April lU, ISSo.J 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



311 



THE FACE OF THE SKY. 



From April 10 to Afbil 24. 

 Bv F.K.A.S. 



ALTHOUGH Bun-spots and otlier indications of solnr Jistuib- 

 ance continue slowly to decrease both in number and nuig- 

 nitude, no opportunity should bo lost of scrutinising the Sun's disc. 

 The night sky vrill be found delineated in Map IV. of "The Stars 

 in their Seasons." Mercury may be still seen after sunset when 

 these notes besrin, but. from his approach to the Sun, daily Rots 

 into a worse position for observation. Towards the time of their 

 termination he >vill be quite invisible. Venus, too, as a morning 

 star, and approaching the sun pretty rapidl}-, is verj' badly placed 

 for the observer. Mars is invisible. Jupiter should be looked for as 

 soon after dark as may be ; as, though he does not set, even at the 

 end of the fortnight, until after 3 a.m., he is pretty low down by 

 midnight. The phenomena of his Satellites continue to provide 

 the student with a series of interesting spectacles. To-night 

 (10th) the egress of the shadow of Satellite II. will happen at 

 8h. -Whn. ; and Satellite IV. will disappear in eclipse at lOh. 13m. 51s. 

 On the 12th, the transit of Satellite I. will begin at llh. 22m., and 

 that of its shadow 25 minutes after midnight. On the 13th, 

 Satellite I. will be occulted at Sh. 29m. p.m.; to reappear from eclipse 

 at llh. 50m. 223. On the 14th, the ingress of the shadow of 

 Satellite I. will occur in twilight at 6h. 54m.; the epress of the 

 Satellite casting it at 8h. 9m. ; while the shadow itself will leave 

 the face of the planet at 9h. 13m. Later, at 10b. 43m., Satel- 

 lite III. will be occulted. On the 15th, Satellite II. will be occulted 

 at midnight. On the 17th, the shadow of Satellite II. will enter 

 on to Jupiter's limb at 8h. 21m. At 9h. 2m. p.m. Satellite II. itself 

 will quit the planet's disc, as will its shadow afterwards at llh. 

 16m. On the ISth the Egress of the shadow of Satellite III. takes 

 place at 8h. 43m. At 11.36 Satellite IV. will pass off the face of 

 Jupiter. This phenomenon should, for the reason so often given 

 in this column, be carefully noted by the observer. On the 20th, 

 Satellite I. will be occulted at lOh. 10m. p.m. On the 21st perhaps 

 the transit of Satellite I. may be seen to begin in the twilight at 

 7h. 39m. Its shadow will follow it on to the limb of the planet at 

 8h. 49m. At 9h. 59m. the Satellite will leave Jupiter's opposite 

 limb, as will its shadow subsequently at llh. 8m. On the 22nd, 

 Satellite I. will reappear from eclipse at 8h. 14m. p.m. Lastly, on 

 the 24th the Transit of Satellite II. will begin at 8h. 34m., and 

 that of its shadow at lOh. 57m. The Satellite leaves the planet's 

 disc at llh. 30m., its shadow not until the next morning. Saturn 

 has left ns until the autumn. Uranus continues to be well placed 

 for the amateur observer daring the convenient hours of the night. 

 The planet continues to move almost insensibly in the direction of 

 (3 Tirgims ("The Stars in their Seasons," Map V.) Neptune is 

 inrisible. 'Tlie Moon will be new at 5h. 51m. 4s. a.m. on the 15th, 

 and enter her First (Quarter at llh. 20m. 2s. p.m. on the 2lFt. Four 

 occultations of fixed stars will happen at convenient hours during 

 the period covered by these notes. First, on the night of the 20th 

 the 3Jth mag. Star X Geminorum will disappear at the dark limb of 

 the Moon at lOh. 59m. at an angle of 187' from her vertex ; reap- 

 pearing at her bright limb at llh. 20m. at a vertical angle of 232°. 

 On the 22nd B.A.C. 3122 a Star of the GJth mag. will disappear at 

 the dark limb at 9h. 4m. p.m., at a vertical angle of 127°. Its re- 

 appearance will take place at lOh. 4m. at her bright limb, at an 

 angle of 255° from her vertex. On the 23rd, tt Leonis, a 5th mag. 

 star, will disappear at 6h. 46m. at the moon's dark limb, at an angle 

 from her vertex of 14". Its reappearance at her bright limb will 

 occnr at 7h. 42m., at an angle of 290° from her vertex. Lastly, on 

 the night of the 24th, d Leonis, also a 5th mag. star, will disappear 

 at the dark limb of the moon, at llh. 7m., at a vertical angle of 

 135°. The star will reappear at her bright limb at llh. 58m., at an 

 angle from her vertex of 238°. Starting to-day from a point on 

 the confines of Capricomus and Aquarius, the moon travels 

 through the last-named constellation, and at 11 a.m. on April 12 

 crosses into Pisces. Her passage through this great straggliag con- 

 stellation occnpiea until 10 a.m. on the 15th, when she passes into 

 Aries. This she quits at 1 a.m. on the 17th for Taurus, and in her 

 passage across it arrives at noon on the 19th at the narrow northern 

 strip of Orion running up into it. In a little more than 11 hours 

 she has crossed this and emerged in Gemini. At 2 p.m. on the 2l8t 

 she crosses the boundary into Cancer. She leaves Cancer for Leo 

 at 2 a.m. on the 23rd. Travelling through Leo, she, at 7 a.m. on 

 the 24th, descends into Sextans, to re-emerge in Leo at 5 o'clock 

 the same afternoon. She is still in Leo when oar notes terminate. 



Thb expenses in connection with lighthouse illuminants experi- 

 ments recently carried ont amounted up to the end of November 

 last to over £10,000. .., ._ j 



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THE DUAL BRAIN AND DREAMING. 



[1661]— The following facts maybe interesting to you or your 

 readers in connection with the question of the duality of the brain. 

 Some years ago, when I was about thirty-live years of age, I 

 dreamed that, as a boy of aljont twelve to fourteen, I was out in 

 the country with mj- father, who was driving ahorse and gig. Our 

 road was through fields, and I had to get out to open each gate 

 that we passed through. At last we came to a square field of ripe, 

 standing corn, with a narrow road, only just the width of the gig, 

 all round it, close to the inner sides of the walls, as ehown in figure. 

 When I opened the gate at A, it fell back to n, tlui.'! completely 

 blocking the road to the right, as the arrangement of the gatepost 

 and hinges did not allow it to fall back even with the wall at J. 



We were, therefore, obligeil to drive round the field in the direction 

 of the arrow, in order to make our exit at the gate B. But, when 

 I opened that gate, I found that it fell back to h, and thus com- 

 pletely blocked our road. My father then said to me, " Well ! 

 what shall we do now, Uarry ?" I answered, " You will have to 

 back the horse all the way round the field, and so through this 

 gate while I hold it; open." My father replied instantly, " Nonsense, 

 there is a better way than that. Close tho gate." I did so, not 

 understanding at all what he meant to do, and then he drove round 

 the corner of the road to a position at x , so as to be just clear of 

 the gate, which he then bade me to open again. I did so, and he 

 backed the horse and gig those few yards into the next field, which 

 was a pasture. When I .saw what he did, I was much struck with 

 the superiority of my father's simple and ready device to my own 

 roundabout and troublesome one. 



I think there are many remarkabh^ features in this case. (1) 

 There was such a dramatic fitness in the ))art played by each of ns. 

 I was a dreamy, unobservant, unpractical boy, and my father was 

 a quick-witted, inventive, practical man of business. (2) At a 

 maturer age, when I had fully devclo]ied the observant and practical 

 qualities in which as a boy I was particularly deficient, I yet un- 

 consciously acted mentally in a bungling, puzzleheadcd way, as if 

 still in my boyish condition. (3) The same brain which, in invent- 

 ing this stupid plan, acted so consistently with the part it was 

 playing as a boy's brain, was yet capable at the same time of 

 seeing its own stupidity, and of inventing instantly a better plan 

 consistent with its assumption of the character and mental powers 

 of a clever man. (4) Although tho same brain invented the 

 superior plan which it attributed with dramatic propriety to my 



