10 



KNOWLEDGE, 



[Januaby 1, 1897. 



the United States Government. Of the numerous beautiful 

 plates which accompany that volume we give in Figs. 1 and 

 2 rough diagrams of the drawings by Miss Kate E. Wolcott, 

 at Black Hawk, Colorado, and M. E. L. Trouvelot, at 

 Creston, Wyoming, as typical of a great number of others. 

 It was this volume which, I think, convinced astronomers 

 of the connection between the coronal form and the sun- 

 spot period, and to my own mind it brought a further 

 conviction, to which I gave expression in an article on the 

 sun's corona in the Sumlay Mai/a^inc for October, 1883, 

 "that the corona of this type was the origin of ' the ring with 

 wings,' the symbol which on Assyrian monuments is always 

 shown as floating over the head of the ring, which is designed 

 to indicate the Presence and the Protection of the Deity." 

 Figs. 8 and 4 show some of the forms under which the 

 " ring with wings " appears on Assyrian monuments, and 

 Fig. 5 shows the "winged disc" of Egypt. For the 

 Egyptians, too, were astronomers and sun worshippers, 

 and were experts in the language of symbols. Equally 

 with the Chaldeans, the Egyptian priests should have 

 regarded the corona as a symbolical revelation of the 



Deity whose usual 

 manifestation they 

 recognized in the 

 sun, and accord- 

 ingly we find them 

 employing a sym- 

 bol which is almost 

 as perfect a repre- 

 sentation of the 

 corona of minimum 

 as that which the 

 Assyrians adopted. 

 Miss \Yolcott's 

 chief characteristics of the 

 dark body of the moon we 

 and well-defined 



Pig. 4.- 



'^-<miiiiiM0^ 



-The " Presence " 

 Monuments. 



oil Assyrian 



Flo. 



-Egyi^tian 

 Disc." 



■ Winged 



drawing brings out two 

 corona. Close round the 

 find in all eclipses a fairly regular 

 ring of light, the "inner" 

 corona. This is very 

 distinctly shown in her 

 sketch, the ring in her original 

 being traceable all the way 

 round the moon. On either 

 side of the ring of the inner 

 corona we find the two wLng- 

 Uke extensions. So far the resemblance to the " winded 

 ring " is close enough. M. Trouvelot adds a third detail, 

 and his drawing is one of the most accurate and detailed 

 ever made, and is abundantly confirmed by the photographs. 

 He shows round each pole of the sun a number of diverging 

 streamers, like a fan of hght. Now the Assyrians not 

 only frequentlj insert the figure of their deity within the 

 ring, but whenever they do so they represent him with a 

 kilt-hke dress as in Fig. 4 ; and when they show the ring 

 without the figure, the " kilt " is given still, indicating 

 that it is not simply a garment, but an integral part of the 

 symbol. In some the resemblance of the pleatings of the 

 kilt to Trouvelot's polar rays is practically perfect. If this 

 be a mere chance coincidence it seems to me a most ex- 

 traordinary one. 



I think there can be Uttle doubt of the significance 

 which would be attached to the first two characteristics. 

 The ring of the inner corona would be looked upon as re- 

 presenting the Eternity of the Deity ; the spreading wings 

 as symbohzing His Protection and Power. 



If my suggestion is valid— it is not, of coarse, a matter 

 one can prove — these symbols, about the most frequently 

 met with of any, and so clearly designed to indicate the 

 Presence of the Deity, are in their origm drawings of the 



solar corona as seen at the sunspot minimum, and as such 

 are the earhest eclipse representations which have been 

 preserved to us. 



EVIDENCE OF THE EVOLUTION OF 

 STELLAR SYSTEMS. 



By Isaac Eoberts, D.Sc, F.E.S. 



TEN years have elapsed since photographs of stars, 

 star clusters, and nebulse have been obtained on 

 a scale sufficiently large, and with exposures of 

 the plates during intervals of time sufficiently 

 long, to show such minute structural details in the 

 objects as would enable us to utilize them in the study and 

 advancement of astronomical science. 



The photographs which have been obtained during this 

 interval are numerous ; but notwithstanding that the 

 period of ten years covers a large part of individual life, 

 it is a very insignificant fraction of the time required in 

 the development out of their constituent elements of the 

 nebul;e and of the stars. We must therefore be content to 

 wait a while longer before we can with certainty prove that 

 structural changes of sensible extent have taken place in 

 nebulosities, and in the relative positions of the stars, 

 since the records were made ; but there is evidence, of 

 a convincing character, shown on many photographs, that 

 some stars are now undergoing the process of evolution 

 out of nebulosity, or out of meteoric matter. 



I may now proceed to submit for judgment some part 

 of the evidence referred to as it is made manifest upon a 

 selected number of photographs which accompany this 

 communication ; and also discuss the character of the 

 evidence upon which the inferences or demonstrations of 

 stellar evolution rest. 



The four photographs annexed are of the regions of the 

 sky named as follows : — No. 1 is in Auriga, the centre of 

 the plate being in R A. 5h. 45m., Decl. 32° 31' north. 

 Exposure, ninety minutes on the 8th February, 1893. 

 Scale, one millimetre equals fifty-six seconds of arc, and 

 the area of the sky shown is 1° 17' from preceding to 

 follouhv/ and 1° 35' from north to south. 



No. 2 is in Argo, the centre of the plate being in E.A. 

 7h. 55m., Decl. 10° 20' south. Exposure, ninety minutes 

 on the 27th February, 1894. Scale, one millimetre equals 

 fifty-six seconds of arc, and the area of the sky shown is 

 1° 17' from preceding to t'olloiviiu) and 1° 35' from north to 

 south. 



No. 3 is in Argo, the centre of the plate being in R.A. 

 7h. 37m., Decl. 14° 30' south. Exposure, ninety minutes 

 on the 24th February, 1894. Scale, one millimetre equals 

 fifty-six seconds of arc, and the area of the sky shown is 

 1° 17' from preceding to folloiring and 1° 35' from north to 

 south. 



No. 4 is in Cassiopeia, the centre of the plate being in 

 R.A. 23h. 52m., Decl. 56° 8' north. Exposure, ninety 

 minutes on the 26th November, 1892. Scale, one milU- 

 metre equals fifty-six seconds of arc, and the area of the 

 sky shown is 1° 17' from preceding to following and 1° 35' 

 from north to south. 



When these photographs are examined it will be seen 

 that the stars on several parts of each plate are grouped 

 into semicircles, segments, portions of ellipses, and into 

 lines of various degrees of curvature. Some of the groups 

 are constituted of bright stars of nearly equal magnitude ; 

 some are of faint stars, also of nearly equal magnitude ; 

 some are of both bright and faint stars ; and there is much 

 regularity in the spacing distances between the stars in 

 the several groups. 



