PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 11 



of its spectrum have been often taken, no known substance 

 has been identified. Saturn's rings were last January causing 

 some interest owing to certain sparkling flocculent appear- 

 ances observed in the outer ring. It was suggested that this 

 might have been caused by the collision of two of the small 

 bodies of which the ring is believed to be formed. A recent 

 theory put forth suggests that the rings are due to an electrical 

 radiation from the planet on account of their similarity to 

 what is seen when a magnetised globe is placed in a strong 

 electric field. On Mars, brilliant white spots were observed 

 in October and November, 1911. An exhibition of lunar 

 study will be held at Barcelona from May 15 to June 15, and 

 is intended to bring together all the varied knowledge we 

 possess about the moon. No less than seven new comets 

 were discovered in 1911, but no very bright ones such as that 

 which appeared in 1910. Encke's, a well known comet, having 

 a short period of 3' 3 years, was visible, but not to the naked 

 eye. Brooks' comet was more conspicuous and could be 

 seen in the autumn without a telescope. Of meteors, several 

 very fine ones were seen between April 30 and May 4, 1911 ; 

 a bright one in full sunlight in S. Africa on Aug. 24. In 

 Dorset one was seen a few minutes after sunset on Oct. 31, 

 at Godmanstone, and also by some men nearer Dorchester. 

 It was moving from S.W. to S.E. Also one in sunlight in 

 Lincolnshire on Mar. 28. On April 10, 1911, a great noise 

 was heard at Catania, preceded about three minutes before by 

 a brilliant flash of bluish-green light, due to the explosion of a 

 meteor. No pieces have, however, been found. In Lower 

 Egypt a meteorite fell on June 28, 1911, and about 40 pieces 

 were found, weighing altogether 10 kilograms, over an area 

 of about 4| kilometres in diameter. By a new method, 

 the surface brightness of the star Algol has been computed 

 to be 26 times that of the sun, with a temperature of 13,800, 

 that of the sun being only 5,320. A large number of careful 

 observations on the Pole Star have confirmed the suspicion of 

 its variability to a small extent, the period being nearly four 

 days. A new star of the llth magnitude has been detected 



