542 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



as an amulet, and that so the rondelles removed from the heads of 

 men who had been subject to epileptic fits would acquire a virtue 

 in the eyes of the ignorant and superstitious, and be employed as 

 charms. And this seems to be both the simplest and most intel- 

 ligible explanation of the phenomena of hole-pierced heads, and 

 of the wearing of the portions removed from those heads by men 

 and women who had not themselves been trepanned. — Cornhill 

 Magazine. 



THE NEW STAR IN THE MILKY WAY. 



A" NEW STAR " is a representative of a class of phenomena 

 so rare that the number recorded during the last few cent- 

 uries may be counted on the fingers. Hence we readily conceive 

 that, since they are very striking in themselves as breaking the 

 monotony of the starry heavens, and since also their nature was 

 considered till quite recently to be shrouded in mystery, a most 

 lively interest has been stirred up by the recent new arrival, not 

 only among astronomers, but among that large class who are al- 

 ways on the qui vive for celestial wonders. 



When tortured by the many instruments which modern science 

 places at the observer's disposal, a new star is quite a thing per se J 

 while at times their brilliancy is extraordinary, some of these 

 " new stars " having rivaled both Mars and Jupiter in brightness, 

 and even sometimes Venus. 



The time that they take to wax and to wane varies very consid- 

 erably ; some have lasted at their greatest brightness only for 

 days, others have remained visible for months or occasionally for 

 years. It generally happens that a " new star " when first seen is 

 brightest, and many have thought that this is simply because the 

 star is at the stage most likely to be noticed by us ; but this may 

 not be the entire truth, as can be gathered from a consideration 

 of the various views which have been put forward as to their 

 nature. 



Among the many hypotheses that have been suggested to ex- 

 plain how it is that these strange bodies make their appearance 

 from time to time, we may first of all mention that which sup- 

 posed them due to the sudden colliding of a comet with a star ; 

 another theory assumed that a star at some period of its existence 

 became enveloped in a kind of crust or slag, which by some 

 cause or other became disrupted, and revealed the glowing mass 

 within. 



Both these hypotheses, although they might to a certain de- 

 gree explain the sudden brightness of the star, would not hold 

 good with regard to the rapid diminution of its light, because, 



