thought it likely some evidence might be obtained of meteor systems ejected from the giant suns. But no such evidence actually existed at that time - about twelve years since. Now, however, evidence of absolutely decisive nature, evidence not only confirming my theory, but explicable -So far as I can see-in no other way, has been obtained.

Five years ago Mr. Denning, of Bristol, announced that he had recognized some meteor systems which radiate for several months in succession from the same point in the star sphere, a result which seemed so surprising that at that time many rejected it. I rejected it myself for a while -partly because it seemed to me too good to be true. But it has since been shown to be undoubtedly true.

Now, the same reason which forces us to regard the radiation of meteors during several hours from the same point, as proving that our earth's velocity of rota tion is insignificant compared with the velocities of these meteors, compels us to regard the velocity of the earth's revolu. tion as insignificant compared with the velocities of meteors which radiate during several months from the same region among the stars. In six hours the rota tional motion of a point on the earth changes through a right angle; in three months the motion of revolution of the earth herself changes in direction in the same degree. But one motion has a rate of only a third of a mile per second even at the equator, the other has a rate more than fifty times greater. Mr. Denning's observation shows that there are meteor systems travelling hundreds of times faster than the earth in her swift rush round the sun. These meteor systems can be no other than those which have been expelled from the giant suns.

Hence finally we recognize, by direct evidence, four orders of suns and four orders of meteors:

First, earth-suns, long since dark, which expelled such meteor systems as those which have been recognized as earth-born. Secondly, giant planets, long since deprived of sunlike brilliancy, but not yet dark, which expelled such meteor systems as now travel on orbits passing near the paths of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Thirdly, bodies like our sun, which expelled and still expel such meteor systems as travel on orbits extending far beyond the solar system.

Fourthly, bodies like the giant suns, which expelled meteor systems travelling with much greater velocities than could be imparted by our own sun or his fellows of the same order. RICHARD A. PROCTOR.

From Temple Bar.

AN IRISH WIT.

AMONGST the many brilliant wits who adorned the Irish bar and Senate at the close of the last century, the name of John Philpot Curran occupies a high position, perhaps the very highest. Curran may not have been as great an orator as Grattan, so polished a speaker as Plunket, or so capable a statesman as Fitzgibbon; he was not so sound a lawyer as hundreds of his contemporaries whose names have been long ago forgotten; yet as a sayer of good things Curran excelled them all. His only rival in this line was Lord Erskine, with whom he was on terms of intimacy. These two eminent men often met in society, and were guests at the table of their prince, and though there was little in common between them, each had his peculiar merit. Lord Byron's playful estimate of the two wits, in enumerating the guests at a dinner party, is well known: — There also were two wits by acclamation,

Longbow from Ireland, Strongbow from the Tweed, Both lawyers, and both men of education; But Strongbow's wit was of more polished breed:

Longbow was richer in imagination,

As beautiful and bounding as a steed, But sometimes stumbling over a potato, While Strongbow's best things might have come from Cato.

the microscopic, chemical, and physical examination of meteors. Such evidence has in reality proved that those bodies were once in the interior of orbs in a sun

Ten years later Byron said of him: "I have just met Curran at Holland House. He beats everybody. His imagination is beyond human, and his humor (it is diffi. cult to define what is wit) perfect. He has fifty faces, and twice as many voices when he mimics. I never met his equal." Again"Curran! Curran is the man who struck me most! Such imagination! There never was anything like it; he was wonderful even to me who had seen many remarkable men of the time." "The riches of his Irish imagination were exhaustless. I have heard that man speak more poetry than I have ever seen written, though I saw him seldom and but occa sionally." Dr. Birkbeck, an intimate friend of Lord Brougham, in reply to a query from the latter, said that for the five weeks that he and Curran lodged together in Paris, after the Peace of Amiens, there were not five consecutive minutes within which Curran could not make him both laugh and cry.

Curran was born of poor parents in Newmarket, in the county of Cork. His father was a commonplace individual; but his mother, though uneducated, was possessed of remarkable natural powers. She was both witty and eloquent, the delight of her own limited circle, and the idol of the neighborhood. Her distinguished son in after life often boasted that whatever merit he had, he owed to the tuition of his gifted and affectionate mother.

Whilst yet little more than a child, a ludicrous incident occurred which, as he himself said, first showed his aptitude for oratory. A puppet show arrived at his village, and the whole surrounding country was delighted at the powers of Mr. Punch, the eloquence of his man, and the many attractions of the novel performance. At last, however, in the height of its popularity the man fell ill, and ruin stared the proprietor in the face. Little Curran, then barely in his teens, had followed the exhibitor from place to place, knew the performance by heart, and offered himself to the proprietor as a candidate for the

vacant post. The offer was accepted, and Mr. Punch was more sought after than ever, and his man was the object of universal admiration. At length before one of his most crowded audiences he began to expatiate upon the politics of the village. He described the fair, told all the secrets, caricatured the audience, and, after disclosing every amour and detailing every scandal, turned with infinite ridicule upon the priest of the parish. But now came a total change. The lads and lasses who had laughed at each other's picture, but had pretended not to recognize their own, were scandalized that the sanctity of the Church should be profaned, and one and all voted down Mr. Punch as having for. feited their respect and support. proprietor honorably concealed the name of the substitute, but Curran used to say that in the heyday of his popularity, he never produced such an effect upon any audience as he did in the character of the showman.

The

The ready wit and winning waggish ways of the future master of the rolls attracted the attention of the Rev. Mr. Boyse, rector of Newmarket, who took a great fancy to the wild, eccentric youth. He taught young Curran the rudiments of English and classics, and when he could not teach him any more, sent him to Middleton School, whence he proceeded to Trinity College, Dublin. The classics were his favorite study, and he obtained a scholarship in 1770. Whilst an undergraduate, one of the fellows, Dr. Hailes, during a public examination, continually pronounced the word nimirum with a wrong quantity, and this was, as might be expected, the subject of some sharp criti cism. Curran affected to become his ad. vocate. "The doctor is not to blame," said he. "There was only one man in Rome who understood the word, and Horace tells us

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Septimus, Claudi, nimirum intelligit unus." His bon-mot on a brother barrister named Going, deserves mention. This gentleman was given to embellishing his anecdotes, which never lost in the telling. An instance of this was one day remarked to Curran, who hardly recognized one of his own stories, it had been so much amplified. "I see," said he, "the proverb is quite applicable vires acquirit eundo — it gathers by Going."

Lundy Foot, the celebrated tobacconist, applied to Curran for a motto when he first established his carriage. "Give me one, my dear Curran," said he, "of a seri

ous cast, because I am afraid the people | will laugh at a tobacconist setting up a carriage; and for the scholarship sake let it be Latin." "I have just hit on it," said Curran; "it is only two words, and it will at once explain your profession, your elevation, and your contempt for their ridicule, and it has the advantage of being in two languages, Latin or English, just as the reader wishes. Put Quid rides on your carriage."

In due time Curran was called to the bar, and his success was immediate. There was not an important case in Dublin or the provinces upon which he was not engaged. It was the object of every one to pre-engage so successful an advocate or so dangerous an opponent. At cross-examination he was inimitable, nor was there any peculiarity of person at which he would not grasp in order to confound the witness by the ridicule of the audience.

To Lundy Foot, the snuff-manufacturer, once hesitating as a witness, he playfully said, "Lundy, Lundy, that is a poser, a devil of a pinch."

Examining a country squire who disputed his coal-merchant's bill: "Did he give you the coals, friend?" "He did, sir; but "But what? On your oath, was not your payment slack?" A stupid foreman once asked a judge how they were to ignore a bill. Why, sir," said Curran, "when you mean to find a true one, just write Ignoramus' for

self and fellows on the back of it."

He was just rising to cross-examine a witness before a judge who could not comprehend any jest that was not the professional jargon. Before he said a word the witness began to laugh. "What are you laughing at, sir? A laugh without a joke is like is like "Like what, Mr. Curran," said the judge, thinking he was at fault. "Just exactly, my lord, like a contingent remainder without any par ticular estate to support it." The joke took with the judge, who vowed it was one of the finest things ever uttered.

To the bench he could be at times unceremonious. In his early days Judge Robinson made an attempt to extinguish the rising advocate. Robinson it was currently reported owed his elevation to the publication of political pamphlets, remarkable only for their slavish meanness and scurrility. In arguing his case Curran said he had consulted all his lawbooks and could not find the principle contended for. "I suspect, sir," said Robinson, "that your law library is rather

scanty." "It is very true, my lord," said Curran, "that my books are not numerous; but I have prepared myself for this high profession rather by the study of a few good books than by the composition of a great many bad ones."

Curran was occasionally nonplussed by a witness. Inquiring his master's age from a horse-trainer's servant, he could get no satisfactory answer. "Come, come, friend," urged Curran, “has he not lost his teeth?""Do you think," retorted the servant, "that I know his age as he does his horses? - by the mark of the mouth." Once foiled by a Limerick banker with an iron leg, Curran in his address to the jury said that his leg was the softest part about him. In a debate in the House of Commons he stated that he needed no aid from any one, that he was proud to be "the guardian of his own honor.” “Indeed," exclaimed Sir Boyle Roche, “I congratulate Mr. Curran on his holding a sinecure."

Lord Clare was a determined enemy of Curran whilst he was at the bar. The lord chancellor ruined his practice at the Chancery Court, and his clients were always sufferers. Indeed Curran stated that the losses in his professional income from the animosity of Lord Clare amounted to no less than thirty thousand pounds. The incidents in court in consequence of this disagreement were sometimes ludicrous. On one occasion when it was known that the advocate was about to make an elaborate argument in Chancery, Lord Clare brought a Newfoundland dog upon the bench with him, and paid much more attention to the dog than to the barrister, and the fact was commented on by the profession. At a material point in the argument the chancellor lost all decency, and turned quite aside to fondle the dog. Curran stopped at once. "Go on, go on," said Lord Clare. "Oh, I beg a thousand pardons, my lord!" was the ready reply.

I really took it for granted your lordship was engaged in consultation." A witticism of Fitzgibbon, the only one recorded of him, is so good as to make one wish for more. Chief Baron Yelverton went over to London accompanied by Curran, Egan, and a Mr. Barrett, notori ous for his skill at cards. 'He travels," said Fitzgibbon, "like a mountebank, with his monkey, his bear, and his sleightof-hand man."

This Egan was a great friend of Cur ran's, and held the office of chairman of Kilmainham. He was a man of huge size and massive build, as brawny and nearly