Prof. RICHARD A. PROCTOR, 



B. A., F. R. S., F. R. A. S., Sec. Royal Astronomical Society ; author of " Other 



Worlds than Ours," "Half Hours with the Telescope," 



"Sun Views of the Eartb," etc. 



Professor Proctor will make a professional tour in America, commencing in 

 October next. He is the most attractive scientific lecturer in England, and, as 

 a public speaker, has received the warmest praises from the London and pro- 

 vincial press. 



Subjoined is a list (with synopses) of his most interesting lectures for lyceums 

 and educational institutions and institutes. Though designed as a course, each 

 is complete in itself. 



I. The Sun. 



What the sun does for us. His might as a ruler. 

 His splendor as a source of light. Vastness of the 

 heat-supply he affords to the worlds circling around 

 him. Telescopic study of the sun. His spots : their 

 periodic variations of frequency; their connection 

 with the weather, auroras, terrestrial magnetism, 

 etc. The phenomena seen during total solar eclipses. 

 The colored prominences and sierra, shown to con- 

 sist of glowing gas. The corona shown (first by 

 American observers) to be a solar appendage, and in 

 great part gaseous. The sun's true atmosphere dis- 

 covered by an American astronomer. The study of 

 what goes on, upon and around the solar orb. Hur- 

 ricanes in the sun. Solar volcanoes. What the sun 

 expels in these eruptions. The sun fluctuates in 

 size. How long will the sun last? Summary and 

 conclusion. 



Illustrated by many beautifully-painted 

 pictures. 



II. The Sun's Inner Family of 

 Planets. 



MEECUET VENUS THE EAETH ANT) MOON MAES. 



Bird's-eye view of the inner family of planets. 

 Their distinguishing characteristics. Mercury. The 

 enormous heat to which he is exposed. What the 

 telescope has taught about him. Venus: her beauty 

 in the heavens. Disappointing telescopic news. Her 

 twinship to the earth. Her ghost-moon. The earth 

 regarded as a planet. Distinguished as the only 

 planet of the sun's inner family which has a moon 

 yet the moon is to be regarded rather as a compan- 

 ion planet than as a mere satellite. Mars. Interest- 

 ing results of the telescopic scrutiny of this planet. 

 His lands and seas ; polar snows ; ocean-currents ; 

 air-currents. Spectroscopic teachings. Two ways 

 of explaining what the telescope and spectroscope 

 have taught about Mars. Brewsterian theory. A 

 Whewellite theory. Probabilities weighed, and result. 



Illustrated by many beautifully -painted 

 pictures. 



III. The Giant Planets. 



JTTPITEB SATUEN IXEANTJS XEPTUNE. 



General view of the Sun's outer family of plan- 

 ets. Their distinguishing characteristics. Jupiter, 

 his vast bulk and mass. Rapid rotation. Belts. 

 Wonderful changes recently observed in his equato- 

 rial belt. Beautiful pictures of Jupiter taken at the 

 Harvard Observatory, Cambridge, U. S. Jupiter 

 shown to be probably in a state of intense heat. His 

 svstem of satellites. Of little use as moons. Prob- 

 ably inhabited worlds. Saturn considered in like 

 manner. He supplies evidence of a new kind. His 

 ring-system. Discoveries made by American as- 

 tronomers. Uranus and Neptune. How discov- 

 ered. The telescope teaches little as to their physi- 

 cal condition. The gloomy depths amid which 

 they pursue their career. Probabilities as to the 

 sun's outer family of planets weighed. Result. 



Illustrated by many beautifully-painted 

 pictures. 



IV. Comets and Meteors. 



Comets described. Account of certain remark- 

 able comets whose history throws light on the na- 

 ture of these bodies. The repulsive action by which 



the tails of comets appear to be formed. Researches 

 by Prof. Norton, of America. The comet-families 

 of Jupiter and his fellow-giants among the planets. 

 Scattering of comets. Lost comets. Lost comet of 

 Biela. Meteors and aerolites. Meteor-systems how 

 recognized. The November meteors. The August 

 meteors. Strange history of the discovery that 

 meteors and comets are associated. Enormous 

 numbers of meteor-systems and comets. How they 

 gather toward the sun's neighborhood. Meteoric 

 masses expelled from the sun and from his fellow- 

 suns, the stars. Probable evidence for the theory 

 that meteor-systems have been expelled from the 

 giant planets. Probabilities weighed. Result. Sum- 

 mary and conclusion. 



illustrated by many beautifully -painted 

 pictures. 



V. Wonders of the Star-depths. 



The seeming calm of the star-depths compared 

 with the real vastness of the movements taking place 

 within them. Stupendous uproar where all seems 

 silent. Determining star-distances. Resulting es- 

 timate of the dimensions of the stars. Some stars 

 probably 5,000 times larger than the sun. What the 

 spectroscope tells us about the stars. Secchi's four 

 orders of stars. The sun only in the second class. 

 Researches by Rutherfurd (of America), Huggins, 

 and Miller. Double stars. Colored stars. Cause of the 

 color. Stars which change in brightness and color. 

 Theories of the stellar universe. Kepler. Lambert, 

 of Alsatia. Wright, of Durham. Sir W. Herschel's 

 theories. Struve's researches and results. The lect- 

 urer's researches into the laws of stellar distribu- 

 tion. Distribution of bright stars. Of faint stars. 

 Chart of 324,198 Northern Stars. Distribution of 

 star-cloudlets or nebulae. Movements of the stars. 

 Star-drift. Motions of recession and approach. The 

 lecturer ventures on a prediction. Confirmed through 

 the researches of Dr. Huggins. Probabilities as to 

 the structure of the universe weighed. Results. 

 Marvelous extension, complexity, and vitality, of the 

 sidereal universe. Richter's dream. 



Illustrated by paintings and diagrams. 



VI. The Moon. 



General sketch of the moon's aspect and motions. 

 Services she renders to our earth. The tides, and 

 their uses. The moon a celestial clock for seamen. 

 Laplace's ideal moon. Shown to be less useful than 

 the real moon. Telescopic survey of the moon. 

 Photographs of the moon. Rutherfurd, of America, 

 succeeds in surpassing all others in lunar photog- 

 raphy. Search for lunar inhabitants. The moon 

 hoax; sent from America, but the invention of a 

 European. The moon has no water, and either no 

 air or very little. Had the moon ever oceans and 

 an atmosphere ? H so, what has become of them ? 

 Carried away by a comet? Frozen? Withdrawn 

 into the moon's interior ? Removed to the moon's 

 unseen hemisphere? Is the moon egg-shaped? 

 Probabilities weighed, and result. The moon's vol- 

 canic phenomena. The moon's probable past history. 

 Her present condition. Processes of change still 

 taking place upon her surface. Lunar heat. De- 

 scription of the phenomena seen by lunar people, 

 if there are any. 



Illustrated by paintings, and also by lunar 

 photographs of extreme beauty. 



Address all applications to his American Agent, American Literary Bureau, 

 Cooper Institute, New York City. 



