A. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. 3 



currents of great intensity, proceeding from the sun's centre 

 to its surface. 5. The existence of such currents is an im- 

 perative proof that the body of the sun must be in a gaseous 

 state, and is an immense sphere of aeriform matter of an 

 enormous temperature, but which is continually cooling by 

 the action of the ascending currents. 6. The sun is absolutely 

 spherical. 3 A, Nov. 25,1871,413. 



SOCIETY OF ITALIAN SPECTROSCOPISTS. 



A very vigorous society has been formed in Italy, under the 

 name of the Society of Italian Spectroscopists, whose special 

 object is to collate and compare observations made simulta- 

 neously at the different Italian observatories on the spots, 

 protuberances, and facula3 of the sun, especially with the 

 spectroscope, so as to arrive at a more accurate knowledge 

 of the scientific value of these phenomena. The society has 

 already published three numbers of its memoirs, containing 

 most valuable papers and records of observations by Secchi, 

 Respighi, Tacchini, and other eminent Italian astronomers 

 and physicists. 



SECCHI ON SOLAR PROTUBERANCES. 



The Italian astronomer Pere Secchi has published in the 

 Atti delV Accademia Pontificia de Nuovi Lincei his papers 

 " Sulle Protuberanze Solari e le Facole" and " Sulla Distribu- 

 zione delle Protuberanze intorno al Disco Solare," in which 

 the conclusions arrived at are thus summed up : 1. The south- 

 ern hemisphere of the sun is at present richer in protuberances 

 than the northern hemisphere. 2. In general terms, the pro- 

 tuberances are numerous in those regions where the faculte 

 are numerous. 3. The protuberances are highest in the re- 

 gions where they are the most numerous. 



SUPPOSED PLANET INTERIOR TO MERCURY. 



Mr. Denning, secretary of the Observing Astronomical So- 

 ciety of Bristol, invites the attention of observers of total 

 eclipses of the sun to the fact that there probably exists a 

 hitherto unknown planet, which revolves in an orbit interior 

 to that of Mercury, and remarks that such a body, if it does 

 exist, can be well detected during the progress of a total 

 solar eclipse, if the region of sky in the neighborhood of the 



