Morfc at an Hmerlcan bger\>atorip 83 



should settle once and for all the vexed question of 

 the length of Venus' day. 



But Dr. Lowell's name is more closely identified 

 with the planet Mars, a body about which, it can 

 safely be said, he knows more than any other living 

 man. So we are told that the deposition of hoar-frost 

 was detected during the Martian October ; that the 

 rotation period is 24 h. 37 m. 22-58 s. ; that the canals 

 and oases were shown as fine geometric lines and dots 

 by the 40-in. reflector, fitted up for visual work by 

 the introduction of a divergent lens, and that two 

 Martian dust-storms were seen on January 31st, 1914. 

 By this it will be understood that there is not much 

 taking place on the planet Mars that the Argus-eyed 

 ones of Flagstaff Observatory are not cognisant of. 



Then the Pleiades and the Andromeda Nebula 

 both very popular celestial features with amateur 

 astronomers in this country have received close and 

 skilful attention. Photography years ago showed 

 that the Pleiades were surrounded by nebulous clouds, 

 and now Dr. Lowell comes forward with the submission 

 of there being strong evidence that the nebula near 

 Merope is pulverulent matter shining by the reflected 

 light of the neighbouring stars. As to the Andromeda 

 Nebula, Dr. Slipher, whose special domain is the world 

 of spectra, shows its spectrum to be of a pure stellar 

 type, closely approaching that of the sun. This 

 immense and profoundly remote object is proved by 

 Dr. Slipher's radial velocity observations to be moving 

 towards the sun, whilst other spiral nebulae are shown 

 to have a much higher order of velocity than have the 

 stars. 



Another popular feature dealt with at the Obser- 



