Stars In 2)a%l!0bt 95 



fathom shaft he frequently glanced upwards to listen 

 to some instruction which was being shouted down 

 by a banksman. On no occasion did he see a star, but 

 only " the cage at the top, seemingly dwindled to 

 something no bigger than a family Bible." The part 

 of the sky which he saw beyond the cage was " just as 

 bright and sunny more or less as it always is." 



To a reader the editor of The English Mechanic 

 replied : "At the bottom of a deep and steep valley, 

 say in the Alps, the atmospheric conditions which 

 allow of the stars being seen come at an earlier period 

 than on the heights, of course, so that while it is day- 

 light in one place, it is deep twilight in another place ; 

 but a well aperture does not allow of the gradations of 

 light which admit of these effects. We have often 

 tried to see the phenomenon, but without success, and 

 we have inquired of others, without discovering anyone 

 who has succeeded. Men accustomed to sinking mines 

 will tell you they have heard that the stars can be 

 seen but that they never happen to have seen them." 



In the opinion of Mr. Whitmell there is no definite 

 evidence that any star has ever been seen in broad 

 day-time with the naked eye. Venus, at greatest 

 brilliancy (which occurred shortly before he wrote to 

 me on the subject) had a magnitude estimated at 

 minus 4-4 ; " Sirius has a magnitude," he pointed out, 

 "of only minus 1-58, and the difference is such as 

 leads to the conclusion that Venus when brightest is 

 13 J times as bright as Sirius." Mr. Whitmell wondered 

 if even Sirius had ever been seen in full day, when at a 

 fairly good elevation in lower latitudes. He very 

 much doubted it. In a subsequent communication, he 

 said he did not know at what stage Venus could be 



