(158) 



least would not be displaced systematically. In that case indeed a very 

 high wave of the sun spot curve would have to coincide with an 

 abbreviation of the normal ascending phase. When we examine 

 the oscillation more closely, however, it soon appears that the place 

 of the minimum varies systematicall3\ We are thus led to inquire, 

 whether for a comparison with telluric oscillations just this accelera- 

 tion and retardation do not present real advantages over the other 

 elements of the sun'sactivity. As by no means the observed deviations 

 of the maxima and minima always agree in amount and direction, 

 I investigated separately : 



1. the deviations of the maximum, 



2. those of the minimum, 



3. those cases in which the deviations of M and m have the same 

 sign. Where such is not the case, we should not attribute it to errors of 

 observation without additional proof. However, case 3 will show the most 

 pronounced deviations of the oscillations. The investigation was made 

 first using the whole of the available materials ; second excluding 

 all periods before 1750 (that is of the least reliable observations). 

 As the result did not deviate very strongly, only those of the last 

 mentioned investigation are here communicated. 



Meanwhile it seemed desirable to use not only Newcomb's list, 

 but also the data as given by Prof. A. Wolfer ^), because relatively 

 small deviations in the observed values may already have an appreci- 

 able influence. In this case also the difference of the results was 

 fairly small. 



For the following tables I used Wolfer's data as a basis ; only 

 in the YV^^ it was deemed necessary to communicate also (in paren- 

 theses) the result obtained from Newcomb's data. 



In the tables III and IV, column 1 shows the groups of the periods, 

 arranged according to the amount of the deviations beginning with 

 those that are largest positive; column 2 contains the numbers of 11-year 

 cycles; 3 the mean amount of the deviations; 4 the quantity 1/" — m; 

 5 the length of the period ; 6 the mean of the Relativ-Zahlen (accord- 

 ing to the smoothed table of Wolfer), in parentheses I placed the 

 means of the highest elevations of the curve ; 7 the cold-factors 

 (yearly frequency). Table V column 3 shows the mean deviation as 

 computed from the two phases. 



1) A. Wolfer, Astron. Mitteilungen, XGIII, 1902. 



