EXACT ASTRONOMY. 23 



Hence, the aberration of stars in opposition when the earth 

 is at equinox and solstice, gives an independent measure of 

 orbital eccentricity that is, perhaps, more reliable than the 

 sun's disc. The time in which the earth describes the max- 

 imum arc of aberration or reduced semi-major axis and light 

 describes the real semi-major axis : 



31558149/.3 x 2o".445 -f- 1296000" = 497 s .8444i546. 

 The velocity of light : 927741 16.75 -^497*84441546 = 

 186352 miles per second : 



,3408.45694842835 x .ogoBt - 299898.5 kilometers per second. 



497.84441546 3280.8982 77 7 O I 



Charlatanry Unmasked. 



About three years ago the scientific journals, led by 

 Nature, executed a grand fanfare in glorification of the al- 

 leged independent experimental determination of the ve- 

 locity of light by Professor Simon Newcomb, at the U. S. 

 Naval Observatory and by Professor Michelson, at Cleve- 

 land. 



My determination of the solar parallax had been sub- 

 mitted to Professor E. S. Holden several months before. 



With the value of the equatorial radius accepted by 

 American astronomers : 3962.720 miles (vide Professor C. 

 A. Young's The Sun), and mine of the solar parallax, the 

 velocity of light becomes : 



23408.45694842835 x aoc^e __ 309856.5 kilometers per second; 



497.84441546 3280.8992 77 J J ~ ' 



which is the exact mean of 299860 and 299853, the deter- 

 minations in question. 



The allowance of 30 kilometers, plus or minus, con- 

 ceded for possible error, has proved inadequate to the cor- 

 rection of the actual error of the value adopted for the equa- 

 torial radius. The combination of this velocity with Nyren's 

 determination of aberration for the sun's distance, which is 



