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4 5 6

I I

ASTRONOMY

m INFlRCr, YOUTH AND MATURITY

1^1

National Library Bibliothdque nationale
of Canada du Canada

ASTRONOMY,

IN' ISFANCV, VnCTII A\D MATURITY.

■

[Addres. delivered he/ore the Astronomical and Physical Society/ of
UroHto m the Leclare Hall of the Canadian Institute, January
'...h'd, lUOO, hy the retiriny President, Mr. Arthur Harvey, F.Ji.S.C]

■ The President, Mr. Geo. E: Lumsden, F.R.A.S., occupied the chair
I have found it as dirticnlt to choose a title for my farewell address
as to condense it into reasonable conipass. T wish to treat, first, of the
earhest stage of the development of oar science ; next, of the time and
manner ,„ which it threw ofl" its swaddling clothes ; and lastly, of some
of Its latest achievements. Mr. Lindsay, our editor, suggested as a
caption, " The Growth of Astronomy,- which will do very well, but 1 .lo
not intend to attempt a consecutive Jiistory.

To he orderly, this paper should begin with the enquiry how old our
civilization is.

Plat,, makes his Kritias tell a curious tale. He brings him to our
notice as an old man, who, when a boy, heard from his grandfather the
story Solon brought from Egypt. A priest at Sais told the Athenian
student that the present (Greeks were children, ignorant of their own
history ; they had really occupied Hellas 8,000 years before,* and had
waged succe.ssful war with the Atlantides, who, coming from a great
island just outside the Pillars of Hercules, had subjugated Europe and
Africa, as far as the Tyrrhenian sea on the north, and Egypt on the
south shore of the Mediterranean. Suddenly, however, great earth-
MU^.kes and flootls occurred, as indeed in the history of the human race
they often had before : the island of Atlantis was submerged, and
the (xreek hosts were also swallowed up. Tn the.^e floods the cities
suttered destruction, and none but the hill folk escaped, so that Hellenic
civilization liad to recommence. Egypt, however, had always been free
from earthquakes and torrential rain, having only the usual regulated
Hood of the Nile, wherefore it had j.reserved the records which traced
back Its history to the foundation of the kingdom-9,000 years before
The description given of the Atlantic island is minute, and it has ever

been a debated (jue.stion wlietlier Plato's account is altogetlier in)tliicnl
or not. I incline, witii Grote, and against Jowett, to tliiuk it liad a foun-
dation in some recorded facts, tliough there is little to favour the conten-
tion of an American writer that tlie ancients had a regular coniniunica-
tion with Mexico and Peru hy galleys wliich rendezvoused near Ceylon
and proceeded to the west coast of both North and South A merica.

Saint Augustine, in his great work De Civitate Dei,' refers to a letter
■written by Alexander the Great to his mother 01ynij)ii«s. After the
conquest of Persia, Alexander turned his arms to Egypt, which hsid for a
short time lieen most unwillingly subject to the Sliah. He was received
rather as a protector and liberator tlian as an enemy, and as lie professed
respect for their great past, for their monuments and their religion, he
was favoured by the priests, who were the depositories of historical and
scientific lore. One of these supplied him witli information from tlie
sacred books to the effect tliat even the Assyrian kingdom was 5,000
years old, though the Greek histories, which began it with the snme
king, Belus, assigned to it only 3,500 years. He gave as the duration ot
the Persian and the Macedonian empires more than 8,000 years, though
the Greeks allowed but 580 for the growth of Macedon, and l)ut 23U for
the Persian rule. Yet, said he, these high numbers must be tiebly
multiplied to reach the antiquity of Egy])t I St. Augustine died in
A.D. 430, when authentic copies of Alexander's letter may have been
still extant. In an endeavour to minimize the length of time, he says
the Egyptian year had been one of four months only, but Diodorus
expressly states that it consisted of three hundred and sixty-five days six
hours, and he gives to Egypt an antiquity of moie than 20,000 years.
Callisthenes, who was in Alexander's retinue, informed Aristotle that
the JBabylonians reckoned their city to be at least 1,903 years old when
Alexander entered it. And Manetho, wlio was keeper of the Egy]>tian
archives under Ptolemy Philadelphus, gave 5,300 years as the recorded
length of the Egyptian dynasties.

We now have evidence from papyri, monuments and tablets to check
these figures, for we have learned to read Egyptian and Assyrian ahnost
as well as our own language, and have spaded up whole libraries of infor-
mation. The Prisse d'Avennes papyrus is claimed to be the oldest
writing in the world, and of the third dynasty 5,318 B.C. It is in a
bold, clear, firmly set handwriting, which tells of a civilization old

* Hook XII. I'lKip. 10.

»-\ t;n then. Mr. J. 0. C oiidt'r s;iys tlie I!fil)ylonian.s of the si.xtli century
l>.0. believed tlie first Ciiakliean empire was estaMisiied more tlian ;i,200
vi'ars l)efore tlieir time, and it was certainly founded by men of .Mongol
race, whose language, called Akkadian, is found on the oldest records.
Scholars have not yet come into thorough accord ; one Dr. Hilprecht
assigns 3,000 B.C. as tiie date of an inscription in cuneiform writing,
which displaced Hittite hieroglyphics when Semitic races became power-
ful around Babylon, while a Dr. Oppert thinks it a thousand years later.
However, the earliest As.syrian and Egyptian records come fairly close
together, and there seems no prospect of tracing either further back than
six or seven thousand years. +

The origin of astronomical studies is coeval witli reason and observa-
tion, and a singular record of them appears to be found in the pyramids
of Egypt. They seem to have had openings from which a pa.ssage led to
the interior, so built that on a certain day the Sun or a gi\en star could
be seen from the recesses of the monument, as if sliining down a tube.
To such stars these pyramids are said to be " oriented." The most recent
investigation of this interesting subject is to be found in the I'roccediiujs
of the Royal Society for last November, where Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge
discourses on the Pyramid tields of the Soudan, which are especially
important because while in northern Egypt the |>yramids are oriented
east and west, in southern Egypt and the Soudan, star worshij) is indi-
cated. These tombs had on tli(> south-east side a shrine or cluniel, ■' into
the innermost part of which the light from the celestial body to which ,
was oiiented could enter. * * Tliey consisted of two and sometimes
tliree chambers with narrow doorways which served, like the various
sights and sections of a telescope, to direct Ui8 rays of light from the
celestial body to a given spot — that sjiot in the case of a pyramid being
the centre of the shrine, where a figure of the deceased was placed."
Now in these Soudan cemeteries, the star chiefly used as a " warning
star" is Alj)ha Centauri, and it was .so used from the Xflth dynasty,
about 2,700 before Christ. As, owing to the prece.ssion of the enuinoxes,
the place of a star nui>t change, the later tombs would have an orientation

* Soottish Review, October, 1899.
t Tlie Cliinesu recotils do not iiuieh diiler, for they state that the first l']mpti or
Folii reigned '2,952 years before CJH'ist, and he, too, composed astronouiical tai)Ies.
The tirst King of the Imlies is said to iiave lived 3,5oH years before our era. and
the aati'onomical eyoch of the iJrahniiiis is supposed to begin in 3,101 B.C.

soniewliat dittereiit from the inirliff ones, and Dr. Budge says the
theory is strengthene.l l.y the fact that " archa-ologioal considerations
indicate tliat the pyianiids wliicli have diflV-rei,t orientations helong to
diH'erent periods."

Prof. C. I'lazzi Sniytii, as you proltal.ly all know, wrote a hook on
"Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid," in which he insisted that it was
a measure of the polar diameter of the Earth, and was intended as u
standard of weights and measures. It seems, however, thoioughly
established that it is so oriented timt tlie passage points due north, at al.
nngle wliich Col. Howard Vy.se measured as 26' 4 1 '. Sir John Herscliel
calculated that in 2,121 B.C. the star a Draconis was the Pole star, and
that its lower culmination was then 26^ in' 45". As the annual j.reces-
sion in noi-th polar distance in that part of the sky is lb', the date of the
orientation, .supposing Col. Vyse's measure to he exact, was 83 vears
))efore, or 2,201 B.C.

According to Dr. F. C. Penro.se, Greek temples were similarly
oriented, and in the same number of the ProceediHfjs of the Uoyal
Society he gives several new instances. Three of the temples he has
thus surveyed are oriented to //. Arietis, rising ; two to Spica lising ;
one each to a Pegasi setting and a Leonis rising. To illustrate the'
method of investigation I transcribe one :^-

Xiiiiie of: Orienta-
'IVmple. jtion Angle.

The new 26.5 9' A. Amplitude of star or .Sun.
''f^ch- |B. Cori-espoiuling alliuule..

•-''t'um. |C. Declinatiou

ID. Hour angles

E. Depression of Sun when
star heliacal . .

F. R. A

G. Appro.\-imate date

.Stellar
Elements.

r 6' 30' E

4 0'
-10 35
(ill. 13m.

^ Solar
Elements.

23h. .JSm.
445 B.C.

f 7- 20' ]•

3^ 25'
- 7 34'
7h. 2f,im.

12'

Ih. 11m.
Apiil !)

Name
of Star.

a
Arietis
rising'

In the case of temples the star would shine through some oi-ening in
the wall into the adytum at the date of the festival with which °lhe
temple was connected.

The Greeks took lessons in astronomy from the Eu'vptians, and per-
haps from the Assyrians, and in due cour.se became thL teachers of the

ins

l{..'M,-.i. wni 1,1. Lucretius, the pott of (,eiencN-, gives tiR-tii tlmt uv.lit in
.oiiK" IK 1.!.. \<.ises,* whicii sufler giievoiisly in my tnin.slitti.m :—

<»f old, when Human life lay cruslifil to eaith

Ity onerous creeds, eacli claiminj,' beiivenly liiith,

Wliiuli showed their horriil forms in dreadful yuise,

The (Jreeks lirst dared to lift their (lue.itionins; eyes.

No tales about the gods, no lightning ilire,

Xo growling thunder, threatening heavin's ire.

( 'owed their free uiinds or stopped their opening w i.lo

'I'lie gates of nature, theretofore untried.

And thus the living forces of the soul

Hegan to contemplate one glorious whole.

Outreached the luminous boundaries of K;iitli,

Made tiie great universe a Held of worth

Kor mental culture, and correctly taught

The lawful bounds of profitable thought.

In his "Republic,"! Plato considers of tin- sciences to be studied.
First, lie mentions aritLnietic.aud then geometry, "which draw^i the
soul towards truth and creates the spirit of philosophy." Next, he
names astronomy, " For every one, as I think, must feel that astronomy
compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to
another." "The .spangled heavens," he nrges, "should be used as a
pattern, and with a view to that higher knowleilge." And he insists that
they .should be studied with love "since knowledge acpiired under
compulsion has no hold upon the mind."

These old philosophers had some fniv conceptions of the mechanism
of the heavens. A paper by Mr. ^S J. Musson, in our Transactions
for last year, gives an excellent account of the tiieories of motion held
by various Greeks, and Vince's "Complete system of astronomy," which
we i,os.sess, gives a good summary of the history of the science among
eantern nations. It seems clear to me that Plato >poke of the Earth as
" revolving " around its pole, though the word nsed may have another
meaning. Nor could Anaxagoras have explained the way in which the
Moon is illuminated unless he had understood its motion with reference
to both Earth and Sun. He was imprisoned for so doing ; the world
often maltreats its benefactors. The Aristotelians reasoned out the neces^
sary rotundity of celestial bodies, and the Pythagoreans seem to have held
a proper theory of the revolution of the ^^•andering stars. One can see in

' J)e natura reruni, Lib. I., vv, 6:<-()7.

+ Hook VII.

tn« Atlnnteau n.ytl. that tl.o ancients appreciated the etiect upon our
Klobo of mmnw forces a.ul of heavy storn.s. Bu^ though they prepared
the way tor such nu-n as Tycho Hrahc an.l Copernicus, we must ho.iour

^ ".''•'''" *'"' "« "'" """> ^vho hiunched the l,ar(p.e of astronoinical

scienc.. upon its great modern career. All l.efore hin. I call th.. .Mild-
hood of astronomy. With him its vigorou.s youth hegan.

Our Lihrarian has placed us in possession of a copv of Galileo's works
pnnte.l at l5oIo.„r i„ lOo.',, only thirteen years after his death. It seems
to me that mv -ot nearer to the great n.en of p^ist centuiies through the
perusal of tlu-.se old editions, and he must he dull indeed who does not
feel a thrill of ..nusual interest when he sees the Syderins Nuuri,,. in
somethnig like its original dress.

After the dedication to Cosmo, of the Medici, dated in March, 1(110
and the license to print, declaring that the work contains nothing con-
trary to the Holy Catholic Faith, the State, or approved custom, the
second and fuller title of this celebrated tract appear.s, " 7%! Asfron.
omical M>'m'n,,er, l.oing an account of recent observations with
the new Perspidllum on the surface of the Moon, the Milky Way and
the nebulous stars ; algo of the innumerable Hxed stars and of four
planets nann-d the stars of Cosmo, never before seen." (In the dedica-
tion they are called "Aledicean stars.")

" About ton months ago," says Galileo, "there came a rumour to our
ears that a crtain i^elgian had made a lens by the aid of which
nsible objects, though far from the eye, could be distinctly seen, as if
they were near, * * which some believed and others not. A few
days afterwards the fact was conHrmed in a letter I had from Paris
which caused me to turn r.iy thoughts to the reason for the effect, and to
|>'-eparn>g an instrument that should produce the same result I
."Studied the subject of r.-fraction, and, having n.ade my.self a leaden tube
I fixed glass lenses in the ends of it, plane on one side and spherical on
the other— one convex and the other concave. On placing my eye to
the concave glass, I looked at some objects of fair size and at a shoit
distance, which I fo.md three times as close and nine times as large as
when looked at with nati.ral sight. 1 then made another instrument
winch magnified sixty times. Finally, sparing neither time nor money,
I made one so excellent that ..hings Hien by it were almost a thousand
tn.,.>.sonla..g.'d,and appeared more than thirty times a.s close as when
viewed by unaided vision. '

Tlio levolutioumy an-l opoeh-inuking namitive of two n.ontlis' olm.,,
VHtioris follows.

First as to the Moon. " It i.s of coiisefiuence," he says, '• t.. know
that the surface is not smooth and highly polisl.eil, as fo.m.'ily sup-
130Sb(l, and of exact spherical .sil,.l..^ as the great cohort of pi.ilosophers
Ii.'ive thought it and other celestial hodies to he, hut, on the cntrary,
acculeuted and rough, covered with swellin-s iind cavities, and fur-
rowed like the Earth with mountain ridges and deep valleys." He
likens the spots to the eye.s on a peacock's tail and to tin- marks on the
.surface of chilled glass. He applauds the l'vtln.goreans. who said the
Moon was like an-.ther Karth, ami thinks the Earth, seen from ata,.
would resemble her, especially in mountainous parts like Jiohemia.
Alluding to the features we call nmrin, as well as to the more fre(iuent
hut smaller craters, and the diflering phenomena of sunrise and sunset
thereon, he opines that lunar hills are much loftier than ours.

As to the fixed stars, he thinks it strange thev do not appear so
much increased in l>rilliancy as the power of the telescope would seen,
to call for, since witli a magnifying power of a hundred, stars of thr
titth and sixth magnitude show no brighter than those of the Hrst do to
the naked eye. While the planets look like spheres or little momis,
no disc can be noticed to the fixed stars, which are surrounded with
•■ays, like lightnhigs, but in addition to the .stars of the fifth ami sixth
magnitude the lens reveals an incretlil>le number of smaller ones. His
pamphlet gives several engravings of the :\roon, and diagrams of th.
belt and sword of Orion, also of the Pleiades, in which h,>. shows 30 stars
instead of the six which are usually visible to the naked eye. He pro-
ceeds to rejoice in .setting the world free from the disputes, which to.' so

many ct'iituries had engaoed pliilosoi-liecs. as to the essence <.i- material
')f the Milky Way, which is seen in his telescope to be merely a collec-
tion of innumerable stars, and, passing to nebula-, he gives an engraving
of one in the head of Orion ; also of the Prasepe. In the former lie
Hgures 21 stars, and the latter, sy far from being a single object, is an
assemblage of more than .")0. L;>:stly, and- with more interest still, he
describes the four secondary planets he has discovered, circling aiound
Jupit.'r. On the seventh of the preceding January (1610), in the second
hour of the night, he was looking at the stars with his newest telescope,
when .Jnpitor became visible, and he saw three small but bright stars
near the planet, which he supposed to be fixed, but admired because
they were in a straight line, parallel to the ecliptic. Two were to the
.-ast of Jupiter, one to the west. Eight days thereafter, by a chance
he cannot explain, he looked again, and saw (piite a dirt'erent situation ;
all three were west of the great planet. His work gives Gf) diagrams
of their positions, w^th an occasional fixed .star as a point of comparison,
and explains that the four satellites revolve around Jupiter as the Moon
does around the Earth.

The whole of these aunouneements— title, dedication, figures and
all— are contained in a pamphlet of 41 pages, and, at the end, the
•' candid reader " is told he may expect more soon, a promise which was
fultilled in i\\<i Continnntion of th>; Sihrml Mesnenyer, \>i&\X{;(\ in 1611.
tialileo having found in his survey of the heavens something he did
not wish to i)ublish at the time, announced it to Kepler in the follow-
ing jumliie of 37 letters : —

Suiaismrmilmepoetaleumibvnenvgttaviras.

Kepler tried to put this '• pie "into intelligible words, but failed, so on

Noveud)er 1.3th, ItilO, Galileo wrote to him from Florence, whither he

liad muved from Padua, and gave him the answer to tlip enigma •—

aUisshinoii plniif/aut teKjfiiiunvin ohnerrari.

(1 have seen the farthest planet divided into three, or, consisting of
three paits. )

Anothf-r such jumble concealed until 1st January, 1610, the dis-
covery of the phases of Venus. The Coutiuuation announced also,
though with .some uncertainty, the gibbosity of Mars. Xo wonder Kepler
said th-al Galik'o used his lens lik.- a ladder, with which to scale the
fiirlhest and loftiest ramparts of the world !

Itiit all was not done yet. Our volunic contains tlie long and faiiioiis
treatise Ddh' inncc/iie Solari (on sun-sj.ot.s), the e(iiially famous .■<ti'/yi,,-
iure, and the four dialogues in wliieli Salviate, Sagredo and Siniplici(i,
discuss the causes of coherence and tiie method of tindinir centies cf
grMvity. An appendix gi\es an account of the new discovery tliat pro-
jectiles have a parabolic course, and of one of Galileo's first observations.

tliat the pendulum swings in eipial times whatever be the arc it describes

a discovery which was fatal to all previous time-keeping appliances, orien-
tations of public monuments, sun-dials, clepsydras, and hour-glasses.

Those who feel that they have added something to the sum of human
knowledge can understand the sentiment of Horace, " .Vo» viiniis mor-
iiir." It was not mere vanity that insp' d Archimedes, as, leaping
from his bath, he cried " Eureka '. " when tn. [.rinciple of specific gravity
flashed upon him. It was not an ignoble impulse that animated Bacon,
who said, " We build the foundation of the sciences deeper and more
.secuiely and begin investigation earlier than man has done before." nor
should we irreverently listen to his piayer " that the Father who gave
visible light as the first fruits of creation, and at the completion of His
work inspired the countenance of man with the light of understanding,
would vouchsafe to endow the human race through his hands with "ifts
of knowledge.'' When Newton discovered the law of gravitation he was
so ecstatic that he had perforce to employ hired service to complete his
calculations about meaner subjects. Franklin's chief honours were given
him l)ecause with his key and kite string he first drew lightning from the
clouds. Fi(/ineu eripitif, ctelo is a jnster title to honour than the Sceptrm,,-
(/n.e (i/rnnnis which completes the inscription on his celebrated medal,
and none can hiive felt more justly sure of the so-called immortality of
fame than Galileo, when he opened a glorious new vista in the skv.
He accomplished for tlie heavens what Coiumlius ha<l recently been
doing for the Earth. He loosened the clasps of a new volume of nature's
records and spread open many of the most lieautifnlly illuminated pages of
a missal which, before his time, had been all init closed. From Prometheus
to Darwin there is hardly a nobler name. Yet in his lifetime he was not
happy,andeven now there are some who grudge him his posthumousglories-
It was, of course, time for his discoveries. Leoi.ardo da Yinci
made drawings of a combination of lenses for seeing distant things
enlarged, long before the Belgian Lippershey produced his telescope, and
had not the inspiration come to Galileo to point the magic tul)e towards
the heavenly spheres, it would soon have been done by others, for the

•

May-time of the inodeni woHd was -Iniwin.t,' furtli the long slumljeiiii-
energies of mankind. But Leonarao did not put to use tiie telescope C
designed. ^ He locked up in all but undecypii.Tahle notes Ins proofs that
tlie Sun is central and the Earth revolves around it. He was of a
procrastinating disposition, and, tiiough divinely gifted in Art, has left
all too few e.xemplars to an admiring world. Therefore Copernicus can
justly cli.im the honour of unlocking the riddle of planetary motions, and
Galileo that of bringing the heavens closer to the Earth. There are
often moie discoverers than one of important facts, (juite indeiiendent in
their work, but the world recognizes him who tirst makes known his
claim and carries on a successfid tight for its establisimient.

The Saygiatore is in this light an instructive document. The
title is singular. It means " the assay scales," most delicate of balances.
and is in great part a reply to the Libra Ash-unumira of I.otario
Sarsi. It leads off with a complaint that the author's desire to serve
the world by |)ublishing his discoveries was met with ennnty, detraction
an<l fraud. Galileo was angered by the self-sutticient folks who chea|)enfd
the value of his work. " Why," he cries, " what a tield for admirabl,.
speculation was afforded by my letter about solar spots, yet many di.x-
l»elieved or thought little ot it, doubted the correctnes.^ of my observations
and tiieories, or imputed to \m\ ridiculous or imi)ossible opinions. One
per.son has even claimed priority in the discovery." He was especially
irritat.-d because one Simon Marius, who hau in earlier years stolen the
idea (if his geometrical compass, now claimed to have seen the satellites
of Jupiter befme him, and published a book, the Monclo aioriah: to
say so. The .'^.ujyiitore was printed in l(i2:5. Later, in 1638, in dedi-
cating his dialogues to the Count de Noailles, Galileo says he had been
so coiifuseil and stupefied by the bad succe.ss of his other woiks that he
once resolved not to print again, but to leave his manuscripts in some
pul)lic places. His troubles with the Jn(iui.sition had, moreover, bn,.,!
followed by partial deafness and total blindness, and it was when t!:us
artiicted that our .Milton visited him.* Paradise Zos^ seei:.s to bear
evidences of the meeting. In it he dreams of—

— " A spot, like wliich, jierluips,
Astronoiuer in the Suirs lucent la'b
'I'liidugli liis glii/.oil optic tube Vet never saw."

■* " TluTe it wa-^ ihdt I foiuhl an.l visile! tb.' famous Galileo, grown eM, ,-,
prisoner to the Iiaiuisition, for thinking in astronomy otherwise than the Fran
eiscini ami Doniinican lieeiicer.-i thought."— Milton's A nopaf/Uica.

l:i

All.], will, tl,e poftic instinct, ulunys {.ro|.liotic. ho spenks of the lonllv
Sim's ^

— " Mayintic l)i.',iiu, that gently wantis
'J"he universe, ami to cmc li in\uinl i)art
With senile ])oiu tr.iiion, though unseen,
Slioots in\ii,il)le virtue, even to tlie ilee])."'

Milton, himself sijj'htloss, loiaeiiihcMvd Galileo when he cried :
" iSeasons return, hut not to me returns

Day, or tlie sweet ajiuoaeli of even or mom,
(»r sij,'ht of vernal lih.om, or siinimer'M rose.
Or tlocks or herds, ,,r human faee divine-
But cloud instead, and ever-during dark
Surrounds me.''

Kveii in his bliiuhiess, however, the great Italian must liave found some
eoiisolatiot), as Milton did, in knowing that he had done much to enlighten
the world, and posterity has done him justice. The whole Eartli
has made the assay, and weighed the hutton of gold correctlv, and found
(Galileo's work entitled to the hall-ma. k. Une would like, did'time permit,
to dilate on the almost paralhd experience of Columbus. But it will be
enough to say that when one had found the way across the Atlantic and
the other had bridged the sky, they had iiosts of followers who enlarged
tlieir discoveries. For each in his chosen way stood at the dividing line
between the childhood and the youth of knowledge. Each in his sphere
broke the leading strings with which the world had been guided, for the
time for guidance at the hands of antiquity had passed, new methods
and new instruments were needed, new aims animated a re-born world ;
but wjtile we recognize the fact, and so far from regretting it, are
endeavouring as our chief object in this Society to help the progress of
the new sciences, we must not forget the respect due to the ancients,
who nourished them in infancy.

Let us now issue a new Sidcrml .Ucssenger and take up the subjects
treated in the old tract. We have in our library the first plates of the
great Lunar Atlas, the work of Jlessrs. Loewy and Puisen.x, at the
Mendon Observatory near Paris. The Society is having them photo-
graphed and adapted to lantern slides, believing that in this way we can
liere e.xtend the liberality of the French Government. Galileo would
stand long in wonder if he could .see them ! He would have to be told of
the achromatic telescopes we now can make, with ecjuatorial mounting,
moved by clock work, s(. perfected as to follow the complex apparent

motions of the Moon to tlie smalle.st iVaction of a .sccoikI in both latitude
nml longitude. He would liave to hear the story of tiie photograpliic
plate, undreamed of in his time. When he had mastered the elements
of the new science of geology, he would perceive he could no longer
agree with the Pythagoreans wlio thought tiie Moon was like the ?:arth.
For, however carefully we scan these grand lunar maps, we can see no
trace of any Nepciinian action, no effect tlnlt can be referred to the
inHuence of air or water, nothing that resembles tlie terrestrial layers of
limestones, slates or clays. The Moon looks like an aggregation of
primitive rocks, and if there have l)een inundations, they have been
tiiose of lava, stiffening (juickly in the intense cold of space. The
authors of these maps think they see evidence of five successive lava-
llow.s. The lunar mountains, higher in pioportion yet not (juite so
elevated as those of Earth, have been measured as well as nnipped, ai,d
we are watching witii the grpatest care for some little change in the
stony face, which we think will be noticed, if at all, in connection with
tlie small secondary craters of which tin re are so majiy, and will l)e
traceable by comparing later photographs with these, for without air
or water there can be no smoke or other of the jdienomena usual in
terrestrial convulsions. 'J'he i,inri,t, which Galileo thought were places
covered by stationaiy clouds, are now known to be low-lying plains,
without mists of any kind, though why they are darker than the hilly
legions \vc do not yet know. How he would enjoy looking at our twin
planet with the various forms of telescope invented since his day, though he
would ffnd none of them fitted with the combination he employed, whicli
has been relegated to the opera glass alone. It would be news to him to
hear of the discovery of planets beyond Saturn, but not surprising to
learn that there are moons for all the large planets outside the Earth, for
he thought it likely. He knew nothing of the hundreds of Asteroids.

Would it not be delightful for Galileo to discourse with us of light ?
He devotes a page in his fiist dialogue to a suggestion for measuring its
v.docity. He wished to have a lamp put on a distant hill in charge of a
confederate, and to place a similar one beside himself. This he intended
to suddenly cover up, and when its extinction was noticed afar off', the
other observer was to cover his. He tried tliis method, but only at the
distance of a short uiile, and he was "unable to decide whether li"ht
exi»anded instantaueously or not, but if not, it vVus extremely rajiid."
He siiys he thought light somewhat resembled sound in its way of

movin;^, iM.t a.l.l..! that l.e saw ,lirtieulties in tlu- way of its t.ave.M,,.. n
vacu.nn auoss tl.o intinit.-, across tl.o indivi.il.le, across instantaneous
."ot.ons, an,l tiu..v w..o otlaT nuute.s to he reasoned out in this
connection. Here was the inHnite so hounded hy nu.nbe.s as to heeonu.
unity : tron. the indlvisihle must he h.,rn infinite divisihilitv, a vacuum
.nust .ecome a ,.hM.nn,, and finally the ci.vun.ference of a cikde ,nust he
consulered as a„ infinitely long straight line. How gratiHed he would
feel to leurn that his own Medicean stars gave the first measure of the
velocity of hght hy the difference of time in the occurrence of their
eclipses, when Juj.iter was in opposition and conjunction. Tt is not a
lit le .singular that Foucaults experiment, which first lueasured th.
velocity ot light across terrestrial distances, was really hased on hi.
suggested method. Astrononncal and physical science has certainly
progressed far when we can correctly measure the wave-lm^'ths of
variously coloured light with a two foot rule, as our Mr. Chant did i,,
our presence, at a recent meeting of this Society. Now that we have tl e
spectroscope, to combine with the telescope and the photographic fihn
the science seems to have reached n.aturity, and is in the plenitude of
it.s powers. Perhaps we may carry on the simile and sav that Newton
who hrst produced the sunlight spectrum in a sciendfic way, and
discovered in gravity the hond which holds all worlds together married
ivstronomy to physics, so that Urania no longer sits on a solitarv
emnience. The union has been fruitful, and while some of tl,;
intimates ot the i)air prefer one, and some the other as a friend •,11
respect them both, and even we, in the very name of our Society, profess
to be admirers of the liappy conjunction.

Our new Sidereal Messenger cannot indeed say that the stars have a
perceptil>]e disc, but we know the distances of many of them, we know
that they are in rapid motion, that they are of many kinds, in
various stages of growth or decay, that they are not all luminous, that
some are revolving around each other. We know several of the sub-
stances present in their glowing atmospheres and we are en-.a-^ed in
measuring not only the light they emit but the heat we recefve" from
t^.em, and s.ich is the perfection of our instruments, that at the Yerkes
Observatory, Mr. Nichols has a radiometer so sensitive that the heat of a
J^vndle, 28 kilometres or 17| miles away, will make it deviate a mil-
.metre. Arcturus gives us no more heat than a common candle S or '.
kilometres or 5 miles distant. Yet we can measure it : What would

' 1

5 t

(Jiilileo tliink of tlie pliotogropliic exjiiniimtioii of C»iiiegii Centauri, in
the .southern heinisplieiv, where ovei- 7,000 star-i are seen in a luiuinous
patch rcseiiililing a faint cloiul, and smaller than the Moon, of which we
know that IL'O are variahle?

(iaiileo was fortunately wrong in thinking he had settled all (jiiestions
aljout the Milky Way ; it is the subject of more lively interest now than
ever. It seems to be the rim of the stellar aggregation of which our
Sun forms part, and may be likened to the equator on the globe. Most
.star.s of the tiist magnitude appear to be dispo.sed in another great belt
in a way resembling the ecliptic. The stars of difi'eient constitutions
.•?eem to be sorted out in layers or streaks, insomuch that a great
(HHerence is noted between the actinic and visual light of .stars of
ditl'erent galactic latitudes. The most earnest attention of astronomers
is now l)eing given to stellar spectroscopy, the precise work being three-
fold — the classification of stars according to the type of spectrum they
show, the measurement of the wave-lengths of their bright and dark
spectral lines, to identify the substances in their atmospheres, and the
measurement of the displacement of such .spectral lines from the normal,
by which the velocity of the stellar motion in the line of .sight can be
determined. For this, the giant telescopes are used, also for the
measurement of close double stars, the spectroscopic and photographic
examination of nebuhe and the discovery of new planetary satellites.
They are not employed in the work formerly done by smaller instru-
ments, but in that which until their advent could not be done at all,
so that the smaller observatories still have their hands full, and there
is room even for the ordinary instrument of the amateur. To place this
question on its lowest plane, 'tis clear there is no telescope so small that
its use will not give a better conception than the unaided eye of the
features of the Sun, Moon and stars, and enal)le its possessor to read
with increased interest the works of astronomical wiiters.

One of the most interesting discussions of the present day is as to
the age of our system, and e.specially of our own planet, vvhich is distinct
from the question of the time when man fiist developed upon it, and
equally natural and appropriate at the close of a century. Between the
physicists and the students of the natural sciences, the battle races
hotly. At the head of the former stands the illustrious Lord Kelvin,
who announced his opinion in 18G2, when he was Prof. William
Tlioiiipson.* From the rate of increase of heat as the miner goes down-
* Transadiom Royal .Socii'ty Kdinburgh, vol. xxiii.

ward, he reasoned out the rate of secular cooling, and declared that our
Earth must be more than twenty but less than four hundred millions of
years old. This argument has been reinforced by one depending on the
retardation of the Earth's rotation by tidal friction, and another on the
limitation of the age of the Sun. Lord Kelvin has, therefore, reduced
his r.aximum to "not much more than twenty millions." The contest
IS by no means new. In the Atlantean myth are clear traces that the
geologists of pre-Christian days required great lapses of time between
deluge and deluge. That great geologist Hugh Miller, though a cata-
clysmist, a believer in the sudden destruction of whole races of living
beings by terrestrial catastrophes, in beautiful and forcible EnHish
almost unequalled in our literature, proved the existence of life duHn-
incalculable teons. It is, therefore, historically right that the geolo^is^t
of to-day, under the banner of Sir Archibald Geikie, should have tlken
up the gage of battle against Lord Kelvin, for them.selves as well as the
biologists. Nor is the subject unimportant, for if the sciences are tine
they must be concordant, and it is needful, in the warfare of true know'
ledge against superstition, which is .surviving ignorance, that divergences
should be removed, as removed they cannot fail to be. The whole of
Sir Archibald's address to the British Association, 1899, ought to be read
by all interested in the subject; but I will quote a few sentences now.

"Even in the most ancient of the sedimentary registers of the
Earth's history, not only is there no evidence of colos.sal floods, tides and
denudation, but there is incontrovertible proof of continuous orderly
deposition, such as may be witnessed to-day in any quarter of the globe.
* * The conclusions drawn from the nature and arrangement of the
sediments are corroliorated and much extended by the structure and
manner of entombment of the enclosed organic remains. * * Undoubt-
edly, most impressive of all the pala^ontological data is the testimony
borne by the grand succession of organic remains among the stratified
rocks as to the vast duration of time required for their evolution. ♦ *
So far as I have been able to form an opinion, one hundred millions of
years would suffice for that portion of the history which is registered in
the stratified rocks of the crust. But if the paUeontologists Hnd such a
period too narrow for their requirements, I can see no reason on the
geological side why they should not be at liberty to enlarge it as far as
they may Hnd needful for the evolution of organized existence on the
globe."

Sir Arclubald proceeds to regret the absence of numerical data
to forn. a satisfactory basis to con.pute the rate of denudation, and asks
for the aid of all who can furnish any, as to the wearing away of coasts
tiie decay of buildin^-s, and even of ton.bstones. I feel called upon to
resjwnd to his request with a new rule for measurement.

Our West Algoma is a severely glaciated region, in which none but
archa.an rocks remain, and n)any gold-bearing reefs have been exposed
Since the ice-cap left, the surface has been decaying, and the greater
part of the aluminous and siliceous constituents of the rocks has been
removed by water and wind. But the particles of gold, which are not
destructible and are of too high a speciHc gravity to be blown awav or
carried off by trickling rain, have, in favourable places, been left and I
had a number of assays made hist summer from one such spot The gold
contents of the reef, when " the .solid " wu. reached, were about $3 50 to
the ton, but the thin surface .soil assayed .$100, and, for several inches
down, the fine particles of the precious metal had " crawled " into the
crevices, enriching this surface rock to al,out $12. Averaging, the cold
contents of half a foot in depth at $25 to the ton, there nmst have been
an erosion of nearly eight feet, to yield the values. Now, in 1875 I
raised a large gneiss boulder to the surface of my grounds in Toron'to
since which there has been a noticeable decav, but it cannot exceed the
twentieth part of an inch. If the Algoma rocks have been disintec^rated
at this rate, it would have taken G.OGO years to wear away a foot and
nearly 50,000 years to erode the eight feet in question. I once meas
ured the amount of detritus carried away by the creek which ran below
the i.lateau where I live, by taking given quantities of its turbid witer
in times of freshet and measuring the sediment. Assuming continuity
of conditions, I found it must have taken 70,000 years to excavate the
valley of that Rosedale brook, and I argued that if the geological theory
were true and the removal of a glacier dam at the foot of Lake Ontario
had caused the fall of its water-level, this was the time that had elapsfd
since the ice age here. As the ice must have left this latitude and
elevation before it left Algoma, the calculations tally fairlv, which m-iy
indeed be fortuitous, but it is only by averaging reasonable calculations
that a safe esti, ,ate can be r'ached. I do not think the time given for
the decay of a foot of granite should cause incredulity. I have*seen the
Pont du Gard, in France, built about 1,700 years ago, and the -,eat
stones there have not decayed three inches. The climate there is perh-ips

the le.ss severe, but I think the material is limostone. which can scarcely
be so durable as granite. But ,lo rocks, covere.l lightly by the product
o then, own decay and by vegetation, take longer^/welr awlv thTn
U.ose uncovered and does u.uch interior decay proceed along with exterior
weathering? An affirmative answer to both these cp.estions would
perhaps not n.uch change the result obtained ; but, until thev a.nl nmny
others can be answered, much doubt will envelop the subject and th«
Imnts of possible error will have an enoruu.us superior ran'

tion^nf'.t "° T^"'^ '^^"'"^'""^ ''"^"^"^ '"^-^ •^"^" ""^-°in that por.
on of the quaternary penod which is subsequent to the ice a^e here
he disappearance of the ice-cap must be geologically very recent A
hundred t.n.es as nmch would be all too short for the evolution of" pre-
sent ormsot l.fe iron, its first beginnings in early stratified rocks, be ow
winch we avetensof thousands of feet n.ore of strata in which Z
Uaces of hfe are visible. I myself measured 30,000 feet of the early
Cambrian black slates exposed on the north-west of Lake Superior, a, d
arched for many weeks for traces of Hfe therein, without fi.uling any
Only after hese do we come to the archa.an formations, of unknown thi.k.
ness It does seem, fain though I am to take .sides with the physicists
hat there IS .some error in their computations, of omLssion or assumption
and hat t ns world is almost from everlasting, while almost to everlast!
ing It must go on, as nideed they themselves prove.

Lord Kelvin's argument, however, like everything emanating from
bim, IS beautifully simple. He adopts Fourier's analysis of the follow!
ing problem : Given, an infinite plane dividing an infinitely large solid
nass, with different constant temperatures on each side of the pFane (a
he beginning of an epoch). What will be the rate of variationlr
oint to point, and the actual temperature at any point ? He shows
that m the case of a globe 8,000 miles through, the surface may be con-
sidered as such a plane, and the depth inHnite, without sensible error for
.nore than a thousand millions of years. We thus have an equation
nto wn.eb there enter as elements the initial temperatures, th time
he distance of any point from the given plane an.l the temperature o^
that pom at the time, also the conductivity of the solid. A tyro in
differentials can follow the " mathematical poem " throughout Assum
ing time to be a hundred million years, the conductivity, in ."elati.n to

TOOO i ottert "r " ''"' °' ''''"'"'■-' ""'^^ ' ^"^^'^'- temperature
7,000 iiotter than the present surface, the rate of increase works out

one fifty (irst part of a degree i)er foot for the first hundred thousand
feet or so, such rate then rapidly decreasing. The chief variation
allowrtMe is in the function of tiie conductivity, and this, diminished
by half or increased by one-half, gives the superior and infeiior limits
first alluded to l)y Sir Arch. Geikie. What new fact has induced Lord
Kelvin to reduce his estimate 1 do not yet know. The effective tempe-
rature of the Sun is stated in the Anlrophijsical Journal for August,
1899, as li,;50U' Centigrade, which equals 20,340° Fahr., and if the
Earth had at the first a heat approaching this, and the cooled surface
did not sink, as Lord Kelvin assumes it did, until by convection the
temperature was so much reduced that the Earth became practically a
solid — if, moreover, tlie protection given by its atmosphere of many miles*
introduces a neglected element into the Fourier problem — it may be that
even Lord Kelvin's estimate will be again revised and meet biological
requirements. The extension of our thermonietrical range by Dewar's
appai'atus in London, and Moissan's electric furnace in Paris, has made it
possible to study the behaviour of substances under conditions of cold
and heat respectively, which could not be produced until now. In our
immediate neighbourhood are great factories of carbides of calcium and
silicon. It is possible that much of our world's original carbon is in the
.shape of carbides down below. Some of their known qualities may
determine the position of active volcanoes which are all near oceans, and
otherwise influence miners' experiences as to increasing heat.

Some progress has been made in the enquiry into the sync'aronism
between magnetic storms on the Earth and changes in the luminosity of
comets, and this being a discovery of my own, first announced to this
Society, I venture to descant upon it here.

If a magnetised bar be suspended at right angles to the magnetic
meridian, one force with which it strains towards its normal position,
parallel with that meridian, is called the Hoiizontal Force, while if it
be so pivoted as to oscillate up and down, the strain with which it dips
towards the magnetic pole is called the Vertical Force. The third
element. Declination, involving the angle between the geographical and
magnetic meridians, is po.ssibly of little importance in this connection.
These forces vary, like the wind, from hour to liour, and when the varia-
tion is rapid and continuous and considerable, we have what is called a
magnetic storm. Some years the magnets are stolidly quiescent, in
others they show frequent and striking signs of great agitation, and it

lias been found tlmt tlie measure of annual distiiibance in the Sun,
obtained from records of tbe areas of its 8i)ots, corresponds with tiie
measure of the disturbance of onr magnets. This was first noted by Sir
Edward Sabine, wiien, in 1851, he was discussing the magnetic observa-
tions at Toronto and IloVmrton from 1843 to 1848, and found in both
a progressive increase of disturbiince. Schwabe had just then pulilished
his taldes of sun-spot frequency, which sliowed an increase of spot areas
during those very years. Mr. Ellis has published diagrams in the Pro-
ceedim/s of the Royal Society which establish this concordance to the
present date.

The delusion that sun-spots are the ca«.ses of magnetic disturbance
must be dispelled. Many of onr magnetic storms can be traced on the
records as in process of preparation for months before the appearance of
a sun-spot, appearing as .slighter but very evident disturbances at ]>revious
periods, measured by the length of the Sun's synodical rotation. Thus
the sun-spots can only be an effect of some cause which also makes the
magnets tremble. The frequently coincident appearance of great sun-
spots and magnetic disturVwnces shows indeed that there is a bond of
relationship between them, but no rule obtains as to the position of the
spot on the solar disc. At the crisis of the storm, the spot may or may
not have reached or passed centrality.

Other phenomena are associated with these disturbances. The
auroral curve is intimately connected with those of Magnetic Forces.
The number of thunder-storms is said to be influencetl by them too. In
the Comptes RenJus of June ::6th, is a table of the number of earth-
quakes in Greece, from 1893 to 1898, which follow fairly well the
descending curve of sun-spots, for that j)eriod. In the Monthly Weather
Review for April, the eruptions of Manna Loa are reported to coincide
approximately with sun-spot minima, and the same thing has './een .said
about the eruptions of ^tna, though further statistics are needed in
both cases. I do liot find any agreement in the case of the Philinine
islands' volcanoes. Mr. C. Parkinson, writing in a fecent CornhiU of
phosphorescence in the ocean, says that " on certain nights the entire
marine fauna pulsates with a mysterious incandescent force suggestive
of some connection with the. magnetic currents of the universe."

If now we can sustain the assertion that comets feel this influence
at the same time that Sun and Earth do, we locate the oricin of the
disturbances in the Sun — not in the region of cosmic space through
which the system is passing.

;

i I

Jii Pnif. JJiirnHrrf'b kmtn^ifr*. of tlie bicakiiij,' up of Il»<w*''Ve'8 coiii«'t of
1893, Octoltor 22u(l iinti foUo'wing ihiyn, he Kays it seeuH-d as if tlit*
l)oJy was jiaKNiii;^ tliri)Uj,'li some reHisting mediiua in space. On turning
to t\w niiigni'tic records I found a grt'iit diwturlmnce frt)ni tlie L'.'Jrd to
tlio L'Atli, and that was tlio most di.slurl«'d [.criod of a year of great
difitinbanct's, just la'foro a sun-spot uiaxiinuni, and I thought solar
intluenco luiglit Ito found to exphiin tlie change in the comet more
plausilfly tluin tloatiiig cosmic matter. Additional researches gave colour
to this view, and in our 7'rnusacfiunn for last year, page lliG, are some
contirmatory notes, especially respecting Kucke's comet in 1871, just
after a solar spot-nuiximum, and Donati's in IH.'jH, when a maximum
was close at hand. Mr. Elvins suhsequently drew my attention to
Swift's comet, lSi)2, I ; as described by him in the Canadian Magazine.
iV»"il Gth the comet seemed very briglit imd on the 7th the tail was
toiu up. iiere was a magnetic (listuri)ance from the Hth to the 7th,
not very severe, but the sun-sjiot maxim\im was close at hand. I then
wrote to Prof. H. Kreutz, the Director of the Astronomical Central
l?coor(l Ollice at Kiel, who had the kind civility to reply at length,
stating that the idea was new, but referring me to a [laper of Prof.
Jk'rbtirich's in the Antruiioiiiisclie Xachriclileii for 18^8, in which that
distinguished astronomer had treated of a relation between the bril-
liancy of Eucke's comet at its successive visits and the number of sun-
spots existing at these times. He had the further goodness to send me
three recortled instances of sudden changes in comets, and enquired
how they tilted in will- the theory advanced. They were comet Pons-
Brooks, 1884, I, which showed a sudden change in brightness on Sep-
tember 21st, 23rd, 1883; comet 1888, 1, which changed its appearance
suddenly. May 20th-2l.st ; and comet 1892, III, Holmes, in which
*' from a simjilo nuiss of nebulous matter without a nucleus, there
suddenly developed on January IGth, 1893, a bright nucleus surrounded
by nebulous matter, which after some time disappeared." I find with
respect to the Pons-'Jrool.s lomet that the observations, of which we
have a full account in \\w ^v.it)hlet!H of our late Honorary member.
Father Terby, of Louvaiii^ ^ . -y i'>,.ierfect, owing to continuous

bad weather. The comet si-O'Oti ~. >< re been very variable, and the
magnetic weather was mo;^?. '.i- 'tbie too. Ti iV was a very great
storm from the 15tli to the .Ti'th September, the greatest violence being
however, before and after the date given for the cometic change. Comet

1388, I, gives a iniicli inoio distinct confiriimtioii of my views, for on tlie
20th May, the diiy moiitioued by Prof. Kroutz, tht; greatest depression
of the year occiirre.l in tiie curve of Horizontal Force, and one of the
most reniai-l.al)le magnetic storms known was accompunied hyono of the
most I'lilliiint uur( I :i' all over tlie world. Though it was at a sun-spot
uiinimiMii, tliere was a large regular spot on tiio Sun followed l)y many
otliersinan irregular stream, the whole in a state of constant change. The
sjiotted areas for May and the two montliH preceding and following, were:—

1888
Umbra"

March
5

April
4

May
37

J 11 tic

July

W'luile apotfi. .

.^4

206

•-'3

The principal spot, fnst seen on I\Iay 11th and last observed on the
23id, was 37 past the central solar meridian by noon on the 2Uth,
Greenwich civil time.

It oiUy needs a few more of such striking coincidences to establish
my theory beyond a shadow of doubt.

It must be admitted that no marked d''i)ression occurred on January
ICth, 189;}, the date given for a change in the comet Holmes;* there
was indeed an increase of Horizontal Force on the previous dav.
But a great variability in the comet is recorded, as well as a much
disturbed magnetic curve in November and December, 181)2, the S
S. maximum then fast approacliing. As meteoric stones are known to
vary in composition, so comets perhaps vary too, and all may not be
equally susceptible to the particular solar influence which produces the
brightening or dispersion of their appendages.

As showing the effect ot this influence on another body than the
Earth, 1 nuist refer to Leo Brenner's observation of Mercury on INIay
]8lii, 189G, when he was astonished tf ee the dark side of the i)lanet
surrounded by a beautiful aureole. To make sure it was not an
illusion, he called Madame Manola to the telescope. That day was the
crisis of a magnetic storm upon the Eaith. lie has promised to send
me a list of the days when he has seen aureoles around the dark side of
Venus, a much more frequent piienomenon, that I may see if they are
coincident with magnetic disturbances.

* In the Transactions Royal Society for March, 1893, page 'A'A2, the account.s
given of this comet for January and February do not agree with I. of the

Nachrichten. The only sign of a tail alluded to is on January 27th and . hruary
4th, when there were depressions in the Horizontal Force curve.

Berberich's paper on Eucke's comet gives data as to its brightness
from 1786 to 1885. The intensity it ought to show is given by tlie

formula/ = ;^:^z,^heve r is the distance of the comet from the Sun

and D its distance from tlie Earth. After carefully reading the accounts
he gives of its observed brightness, I have assigned to them numerical
values from 1 to 10, placing a concordance with the average between 5
and G, and have constructed a curve therefrom, wliich agrees remark-
ably with the Ellis curves of magnetic Horizontal Force and of sun-
spot areas. Berl)erich thinks a higher power of r should be used to
bring calculated intensity into accord with what we see when the
comet is bright. I suggest adding instead another foctor, connected
with magnetic stresses, and I hope to tind what it should be. I do not
doubt that other periodical comets are most luminous at times of great
magnetic disturbance, or that more comets can be observed in such
seasons. That is, however, a different phenomenon from what I have
noted, viz., the immediate effect upon some comets of particular ma^rne-
tic storms. *

is.

U* 5 r '^

No. 1 is the curve for brillancy of Eucke's Comet.
No. 2 is the cuvve of Hor. Magnetic Force.
No. ;! is the curve of sun-spot areas.

Tlie second and third from Mr. Ellis paper; the first prepared from Berberich's
descriptions by the author.

Last year was not an minus mhahilis for observational astronomy.
The Sun was almost clear of spots. The planets were not in very
favourable positions. No large new stars blazed out. Comets were few

and small. Even the November meteors were disappointing. Here it
was generally cloudy and I saw through the drifting clouds but one,
which was not a Leonid, as it came from Cancer and cros.sed the barely
visible sickle in Leo. It is a beautiful sight to see a large shooting star
through a haze or mist. Dr. Larratt Smith observed one such, in Janu-
ary last, which shot upwards from a radiant below the horizon, and Mr.
Gordon Mowat reports seeing one through a cloud which shut other
stars from view. The observatoiy at Meudon collected Leonid notes
from Deliii in India to San Francisco, and observers all rejjorted a
paucity of meteors. The calculation of Leverrier was thus verified, that
after the fine display of 186G, the Leonid ring would pass near enough
to Jupiter and Saturn to have its orbit changed, and no confocal stream
supplied its place, which seems to prove that the meteor-roadway of the
ortho-Leonids is comparatively narrow. It is thought the star-shower
will be more brilliant in November next. Remarkable observations
were, however, made from balloons, two of which were sent up from
Paris and three from other places to see the Leonids from above the
clouds. Miss Klumpke, an attachee of Meudon, was one of the aeron-
auts. Balloon observations afford several advantages. The stars shine
brighter when seen from above the mists of Earth. Notwithstanding
the light of the nearly full Moon, all the stars in Leo Minor could be
well seen, and the colours of the meteois were far better marked. Only
minutes were noted, as no chronometer was taken up, but in future
ascents, when the omission will be made good, comparisons both as to
colour and brilliancy can be made with observations from terra Jirma.
The course of such balloons, ascertained by compass, can be checked by
dropping weighted cards. The Perseid stream, of August, as important
in its bearing on meteoric astronomy as the Leonid ring, was well
observed in Europe, the average number of meteors during five days
being about 100 an hour; and from a simple calculation we can obtain
a very fair idea of the celestial spaces involved in the display. The Earth
is 8,000 miles through, and rushes across the meteor-stream with a front
we may estimate as equal to a plane of fifty million of miles in area.
Supposing an observer can see 35 miles in every direction, he covers
about 5,000 square miles, so that ten thousand stations would be needed
to see all the meteors that fell. Now a hundred an hour, at ten thous-
and stations, for five days, means a hundred and twenty million meteor-
ites. Again, the orbit traversed by the Earth in a year is about six

hundred millions of miles long, so that in five days, the Earth would
have crossed eight millions of miles, which is the breadth of the thickly
starred i)art of the Perseid stream— the only necessary allowance being
for the angle at which the orbits of the Earth and of the meteors inter-
sect. Further, the Earth travels its own diameter-length in about seven
minutes, so that the plane of fifty million miles with its ten thousand
stations met within the space traversed in that time 120,000 meteors,
and each one must have been flying along over thirty miles, on the
average, from its neighbours.

Though experienced star-gazers may remember more splendid
transitory sights than those of last year, observers who are young, either
from years or from newly kindled interest (and of such there is a fresh
crop every season) have had enough to stinnilate them. They have
enjoyed what some of us have long since lost ; the exquisite luxury of
vivid first impressions. The bright diamonds which attend on Jupiter
can be seen every year with quite small telescopes ; so, too, can the
wonderful Saturnian microcosm. Double stars and nebula; are always
with us, I was about to say unchanged, but that is not the case ; com-
panion stars circle about each other, while changes in the form and
itlative brightness of parts of some nebulaj are thought to be noticeable
also. The Moon is only inconstant in a Shakespearean sense, she is an
object of transcendent loveliness of which old astronomers never tire ; 1
know not whether she is more beautiful when the lace like edge of the
cresent shows like a fringe between the glare of her sunrise and tlie
darkness of her half month-long night— when she shines full upon us, a
silvery, shadowless sphere— or when, the veil of eclipse thrown over
her, she is coloured with the lovely bronze and blue tints of diffracted
light.

Though i)a.ssing shows have been few, there has been no i)ause in
the progress of our science. Wonderful news reaches us from the moun-
tain tops, where the clearest seeing is. Tlie observatories thei'e ai'e in an
astronomical fairy land, where the visible stars are brighter than below,
and doubles shine with colours like " combinations of garnets and
sapphires, topazes and rubies."

Schaeberle, at the Lick telescope, has seen, of a dull purple, the
uiassive companion to Procyon, previously only known to exist by
inference, like many other so-called dark stars. The companion to

Sirius is calculated to be of great size and weight, and it is very obscure.
It was first seen by Alvan G. Clark in 18G2, and has lately been
almost in line with its principal, but now emerges. Its orbit is described
in 52-20 years. The chief companion to Algol goes round in less than
three days.*

Prof. See suggests that daik stars seem to be so because they shine
with vibrations our optic nerves cannot respond to — say of the ultra-
violet type. They may in such case be hereafter caught on a well
focussed photographic plate, which is sensitive to vibrations the eye
cannot perceive. Phcebe, the new ninth satellite of Saturn, was so
found, and has not yet been distinguished by direct vision. It is the
most distant of his family, just within the limit of permanent attrac-
tion, and quite small, showing oidy as a 15 5 magnitude starlet.

More asteroids have been "located." The first, Ceres, was dis-
covered on the first of January, 1801, by Piazzi, at Palermo. The
eccentric Eros, first known as D. Q. (No. 433), was introduced to his
elders in 1898, and now we have E.W., which means that thirty have
been found since then. The family group is now so large that when
new members are caught, they are turned loose again, unless their orbits
present some noticeable peculiarity.

Spectroscopists have scored another triumph in the discovery of a
layer of carbon in the Sun. Piof. G. E. Hale and Mr. F. Ellerman, of
the Yerkes Observatory, announce that they have found it at the base
of the chromosphere, a very thin envelope, but unmistakealle. Only
instruments of the highest power have revealed its existence. Non-
telescopic spectroscopists rejoice in the discovery of vauadium in almost
all stony meteoiites, while it is absent from siderites, which they con-
sider proves diversity in their origin.

Physicists are to the fore with an ex[)lanation of transparency, based,
if I understand Mr. Sarzac aright, on the arrangement of the jtarticles
in the medium and on its elasticity. Light-waves, striking the surface
of glass, water, or the like, force back its particles and communicate
successive vibrations, which, if the thickness be not sufticient to absorb

*It ia interesting to compare these periods with those of boilius sucli as one of
the compoiieiits of the doublo-doiible « Lyne, which takes 900 years to revolve, or
the comet of 1811 which is calculated to have an elliptical orbit with a period of
nearly 2,000 years.

the impulses, are transmitted by the second surface to the ether on tlie
otner side. Transparency, and the index of refraction, depend on the
arrange.nent of the particles in such a method as to propagate wave
motion harmoniously. The communication has recently been made to
the French Academy.

In Radiography we now speak of Rnssel rays and Becquerel rays in

addition to those of Roentgen. It is suspected indeed that all matter,

including the ht.man body, emits influences which will aflfect a sensitized

plate, if kept in darkness for a sufficient time. Until last year uranium

was thought to be the substance whose emanations most rapidly affected

the film ; it was displaced by radium, but Madame Curie's discovery of

polonium gives us a metal which has four hundred times as much energy,

and that without apparent exciting cause or perceptible diminution.'

Radium IS even more energetic, with this remarkable difference, that its

influence is aflected by an electro-magnetic field, whereas the radiations

of polonium seem not to be deflected thereby. This new science has

already many applications, the latest being a proposal of Dr. Kolle's,

in the Electrical Engineer, to supersede some of the processes ot'

typography.

I do not know under what head to class the announcement by Mr.
Chas. Honoie, of ]V[ontevideo, that the body of the sun, interior to the
pliotospliere, rotates somewhat more rapidly than the visible exteiior
and on an axis inclined lo that we see evidence of. He promised
proof, and thinks that periodicites in the phenomena of temperature
and earthquake can be referred to this helio-thermic year.

:^i

^^ ^

We have had some very inter-
esting lecoids from tlie Toronto
.seismograph. The instrument is
of tiie Milne type, only intended
to show the time at whicli shocks
occur, to aid in studying the rapid-
ity of the transmission of tiemors,
and thus learning something more
about the eifective rigidity of the
Earth. It is not meant to show
the character of the o.scillations,
but it does to some extent show
their violence. In 1898 it gave us
notes of 28 eartluiuakfs, and in
1899 of 37, the excess being prob-
ably due to its improved setting.
Of these no less than 29 weie in
September lust. It seems by the
tri^cings that for several days the
Earth was constantly shiverin"
until on September lOtii at
17h. 11 '56" Greenwich mean time
a great throe began. The record
from Victoria, B.C., miscarried in
the mails, so we lack the most in-
teresting coa)pari.son, but at Kew
the first tremor was 3 minutes 7
seconds later. The maximum was
noted here at 20h. 42' U" Green-
wich mean time, and at Kew 24
minutes 't'2 seconds later. Another
great shake began at 20h. 42' 14"
Greenwich mean time, with a maxi-
I'.uui at 22h. :y G". Mr. Stupait,
the director of our observatory,
has kindly given me the tracin"H
and I show you that of the last
great shock. The whole dis-

80
tarbnnoe lasted (or nine lioui-. H)n„„l. .-i

quiet reigned. Ti,e ceL e f d tf """" '" '""'"" »'"«''""

Nortl..„e..cr„ C„ Lr tut I r""-"" "™'- *'"""' ^t. Eli«. in

line there we ,1,„11 e' »ff "\^">«'«'"' "»n tl,e l'„cifio eoa,t.
■n,e ,„„„, ■e.eeta 1': ,.;::.: ;',: "■'.»"■■- A„.H e„,.t„„„..,e.

w.a 4,000 n,il« or „,„re in Ce er ' "? T'' ''' "'" »''"<'^'
per„,„„entlj cl,„n«ed , „ ", „7i , ''" "'""o"'- "' ""> -««Wine »«
knownlnnd'n.ark,',:;;' 1 ,*:f ';;;;.y™>--J ..,. and well-
ocean, tl,e water, on ...„ erj' e Lrf i h" '""1 '" ''"'" '""

Ind.an nd,uW,ants of the region were great]/, X;,^, tIT"
S. J.el<«on, Superincendent o( M„eation of !ll„t w .. v\ i

every glacier on the coast, the Mni. Racier with tt ^T .. ,

W,.,nred for a n.iie or n.ore fr'on, 11'-': irCrZ,?

Ma'"8t,:,::r"';iv'',v'' "' "? '°°''"'» "'■"■•"■^ '■■ "- '--lip- «f
^tL.ie';:t ttr ;:i:::z?:^;i^r;:;r":r'''

tlii» side, obaerver, will favonr Geor. i. Id A ,1 °, ' " ° ""

«.„e the K.a.t interference fron, olonl' ZV^'Z T ri"', '""'

:;:::■ z " '^™" °^ '^"." ^ °- ■"■« »■■»■■ ™'"' - •« ° ;:iw;

extended, tlie oarm.ne prominences will prohablv l,e small and 7
]>« both, as well as other nsnal phenon.en of u,L, e di e, wi^l I '

lZu7o ':: ■ '' "•""■'"'" «'■"'*"•■ "' "I-'' - "l»- worth going

whieVi:rei:^ii':;i::;:';:,:7;r''°r™°'^ ■■''-- '■' '

•'J litis ai«ajs tak(-n a deep interest '< One. ,,t +i.„
reforn,s of the hist twenty years " sivs thp IF ./ 7P ^"''"^

f«„ «i 1 ., '"J^frtis, says the II ea/'/^er7e«nft?o of Waslii. ur

ton, "has been silent y advancing. * * ti • '^ "i vva..i,ii,g.

tion, where the one h red,., I,"!!";' '",''::'"■ !"."■= "«'- P-

tion
The

tired and fifth is adopted," as it is on the

me is the case in Canada, and the system i^
hemisphere. We have not yet succeeded in havi

Pacific

IS spreading on the other
ng the twenty -four hour

notation commonly used, or in having astronomical and civil ti.ne
brought together, the former still beginning its clay at noon The
French Annuahe <lit Lhuron ,1,-s Lou,jitndes has. however, this year
adopted mean civil time, from Oh. to 241.., and astronomers there will
have to fall into line. But a still more important change is perhaps
bemg accomplished, as I speak, viz., the adoption in Ihissia of the
Gregorian reform of the calendar, which dates from 1 5H2. Ten davs
were omitted from the year when first the reform was instituted at
Rome, eleven when England adopted it, in 1752, and the Russians wi'l
now have to omit thirteen. Reports being as yet contradictory we
are not yet sure. Some say the difficulties in connection with re^ula-
lating church festivals are insuperable. It seems curious that "time
reckonmg, which is strictly a matter of astronomy, should be made a
matter of religion. It is however proposed that on January 1st, 1901
all Christendom shall date its letters on the same day and month. ' Then
on to Cosmic time, when every clock will be set to the same hour and
minute ! The greatest feature of the past century has been the -enerHJ
acknowledgment that one law, one common nature, one evolutiona^'ry sys-
tem pervades not only this world but all otheivs. and surely one law as to
...„...i.._ ,„^^j Pleasures, e.specially that of time, ought to be observed

weights

among men

And now, in the last year of the century, in the last year of the So-
ciety's first decade, with my last words as your President, I think I ou^lit
to express the satisfaction we must feel in looking back over our own
particular little day. From being peripatetic wanderers, we have become
a settled institution, having comfortable quarters under the roof of the
Canadian Institute. Our special room is decently furnished. Our library
IS fast growing into value, our volumes are properly bound, well arranged
and catalogued, and I do hope the Society will continue the assiduous
care of this department, for though the heavens are our chief books
written in pandemic language, and their suzerainty is ever preferable
to that of the printed page, we need many others as commentaries upon
them. Our Tmmuctiom have been regularly issued and have been well
received at home and abroad. We are free from debt. Our organization
has worked smoothly, our officers have been earnest and faithful, and
our future seems as bright as we can reasonably wish I received ray
trust from a model President, I surrender it to a capable and respected
member. In the hands of Mr. G. E. Lurasden. F.R.A.S., the dignity of
the position will not be impaired, and he will repay you for the honour
conferred upon him with no less loving service than his predecessors. -^