TO KNOW THE STARRY 1 1 IvWRNS 



341 



notice the relative positions of the star 

 and the moon some little time before 

 that given above for the immersion, 

 when by considering that the moon 



Fig. 3 — Occulation of the star Omicron Leonis. The 

 center of the moon is moving in the direction of the 

 arrow, which causes the star to disappear at A and to 

 reappear at B. 



moves eastward an amount equal to its 

 own diameter in one hour, the approxi- 

 mate time when the occulation will be- 

 gin can be estimated. 



Omicron Leonis is attended by a 

 ninth magnitude star, northeast of itself 

 and eighty-four seconds distant, which 

 was discovered byHerschel in 1783. In 

 a large telescope this will be seen to be 

 also occulted, its disappearance occur- 

 ring about two minutes after that of the 

 principal star. ; The brighter star is 

 also a close double-star system, the 

 revolution of one star about the other 

 occurring in about fourteen days. This 

 w^as discovered with the spectroscope 

 in 1898, but the two stars are far too 

 close together to be separately seen in 

 any existing telescope. 



The April Shooting Stars. 



These occur in the greatest number 

 on April 20, but may be looked for 

 several evenings before and after this 

 date. They are called the Lyrids. and 

 dart outward in all directions across the 

 sky from the point S, Fig. i, in the con- 

 stellation Lyra. As this star group is 

 not high in the heavens until toward 

 midnight, it is from this time until sun- 

 rise that the observations are best 

 made. The Lyrids are bluish, swiftly 

 moving shooting stars, the brighter 

 ones frequently leaving a trail behind 

 them. The swarm is pursuing the path 

 of the first comet of the year 1861. 



Infinite Variety. 



Charles Nevers Holmes, of Newton, 

 Massachusetts, calls our attention to an 

 interesting paragraph in "L'Astrono- 

 mie" by the famous astronomer, M. Ca- 

 niille Flammarion. 



"This immense world (Ju[)iter) is in 

 its primordial stage and is preparing 

 itself for the future. Spectral analysis 

 shows that the substances which pre- 

 dominate there are diiTerent from ter- 

 restrial substances. We can imagine 

 that the living beings who will develop 

 there will be chemically different from 

 terrestrial beings, composed not of oxy- 

 gen, hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen, 

 but of other combinations. It is a world 

 differing in kind from us." 



Here is an idea based upon fact and 

 upon logic that is too often lost sight 

 of. There is on this earth an infinite 

 variety whether we study the smallest 

 or the largest things. I vividly recall 

 making the acquaintance of a professor 

 in a laboratory, who had been spending 

 months in measuring a tiny extension 

 point at the rear of a microscopic ani- 

 mal known as the Daphnia. Lie not 

 only measured the length but the an- 

 gles at the sides of that point and told 

 of the incredible nvmiber of measure- 

 ments that he had taken. He found 

 almost infinite variety. 



It is a trite statement that in this 

 world there are no two things alike. 

 Svirely there are no two people alike: 

 and even the corresponding parts of the 

 body are not alike ; our thumbs are not 

 alike, and the wrinkles on the inside 

 of the two hands are not alike. How 

 widely difli'erent are voices. Even 

 though the voice come a hundred miles 

 over the telephone, you at once recog- 

 nize the speaker if he is one with whom 

 you are familiar. 



Most people, when they c}uestion 

 whether there is life on another planet, 

 picture human beings there, in the 

 same occupations as ourselves, with the 

 same hopes and ambitions, going to the 

 same sort of markets and stores, and 

 running the same styles of automobiles, 

 thinking the same thoughts, writing the 

 same style of books, attending same 

 trashy moving picture shows, playing 

 bridge whist as we do, and in general 

 participating in all the occupations of 



