8 ANNUAL KECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



tribution of the highest value to our knowledge of the vari- 

 ability of Algol; and, as Schonfeld says, "similar works 

 should be prosecuted the more diligently in proportion as 

 the number of astronomers diminishes who occupy them- 

 selves with this interesting star." Vierteljahrsschrift der 

 Astroiiomischen Gesellschaft^ X., 203. 



ON THE THEORY OF THE ABEREATIOX OF LIGHT. 



Villarceau states that he has been makins: a research into 

 the theory of the aberration of light, and the influence upon 

 it of the absolute movement of the solar system. His math- 

 ematical investigations of the subject having been concluded 

 without regard to the methods of Gauss and Bessel, he has 

 been independently led to conclude, in opposition to them, 

 that the absolute movement of the solar system will have an 

 effect other than simply to change by constant quantities the 

 position of all stars; and he shows that in order to determine 

 the four unknown quantities, viz., the true constant of aber- 

 ration, and the three rectangular components of the move- 

 ment of the solar system, it is necessary to have at least 

 four values of the aberration by observations of four stars 

 not situated upon the same great circle ; and the observa- 

 tions will be best suited to the purposes in hand if they are 

 made at two astronomical situations whose latitudes are 35^" 

 north and south of the equator. If we would increase the 

 accuracy of our result by increasing the number of stars, 

 they should be distributed in groups of four, the individuals 

 of each group being six hours apart in right ascension, and 

 respectively 35 north and south declination. By a proper 

 combination among the observatories at present existing in 

 the world, it would, in fact, be possible to realize such a de- 

 termination of the constant of aberration, without consider- 

 able expense, in the course of a single year. 6 ^, LXXXL, 

 165. 



CORRELATION OF SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL PHENOMENA. 



In some remarks on the connection between the changes 

 that take place on the sun, and on the earth, and forming a 

 portion of his address as President of the British Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, Professor Balfour Stewart 

 indulges in the following speculation : He says we are all 



