ASIA. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA, ETC. 43 



rairal, not feeling authorized to continue hos- 

 tilities, except to repel and punish attacks, 

 returned to Chefoo. 



Afghanistan was the seat of a protracted 

 civil war between th.e ruling prince, Shir- AH 

 Khan and his rebellious son, Meheraed Yakoob 

 Khan. In May, the important city of Herat 

 fell into the hands of the rebels. Owing, 

 however, to the influences which the English 

 Government of India, regarding Yakoob Khan 

 as less devoted to British interests than 

 his father, brought to bear upon Shir-Ali, 

 a reconciliation was effected between father 

 and son quite suddenly and unexpectedly, and 

 Yakoob Khan was appointed by his father Gov- 

 ernor of Herat. The development of affairs 

 in Afghanistan is watched with intense anxiety 

 both in England and Eussia, and the annexa- 

 tion of the country to one of these two great 

 rivals may decide the ascendency of the victor 

 in Central Asia. Russia, in a marked way, 

 favors the pretensions of Abdur - Rahman 

 Khan, the dreaded rival of Shir-Ali, and pays 

 him a yearly subsidy. 



The English Government in India is consid- 

 erably alarmed at the progress of the Russians 

 in Central Asia, and at the unruly spirit be- 

 trayed by the Mohammedans of India. The 

 trial of the Wahabite conspirators against Eng- 

 lish rule brought to light the fact that the rig- 

 orous measures adopted by the English Gov- 

 ernment have not intimidated, but exasperated 

 the Mohammedan fanatics, and that the Wa- 

 habites are generally teaching the principle 

 that for a pious Mohammedan the expulsion 

 of the English from India is more necessary 

 than prayers, fasts, and other religious rites. 

 When, in Calcutta, Chief-Justice Norman fell a 

 victim to the fanaticism of a Mohammedan as- 

 sassin, the English press generally expressed the 

 fear that in the next attempt to overthrow the 

 British rule in India, which sooner or later 

 will come, the Mohammedans will certainly 

 play the most prominent part. As Russia ad- 

 ^ances its railroad net-work more and more 

 toward its possessions in Central Asia, the 

 English Government has deemed it prudent 

 to assume the initiative in the construction of 

 a railroad bringing England and India into 

 immediate connection. The completion of 

 this railroad would be of immense commercial 

 and strategical importance, for, while at pres- 

 ent the passage from England to India requires 

 nearly one month's travel, the through-railroad 

 would reduce the time to seven days and thir- 

 teen hours. 



One of the most terrible famines on record 

 in the history of modern times devastated 

 Persia, throwing into the lowest depth of 

 misery and despair this wretched country, 

 which even in ordinary years severely suffers 

 from poverty. The famine had not fully ceased 

 at the close of the year, and the greatest alarm 

 was felt at the approaching winter. 



The Russians, in 1871, took possession of the 

 entire island of Saghalien, which, by a treaty 



concluded in 1867, had been divided between 

 Russia and Japan. The possession of Sagha- 

 lien is of great importance to the Russians, 

 because this island controls the coasts of Man- 

 tchooria and the mouth of the Amoor. Not 

 satisfied with the occupation of this extensive 

 territory, the Russians have made attempts to 

 establish several colonies on the Japanese isl- 

 and of Yesso, the northern portion of which is 

 inhabited by semi-independent tribes. Thus 

 far, these attempts, have, however, failed. It 

 is also reported that the Russians have ac- 

 quired several new provinces west of the 

 peninsula of Corea. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA AND 

 PROGRESS. The Temperature of the Sun. 

 Ericsson's Solar Pyrometer. During the year, 

 Captain John Ericsson, whose invention of 

 the solar engine is described in the ANNUAL 

 CYCLOPAEDIA for 1870, contributed a series of 

 remarkable papers to the London Engineer, 

 conveying the results of his original researches 

 to determine the temperature of the sun. For 

 this purpose he contrived a solar pyrometer 

 of a most ingenious pattern. The instrument 

 is composed of four principal parts: 1. The 

 heater (with furnace attached), consisting of 

 a cylindrical vessel placed vertically, having a 

 spherical bottom and open top; an enlarge- 

 ment representing a truncated cone being 

 formed near the middle, the ends of which 

 are concave and spherical. 2. A conical ves- 

 sel surrounded with a double casing secured 

 to the base of the central enlargement of the 

 heater. 3. A cylindrical vessel secured to the 

 opposite end of the said enlargement, also sur- 

 rounded with a double casing. 4. A furnace, 

 enclosing the lower end of the heater. The 

 spherical concavity at the base of the conical 

 enlargement of the heater is 10 inches in 

 diameter, with a radius of 18 inches. A ther- 

 mometer is applied at the focus of this spheri- 

 cal concavity, the bulb being so arranged that 

 only one half of the area is exposed to the radi- 

 ant heat, the other half being surrounded by a 

 non-radiant substance. When in operation, the 

 heater is filled with water, which is to be main- 

 tained at a constant temperature of nearly 212 

 by the action of the furnace. The principle of 

 the solar pyrometer is that of ascertaining the 

 intensity of the heat of the sun by compar- 

 ing the temperature produced by the radiant 

 heat of a concave spherical radiator of 10 

 inches' diameter at a distance of 18 inches from 

 its face with the temperature produced by the 

 radiant heat of the sun, a sphere of (estimated) 

 832,584 miles in diameter at a distance of (es- 

 timated) 91,430,000 miles from its centre. It 

 is impossible, within our present limits, to de- 

 scribe the details of Captain Ericsson's appa- 

 ratus, but the foregoing account gives some 

 idea of its more essential parts, and of the 

 theory upon which the inventor proceeds. We 

 quote : 



As the principle of the instrument calls for the 

 employment of a concave radiator of spherical cur- 



