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 (α 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 (α 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 (η 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 ¹⁄10000 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 α and β 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 α 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—

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 2⁶⁵⁸ to 1, or a decillion decillion (10⁶⁶)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] (α 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] (10⁶⁶)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—

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 Phœbe, 90 Phœnix, 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 Rœdeckœr, 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 χ is probably 17 Cygni, χ 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 μ and ν, nearer to μ.

[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, 10⁶⁶ = 10⁶⁰ × 10⁶ 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:

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.