INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1874. X xxi 



fact seems to have been alluded to by Sir John Herschel, but 

 it was reserved for Dr. Gould to trace the bright zone vvitli 

 tolerable distinctness through the entire heavens. After al- 

 lowing for the influence of this zone, Dr. Gould finds that the 

 distribution of all stars down to the ninth magnitude is quite 

 closely represented by the assumption that the stars are very 

 uniformly distributed through space, and are on the average 

 of the same order of intrinsic brilliancy. 



The Nebulae. Huggins has attempted to apply to the neb- 

 ulae that class of spectroscopic observations by means of which 

 he was able a few years ago to measure the velocity with 

 which the stars approach to or recede from the earth. Not- 

 withstanding the extreme difficulty of the work, he con- 

 cludes that none of the nebulae show a motion relative to the 

 earth of more than twenty-five miles per second, and that, as a 

 class, the proper motions of the gaseous nebulae are not so 

 great as those of the fixed stars. Mr. Abbe states that if we 

 consider the nebulae which are recorded as " very much ex- 

 tended," or as " mere rays of light," to be very flat spheroids 

 or rings or planes, then their axes of rotation lie in or near 

 a common plane inclined to that of the Milky Way by about 

 twenty-five degrees. 



PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. 



Terrestrial Magnetism. Sir William Thomson, in urging 

 upon telegraphers the importance of observing the existence 

 of spontaneous currents upon lines of telegraph, states that 

 if the line be worked with a condenser at each end such ob- 

 servations can be made without disturbing its use for busi- 

 ness purposes. The same savant concludes that, on account 

 of the disturbances produced by the rolling of the vessel, it 

 may be necessary at sea to use very long compass-needles. 



The first annual report has been received from the new 

 magnetic observatory of the Jesuit College at Zi-ka-wci, 

 near Shanghae. 



Forssman has published a very thorough memoir on the 

 connection between the aurora borealis and magnetic phe- 

 nomena, and the winds and barometer. 



An important publication has been that of Miihry " On the 

 Geographical Distribution of Atmospheric Electricity," from 

 which it is seen that the latter has its origin in the heated 



