476 



KNOWLEDGE. 



December, 1910. 



30.000 miles from east to west, but when last seen on the 20th 

 only a solitary pore remained. 



No. SI. — A group of spotlets and pores first seen on the 

 21st. 82.000 miles in length. The numbers and size of its 

 components varied much, but it was last seen on the 2Sth. 



No. 82. — Four pores on the 30th formed a bad square. 

 Next day there were two spotlets, the northern having three 



umbrae, and the penumbra with its inner edge brightly 

 fringed. The southern spotlet was smaller, but had a com- 

 panion pore south-east. On November the 1st a spotlet just 

 east of the northern spot, which was gone, however, on 

 the 2nd. All had disappeared before the 4th. 



The chart is constructed from the combined observations of 

 Messrs. J. McHarg. A. \. Buss, E. E. Peacock, and the writer. 



DAY OF OCTOBER. 



10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 irO LW 140 ISO 160 170 180 190 ?00 210 TSO ^30 PiO 250 :60 270 HW 590 500 510 .^CO 3iO 340 350 360 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



P(JLAK PHENOMENA. 



To the Editurs af " KnowI-EDGE." 



Sirs, — In his work, Tlw ArctiL Home in tlic Vcdas. Mr. B. 

 G. Filak, of Foona, has attempted to prove tliat the primitive 

 home of the Indo-Aryan race must be located within the Arctic 

 Circle. He has found numerous references in the early V'edic 

 literature to Arctic phenomena, such as the long day, the long 

 dawn, the months-long night, and so on, which are possible 

 only within the polar regions. Mr. FilaU is not alone in this 

 \iew, but has found a few supporters, even among Western 

 Orientalists, prominent among whom is Dr. Warren. ex- 

 President of Boston Uni\ersity, and author of Paradise 

 Found, or the Cradle of the Hitman Race. If Mr. Filak's 

 theory of the Arctic Home is correct — I, for one. am con\ inced 

 it is so — there are grounds for believing that the primitive 

 home of the early Vedic people must be located at about 86i° 

 of polar latitude. .\re any of your readers able to tell me 

 for how long a period of time the .'\rctic sun will be seen, when 

 observed from 86i° of latitude, to stand still at the sununer 

 solstice, in the midst of the perpetual sunshine in those regions ? 

 The solstice, of course, derives its name from the circumstance 

 of the sun being observed even from outside the Arctic circle, 

 to tarry a little at that point in the heavens. From within the 

 .'\rctic Circle the period of stay must appear to be still longer. 

 Shall I be correct in estimating such period to last for 10 day- 

 periods of 24 hours each, when the observations are carried 

 out at 86A° ? Certain rather obscure references in Vedic 

 literature lead me to deduce that either the period of complete 

 stillness or of exceedingly slow motion at the highest point of 

 the Ecliptic must probably last for either 10 or 21 days. 

 Will anv of vour readers kindlv enlighten me as to the correct 

 length of the period both at SdV and 90°? 



A NX IOCS. 



BoMB.-\V. 



SLOPING IMAGES. 



To the Editors of" Kxowi.EHGE." 



Sirs, — Can any of your readers explain the cause of the 

 curious optical fact that when one looks through a telescope 

 at an upright object, like ;i fiagstafi', keeping the other eye 



open, the two images are not parallel. If you use the right 

 eye with the glass, the image seen slopes slightly one way 

 as regards the flagstaff itself, and if you use the left eye the 

 image slopes the opposite way. It is evidently a physiological 

 effect, and essential to vision, and is, I suppose, well known to 

 those acquainted with the physiology of \ision. Would some 

 one among your readers tell me where I can read the matter 

 up ; or, as I have not a British Museum at hand, perhaps 

 they would quote a passage concerning it ? Anj'one can see 

 this effect if he carefully compares the image seen by either 

 eye through a field glass, using one eye at a time, and the 

 other open. The effect is very marked if with a prism glass 

 you alter the prism till the image seen by, say the right eye, is 

 parallel with the real object, and then look through the glass 

 with the left eye, for you then get the effect doubled, and 

 therefore \ery apparent. 



May I congratulate you on your magazine in its new form, 

 and wish you all success. I sometimes wish you would 

 consider your numerous readers at the ends of the earth, and 

 print your monthly notes a month earlier, for they only reach 

 us when most of the current month is past. 



Vours faithfully, 



C.\PE To\v\. 



j. B. BLATHWAVT. 



ASTRONOMICAL APPOINTMENTS BY THE 



GOVERNMENT. 



To the Editors of " Knowledge." 



SiKS. — 1 know that it is pirfectly useless to raise any 

 objection to anything the Government or Civil Service Com- 

 missioners do. In your number for October I notice two 

 advertisements for assi.stants in scientific departments, in which 

 the maximum age limit is 25 years. Taking the advertisement 

 for an assistant at the Edinburgh Observatory, what experience 

 can a man of less than twenty- fi\e years of age have of the 

 practical work of an obser\atory, and what knowledge of 

 historical and current astronomy ? If he has been to some 

 University he may be well up in some theoretical astronomy 

 or book work (much of which will never be wanted by him 



