530 Notices of Books. [Otober, 
the name implies—of stellar motion, particularly of the motion 
of the “sun, with his whole cortege of planets and cometary 
systems sweeping swiftly throughspace.” Thisstar-drift, however, 
must not be confounded with the phenomenon of drift as applied 
to Ursa Major and other constellations, and treated of in another 
part of the same paper. The star-drift due to the sun’s motion 
in space may be called general, and has altogether a different 
significance to the other star-drift, which is only local. The one 
takes place in almost exactly the reverse direction from the other, 
and is perfectly distinct. In this chapter Mr. Proctor more than 
redeems a little self-assertion observable elsewhere, by his 
cordial expressions of admiration of the labours of his great 
countrymen, the Herschels. 
The following Essays, ‘‘ Are there any Fixed Stars ?” “* News 
from the Stars,” ‘“‘On two Rich Nebular Regions,” &c., are re- 
printed from various sources, and discuss the most recent 
problems in Astronomy. The Essay ‘On the Construction of 
the Heavens,” containing Jean Paul’s wonderful dream of the 
universe, appeared in this Journal in July, 1872. 
The second part of the volume—about one-third—treats ex- 
clusively of the coming transits of Venus, and is more technical, 
and consequently less popularly interesting, than the former 
portion of the work. The first transit will take place on 
December 8th of the present year; the second on December 6th, 
1882 ; and both have such important bearing upon the problem of 
the sun’s distance that men of science are anxiously looking 
forward to the times of their occurrence. After the present 
century no like phenomenon will occur until the year 2004; and 
in one respect the transit now at hand will present even better 
opportunity for making important calculations than that of 1882, 
so that foranumber of years astronomers will be without the means 
of remedying any omissions now made: it is this consideration 
that induces Mr. Proctor to appeal most earnestly to his country 
to send out expeditions suitably furnished for making the most 
effective observations for the determination of the sun’s distance: 
he feels that the scientific honour of his country is at stake, and 
most clearly and ably shows the manner in which it may be 
saved. There seem to be difficulties in the way of carrying out 
many of these observations, but it is greatly to be desired that 
the subject will meet with the recognition it deserves: any 
omission in making the proper arrangements for this important 
work might be obviated by due attention to the details so clearly 
set forth by Mr. Proctor; and we cannot close his book without 
a feeling of admiration for the manner in which he has thought 
well to bring his researches thus before the public, and for his 
perseverance and industry. 
