CHAPTER XXI

General

The achievements of Hipparchus in astronomy were very remarkable, considering the age in which he lived. He found the amount of the apparent motion of the stars due to the precession of the equinoxes (of which he was the discoverer) to be 59" per annum. The correct amount is about 50". He measured the length of the year to within 9 minutes of its true value. He found the inclination of the ecliptic to the plane of the equator to be 23° 51'. It was then 23° 46'--as we now know by modern calculations--so that Hipparchus' estimation was a wonderfully close approximation to the truth. He computed the moon's parallax to be 57', which is about its correct value. He found the eccentricity of the sun's apparent orbit round the earth to be one twenty-fourth, the real value being then about one-thirteenth. He determined other motions connected with the earth and moon; and formed a catalogue of 1080 stars. All this work has earned for him the well-merited title of "The Father of Astronomy."[475]

The following is a translation of a Greek passage ascribed to Ptolemy: "I know that I am mortal and the creature of a day, but when I search out the many rolling circles of the stars, my feet touch the earth no longer, but with Zeus himself I take my fill of ambrosia, the food of the gods."[476] This was inscribed (in Greek) on a silver loving cup presented to the late Professor C. A. Young, the famous American astronomer.[477]

Some curious and interesting phenomena are recorded in the old Chinese Annals, which go back to a great antiquity. In 687 B.C. "a night" is mentioned "without clouds and without stars" (!) This may perhaps refer to a total eclipse of the sun; but if so, the eclipse is not mentioned in the Chinese list of eclipses. In the year 141 B.C., it is stated that the sun and moon appeared of a deep red colour during 5 days, a phenomenon which caused great terror among the people. In 74 B.C., it is related that a star as large as the moon appeared, and was followed in its motion by several stars of ordinary size. This probably refers to an unusually large "bolide" or "fireball." In 38 B.C., a fall of meteoric stones is recorded "of the size of a walnut." In A.D. 88, another fall of stones is mentioned. In A.D. 321, sun-spots were visible to the naked eye.

Homer speaks of a curious darkness which occurred during one of the great battles in the last year of the Trojan war. Mr. Stockwell identifies this with an eclipse of the sun which took place on August 28, 1184 B.C. An eclipse referred to by Thucydides as having occurred during the first year of the Peloponnesian War, when the darkness was so great that some stars were seen, is identified by Stockwell with a total eclipse of the sun, which took place on August 2, 430 B.C.

A great eclipse of the sun is supposed to have occurred in the year 43 or 44 B.C., soon after the death of Julius Cæsar. Baron de Zach and Arago mention it as the first annular eclipse on record. But calculations show that no solar eclipse whatever, visible in Italy, occurred in either of these years. The phenomenon referred to must therefore have been of atmospherical origin, and indeed this is suggested by a passage in Suetonius, one of the authors quoted on the subject.

M. Guillaume thinks that the ninth Egyptian plague, the thick "darkness" (Exodus x. 21-23), may perhaps be explained by a total eclipse of the sun which occurred in 1332 B.C. It is true that the account states that the darkness lasted "three days," but this, M. Guillaume thinks, may be due to an error in the translation.[478] This explanation, however, seems very improbable.

According to Hind, the moon was eclipsed on the generally received date of the Crucifixion, A.D. 33, April 3. He says, "I find she had emerged from the earth's dark shadow a quarter of an hour before she rose at Jerusalem (6{h} 36{m} p.m.); but the penumbra continued upon her disc for an hour afterwards." An eclipse could not have had anything to do with the "darkness over all the land" during the Crucifixion. For this lasted for three hours, and the totality of a solar eclipse can only last a few minutes at the most. As a matter of fact the "eclipse of Phlegon," a partial one (A.D. 29, November 24) was "the only solar eclipse that could have been visible in Jerusalem during the period usually fixed for the ministry of Christ."

It is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that a total eclipse of the sun took place in the year after King Alfred's great battle with the Danes. Now, calculation shows that this eclipse occurred on October 29, 878 A.D. King Alfred's victory over the Danes must, therefore, have taken place in 877 A.D., and his death probably occurred in 899 A.D. This solar eclipse is also mentioned in the Annals of Ulster. From this it will be seen that in some cases the dates of historical events can be accurately fixed by astronomical phenomena.

It is stated by some historians that an eclipse of the sun took place on the morning of the battle of Crecy, August 26, 1346. But calculation shows that there was no eclipse of the sun visible in England in that year. At the time of the famous battle the moon had just entered on her first quarter, and she was partially eclipsed six days afterwards--that is on the 1st of September. The mistake seems to have arisen from a mistranslation of the old French word _esclistre_, which means lightning. This was mistaken for _esclipse_. The account seems to indicate that there was a heavy thunderstorm on the morning of the battle.

A dark shade was seen on the waning moon by Messrs. Hirst and J. C. Russell on October 21, 1878, "as dark as the shadow during an eclipse of the moon."[479] If this observation is correct, it is certainly most difficult to explain. Another curious observation is recorded by Mr. E. Stone Wiggins, who says that a partial eclipse of the sun by a dark body was observed in the State of Michigan (U.S.A.) on May 16, 1884, at 7 p.m. The "moon at that moment was 12 degrees south of the equator and the sun as many degrees north of it." The existence of a dark satellite of the earth has been suggested, but this seems highly improbable.

The sun's corona seems to have been first noticed in the total eclipse of the sun which occurred at the death of the Roman emperor Domitian, A.D. 95. Philostratus in his _Life of Apollonius_ says, with reference to this eclipse, "In the heavens there appeared a prodigy of this nature: a certain _corona_ resembling the Iris surrounded the orb of the sun, and obscured its light."[480] In more modern times the corona seems to have been first noticed by Clavius during the total eclipse of April 9, 1567.[481] Kepler proved that this eclipse was total, not annular, so that the ring seen by Clavius must have been the corona.

With reference to the visibility of planets and stars during total eclipses of the sun; in the eclipse of May 12, 1706, Venus, Mercury, and Aldebaran, and several other stars were seen. During the totality of the eclipse of May 3, 1715, about twenty stars were seen with the naked eye.[482] At the eclipse of May 22, 1724, Venus and Mercury, and a few fixed stars were seen.[483] The corona was also noticed. At the eclipse of May 2, 1733, Jupiter, the stars of the "Plough," Capella, and other stars were visible to the naked eye; and the corona was again seen.[483]

During the total eclipses of February 9, 1766, June 24, 1778, and June 16, 1806, the corona was again noticed. But its true character was then unknown.

At the eclipse of July 8, 1842, it was noticed by observers at Lipesk that the stars Aldebaran and Betelgeuse ([Greek: a] Orionis), which are usually red, "appeared quite white."[484]

There will be seven eclipses in the years 1917, 1935, and 1985. In the year 1935 there will be five eclipses of the sun, a rare event; and in 1985 there will be three total eclipses of the moon, a most unusual occurrence.[485]

Among the ancient Hindoos, the common people believed that eclipses were caused by the interposition of a monstrous demon called Raha. This absurd idea, and others equally ridiculous, were based on declarations in their sacred books, and no pious Hindoo would think of denying it.

The following cases of darkenings of the sun are given by Humboldt:--

According to Plutarch the sun remained pale for a whole year at the death of Julius Cæsar, and gave less than its usual heat.[486]

A sun-darkening lasting for two hours is recorded on August 22, 358 A.D., before the great earthquake of Nicomedia.

In 360 A.D. there was a sun-darkening from early morn till noon. The description given by the historians of the time corresponds to an eclipse of the sun, but the duration of the obscurity is inexplicable.

In 409 A.D., when Alaric lay siege to Rome, "there was so great a darkness that the stars were seen by day."

In 536 A.D. the sun is said to have been darkened for a year and two months!

In 626 A.D., according to Abul Farag, half the sun's disc was darkened for eight months!

In 934 A.D. the sun lost its brightness for two months in Portugal.

In 1090 A.D. the sun was darkened for three hours.

In 1096, sun-spots were seen with the naked eye on March 3.

In 1206 A.D. on the last day of February, "there was complete darkness for six hours, turning the day into night." This seems to have occurred in Spain.

In 1241 the sun was so darkened that stars could be seen at 3 p.m. on Michaelmas day. This happened in Vienna.[487]

The sun is said to have been so darkened in the year 1547 A.D. for three days that stars were visible at midday. This occurred about the time of the battle of Mühlbergh.[488]

Some of these darkenings may possibly have been due to an enormous development of sun-spots; but in some cases the darkness is supposed by Chladni and Schnurrer to have been caused by "the passage of meteoric masses before the sun's disc."

The first observer of a transit of Venus was Jeremiah Horrocks, who observed the transit of November 24 (O.S.), 1639. He had previously corrected Kepler's predicted time of the transit from 8{h} 8{m} a.m. at Manchester to 5{h} 57{m} p.m. At the end of 1875 a marble scroll was placed on the pedestal of the monument of John Conduitt (nephew of Sir Isaac Newton, and who adopted Horrocks' theory of lunar motions) at the west end of the nave of Westminster Abbey, bearing this inscription from the pen of Dean Stanley--

"Ad majora avocatus quæ ob hæc parerga negligi non decuit" IN MEMORY OF JEREMIAH HORROCKS Curate of Hoole in Lancashire Who died on the 3{d} of January, 1641, in or near his 22{d} year Having in so short a life Detected the long inequality in the mean motion of Jupiter and Saturn Discovered the orbit of the Moon to be an ellipse; Determined the motion of the lunar aspe, Suggested the physical cause of its revolution; And predicted from his own observations, the Transit of Venus Which was seen by himself and his friend WILLIAM CRABTREE On Sunday, the 24th November (O.S.) 1639; This Tablet, facing the Monument of Newton Was raised after the lapse of more than two centuries December 9, 1874.[489]

The transit of Venus which occurred in 1761 was observed on board ship(!) by the famous but unfortunate French astronomer Le Gentil. The ship was the frigate _Sylphide_, sent to the help of Pondicherry (India) which was then being besieged by the English. Owing to unfavourable winds the _Sylphide_ was tossed about from March 25, 1761, to May 24 of the same year. When, on the later date, off the coast of Malabar, the captain of the frigate learned that Pondicherry had been captured by the English, the vessel returned to the Isle of France, where it arrived on June 23, after touching at Point de Galle on May 30. It was between these two places that Le Gentil made his observations of the transit of Venus under such unfavourable conditions. He had an object-glass of 15 feet (French) focus, and this he mounted in a tube formed of "four pine planks." This rough instrument was fixed to a small mast set up on the quarter-deck and worked by ropes. The observations made under such curious conditions, were not, as may be imagined, very satisfactory. As another transit was to take place on June 3, 1769, Le Gentil made the heroic resolution of remaining in the southern hemisphere to observe it! This determination was duly carried out, but his devotion to astronomy was not rewarded; for on the day of the long waited for transit the sky at Pondicherry (where he had gone to observe it) was clouded over during the whole phenomenon, "although for many days previous the sky had been cloudless." To add to his feeling of disappointment he heard that at Manilla, where he had been staying some time previously, the sky was quite clear, and two of his friends there had seen the transit without any difficulty.[490] Truly the unfortunate Le Gentil was a martyr to science.

The famous German astronomer Bessel once said "that a practical astronomer could make observations of value if he had only a cart-wheel and a gun barrel"; and Watson said that "the most important part of the instrument is the person at the small end."[491]

With reference to Father Hell's supposed forgery of his observations of the transit of Venus in 1769, and Littrow's criticism of some of the entries in Hell's manuscript being corrected with a different coloured ink, Professor Newcomb ascertained from Weiss that Littrow was colour blind, and could not distinguish between the colour of Aldebaran and the whitest star. Newcomb adds, "For half a century the astronomical world had based an impression on the innocent but mistaken evidence of a colour-blind man respecting the tint of ink in a manuscript."

It is recorded that on February 26, B.C. 2012, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, were in the same constellation, and within 14 degrees of each other. On September 14, 1186 A.D., the sun, moon, and all the planets then known, are said to have been situated in Libra.[492]

In the Sanscrit epic poem, "The Ramaya," it is stated that at the birth of Rama, the moon was in Cancer, the sun in Aries, Mercury in Taurus, Venus in Pisces, Mars in Capricornus, Jupiter in Cancer, and Saturn in Libra. From these data, Mr. Walter R. Old has computed that Rama was born on February 10, 1761 B.C.[493]

A close conjunction of Mars and Saturn was observed by Denning on September 29, 1889, the bright star Regulus ([Greek: a] Leonis) being at the time only 47' distant from the planets.[494]

An occultation of the Pleiades by the moon was observed by Timocharis at Alexandria on January 29, 282 B.C. Calculations by Schjellerup show that Alcyone ([Greek: ê] Tauri) was occulted; but the exact time of the day recorded by Timocharis differs very considerably from that computed by Schjellerup.[495] Another occultation of the Pleiades is recorded by Agrippa in the reign of Domitian. According to Schjellerup the phenomenon occurred on November 29, A.D. 92.

"Kepler states that on the 9th of January, 1591, Mæstlin and himself witnessed an occultation of Jupiter by Mars. The red colour of the latter on that occasion plainly indicated that it was the inferior planet."[496] That is, that Mars was nearer to the sun than Jupiter. But as the telescope had not then been invented, this may have been merely a near approach of the two planets.

According to Kepler, Mæstlin saw an occultation of Mars by Venus on October 3, 1590. But this may also have been merely a near approach.[496]

A curious paradox is that one can discover an object without seeing it, and see an object without discovering it! The planet Neptune was discovered by Adams and Leverrier by calculation before it was seen in the telescope by Galle; and it was actually seen by Lalande on May 8 and 10, 1795, but he took it for a _star_ and thus missed the discovery. In fact, he _saw_ the planet, but did not _discover_ it. It actually appears as a star of the 8th magnitude in Harding's Atlas (1822). The great "new star" of February, 1901, known as Nova Persei, was probably seen by some people before its discovery was announced; and it was actually noticed by a well-known American astronomer, who thought it was some bright star with which he was not familiar! But this did not amount to a discovery. Any one absolutely ignorant of astronomy might have made the same observation. An object must be _identified_ as a _new_ object before a discovery can be claimed. Some years ago a well-known Irish naturalist discovered a spider new to science, and after its discovery he found that it was common in nearly every house in Dublin! But this fact did not detract in the least from the merit of its scientific discovery.

There is a story of an eminent astronomer who had been on several eclipse expeditions, and yet was heard to remark that he had never seen a total eclipse of the sun. "But your observations of several eclipses are on record," it was objected. "Certainly, I have on several occasions made observations, but I have always been too busy to look at the eclipse." He was probably in a dark tent taking photographs or using a spectroscope during the totality. This was observing an eclipse without seeing it!

Humboldt gives the credit of the invention of the telescope to Hans Lippershey, a native of Wesel and a spectacle-maker at Middleburgh; to Jacob Adreaansz, surnamed Metius, who is also said to have made burning-glasses of ice; and to Zachariah Jansen.[497]

With reference to the parabolic figure of the large mirrors of reflecting telescopes, Dr. Robinson remarked at the meeting of the British Association at Cork in 1843, "between the spherical and parabolic figures the extreme difference is so slight, even in the telescope of 6-feet aperture [Lord Rosse's] that if the two surfaces touched at their vertex, the distance at the edge would not amount to the 1/10000th of an inch, a space which few can measure, and none without a microscope."[498]

In the year 1758, Roger Long, Lowndean Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge, constructed an "orrery" on a novel principle. It was a hollow metal sphere of about 18 feet in diameter with its fixed axis parallel to the earth's axis. It was rotated, by means of a winch and rackwork. It held about thirty persons in its interior, where astronomical lectures were delivered. The constellations were painted on the interior surface; and holes pierced through the shell and illuminated from the outside represented the stars according to their different magnitudes. This ingenious machine was much neglected for many years, but was still in existence in Admiral Smyth's time, 1844.[499]

A "temporary star" is said to have been seen by Hepidanus in the constellation Aries in either 1006 or 1012 A.D. The late M. Schönfeld, a great authority on variable stars, found from an Arabic and Syrian chronicle that 1012 is the correct year (396 of the Hegira), but that the word translated Aries would by a probable emendation mean Scorpio. The word in the Syrian record is not the word for Aries.[500]

Mr. Heber D. Curtis finds that the faintest stars mentioned in Ptolemy's Catalogue are about 5·38 magnitude on the scale of the Harvard _Photometric Durchmustering_.[501] Heis and Houzeau saw stars of 6-7 magnitude (about 6·4 on Harvard scale). The present writer found that he could see most of Heis' faintest stars in the west of Ireland (Co. Sligo) without optical aid (except short-sighted spectacles).

With reference to the apparent changes in the stellar heavens produced by the precession of the equinoxes, Humboldt says--

"Canopus was fully 1° 20' below the horizon of Toledo (39° 54' north latitude) in the time of Columbus; and now the same star is almost as much above the horizon of Cadiz. While at Berlin, and in northern latitudes, the stars of the Southern Cross, as well as [Greek: a] and [Greek: b] Centauri, are receding more and more from view, the Magellanic Clouds are slowly approaching our latitudes. Canopus was at its greatest northern approximation during last century [eighteenth], and is now moving nearer and nearer to the south, although very slowly, owing to its vicinity to the south pole of the ecliptic. The Southern Cross began to become invisible in 52° 30' north latitude 2900 years before our era, since, according to Galle, this constellation might previously have reached an altitude of more than 10°. When it had disappeared from the horizon of the countries of the Baltic, the great pyramid of Cheops had already been erected more than five hundred years. The pastoral tribe of the Hyksos made their incursion seven hundred years earlier. The past seems to be visibly nearer to us when we connect its measurement with great and memorable events."[502]

With reference to the great Grecian philosopher and scientist Eratosthenes of Cyrene, keeper of the Alexandrian Library under Ptolemy Euergetes, Carl Snyder says, "Above all the Alexanders, Cæsars, Tadema-Napoleons, I set the brain which first spanned the earth, over whose little patches these fought through their empty bootless lives. Why should we have no poet to celebrate so great a deed?"[503] And with reference to Aristarchus he says, "If grandeur of conceptions be a measure of the brain, or ingenuity of its powers, then we must rank Aristarchus as one of the three or four most acute intellects of the ancient world."[504]

Lagrange, who often asserted Newton to be the greatest genius that ever existed, used to remark also--"and the most fortunate; we do not find more than once a system of the world to establish."[505]

Grant says--

"Lagrange deserves to be ranked among the greatest mathematical geniuses of ancient or modern times. In this respect he is worthy of a place with Archimedes or Newton, although he was far from possessing the sagacity in physical enquiries which distinguished these illustrious sages. From the very outset of his career he assumed a commanding position among the mathematicians of the age, and during the course of nearly half a century previous to his death, he continued to divide with Laplace the homage due to pre-eminence in the exact sciences. His great rival survived him fourteen years, during which he reigned alone as the prince of mathematicians and theoretical astronomers."[506]

A writer in _Nature_ (May 25, 1871) relates the following anecdote with reference to Sir John Herschel: "Some time after the death of Laplace, the writer of this notice, while travelling on the continent in company with the celebrated French _savant_ Biot, ventured to put to him the question, not altogether a wise one, 'And whom of all the philosophers of Europe do you regard as the most worthy successor of Laplace?' Probably no man was better able than Biot to form a correct conclusion, and the reply was more judicious than the question. It was this, 'If I did not love him so much I should unhesitatingly say, Sir John Herschel.'" Dr. Gill (now Sir David Gill), in an address at the Cape of Good Hope in June, 1898, spoke of Sir John Herschel as "the prose poet of science; his popular scientific works are models of clearness, and his presidential addresses teem with passages of surpassing beauty. His life was a pure and blameless one from first to last, full of the noblest effort and the noblest aim from the time when as a young Cambridge graduate he registered a vow 'to try to leave the world wiser than he found it'--a vow that his life amply fulfilled."[507]

Prof. Newcomb said of Adams, the co-discoverer of Neptune with Leverrier, "Adams' intellect was one of the keenest I ever knew. The most difficult problem of mathematical astronomy and the most recondite principles that underlie the theory of the celestial motions were to him but child's play." Airy he regarded as "the most commanding figure in the astronomy of our time."[508] He spoke of Delaunay, the great French astronomer, as a most kindly and attractive man, and says, "His investigations of the moon's motion is one of the most extraordinary pieces of mathematical work ever turned out by a single person. It fills two quarto volumes, and the reader who attempts to go through any part of the calculations will wonder how one man could do the work in a lifetime."[509]

Sir George B. Airy and Prof. J. C. Adams died in the same month. The former on January 2, 1892, and the latter on January 22 of the same year.

It is known from the parish register of Burstow in Surrey that Flamsteed (Rev. John Flamsteed), the first Astronomer Royal at Greenwich, was buried in the church at that place on January 12, 1720; but a search for his grave made by Mr. J. Carpenter in 1866 and by Mr. Lynn in 1880 led to no result. In Mrs. Flamsteed's will a sum of twenty-five pounds was left for the purpose of erecting a monument to the memory of the great astronomer in Burstow Church; but it does not appear that any monument was ever erected. Flamsteed was Rector of the Parish of Burstow.[510] He was succeeded in 1720 by the Rev. James Pound, another well-known astronomer. Pound died in 1724.[511]

Evelyn says in his Diary, 1676, September 10, "Dined with Mr. Flamsteed, the learned astrologer and mathematician, whom his Majesty had established in the new Observatory in Greenwich Park furnished with the choicest instruments. An honest sincere man."[512] This shows that in those days the term "astrologer" was synonymous with "astronomer."

In an article on "Our Debt to Astronomy," by Prof. Russell Tracy Crawford (Berkeley Astronomical Department, California, U.S.A.), the following remarks occur:--

"Behind the artisan is a chemist, behind the chemist is a physicist, behind the physicist is a mathematician, and behind the mathematician is an astronomer." "Were it not for the data furnished by astronomers, commerce by sea would practically stop. The sailing-master on the high seas could not determine his position, nor in what direction to head his ship in order to reach a desired harbour. Think what this means in dollars and cents, and estimate it if you can. For this one service alone the science of astronomy is worth more in dollars and cents to the world in one week than has been expended upon it since the beginning of civilization. Do you think that Great Britain, for instance, would take in exchange an amount equal to its national debt for what astronomy gives it? I answer for you most emphatically, 'No.'"

In his interesting book, _Reminiscences of an Astronomer_, Prof. Simon Newcomb says with reference to the calculations for the _Nautical Almanac_ (referred to in the above extract)--

"A more hopeless problem than this could not be presented to the ordinary human intellect. There are tens of thousands of men who could be successful in all the ordinary walks of life, hundreds who could wield empires, thousands who could gain wealth, for one who could take up this astronomical problem with any hope of success. The men who have done it are, therefore, in intellect the select few of the human race--an aristocracy ranking above all others in the scale of being. The astronomical ephemeris is the last outcome of their productive genius."

In a paper on the "Aspects of American Astronomy," Prof. Newcomb says, "A great telescope is of no use without a man at the end of it, and what the telescope may do depends more upon this appendage than upon the instrument itself. The place which telescopes and observatories have taken in astronomical history are by no means proportional to their dimensions. Many a great instrument has been a mere toy in the hands of its owner. Many a small one has become famous. Twenty years ago there was here in your city [Chicago] a modest little instrument which, judged by its size, could not hold up its head with the great ones even of that day. It was the private property of a young man holding no scientific position and scarcely known to the public. And yet that little telescope is to-day among the famous ones of the world, having made memorable advances in the astronomy of double stars, and shown its owner to be a worthy successor of the Herschels and Struves in that line of work."[513] Here Prof. Newcomb evidently refers to Prof. Burnham, and the 6-inch telescope with which he made many of his remarkable discoveries of double stars. With reference to Burnham's work, Prof. Barnard says--

"It represents the labour of a struggling amateur, who during the day led the drudging life of a stenographer in the United States court in Chicago, and at night worked among the stars for the pure love of it. Such work deserves an everlasting fame, and surely this has fallen to Mr. Burnham."

Admiral Smyth says--

"A man may prove a good astronomer without possessing a spacious observatory: thus Kepler was wont to observe on the bridge at Prague; Schröter studied the moon, and Harding found a planet from a _gloriette_; while Olbers discovered two new planets from an attic of his house."[514]

It is probably not generally known that "some of the greatest astronomers of modern times, such as Kepler, Newton, Hansen, Laplace, and Leverrier, scarcely ever looked through a telescope."[515]

Kepler, who always signed himself Keppler in German, is usually supposed to have been born on December 21, 1571, in the imperial town of Weil, but according to Baron von Breitschwert,[516] he was really born on December 27, 1571, in the village of Magstadt in Wurtemberg.

According to Lieut. Winterhalter, M. Perrotin of the Nice Observatory declared "that two hours' work with a large instrument is as fatiguing as eight with a small one, the labour involved increasing in proportion to the cube of the aperture, the chances of seeing decreasing in the same ratio, while it can hardly be said that the advantages increase in like proportion."[517]

The late Mr. Proctor has well said--

"It is well to remember that the hatred which many entertain against the doctrine of development as applied to solar systems and stellar galaxies is not in reality a sign, as they imagine, of humility, but is an effort to avoid the recognition of the nothingness of man in the presence of the infinities of space and time and vitality presented within the universe of God."[518]

Humboldt says--

"That arrogant spirit of incredulity, which rejects facts without attempting to investigate them, is in some cases almost more injurious than an unquestioning credulity. Both are alike detrimental to the force of investigations."[519]

With reference to the precession of the equinoxes and the changes it produces in the position of the Pole Star, it is stated in a recent book on science that the entrance passage of the Great Pyramid of Ghizeh is inclined at an angle of 30° to the horizon, and therefore points to the celestial pole. But this is quite incorrect. The Great Pyramid, it is true, is situated close to the latitude of 30°. But the entrance passage does not point exactly to the pole. The inclination was measured by Col. Vyse, and found to be 26° 45'. For six out of the nine pyramids of Ghizeh, Col. Vyse found an _average_ inclination of 26° 47', these inclinations ranging from 25° 55' (2nd, or pyramid of Mycerinus) to 28° 0' (9th pyramid).[520] Sir John Herschel gives 3970 B.C. as the probable date of the erection of the Great Pyramid.[520] At that time the distance of [Greek: a] Draconis (the Pole Star of that day) from the pole was 3° 44' 25", so that when on the meridian _below_ the pole (its lower culmination as it is termed) its altitude was 30° - 3° 44' 25" = 26° 15' 35", which agrees fairly well with the inclination of the entrance passage. Letronne found a date of 3430 B.C.; but the earlier date agrees better with the evidence derived from Egyptology.

Emerson says--

"I am brother to him who squared the pyramids By the same stars I watch."

From February 6 to 15, 1908, all the bright planets were visible together at the same time. Mercury was visible above the western horizon after sunset, Venus very brilliant with Saturn a little above it, Mars higher still, all ranged along the ecliptic, and lastly Jupiter rising in the east.[521] This simultaneous visibility of all the bright planets is rather a rare occurrence.

With reference to the great improbability of Laplace's original Nebular Hypothesis being true, Dr. See says, "We may calculate from the preponderance of small bodies actually found in the solar system--eight principal planets, twenty-five satellites (besides our moon), and 625 asteroids--that the chances of a nebula devoid of hydrostatic pressure producing small bodies is about 2{658} to 1, or a decillion decillion (10{66}){6} to the sixth power, to unity. This figure is so very large that we shall content ourselves with illustrating a decillion decillion, and for this purpose we avail ourselves of a method employed by ARCHIMEDES to illustrate his system of enumeration. Imagine sand so fine that 10,000 grains will be contained in the space occupied by a poppy seed, itself about the size of a pin's head; and then conceive a sphere described about our sun with a radius of 200,000 astronomical units[522] ([Greek: a] Centauri being at a distance of 275,000) entirely filled with this fine sand. The number of grains of sand in this sphere of the fixed stars would be a decillion decillion[523] (10{66}){6}. All these grains of sand against one is the probability that a nebula devoid of hydrostatical pressure, such as that which formed the planets and satellites, will lead to the genesis of such small bodies revolving about a greatly predominant central mass."[524] In other words, it is practically certain that the solar system was _not_ formed from a gaseous nebula in the manner originally proposed by Laplace. On the other hand, the evolution of the solar system from a rotating spiral nebula seems very probable.

* * * * *

Some one has said that "the world knows nothing of its greatest men." The name of Mr. George W. Hill will probably be unknown to many of my readers. But the late Prof. Simon Newcomb said of him that he "will easily rank as the greatest master of mathematical astronomy during the last quarter of the nineteenth century."[525] Of Prof. Newcomb himself--also a great master in the same subject--Sir Robert Ball says he was "the most conspicuous figure among the brilliant band of contemporary American astronomers."[526]

An astronomer is supposed to say, with reference to unwelcome visitors to his observatory, "Who steals my purse steals trash; but he that filches from me my clear nights, robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed."[527]

Cicero said, "In the heavens there is nothing fortuitous, unadvised, inconstant, or variable; all there is order, truth, reason, and constancy"; and he adds, "The creation is as plain a signal of the being of a God, as a globe, a clock, or other artificial machine, is of a man."[528]

"Of all the epigrams attributed rightly or wrongly to Plato, the most famous has been expanded by Shelley into the four glorious lines--

"'Thou wert the morning star among the living Ere thy pure light had fled, Now having died, thou art as Hesperus, giving New splendour to the dead.'"[529]

Sir David Brewster has well said,[530] "Isaiah furnishes us with a striking passage, in which the occupants of the earth and the heavens are separately described, 'I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all _their_ host have I commanded' (Isaiah xlv. 12). But in addition to these obvious references to life and things pertaining to life, we find in Isaiah the following remarkable passage: 'For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, _He created it not_ IN VAIN, He formed _it to be inhabited_' (Isaiah xlv. 18). Here we have a distinct declaration from the inspired prophet that the _earth would have been created_ IN VAIN _if it had not been formed to be inhabited_; and hence we draw the conclusion that as the Creator cannot be supposed to have made the worlds of our system and those in the sidereal system in vain, they must have been formed to be inhabited." This seems to the present writer to be a good and sufficient reply to Dr. Wallace's theory that our earth is the only inhabited world in the Universe![531] Such a theory seems incredible.

The recent discovery made by Prof. Kapteyn, and confirmed by Mr. Eddington, of two drifts of stars, indicating the existence of _two_ universes, seems to render untenable Dr. Wallace's hypothesis of the earth's central position in a single universe.[531]

NOTE ADDED IN THE PRESS.

While these pages were in the Press, it was announced, by Dr. Max Wolf of Heidelberg, that he found Halley's comet on a photograph taken on the early morning of September 12, 1909. The discovery has been confirmed at Greenwich Observatory. The comet was close to the position predicted by the calculations of Messrs. Cowell and Crommelin of Greenwich Observatory (_Nature_, September 16, 1908).

INDEX

A

Aboukir, 287

Aboul Hassan, 221

Abu Ali al Farisi, 225

Abu-Hanifa, 233, 234

Abul-fadl, 236

Accadians, 250, 252

Achernar, 275

Aclian, 282

Adam, 96, 347

Adhad-al-Davlat, 225, 236

Adonis, 261

Adreaansz, 342

Airy, Sir G. B., 87, 140, 347, 357

Aitken, 160

Al-Battani, 232, 233

Albrecht, 173

Albufaragius, 283

Alcor, 241

Alcyone, 137

Aldebaran, 60, 156, 236, 252, 257, 310, 311

Alfard, 236, 289

Alfargani, 286

Alfraganus, 281

Almagest, 281

Al-Sufi, 47, 149, 179, 189, 221, 224, 225-238, 244, 246, 250, 251, 253, 254, 261, 263, 264, 266-270, 272, 274-278, 285, 287, 289, 290, 293, 298, 300-302, 304, 307

Altair, 246

Ampelius, 262

Amphion, 257

Ancient eclipses, 52, 53

Anderson, 120, 277

Andromeda nebula, 198-206, 231

Annals of Ulster, 332

Antares, 60, 179, 310, 311

Anthelm, 300

Antinous, 248

Antlia, 302

Apollo, 257

Apparent diameter of moon, 49

Apple, 79

"Apples, golden," 258

Apus, 306

Aquarius, 268

Aquila, 246

Aquillus, 220

Ara 295

Arago, 26, 30, 57, 116, 193, 331

Aratus, 219, 242, 245, 250, 255, 256, 261, 263, 272

Archimedes, 346, 354

Arcturus, 148, 188, 244

Argelander, 29, 227, 229, 230, 240

Argo, 285-288, 305

Argon in sun, 4

Argonauts, 243, 250

Aries, 250

Aristotle, 49, 67

Arrhenius, 4, 8, 22, 45, 66

Ashtoreth, 260

_Astra Borbonia_, 4

Astræa, 263

Astronomy, Laplace on, 44

_Astro Theology_, 23

Atarid, 232, 233

Atmosphere, height of, 33

Augean stables, 269

Augustus, 262

Auriga, 245

Aurora, 33, 41, 42

Auwers, 206

Axis of Mars, 59

B

Babilu, 267

Baily, 137, 144

Baker, 183

Ball, Sir Robert, 6, 355

Barnard, Prof., 29, 54, 57, 79, 80, 81, 85, 86, 91, 93, 103, 104, 114, 130, 132, 139, 192, 213, 316, 317, 350

Barnes, 78, 79

Bartlett, 35, 36

Bartschius, 296, 298

Bauschingen, 69, 70

Bayer, 179, 221, 272, 284, 309, 310

Bayeux Tapestry, 105

Becquerel, 8

"Beehive," 259

Beer, 20

Bel, 250

Bellatrix, 253

Benoit, 22

Berenice, 297

Berry, 25

Bessel, 339

Betelgeuse, 179, 222, 264

Bianchini, 21, 22, 77

Biela's comet, 99

Bifornis, 268

Binary stars, 162

Birmingham, 5, 114

"Black body," 3

"Blackness" of sun-spots, 6

"Blaze star," 180, 184

Bode, 276

Bohlin, 199, 200

Bond, 85

Bond (Jun.), 74

_Book of the Dead_, 264, 274

Borelly, 103

Boserup, 28

Boss, 152

Brahé, Tycho. _See_ Tycho Brahé

Brauner, 211

Bravais, 42

Bredikhin, 76

Bremiker, 94

Brenner, Léo, 13, 22, 87, 91, 133

Brewster, 356

Brightness of Mercury, 10-12

" of nebulæ, 193

" of sun, 1, 2, 3

" of Venus, 14, 17, 19, 31

Bright clouds, 33, 34

" night, 45

" stars, 278

Brooks, 118

Brown, 218, 219, 248, 255, 260, 267, 272, 279, 281, 291, 295

Browning, 25

Brugsch, 127

Buddha, 256

Bull, Pope's, 107

"Bull's foot," 253

Buonaparte, 30

Burnham, 160, 165-167, 180, 184, 260, 350, 351

Burns, 130

Buss, 4

C

Caaba, 125

Cacciatore, 72

Cælum, 302

Callimachus, 297

Callixtus III., 107

Calvisius, 53

Camelopardalis, 296

Cameron, 18

Campbell, 85, 153, 159, 178

"Canals" on Mars, 61-63

Cancer, 258, 259

Canes Venatici, 296

Canicula, 280

Canis Major, 279

" Minor, 284

Canopus, 157, 286, 344

Capella, 156, 164, 189, 236, 245, 246

Capricornus, 267, 268

"Capture" of satellites, 58

Carbonic acid, 66

Cassini, 20, 22, 74, 78, 358

Cassiopeia's Chair, 244

Castor, 160, 257

Caswell, 52

Catullus, 297

Caussin, 225

Cecrops, 268

"Celestial Rivers," 308

Celoria, 324, 326

Centaurus, 292, 293

Centre of gravity, 8

Cephalus, 279

Cepheid variables, 187

Ceraski, 2, 176

Cerberus, 243, 257

Ceres, 260

Cerulli, 22, 62

Cetus, 272

Chacornac, 18, 84

Chamælion, 305

Chamberlin, 194

Chambers, 72

"Charles' Wain," 240

Chinese Annals, 19, 30, 105, 186, 223, 267, 330

Childrey, 128

Chiron, 295

Christmann, 281

Chromosphere, sun's, 4

Cicero, 49, 262, 280, 355

Circinus, 307

Clavius, 334

Climate, 45

"Coal Sack," 293, 320

Cobham, 88, 102

Colbert, 175

Colours of stars, 140, 141, 188-190

Coma Berenices, 297, 298

Comets, number of, 98

" tails of, 115, 116

Comet years, 104

Comiers, 99

Comstock, 90, 146

Condamine, 257

Conon, 297

Coon Butte mountain, 120, 121

Cooper, 3

Copeland, 76, 157

Corona, sun's, 1, 334

" round moon, 35, 36

Corona Australis, 295

Corvinus, 292

Corvus, 292

Cotsworth, 46

Cowell, 105

Crabtree, 337

Crater, 291

Craters on moon, 55, 56

Crawford, 348

Crecy, Battle of, 333

Crescent of Venus, 19, 20

Crommelin, 105, 111

Crucifixion, 18

Curtis, 344

Cusps of Venus, 20

Cygnus, (61), 155

Cynocephalus, 222

D

Dante, 156, 258, 265

Dark shade on moon, 333

D'Arrest, 94

Darwin, Sir George, 158, 319

"David's Chariot," 241

Davis, 155

Dawes, 168

"Dawn proclaimer," 251

Delambre, 185

Delauney, 347

Dembowski, 190

Demetrius, 111

Denning, 11, 74, 77, 84, 86, 87, 89, 99, 118, 340

Derham, 21, 23

Deucalion, 268

De Vico, 21, 22

Diamonds in meteorites, 127

Dilkur, 251

Diodorus Siculus, 127

Diogenes Laertius, 41

Diomed, 272

Dione, 89

"Dipper," 241

Doberck, 160

Dollond, 24

Domitian, 334

Donati's comet, 100

Dorado, 304

Dordona, 256

Dorn, 245

Douglass, 81

Dragon, 242

Draper, 75

Drayton, 156

Dreyer, 115

Drifting stars, 152

Dryden, 242

Duncan, 187

Dunlop, 264

Dupret, 83

Dupuis, 245, 252, 257, 258, 259, 266, 267, 268

"Dusky star," 272

E

"Earthen jar," 247

Earth's attraction on moon, 55

Earth's motions, 39

" rotation, 46

" surface, 32

"Earthshine" on moon, 51, 52, 56, 57

Eastmann, 316

Easton, 323, 324, 325

Eclipses, ancient, 52, 53, 57, 58

" dark, of moon, 53, 57, 58

Ecliptic, obliquity of, 47

Eddington, 357

Electra, 19

Elster, 39

Emerson, 353

Enceladus, 89

Encke, 113, 116, 240

Ennis, 189

Eratosthenes, 250, 297, 345

Eridanus, 274-278

Eros, 69, 70, 71

Eta Argus, 177, 287

Eudemus, 47

Eudoxus, 218, 219, 223

Euler, 56

Eunomia, 71

Europa, 252

F

Fabritius, 4, 101

Fabry, 1

Faint stars in telescope, 176

"False Cross," 156

"Famous stars," 246

Fath, 130, 213

Faye, 100

February, Five Sundays in, 36

Fergani, 189

"Fisher Stars," 256

"Fishes in Andromeda," 249

Fitzgerald, 127

Flammarion, 22, 26, 50, 138, 255, 265, 276

Flamsteed, 348

"Flat earth" theory, 32

Fomalhaut, 271, 309, 310

Fontana, 20

Fontenelle, 357

Forbes, 82, 95, 96

Fornax, 301

Fournier, 87

Fovea, 284

Freeman, 88

Fréret, 222

Frisby, 101

Fritsch, 21

Furner, 163

G

Gale, 78

Galileo, 3, 4, 80, 82

Galle, 94, 341

Ganymede, 268

Gaseous nebula, spectra of, 195-198, 212

Gassendi, 14, 139

Gathman, 118

Gaubil, 99

Gauthier, 103

Gegenschein, 131

Gemini, 257, 258

Geminid variables, 187

Gentil, Le, 338, 339

Gertel, 39

Ghizeh, Pyramids of, 353

Gibbous phase of Jupiter, 75

Gill, Sir David, 118, 215, 216, 346

Glacial epoch, 42

Gledhill, 76

Globular clusters, 214, 215

Goad, 12

Goatcher, 179

"Golden apples," 258

Golius, 281

Gould, 229, 278, 301, 304, 309, 310, 326

Grant, 82, 96, 345

Gravitation, Law of, 15, 40

Greely, 186

Greisbach, 80

Groombridge 1830, 159

Grubb, Sir Howard, 164

Gruithuisen, 21, 25, 26, 28

Gruson, 127

Guillaume, 331

Guthrie, 25

H

Habitability of Mars, 63-66

" of planets, 40

Hadrian, 248

Halbert, 78

Hale, 148, 150

Hall, 15, 131

Halley, 14, 17, 99, 105, 106, 108, 109, 116, 143, 145, 276

Halm, 122

Halo, 35, 36

Hanouman, 284

Hansen, 351

Hansky, 27

Harding, 25, 26, 94

"Harris, Mrs.," 90

Hartwig, 88, 173

Harvests, 104

Heat of sun, 2, 3, 7

Height of atmosphere, 33

Heis, 132, 175, 189, 227, 229, 344

Helium, 4

Hepidanus, 267, 348

Hercules, 243, 259, 268

Herod, 18, 53

Herschel, Miss Caroline, 193, 194, 324, 357

Herschel, Sir John, 112, 177, 190, 207, 209, 210, 215, 289, 314, 346, 353

Herschel, Sir Wm., 3, 24, 80, 112, 114, 115, 116, 171, 178, 179, 190, 324, 325

Hesiod, 17, 220

Hesperus, 256

Hevelius, 99, 116, 221, 296, 299, 300

Hill, 87, 355

Hind, 19, 30, 54, 105, 111, 180

Hipparchus, 135, 221-223, 226, 250, 278, 281, 293, 329

Hippocrates, 258

Hirst, 333

Holetschak, 108

Homer, 17

Honorat, 84

Hooke, 74, 128

Horace, 280

Horologium, 303

Horus, 145, 258

Horrebow, 29

Horrocks, 337

Hortensus, Martinus, 139

Hough, 76

Houzeau, 227, 229, 262, 274, 344

Hovedin, Roger de, 53

Hubbard, 100

Huggins, Sir Wm., 91, 148, 180

Humboldt, 30, 82, 83, 124, 128, 134, 154, 157, 342, 352, 357

Hussey, 88

Hyades, 157, 252, 253, 257

Hydra, 288

Hydrus, 303

Hyperion, 88, 90

I

Ibn al-Aalam, 225

Ibn Alraqqa, 281

Icarus, 284

Indus, 307

Inhabited worlds, 328, 357

Innes, 78, 168

Intra-Mercurial planet, 14, 15, 29

Invention of telescope, 342

Io, 252

Ions, 27

Iris, 71

Isaiah, 17, 356

Isis, 252, 261, 282, 283

Istar, 260

J

Jansen, 342

Japetus, 89, 90

Jason, 257, 285

Johnson, Rev. S. J., 19

Jonckheere, 15

Jones, 129

Jordan, 174

Jupiter, chap. viii.

" gibbous form of, 75

" and sun, 8

K

Kalevala, 240

Kapteyn, 314, 316, 321, 322, 326, 357

Kazemerski, 244

Keeler, 86, 215

Kelvin, Lord, 206, 315, 316

Kempf, 174

Kepler, 52, 57, 298, 340, 341, 351

Khayyam, Omar, 127

Kimah, 255

Kimball, 51

Kimta, 255

Kirch, 23, 115

Kirkwood, 6

Kleiber, 123

Klein, 114, 183

Knobel, 238, 263

Konkoly, 183

Koran, 127, 270

Kreusler, 4

Kreutz, 101, 112

L

Lacaille, 294, 301, 302

Lacerta, 300

Lagrange, 345

La Hire, 20, 21

Lalande, 143, 144, 284

Landerer, 52

Langdon, 25

Langley, Prof., 3

Laplace, 43, 44, 98, 346, 351, 354

Larkin, 65

Lassell, 77, 128

"Last in the River," 275-298

Last year of century, 37

Lau, 178, 183

Leo, 259

Leo Minor, 298

Lepus, 278, 279

Lernæan marsh, 258

Leverrier, 44, 347, 351

Lewis, 156, 162

Lewis, Sir G. C., 17

Lexell's comet, 98

Libra, 262

Life, possible, in Mars, 63-65

Light of full moon, 1, 51

Lippershey, 342

Littrow, 339

Lockyer, Sir Norman, 144, 147

Lodge, Sir Oliver, 55

Long, 343, 357

Longfellow, 156, 273

Lottin, 42

Lowell, 22, 43, 59, 61, 64, 88

Lucifer, 17

Lucretius, 320

"Luminous clouds," 33, 34

Lunar craters, 55, 56

" "mansions," 251

" mountains, 58

" theory, 56

Lunt, 179

Lupus, 294

Lyman, 25

Lynn, 37, 38, 96, 106, 179, 243, 244, 310

Lynx, 296

Lyra, 243, 244, 266

M

Maclear, 77

Mädler, 20, 22

Mæstlin, 341

Magi, star of, 1, 18, 145

Magnitudes, star, 311

Maia, 19, 256

Mairan, 357

"Manger," 259

Manilius, 250, 259, 272

Marius, Simon, 82, 83, 231

Markree Castle, 3

Marmol, 76

Mars, chap. vi.; axis of 59; red colour of, 60; water vapour in, 60; clouds in, 61; "canals" in, 61

Martial, 17

Mascari, 22

Ma-tuan-lin, 186, 267

Mayer, 24

May transits of Mercury, 15

Maxwell, Clerk, 86

McHarg, 16

McKay, 286

Medusa, 244

Mee, 88

Melotte, 82

Mendelief, 212

Mensa, 304

Mercury, chap, ii., 258

Merrill, 121

Messier, 114

Meteoric stones, 119

Meteors, 33

Metius, 342

Microscopium, 302

Milky Way, 320, 323, 325, 326, 328

Milton, 263

Mimas, 88, 89

Minor planets, chap. vii.

Mira Ceti, 178, 186, 272, 273

Mitchell, 4

Mithridates, 111

Mitra, 145

Molyneux, 80

Monck, 156, 181

Monoceros, 298

Montanari, 170, 171

Montigny, 34

Moon, light of, 1, 51

" as seen through a telescope, 50

"Moon maiden," 52

Moon mountains, 58

Morehouse, 103, 110

Motions of stars in line of sight, 141, 142

Moulton, 133, 318

Mountains, lunar, 58

Müller, 174

Musca, 305

Mycerinus, Pyramid of, 353

N

Nasmyth, 11

Nath, 253

Nautical Almanac, 349

Nebula in Andromeda, 198-206, 231

Nebulæ, gaseous, 195-198, 212, 213

Nebulæ, spiral, 213

Nebular hypothesis, 354

Nemælian lion, 259

Nemæus, 259

Neon in sun, 4

Nepthys, 271

Neptune, 341

Newcomb, 13, 15, 33, 50, 65, 70, 129, 130, 153, 191, 203, 282, 339, 347, 349, 350, 355

Newton, 15, 351

Nicephorus, 127

Nicholls, 148, 154

Nineveh tablets, 17

Noble, 25

Norma, 302

Novæ, 180-182, 265, 267, 343

Nova Persei, 190

November transits of Mercury, 15

Number of nebulæ, 191

" of stars, 135, 136, 236, 237

" of variable stars, 182, 183

O

Obliquity of ecliptic, 47

Occupations, 14, 15, 54, 67, 80, 84, 85, 259, 340, 341

Octans, 303

Odling, 122

Oeltzen, 72

Olbers, 104, 124

Old, 340

Orion, 49, 146, 273, 274

Osiris, 145, 259, 261, 283

"Ostriches," 266

Otawa, 240

Ovid, 242, 250, 255, 265, 288, 291, 322

P

Palisa, 71

Palmer, 182

Parker, 19

Parkhurst, 174

Paschen, 2

Pastorff, 25

Pavo, 307

Payne, 139

Pearson, 77

Peary, 119

Peck, 176

Pegasus, 248

Pelion, 282

Peritheus, 258

Perrine, 15, 76, 191, 192, 214

Perrotin, 351

Perseus, 244

Petosiris, 222

Philostratus, 334

Phlegon, 332

Phoebe, 90

Phoenix, 301

Phosphorus, 17

Photographic nebula, 192

Pickering, E. C., 125, 140, 144, 177

Pickering, W. H., 1, 12, 51, 61, 95, 102

Pictor, 304

Pierce, 228

"Pilgrim Star," 180, 185, 186

Pingré, 54

Pinzon, 294

Pisces, 271

Piscis Australis, 295, 296

Planetary nebulæ, 213

Platina, 107

Pleiades, 19, 52, 137, 154, 157, 235, 254-257

Pliny, 17, 265, 280

Plummer, W. E., 180

Plurality of worlds, 328, 356, 357

Pococke, 271

Pogson, 317

Polarization of moon's surface, 52

Polarization on Mars, 61

Pole of cold, 33

" star, 138, 239, 240

Pollux, 257

Polydectus, 244

Poor, 15 (footnote)

Poynting, 130

Præsape, 259

Prince, 25

Proclus, 221

Proctor, 7, 49, 59, 123, 285, 308, 323, 352

Procyon, 156, 157, 236, 284

Ptolemy, 189, 221-223, 224, 227, 230, 231, 234, 238, 244, 252, 253, 260, 263, 264, 267, 269, 275, 278, 281, 284, 293, 302, 330

Pyramid, Great, 46, 47, 308, 353

Pytheas, 46

Q

Quadruple system, 168

Quénisset, 21, 133

R

Rabourdin, 103

Radium, 7, 8, 38

Râhu, 93

Rama, 284, 340

_Rational Almanac_, 46

"Red Bird," 290

Red star, 279, 292

Regulus, 30, 156, 235, 236, 260, 310, 340

Remote galaxies, 193, 204, 205

Reticulum, 304

Rhea, 89

Rheita, De, 144

Riccioli, 189

Ricco, 32

Rigel, 156, 157, 222

Rigge, 107

Ring nebula in Lyra, 211

Rings of Saturn, 85

Rishis, 240

Ritter, 76, 147

"Rivers, celestial," 308

Roberts, Dr. A. W., 172, 173

Roberts, Dr. I., 95, 154, 200, 201, 203, 317

Roberts, C., 84

Robigalia, 280

Robinson, 342, 357

Roedeckoer, 28

Rogovsky, 42, 43, 44, 75

Rosse, Lord, 76

Roszel, 70

Rotation of Mercury, 16

" of Uranus, 91

" of Venus, 22

Rubáiyát, 127

Rudaux, 80, 89

Russell, H. C., 21

Russell, H. N., 146

Russell, J. C., 333

Rutherford, 38

S

Sadler, 78, 299

Safarik, 24, 25

Sagittarius, 265-267

_Sahu_, 274

Santini, 357

Satellite, eighth, of Jupiter, 82

" possible lunar, 54

" of Venus, 28, 29

Sawyer, 186

Sayce, 218, 261

Scaliger, 299

Schaeberle, 93

Schaer, 88

Scheiner, 4, 150, 188, 195

Scheuter, 30

Schiaparelli, 22, 326

Schjellerup, 226, 228, 230, 231, 264, 277, 281, 340

Schlesinger, 183

Schönfeld, 287

Schiraz, 47

Schmidt, 51, 188, 220, 271

Scholl, 79

Schröter, 13, 20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 48

Schuster, 2, 148, 149, 150

Schwabe, 5

Scorpio, 263-265

Sculptor, 301

Scutum, 299

Searle, 132

"Secondary light" of Venus, 23-28

See, Dr., 12, 13, 33, 58, 96, 161, 164, 165, 210, 211, 281, 282, 354

Seeliger, 181, 206

Seneca, 218, 220

Serapis, 145

Sestini, 190

"Seven Perfect Ones," 256

Sextans, 298

Shaler, 48

Sharpe, 357

Shelley, 356

Shicor, 274

"Ship," 285

"Sickle," 259

Signalling to Mars, 65

Sihor, 280

Silkit, 264

Silvestria, 124

Simeon of Durham, 53

Simonides, 255

"Singing Maidens," 256

Sirius, 138, 156, 157, 160, 163, 236, 274, 280, 282, 283

Slipher, 60, 87, 161, 178

Smart, 109

Smyth, Admiral, 12, 72, 77, 107, 136, 140, 145, 170, 176, 190, 194, 253, 259, 351

Snyder, Carl, 8, 345

Sobieski, 299

Sola, Comas, 81, 87

Somerville, Mrs., 357

Sothis, 286

Southern Cross, 293, 344

Spectra of double stars, 162

Spectrum of gaseous nebulæ, 195-198, 212

Spectrum of sun's chromosphere, 4

Spencer, Herbert, 193

Sphinx, 261

Spica, 156, 236

Spiral nebulæ, 213

Star magnitudes, 311

"Star of Bethlehem," 17, 18

Stars in daytime, 158

Stebbins, 51

Stockwell, 18, 331

"Stones from heaven," 125, 126

Stoney, 133

Strabo, 127

Stratonoff, 151, 320, 321

Stromgen, 88

Strutt, 7

Struve, 113, 240

Struyck, 54

Succulæ, 253

Suhail, 283, 286

Sun darkenings, 5, 335, 336

Sun's heat, 7

Sunlight, 1, 2

Sun-spots, 5, 6

Swift, 102

_Sydera Austricea_, 5

T

Tacchini, 22

Tamerlane, 238

Tammuz, 261

Tardé, 4

Taurus, 251

Taylor, 40

T Coronæ, 184

Tebbutt, 183, 278

Telescopium, 302

Temporary stars, 180-182, 265, 267, 343

Tennyson, 40

Terby, 88

Tethys, 89

Thales, 357

Thebes, 271

Themis, 88-90

Theogirus, 279

Theon, 245

Theseus, 257

Thome, 101

Thucydides, 331

Tibertinus, 281

Tibullus, 282

Tides, 40

Timocharis, 340

Tin, 179

Titan, 85, 88, 89

Titanium, 179

Toucan, 308

Transits of Mercury, 14, 15

" of Venus, 337, 338, 339

Triangulum, 271

" Australis, 306

Trio, 220

Triptolemus, 257

Triton, 93

Trouvelot, 21, 22, 78, 211

Tumlirz, 46

Turrinus, 220

Tycho Brahé, 10, 30, 99, 145, 179, 298

Typhon, 263, 272

U

Ulugh Beigh, 238, 276, 278

Underwood, 85

Uranus, chap. x.; spectrum of, 91, 92

Urda, 71

V

Valz 72

"Vanishing star," 59

Varvadjah, 236

Vega, 148, 156, 244

Vencontre, 220

Venus, chap. iii.; apparent motion of, 28; supposed satellite of, 28, 29; transit of, 337-339

Veronica, S, 145

Vesta, 70

Virgil, 17, 218, 242, 262, 309

Virgo, 260

Vogel, 180

Vogt, 122

Volans, 304

Voltaire, 15

Von Hahn, 24

Vulpecula, 300

W

Wallace, Dr., 212, 357

Wallis, 80

Ward, 88

Wargentin, 178

Watson, 339

Webb, 24, 25, 77, 190, 286

Weber, 183

Weinhand, 122

Wendell, 71, 103, 109

Werchojansk, 33

White spots on Jupiter's satellites, 81

White spots on Venus, 21

Whitmell, 50, 86

Wiggins, 333

Wilczyniski, 195

Williams, Stanley, 22, 277, 302

Wilsing, 155

Wilson, H. C., 137, 139

Wilson, Dr. W. E., 3, 148

Winnecke, 26, 188

Winterhalter, 351

Wolf, Dr. Max, 71, 72, 191, 211, Note p. 537

Wrangel, 240

Y

Young, Prof., 4, 7, 9

Young, Miss Anne S., 79

Yunis, Ibn, 30

Z

Zach, 331

Zenophon, 127

Zethas, 257

Zöllner, 27

THE END

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Comptes Rendus_, 1903, December 7.

[2] _Nature_, April 11, 1907.

[3] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 19 (1904), p. 39.

[4] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 21 (1905), p. 260.

[5] _Knowledge_, July, 1902, p. 132.

[6] _Nature_, April 30, 1903.

[7] _Ibid._, May 18, 1905.

[8] _Ibid._, May 18, 1905.

[9] _Nature_, June 29, 1871.

[10] _Nature_, October 15, 1903.

[11] _The Life of the Universe_ (1909), vol. ii. p. 209.

[12] _The World Machine_, p. 234.

[13] Quoted in _The Observatory_, March 1908, p. 125.

[14] _The Observatory_, September, 1906.

[15] _Nature_, March 1, 1900.

[16] _Cycle of Celestial Objects_, p. 96.

[17] _Ast. Nach._ No. 3737.

[18] _Observatory_, September, 1906.

[19] _Nature_, November 29 and December 20, 1894.

[20] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, July, 1898.

[21] _Observatory_, vol. 8 (1885), pp. 306-7.

[22] _Nature_, October 30, 1902.

[23] Charles Lane Poor, _The Solar System_, p. 170.

[24] Smyth, _Celestial Cycle_, p. 60.

[25] Denning, _Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings_, p. 225.

[26] _The Observatory_, 1894, p. 395.

[27] _Ast. Nach._ 4333, quoted in _Nature_, July 1, 1909, p. 20.

[28] _English Mechanic_, July 23, 1909.

[29] _Nature_, December 22, 1892.

[30] _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 52, footnote.

[31] _Ibid._, p. 54.

[32] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1892, p. 618.

[33] _Nature_, August 7, 1879.

[34] _The World of Space_, p. 56.

[35] _Nature_, September 15, 1892.

[36] _Observatory_, 1880, p. 574.

[37] _Knowledge_, November 1, 1897, pp. 260, 261.

[38] _Worlds in the Making_, p. 61.

[39] _Ibid._, p. 48.

[40] _Nature_, June 1, 1876.

[41] _Cel. Objects_, vol. i. p. 66 (5th Edition).

[42] _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 65 (5th Edition).

[43] _Ast. Nach._ No. 1863.

[44] _Nature_, June 1, 1876.

[45] _Ibid._, June 8, 1876.

[46] _Nature_, October 17, 1895.

[47] _Ibid._, July 27, 1905.

[48] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 107.

[49] _Nature_, October 6, 1887.

[50] _Ast. Nach._, No. 4106.

[51] _Copernicus_, vol. ii. p. 168.

[52] _Cosmos_, vol. iv. p. 476, footnote.

[53] Denning, _Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings_, p. 153.

[54] _Ibid._, p. 154.

[55] _Nature_, July 13, 1876.

[56] P. M. Ryves in _Knowledge_, June 1, 1897, p. 144.

[57] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, August, 1905.

[58] _Nature_, April 5, 1894.

[59] _Nature_, May 14, 1896. Some have attributed these "luminous clouds" to light reflected from the dust of the Krakatoa eruption (1883).

[60] _The Observatory_, 1877, p. 90.

[61] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 11 (1903), p. 293.

[62] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 13 (1905), p. 226.

[63] _Nature_, July 25, 1901 (from Flammarion).

[64] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 11 (1903), p. 496.

[65] _Kinetic Theories of Gravitation_, Washington, 1877.

[66] _The Observatory_, June, 1894, p. 208.

[67] _Nature_, June 8, 1899.

[68] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 14 (1901), p. 238, footnote.

[69] _Mars as the Abode of Life_, p. 52.

[70] Second Book of the Maccabees v. 1-4 (Revised Edition).

[71] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. i. p. 169 (Otté's translation).

[72] Quoted by Grant in _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 71.

[73] _Ibid._, pp. 100, 101.

[74] _Exposition du Système du Monde_, quoted by Carl Snyder in _The World Machine_, p. 226.

[75] _Worlds in the Making_, p. 63.

[76] _Cosmos_, vol. i. p. 131.

[77] _The Observatory_, June, 1909, p. 261.

[78] _Astronomical Essays_, pp. 61, 62.

[79] _Encyclopædia Britannica_ (_Schiraz_).

[80] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., February, 1905.

[81] _Nature_, March 3, 1870.

[82] _Ibid._, March 31, 1870, p. 557.

[83] Prof. W. H. Pickering found 12 times (see p. 1).

[84] _Nature_, January 30, 1908.

[85] _Nature_, September 5, 1901.

[86] _Ibid._, July 31, 1890.

[87] _Nature_, October 16, 1884.

[88] _Nature_, February 19, 1885.

[89] _Nature_, January 14, 1909, p. 323.

[90] _Photographic Atlas of the Moon, Annals of Harvard Observatory_, vol. li. pp. 14, 15.

[91] _Nature_, January 18, 1906.

[92] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. iv. p. 481.

[93] _Ibid._, p. 482.

[94] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., June, 1895.

[95] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. iv. p. 483 (Otté's translation).

[96] Grant, _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 229.

[97] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. xvii. No. 6, p. 387 (June-July, 1909).

[98] _Nature_, October 7, 1875.

[99] _Mars as an Abode of Life_ (1908), p. 281.

[100] _Knowledge_, May 2, 1886.

[101] _Nature_, March 12, 1908.

[102] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, April, 1899.

[103] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_ (1894), p. 649.

[104] _Nature_, April 20, 1905.

[105] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 14 (1901), p. 258.

[106] _Nature_, August 22, 1907.

[107] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 12 (1904), p. 679.

[108] _Mars as an Abode of Life_, p. 69.

[109] _Ibid._, p. 146.

[110] _Worlds in the Making_, p. 49.

[111] _Worlds in the Making_, p. 53.

[112] Denning, _Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings_, p. 158.

[113] _Ibid._, p. 166.

[114] _Nature_, July 13, 1876.

[115] _Nature_, May 2, 1907.

[116] _Nature_, May 30, 1907.

[117] _Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific_, August, 1908.

[118] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., 1902, p. 291.

[119] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., February, 1902, p. 291.

[120] _Nature_, May 24, 1894.

[121] _Ibid._, February 14, 1895.

[122] _Ibid._, September 14, 1905.

[123] _Ibid._, September 21, 1905.

[124] _Ibid._, September 28, 1905.

[125] _Ibid._, July 13, 1905.

[126] _Nature_, November 3, 1898.

[127] _Ibid._, July 14, 1881, p. 235.

[128] Quoted in _The Observatory_, February, 1896, p. 104, from _Ast. Nach._, No. 3319.

[129] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., February, 1909.

[130] _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 163.

[131] _Nature_, December 29, 1898.

[132] _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 166.

[133] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 14 (1901), pp. 248-9.

[134] _Nature_, August 27, 1908.

[135] Webb's _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 177.

[136] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 187.

[137] _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 186.

[138] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1892, p. 87.

[139] _Ibid._, 1892, pp. 94-5.

[140] _Observatory_, December, 1891.

[141] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 11 (1903), p. 574.

[142] _Ibid._, October, 1908.

[143] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, August, 1907.

[144] _Nature_, August, 29 1907.

[145] _Ibid._, March 7, 1907.

[146] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, June, 1904.

[147] _The Observatory_, October, 1903, p. 392.

[148] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1894, p. 277.

[149] _Nature_, November 18, 1897.

[150] _Journal_, B.A.A., January, 1907.

[151] _Journal_, B.A.A., February, 1909, p. 161.

[152] _Cosmos_, vol. ii. p. 703.

[153] _Ibid._

[154] Denning, _Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings_, p. 349.

[155] _Cosmos_, vol. iii. p. 75.

[156] _Journal_, B.A.A., June, 1896.

[157] _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 191.

[158] _Nature_, May 30, 1901.

[159] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, August, 1900.

[160] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1892.

[161] _Astrophysical Journal_, January, 1908, p. 35.

[162] _Nature_, May 22, 1902.

[163] _Ibid._, July 9, 1903.

[164] _Ibid._, July 16, 1903.

[165] _Nature_, September 24, 1903.

[166] _Ibid._, October 8, 1903.

[167] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 26 (1907), p. 60.

[168] _Nature_, January 30, 1908.

[169] _Ibid._, October 15, 1908.

[170] _Ibid._, October 29, 1908.

[171] _Journal_, B.A.A., March, 1908, and June 22, 1908.

[172] _Nature_, June 25, 1903.

[173] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, June, 1904.

[174] _Pop. Ast._, vol. 12, pp. 408-9.

[175] _Nature_, August 29, 1889.

[176] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 26 (1907), p. 62.

[177] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, January, 1904.

[178] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. iv. p. 532.

[179] _Copernicus_, vol. ii. p. 64.

[180] _Knowledge_, May, 1909.

[181] _Journal_, British Astronomical Association, January, 1909, p. 132.

[182] _Ast. Nach._, No. 4308.

[183] _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 204.

[184] Smyth's _Celestial Cycle_, pp. 210, 211.

[185] Poor, _The Solar System_, p. 274.

[186] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 246.

[187] _Nature_, October 2, 1879.

[188] _Ibid._, May 6, 1880.

[189] _Ibid._, February 19, 1880.

[190] _Nature_, September 30, 1897.

[191] _Nature_, August 5, 1875.

[192] _Ibid._, October 12, 1882, and _Copernicus_, vol. iii. p. 85.

[193] _Nature_, May 8, 1884.

[194] _Ibid._, June 16, 1887.

[195] _Journal_, B.A.A., December 13, 1901.

[196] _Nature_, September 20, 1900.

[197] _Ast. Nach._, No. 3868, and _Nature_, March 12, 1903.

[198] _Nature_, November 13, 1908.

[199] _Nature_, December 7, 1905.

[200] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 259.

[201] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 260.

[202] _Journal_, B.A.A., April, 1907.

[203] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., March, 1908.

[204] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 231.

[205] _Journal_, B.A.A., July, 1908.

[206] _Popular Astronomy_, October, 1908.

[207] _Cape Obs._, p. 401.

[208] _Nature_, July 2, 1908.

[209] _Journal_, B.A.A., January 20, 1909, pp. 123-4.

[210] Chambers' _Handbook of Astronomy_, Catalogue of Comets.

[211] Seneca, quoted by Chambers, _Handbook_, vol. i. p. 554 (Fourth Edition).

[212] _Ibid._

[213] _Ibid._

[214] _Ibid._, p. 534.

[215] _Ibid._

[216] Ma-tuoan-lin, quoted by Chambers, _Handbook_, p. 570.

[217] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1893, p. 798.

[218] _The Observatory_, October, 1898.

[219] Grant's _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 293.

[220] _Ibid._, p. 294.

[221] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. i. pp. 89, 90 (Otté's translation).

[222] _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 211, footnote.

[223] Denning, _Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings_, p. 248.

[224] _Ibid._, p. 248.

[225] _Ibid._, p. 250.

[226] _Ibid._, p. 231.

[227] Vol. iii. p. 106.

[228] Grant's _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 298.

[229] _Ibid._, p. 305.

[230] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. i. p. 95.

[231] _Nature_, April 30, 1908.

[232] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, May, 1906.

[233] _Nature_, November 24, 1904.

[234] _Ibid._, September 10, 1896.

[235] _Ibid._, June 29, 1893.

[236] _Journal_, B.A.A., May 22, 1903.

[237] _Nature_, December 13, 1906, p. 159.

[238] _Nature_, September 13, 1906.

[239] _Nature_, October 12, 1905, p. 596.

[240] _Knowledge_, January 13, 1882.

[241] _Ibid._, January 20, 1882.

[242] _Popular Astronomy_, June-July, 1908, p. 345.

[243] _The Observatory_, March, 1896, p. 135.

[244] _The Observatory_, February, 1900, pp. 106-7.

[245] _Knowledge_, March, 1893, p. 51.

[246] _Ibid._, July 3, 1885, p. 11.

[247] _Cosmos_, vol. i. p. 108 (Otté's translation).

[248] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 124.

[249] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 119, footnote.

[250] _Copernicus_, vol. i. p. 72.

[251] _Ibid._

[252] _Astrophysical Journal_, June, 1909, pp. 378-9.

[253] _Knowledge_, July, 1909, p. 264.

[254] Quoted by Miss Irene E. T. Warner in _Knowledge_, July, 1909, p. 264.

[255] _The Observatory_, November, 1900.

[256] Or, "Before the phantom of false morning died" (4th edition); _The Observatory_, September, 1905, p. 356.

[257] _The Observatory_, July, 1896, p. 274.

[258] _Journal_, B.A.A., January 24, 1906.

[259] _Ast. Soc. of the Pacific_, December, 1908, p. 280.

[260] _Nature_, November 1, 1906.

[261] _Ibid._, November 22, 1906, p. 93.

[262] _Nature_, August 30, 1906.

[263] _Cosmos_, vol. i. p. 131, footnote.

[264] _Nature_, December 16, 1875.

[265] _Ibid._, July 23, 1891.

[266] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, April, 1903.

[267] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, April, 1903.

[268] _The Observatory_, May, 1896. The italics are Brenner's.

[269] _Cosmos_, vol. iv. p. 563.

[270] For details of this enumeration, see _Astronomical Essays_, p. 222.

[271] _Nature_, June 11, 1908.

[272] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 14 (1906), p. 510.

[273] _Bedford Catalogue_, p. 532.

[274] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 15 (1907), p. 194.

[275] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 15 (1907), p. 195.

[276] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, February, 1903.

[277] Here [Greek: ch] is probably 17 Cygni, [Greek: ch] being the famous variable near it.

[278] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 13 (1904), p. 509.

[279] _Astrophysical Journal_, December, 1895.

[280] _The Observatory_, July, 1895, p. 290.

[281] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 302.

[282] _Nature_, December 13, 1894.

[283] _Histoire Celeste_, p. 211.

[284] _Nature_, October, 1887.

[285] _Ibid._, August 29, 1889.

[286] _Science Abstracts_, February 25, 1908, pp. 82, 83.

[287] _Bedford Catalogue_, pp. 227-8.

[288] _Knowledge_, February 1, 1888.

[289] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 280.

[290] _Popular Astronomy_, February, 1904.

[291] _Ibid._, vol. 15 (1907), p. 444.

[292] _Journal_, B.A.A., June, 1899.

[293] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 8 (1898), p. 314.

[294] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 8, p. 213.

[295] _Ibid._, vol. 17, January to June, 1902.

[296] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1894, pp. 569-70.

[297] _The Study of Stellar Evolution_ (1908), p. 171.

[298] _Astrophysical Journal_, January, 1905.

[299] _Journal_, B.A.A., June, 1901.

[300] _Ast. Soc. of the Pacific_, December, 1908.

[301] _The Observatory_, November, 1902, p. 391.

[302] _Cosmos_, vol. iv. p. 567 (Otté's translation).

[303] _Journal_, B.A.A., February, 1898.

[304] _The Observatory_, April, 1887.

[305] _Evangeline_, Part the Second, III.

[306] _Legend of Robert, Duke of Normandy._

[307] _Copernicus_, vol. iii. p. 231.

[308] _Ibid._, p. 61.

[309] _Cosmos_, vol. i. p. 142.

[310] These apertures are computed from the formula, minimum visible = 9 + 5 log. aperture.

[311] _Cosmos_, vol. iii. p. 73.

[312] _Darwin and Modern Science_, p. 563.

[313] _Journal_, B.A.A., October, 1895.

[314] Burnham's _General Catalogue of Double Stars_, p. 494.

[315] _Journal_, B.A.A., November 18, 1896.

[316] _Ibid._, B.A.A., January, 1907.

[317] _Studies in Astronomy_, p. 185.

[318] _Knowledge_, June, 1891.

[319] Seen by Drs. Ludendorff and Eberhard, _The Observatory_, April, 1906, p. 166, quoted from _Ast. Nach._, No. 4067.

[320] _The Observatory_, January, 1907, p. 61.

[321] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1894.

[322] Smyth's _Celestial Cycle_, p. 223.

[323] _Nature_, February 7, 1907.

[324] _Ibid._, March 19, 1908.

[325] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 15 (1907), p. 9.

[326] _Astrophysical Journal_, June, 1907, p. 330.

[327] _Ibid._, vol. 22, p. 172.

[328] _Nature_, November 18, 1886.

[329] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 17 (1903), p. 282.

[330] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 12 (1900), p. 54.

[331] _Nature_, March 21, 1878.

[332] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, June, 1904.

[333] _Journal_, B.A.A., vol. 17 (1903), p. 282.

[334] _Nature_, June 20, 1909.

[335] _The Observatory_, vol. 7 (1884), p. 17.

[336] _The Observatory_, vol. 14 (1891), p. 69.

[337] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1896, p. 54

[338] _Nature_, August 28, 1902.

[339] _Astrophysical Journal_, October, 1903.

[340] _Nature_, May 30, 1907.

[341] _Popular Astronomy_, February, 1909, p. 125.

[342] _The Observatory_, May, 1907, p. 216.

[343] _Astrophysical Journal_, May, 1907.

[344] _Histoire de l'Astronomie Moderne_, vol. i. pp. 185-6.

[345] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. iii. p. 210 (Otté's translation).

[346] _Ibid._, vol. iii. pp. 213-14.

[347] J. C. Duncan, _Lick Observatory Bulletin_, No. 151.

[348] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 17, p. 283.

[349] _The Origin of the Stars_, p. 143.

[350] _Ibid._, p. 135.

[351] Quoted by Ennis in _The Origin of the Stars_, p. 133.

[352] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 20 (1904), p. 357.

[353] _Nature_, March 8, 1906.

[354] _Astronomical Society of the Pacific_, August, 1908.

[355] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1894, p. 812.

[356] _The Observatory_, May, 1905.

[357] This is a misquotation. See my _Astronomical Essays_, p. 135.

[358] _Nature_, February 3, 1870.

[359] _Bedford Catalogue_, p. 14.

[360] _Ibid._, p. 307.

[361] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 14, p. 37.

[362] _Ibid._, vol. 9, p. 149.

[363] _Nature_, July 20, 1899.

[364] _Ast. Nach._, No. 3476.

[365] _Astronomische Nachrichten_, No. 4213.

[366] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 9, p. 149.

[367] _Cape Observations_, p. 61.

[368] _Ibid._, p. 85.

[369] _Cape Observations_, p. 98.

[370] _Transactions_, Royal Dublin Society, vol. 2.

[371] _Ast. Nach._, 3628, quoted in _The Observatory_, April, 1900.

[372] _Nature_, April 8, 1909.

[373] _Problems in Astrophysics_, p. 477.

[374] _Ibid._, p. 499.

[375] _Copernicus_, vol. iii. p. 55.

[376] _Lick Observatory Bulletin_, No. 149.

[377] _Ibid._

[378] _Ibid._

[379] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., April, 1908, pp. 465-481.

[380] _Lick Observatory Bulletin_, No. 155 (February, 1909).

[381] _Outlines of Astronomy_, par. 870 (Edition of 1875).

[382] _Georgics_, i. II. 217-18.

[383] See paper by Mr. and Mrs. Maunder in _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., March, 1904, p. 506.

[384] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. ii. p. 143.

[385] _Recherches sur l'Histoire de l'Astronomie Ancienne_, by Paul Tannery (1893), p. 298.

[386] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. ii. p. 225.

[387] _Nature_, October 2, 1890.

[388] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i. pp. 243-4.

[389] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i. pp. 242-3.

[390] There are three copies of Al-Sufi's work in the Imperial Library at Paris, but these are inaccurate. There is also one in the British Museum Library, and another in the India Office Library; but these are imperfect, considerable portions of the original work being missing.

[391] _Harvard Annals_, vol. ix. p. 51.

[392] The science of the risings and settings of the stars was called _ilm el-anwa_ (Caussin, _Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque due Roi_, tome xii. p. 237).

[393] See Mr. E. B. Knobel's papers on this subject in the _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., for 1879 and 1884.

[394] In reading this chapter the reader is recommended to have a Star Atlas beside him for reference; Proctor's smaller Star Atlas will be found very convenient for this purpose. On the title-page of this useful work the author quotes Carlyle's words, "Why did not somebody teach me the constellations and make me at home in the starry heavens which are always overhead, and which I don't half know to this day?"

[395] _Bedford Catalogue_, p. 29.

[396] _Cosmos_, vol. iii. p. 87.

[397] _Heavenly Display_, 579-85.

[398] _Bedford Catalogue_, p. 385.

[399] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 529.

[400] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i. pp. 268-9.

[401] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 48.

[402] _Bedford Catalogue_, pp. 27, 28.

[403] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 492.

[404] _Bedford Catalogue_, p. 120.

[405] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 143.

[406] Perseus.

[407] _Heavenly Display_, 254-8, 261-5, quoted by Brown in _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 274.

[408] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 493.

[409] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 292.

[410] _Paradiso_, xxii. 111.

[411] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 493.

[412] _Bedford Catalogue_, p. 225.

[413] _Nature_, April 6, 1882.

[414] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 68.

[415] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 71.

[416] _Bibliographie Gènèrale de l'Astronomie_, vol. i. Introduction, pp. 131, 132.

[417] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i. p. 296.

[418] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 74.

[419] _Cape Observations_, p. 116.

[420] _Metamorphoses_, xv. 371.

[421] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 487.

[422] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., April 14, 1848.

[423] _Prim. Const._, vol. ii. p. 45.

[424] Lalande's _Astronomie_, pp. 472-3.

[425] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 485.

[426] This star is not shown in Proctor's small Atlas, but it lies between [Greek: m] and [Greek: n], nearer to [Greek: m].

[427] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i. p. 247.

[428] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 489.

[429] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 91.

[430] _Memoirs_, R.A.S., vol. xiii. 61.

[431] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., June, 1895.

[432] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i. p. 274.

[433] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 143.

[434] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 278.

[435] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 468.

[436] _Quæst. Nat._, Lib. 1, Cap. I. § 6; quoted by Dr. See. "Canicula" is Sirius, and "Nartis," Mars.

[437] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, vol. 11, 1892.

[438] _The Observatory_, April, 1906, p. 175.

[439] Houzeau, _Bibliographie Gènèrale de l'Astronomie_, vol. i., Introduction, p. 129.

[440] _English Mechanic_, March 25, 1904, p. 145.

[441] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. iii. p. 185, footnote (Otté's translation).

[442] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol, i. p. 277.

[443] This was pointed out by Flammarion in his work _Les Étoiles_, page 532; but his identifications do not agree exactly with mine.

[444] See Proctor's Map 7, now x.

[445] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 106.

[446] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i. p. 278.

[447] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv.

[448] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 112.

[449] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 113.

[450] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i.

[451] W. T. Lynn in _The Observatory_, vol. 22, p. 236.

[452] _Knowledge_, May 1, 1889. Sir John Herschel, however, gives 3970 B.C.

[453] _The Observatory_, November 1907, p. 412.

[454] This is not, however, _invariably_ the case, as pointed out by Mr. Denning in _The Observatory_, 1885, p. 340.

[455] _The Observatory_, vol. 8 (1885), pp. 246-7.

[456] _Harvard College Observatory Annals_, vol. xlviii. No. 5.

[457] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 15 (1907), p. 529.

[458] _Cape Observations_, p. 77.

[459] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., March, 1899.

[460] _Nature_, February 13, 1890.

[461] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 15 (1907), p. 530.

[462] _Photographs of Star-Clusters and Nebulæ_, vol. ii. p. 17.

[463] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., May 9, 1856.

[464] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 25 (1907), p. 219.

[465] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 11 (1903), p. 293.

[466] Translated by W. H. Mallock, _Nature_, February 8, 1900, p. 352.

[467] Howard Payn, _Nature_, May 16, 1901, p. 56.

[468] Howard Payn, _Nature_, May 16, 1901, p. 56.

[469] _Contributions from the Mount Wilson Solar Observatory_, No. 31.

[470] Quoted by Denning in _Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings_, p. 297.

[471] _Astrophysical Journal_, March, 1895.

[472] _Outlines of Astronomy_, Tenth Edition, p. 571.

[473] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 12, p. 136.

[474] _De Placitis._ Quoted by Carl Snyder in _The World Machine_ p. 354.

[475] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 14 (1906), p. 638.

[476] Article on "The Greek Anthology," _Nineteenth Century_, April, 1907, quoted in _The Observatory_, May, 1907.

[477] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 13 (1905), p. 346.

[478] _Bulletin de la Soc. Ast. de France_, April, 1908.

[479] _The Observatory_, vol. 11, p. 375.

[480] Grant, _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 364.

[481] _Ibid._, p. 377.

[482] _Ibid._, p. 366.

[483] _Ibid._, p. 367.

[484] Grant, _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 370.

[485] _Nature_, July 25, 1889.

[486] _Cosmos_, vol. iv. p. 381.

[487] _Cosmos_, vol. iv. pp. 381-6.

[488] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 121.

[489] _The Observatory_, vol. 6 (1883), pp. 327-8.

[490] _Nature_, June 25, 1874.

[491] _Popular Astronomy_, May, 1895, "Reflectors or Refractors."

[492] Denning, _Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings_, p. 225.

[493] _Nature_, November 2, 1893.

[494] _Telescopic Work_, p. 226.

[495] _Copernicus_, vol. i. p. 229.

[496] Grant, _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 433.

[497] _Cosmos_, vol. ii. p. 699.

[498] Grant, _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 536, footnote.

[499] _Bedford Catalogue_, p. 179.

[500] _The Observatory_, July, 1891.

[501] _Nature_, September 3, 1903.

[502] _Cosmos_, vol. ii. p. 669.

[503] _The World Machine_, p. 80.

[504] _Ibid._, p. 89.

[505] Grant, _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 107.

[506] Grant, _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 113.

[507] _Nature_, August 11, 1898.

[508] _Ibid._, August 18, 1898.

[509] _Ibid._, October 20, 1898.

[510] _The Observatory_, vol. iv. (1881), p. 234.

[511] W. T. Lynn, _The Observatory_, July, 1909, p. 291.

[512] Quoted in _The Observatory_, July, 1902, p. 281.

[513] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 6, 1897, p. 304.

[514] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 367.

[515] _The Observatory_, vol. 5 (1882), p. 251.

[516] Quoted by Humboldt in _Cosmos_, vol. ii. p. 696, footnote.

[517] Quoted by Denning in _Telescopic Work_, p. 347.

[518] _Knowledge_, February 20, 1885, p. 149.

[519] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. i. p. 123.

[520] _Outlines of Astronomy_, par. 319; edition of 1875.

[521] _Bulletin de la Soc. Ast. de France_, March, 1908, p. 146.

[522] An "astronomical unit" is the sun's mean distance from the earth.

[523] This is on the American and French system of notation, but on the English system, 10{66} = 10{60} × 10{6} would be a million decillion.

[524] _Astronomical Society of the Pacific_, April, 1909 (No. 125), and _Popular Astronomy_, May, 1909.

[525] _Nature_, July 22, 1909.

[526] _Ibid._

[527] _The Observatory_, vol. 9 (December, 1886), p. 389.

[528] _De Nat. Deorum_, quoted in Smyth's _Cycle_, p. 19.

[529] _The Observatory_, May, 1907.

[530] _More Worlds than Ours_, p. 17.

[531] _Man's Place in Nature._

Transcriber's Notes:

Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.

Superscripted characters are indicated by {superscript}.

Subscripted characters are indicated by _{subscript}.

The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these letters have been replaced with transliterations.

Foonote 48 appears on page 28 of the text, but there is no corresponding marker on the page.

Foonote 448 appears on page 295 of the text, but there is no corresponding marker on the page.

End of Project Gutenberg's Astronomical Curiosities, by J. Ellard Gore