To the Editor of the Colonist.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 415, 15 October 1861, Page 2

To the Editor of the Colonist.

Happy the man who, studying Nature's laws Through known effects, can trace their secret cause; His niind reposing in a tranquil state, •.

Fearless of Fortune, and resigned td Fate.. bin—Before proceeding. ; to the subject matter set forth in my last, I would rescue the authors of the: works therein commented upon from theimputa? tion indirectly, but'l.believe deliberately made, by both the editors of the Guardian, and the editor of the paper from which the article in the Examiner is taken, namely, of being guilty, the one of predicting another (universal) deluge,' the other ' the periodical return of the deluge.'. Here, as the author of the works, truly observed, ' I am met at the very threshold of my investigation of the subject with the 'Theological Orthodoxy'; while,however, I will endeavor to steer clear of wounding the prejudices of those who differ with me,-1 1 deny that there is any word or expression, as far as I can see, in the assumption that a ' neio universal deluge' will occur. As regards the editor of the Guardian. one would think his orthodoxy would or ought .to have made him hesitate before he headed the article as he has done. Be that as it may, speaking, scientifically, I will venture to deny that such an occurrence as a universal" deluge ever did occur or ever willagain, notwithstanding the most magnificent poems that have been written. The noblest paintings ever produced by the hand of man have been dedicated to the fruitless endeavors of realising to the imagination the scene of the ' univeral deluge'; and notwithstanding not a nation upon earth has existed whose records have not supplied some attestation to the general belief of the world having been once destroyed by water, and that the libraries of the world groan under the weight of millions of folios written in commemoration of this physically, morally, and absolutely impossible event.

While on this subject, I would observe that 'in the business of this life as we learn -to. .fear no natural circumstances, so do we naturally and steadily progress towards that morel perfection of which our nature is capable, and in proportion as we acquire a true knowledge of the phenomena of nature by which we are surrounded, and communicate that knowledge to others (as these scientific authors ate now.doing),.so. shall -'- we discover a remedy for all the disorders, religious, political,

moral, and physical, witlr'which mankind is now afflicted.' At .the same time, that ..great and extensive, "and desolating inundations and irruptions of the sea upon the land, have taken place i»,.a1l parts of theglobe, and, in all ages, no one can deny j nor is there perhaps a spot, on the whole earth's surface that has not and may notj as the abovenamed authors clearly showy again be part of the bed of the ocean. But that the waters should ever have covered the whole globe, is, I repeat, an absurd chimera in physics, impossible in nature, and inconceivable in reason. 7 '

Reverting once more to the' subject under discussion, and to the observation of the authors as to the great importance of the phenomena of the Precession of the Equinoxes,' I would observe that according to those calculations, the ascertained motion of this "precession of the Equinoxes is 50° 9'— an accuracy which I believe neither Haley, Newton, or. Herschel has ever disputed. That angle, as I before stated, being now 23° 28', compared to what it was when observed by Ptolemy and which has been shown to be gradually closing up or decreasing at. the rate of one minute in a degree in every one hundred years, not as stated by the author sin every year.' Here J would observe that, in speaking of the age of tlie world, that Abydenus and Berossus speak of regular dynasties of reigning sovereigns' through \a period of ten San or 3600 years, while Apollidorus speaks of reigning, sovereigns continued through four times that period, which is 144,000 years; and here arises the curious coincidence between the results of science and history,viz., that the calculations in reference 'to the <{ Precession of the Equinoxes give a period tallying with that of the reigning dynasties above-mentioned; as in that period the Ecliptic will coincide, with the; Equator, and there will consequently be'sneqiial (length of days and nights over, all the iearthi arid all the yeav round for 1250 years, instead of one thousand, constituting the Physical Millenium, which Dr. Cummins and his followers are absurdly anticipating in a literal sense. '

Now the sun enters the sign -of Aries, the Ram or Lamb on the 21st March, "that is, the Vernal Equinox, or crossificationl "of the sun over the Equator, while the autumnal crpssincation takes place in Libra on the 29th ot September, and it is with reference to the effect of this precession of the Equinoxes^which has caused^ and will causo 'again and again, the, spring, quarter to occur in autumn, and the, autumn where 'tis: spring. I will here state that the calculations which :I have stated, and which differ from.those of the two works before quoted, and w.hich I shall leave to wiser heads than mine to reconcile or decide between, were th^ result of the 'scientific researches of a distinguished member of St. John's College, Cambridge, thirty-five years ago, in standing for his degree of A.8., purposely refusing his chance of the inferior honors of the Tripos, and who, in all; his.scholastic struggles for superiority under competition, was never second, although the present Sir Wm..Herschel was his compeer and competitor, and who was, complimented by the then Master of that College asa singular, honor to that; University in his scholarship, 1 such >as Cambridge had not foe some tinie known.

I may mention that in a work entitled the' bull worship in the east,' reviewed-in'the Oriental ; Herald of 1826,1 find the following passage": 'It is calculated that the vernal equinox at.the Creation .(taking the Bible chronology)!was iii the first degree of Taurus; that two' thousand years after, Arie3 by the precession of the equinoxes; occupied its place, and Aries is accordingly the first sign or the most ancient of the zodiacs.: Taurus was therefore .an apt and legitimate symbol of antediluvian man and we may suppose that the mysteries of Apis, ; the bull; (o.r Behemoth of the Jews, and the worship of which they recurred to immediately after they left Egypt) related to that state.1 Such are some of the; reminiscencesiof, ;. Yours, &c, ':•'■.■■'■ '■■■■.:••■■■ ■ SENEX ALBUS.