KNOWLEDGE 



becaase in the south pole's samraer the earth is ia perihelion*, so 

 that it would remain hot after the north one. It has been replied 

 tl it in tho=e very remote times othvr conditions obtained, owing 

 tD the different ellipticity of our orbit; but a letter in K. last 

 spnii„' shewed that no trustworthy calculations esist as to thi«, 

 Bii the discovery of Neptune vitiated all the previous ones.f I 

 tl u V tno things may lead to conclude that the north pole waa 

 th t t (a) the fact that Torres Straits divide the southern 

 fr m cho northern fauna, as if the northern had had a longer ran) 

 {h) tliat man has become most civilised north of the equator. 



TLrc a or four books have since advanced this theory; one waa 

 noticed in A', but I have not seen any of them. 



vpothesis is admitted, it is clear that life bepan, and con- 

 "very long, under conditions wholly different from any 

 with wliich we are familiar, or indeed which erist on earth now. 

 All living things must have been conBned to a roughly circuUr 

 patch round the pole, widening as the earth cooled. The heavenly 

 bodies were entirely invisible; a dense cap of cloud hung over the 

 world, containing great part of our actual oceans. There would be 

 a constant hot wind from the south. In fact, a Russian bath must 

 During the six months' day then 



If the h 



IS a dim light, equal perhaps t( 

 iring the six months' night the; 

 cept perhaps for a few days be 

 Are there any data -whence w 

 isted under those conditions ? 



that of a London station in a fog. 

 e would bo impenetrable darkness, 

 ore and after full moon. 

 I can guess whether man already . 

 I think ther 



TUE GREAT SUK-SPOT. 

 pl7i)6]— *I must apologise for troubling yon again, but the taag- 

 nificent display of solar activity rfiowa in this splendid groop ia 

 worthy of notice in K 



uld hybernate, with hia 

 ac'ive brain. Darkness alone would not cause him to do so, for 

 the mole, who lives always in the dark, is obliged to get up every 

 four hours and make a hearty meal, otherwise he would die of 

 1. But if man did stir at all during hia long night, he 



.0 auHxaA -,- 1 * 

 . — (.xoO A , ': 

 T^Iidi-tow ~^ " 



— (.airtuod!' 1 

 -iJflA arft ir- . 



aaal oa boch. 

 asgcq 08 i. 

 Jo g-^egBo o ' 

 aJpIoacfc all 



a •ofubiisi- ■■■ 



.oi.;.. 



noil) .oOi. ^:. A J 



nk -baacA ^(inoupo' 

 . tifrlcjccrfiq olWil siil 

 ■ '1 rfoiJw oJ-isfft*' 

 .•■ibiBaiiiodJ-^iK ; 



the limb o 



/oiofi..' 



i 4X \o lodJxr^ 

 n aA done riJi « 

 johnxf *i rfoidvj 

 vT) .OE.iac-M 

 fiudoi\ 



Juno 20, 8 





1. Wm 



Appearing on the limb on the loth, unfavourable weather has 

 prevented us from seeing it again until to. day (June 20). 



Certainly wo have had nothing like it ;i.s a di.iplay of force since 

 1883. The leading spot mea3nr<>a abuiit 1' 15" on the disc, while 

 the group in extreme length ia about 3' 40". 



Observing it with a direct eye-piece, the eight is really flue. The 

 whole seems connected, and one common movement appears to 

 pervade the different masses. At times of superior definition a great 

 part of the penumbra seemed honeycombed with dark markings. 

 I enclose a correct copy of a careful drawing done at the screen. 

 G. L. Bbown. 



THE OLDEST SOLAR MYTII. 



tX7991— In letter (1779) I said I believed the Uaming sword of 

 Eden to DO a tradition of a real oocurrauce. Jt any curiosity be 

 felt, I will explain. 



In 1880 I wrote an essay (unpublished) arguing that the real 

 Kden muBt Lave boon at the north pole ; at the pole, because the 

 globe woald, there first bo cool enough for We; at the north, i 



would certainly bo most alive and active for all objects at the four 

 or five half-light periods of, say, eight days about the full moon. 

 Jlay not this be a more probable origin for certain periodical animal 

 functions than the only one Darwin could imagine ? viz., the covering 





fvU I 



lefiuitt 



julJ not coincide 



we see all 

 in appetite at the same hour. The 

 or less brotlble lioth men andotbei 

 greater degree than tluj mere light 

 thgre are individuals w' 

 nights, exceeding, then, 

 ddtjji.jht doings. 



2. There is a universal tradition of 



iptitudo for the cliasi\ Ac, all others' 



ago — " Sofumia 



precisely the opposite oondit'on of 



• At present ; 12,000 years aj 

 things obtained.— E I). .- ' - 



t This must betekon rum Haagiu) grano «aJis.— EfiUrii ai3t<iacK'.'> 



