THE LIGHT OF THE STABS. 181 



means of photography and by the visual method. 

 The most important names in the visual dis- 

 covery of variables are Gustav Miiller and Paul 

 Friedrich Ferdinand Kempf(bom 1856) of Pots- 

 dam ; Alexander William Roberts of Lovedale, 

 South Africa ; Seth Carlo Chandler of Boston ; 

 Nils Christopher Duner at Upsala ; and John 

 Ellard Gore (born 1845) in Dublin. 



The researches of J. E. Gore are a brilliant 

 example of how much may be done for astronomy 

 by means of very moderate instruments. Born 

 in 1845 at Athlone, in Connaught, he went to 

 India in 1868 as engineer on the Sirhind Canal 

 in the Punjab. While in India he erected his 

 small telescopes on brick pillars, and took ob- 

 servations, many of them of stellar brilliance. 

 In 1879 he returned to Ireland, and since then 

 has devoted himself to astronomy with zeal and 

 enthusiasm. His discoveries and investigations 

 of variables have been made by means of the 

 binocular. On December 13, 1885, he discovered 

 a remarkable star in Orion, which was at first 

 considered to be temporary, and called " Nova 

 Orionis," but was afterwards found to be a long- 

 period variable star. 



Recently photography has come much to the 

 front in the discovery of variable stars. Picker- 

 ing at Harvard, and Wolf at Heidelberg, have 



