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THIRTEENTH WINTER MEETING— APRIL 8th, 1902. 



"THE HISTORY AND PROGRESS OF ASTRONOMY."— By Mb. B. Maudso.v. 



A meeting was held at the Beaney lastitute on 

 April 8th, when a paper was read by Mr. Maudsuu 

 on the above subject. The lecture was illustrated 

 by lantern slides, kindly lent by Mr. J. T. dinith, 

 and blackboard diagrams. 



In the course of his paper Mr. Maudson re- 

 marked that in dealing with the subject of 

 Astronomy we step at once into the domains of 

 the infinite ; we deal with immense masses of 

 matter, compared with which our own earth is as 

 a mere'drop of water in the oceans of worlds. In 

 order to get some idea of the impassible barrier 

 which lies between us and the pUneta he men- 

 tioned that Neptune is about 3,000,000,000 miles 

 from the sun, and to speed a ray of light would 

 occupy the space of four hours ; but to bridge the 

 distance between us and one of the nearest fixed 

 stars would require the period of ten years. Sir 

 William Herschel,from observations with his great 

 telescope in the Milky Way, concluded that in 

 some places its depth was such that no less than 

 500 stars were ranged one behind the other in a 

 line, each separated from the other by a distance 

 equal to the space over which it takes light ten 

 years to travel, and that when you had come to 

 the outer boundary of this enormous system, there 

 were other systems beyond it, the light from which 

 would require 120,000 years to reach the earth. 



It cannot be told with any certainty who were 

 the early discoverers of certain facts which have 

 been handed down to us a sort of basis on which 

 later astronomers have built up their systems, but 

 this much is certain, that the seven days of the 

 week were named after the sun and the moon and 

 five of the planets, and were universally used 

 among the Chaldeans, Persians, Chinese, Hindoo, 

 and Egyptians, and that the Chaldeans and others 



found out that after a period (which they called 

 the Saros) of 18 years and 10 or 11 days, during 

 which 223 new moons occur, all the ecl'pses of sun 

 and moon repeated themselves over again in pre- 

 cisely the same order. Another discovery seems 

 to have been made by the early astronomers, 

 which, considering the time in which they lived, 

 seems almostincredibleanddeservesto be recorded 

 as a substantial proof of their keenness of observa- 

 tion, namely, the procession of the equinoxes. 

 This discovery was mide by Hipparohus ItO years 

 before the Christian era, who came to the conclu- 

 sion that the sun and moon revolved about the 

 earth. Upon this latter point, the lecturer pro- 

 ceeded to give the opinions, both for and against, 

 of various eminent astronomers, and having ex- 

 plained what are called Kepler's three laws, Mr. 

 Maudson mentioned that although Kepler in 1609 

 suggested the theory of universal attraction it was 

 reserved to Newton, born in ltJ42. to prove that 

 these three laws of Kepler were but the result of 

 another law, that every body in the solar system 

 must observe these laws as a necessary conse- 

 quence, he verified the fact that the same force 

 that causes a stone to fall to the ground after 

 being thrown into the air is causing the moon to 

 fall towards the earth. The speaker, after men- 

 tioning Sir Isaac Newton and the law of gravita- 

 tion, spoke otSir William Herschel, who discovered 

 X^ranus by the aid of his improved telescopes, and 

 his son. Sir John Herschel, who followed in bis 

 father's footsteps by adding increased power to 

 instruments ; also of Professor Adams, of Cam- 

 bridge, who discovered the planet Neptune by the 

 disturbances to the motions of Uranus caused by 

 what was supposed, and which afterwards proved 

 to be, the attraction of an ulterior planet. 



FOURTEENTH WINTER MEETING— APRIL 22nd, 1902. 



'A TRIP UP THE RHINE WITH THE SOUTH LONDON PHOTO SOCIETY." 

 By Mb. W. F. Slateb, F.R.P.S. 



A very interesting account of a photographic 

 holiday in the above district was given by Mr. P. 

 Slater, F.R.P.S., of London, on April 22, in the 

 Beaney Institute. There was a very good attend- 

 ance of members and friends, those present 

 including : — Miss Cole, Miss Langston, Miss 

 Fiddian. Miss Harvey. Messrs. F. C. Snell, C. 

 Buckingham. W. Surry, H. A. Langston, W. H. 

 Fiddian. A. Lander, etc. The chair was taken 

 by the President, Mr. Sidney Harvey. In opening 

 the meeting the Chairman remarked that the 

 determination to hold fortnightly meetings had, 

 as was evidenced by their gathering that evening, 

 proved very successful. 



Mr. Slater, who illustrated his remarks with a 

 grand series of two hundred lime-light views, 

 explained the route he and his friends followed. 

 Having arrived at the Hook of Holland and vid 



Rotterdam. Cranenburg, and Keniagen, views en 

 route being shown, the lecturer graphically 

 described the beauties of Bingcn Bingerbruck, 

 situated amongst charming scenery where the 

 rivers Rhine and Nalie unite, and affording some 

 of the finest scenery of the Rhino. The places of 

 interest included; — Mouse Tower and Ehrerfels 

 Castle, the Binger Loch, Rheinstein, the gem of 

 Castles, the ruined Castle of Nolligen, Bacharach. 

 the Pfalz, Lorelei Rock. Boppard, Osterspay and 

 Chateau of Liebeneck, Rhine, Oberlahnstein. 

 Castle of Stolzenfels. Coblenz, Ehrenbreitstein, 

 and Andernach. Thence to the Siebengebirgs, or 

 seven mountains ranging from 1.000 to 1,500 feet 

 high, of which the principal is " The Castled Crag 

 of Drachenfels," on to Bonn, the birthplace of the 

 celebrated composer Beethoven. The Munster 

 Church of the 12th and 13th centuries, and the 



