44 Dr. Bottomley on the late 



of intensities suggests strongly the idea that a force of an 

 explosive character, such as could result only from the action 

 of highly elastic gaseous matter, had been in operation to 

 produce the sudden increase and subsequent rapid diminu- 

 tion of brightness which had taken place ; but as some of 

 the well-known periodical variables exhibit an equal and 

 even a greater rapidity of change, this view cannot at 

 present be received with much confidence; and notwith- 

 standing the remarkable and highly interesting conclusions 

 which Mr. Huggins and Dr. W. A. Miller have drawn from 

 the results of their spectroscopic observations of this new 

 variable, we are constrained to admit that the cause of 

 variability is still involved in the deepest mystery. — " On 

 the Recent Suspensions by the Board of Trade of Cautionary 

 Storm Warnings," — a protest against the action of the board 

 in suspending Admiral Fitzroy's system of storm warnings. — 

 "Observations of the Occupation of Aldebaran by the 

 Moon, January i6th, 1867"; "Elements of the Variable 

 Star R Persei"; "On Dr. Buys Ballot's Weather Signal"; 

 " On Storm Warnings," — a note expressing dissatisfaction 

 with the Board of Trade's proposed substitution for the 

 storm warnings." — " Observation of the Eclipse of the Sun, 

 March 6th, 1867." 



Session i86y-68. — " On Solar Radiation." The obser- 

 vations employed in this paper were those made at the 

 Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford, from 1859 to 1864. From 

 these numbers and the curves deduced he draws the follow- 

 ing conclusions: ist — That the calorific intensity of the 

 sun is subject to periodical changes, the maxima and minima 

 of which correspond respectively with those of solar spot 

 frequency. 2nd — That the intensity of a ray of direct sun- 

 light on its arrival at the earth's surface in the latitude of 

 Oxford is greater in April and September than in June, 

 when the sun's meridional altitude is greatest. 3rd — That 

 the curve representing the mean monthly values of solar 



