
Fan. 12, 187%] 
NATURE 
219 

continued diminishing up till midnight, when the clouds cleared 
away, and revealed an Aurora Borealis of rare splendour, though 
it was doubtless inferior to what, unfortunately. the state of the 
sky prevented from being observed previous to eleven o’clock, 
The auroral arch was wanting, but long beams extended up from 
its usual position, and brilliant coruscations were flashing almost 
on every side to the zenith, even at times from the south, At 
precisely o! 40™ G.M.T. there was a well-defined corona, with 
its centre exactly at Bete Andromede. By means of a lamp 
held at some distance, with the aurora as a background, I was 
enabled to position three spectroscope lines with a small pocket 
instrument. These were the usual bright band in the green, a 
very faint one near it on the left, and one of medium brightness 
near F. On the night of October 14, during another remark- 
able display, when the intense red of broad areas of light did 
not seem enfeebled by the rays of a very bright moon, there was 
no indication of a red line in the spectroscope. In fact, there 
was here no line whatever to be detected, and the white light 
seen in some parts of the sky gave only the one principal line in 
the green.” Mr. H. Michell Whitley, of Truro, reports that 
on September 21 he observed aurora-parallel streaks of a rosy 
hue reached to an altitude of about 30° fading away and 
reappearing in fresh position. On September 24 another aurora 
was observed by him. “At times the streaks almost reached 
Polaris. On the following night a repetition of the phenomenon 
- occurred, He observed that the streamers, after fading and dis- 
appearing, would again appear in all their beauty in fresh 
positions, when the sky would glow like a furnace, lighting up 
the surrounding scenery, as if it were illuminated by the reflection 
from some, distant fire. About 8" 15™a beautiful rosy beam 
enveloped Capella, whilst afiery, glowing cloud lay a little to the 
east of it. At this time the display was at its maximum 
degree of splendour.” Exhibitions of aurora were also observed 
by the Rey. S. J. Johnson, of Crediton, Mr. William F. 
Denning, of Bristol, and other members of the society. 
Occultation of the Planet Saturn.—Mr. E. B. Knobel writes 
that this phenomenon was observed exceedingly well at Burton- 
on-Trent. ‘‘ The disappearance occupied 1™ 10°, There was too 
much twilight for me to pick up Titan. The reappearance was 
observed to perfection, as far as atmospheric influences went, 
and, notwithstanding the low altitude, definition was very sharp 
as the planet emerged behind the bright limb of the moon. 
Ball’s division, the shadow of the planet onthe ring, and belt across 
the planet was quite distinct. The colour or rather the compari- 
son between the colours of the moon and Saturn was decidedly 
different from that noticed at the April occultation. In conse- 
quence of low altitude, Saturn appeared of a light /iver colour by 
the side of the yellow moon, whereas in April the colour of 
Saturn was more greenish. According to my rough observation, 
the time during which Saturn was /ofally occulted was 1 11™ 35.” 
The Rey. S. J. Johnson, of Crediton, reports that at 4% 40™ he 
first observed the moon, but could not make out the planet before 
a quarter to six. “Saturn was then visible though somewhat 
faint, with a power of seventy ona 2}in, aperture ; with 150 it 
almost faded away in the field of view. The planet appeared 
very dull at its emersion.” Mr. George J. Walker, of Teign- 
mouth, witnessed the disappearance of the planet with a 2in. 
O.G., power 32. The Moon totally obscured Saturn at 
5" 45™ 45°, town mean time, which equals 55 59™ 44° G.M.T. 
Mr. J. C. Lambert, of Sleaford, gives the following times of the 
disappearance of the planet and its ring :—First contact with 
ring, 6" 4™ 2° ; first contact with globe, 6" 4™ 14s ; disappearance 
of globe, 6" 4™ 505; disappearance of the ring, 6" 5™ 6°. 
Fupiter.—My. A. P. Holden, of London, writes : “The chief 
feature in the belt system of this planet has been the darkness of 
the permanent belt, which lies midway between the equator and 
the N. pole. Up tillabout the end of September it was so dark 
as to be readily visible with a very low power. Since then it 
appears to have brightened somewhat.” Mr. H. Michell 
Whitley observed the planet on September 20, 11" to 11 30"; 
‘«The equatorial zone is of the same copper colour as during the 
last opposition, and of quite as deep a shade. The streaks N. 
and S. of this zone pale yellow. The narrow sharply-defined 
belt N. of the N. yellow streak is ofa finer tint than in the spring 
of this year, being of a fine purple grey, with a very perceptible 
tint of rose colour in it- N pole, grey. The narrow band S. of 
S. yellow streak not as finea colouras the belt N. of N. yellow 
streak, being purple grey—S. Pole, grey.” 
The Nebula in the FPleiades.—Under very favourable atmo- 
spheric ‘circumstances, Mr, Albert P. Holden, of London, has 


had a very careful search for this object with his 3in. refractor of 
very fine definition. He says: ‘‘ Although favoured with good 
eyesight, I entirely failed to pick it up. Upon comparing the 
image of Merope, as seen in the telescope with that of the Zcida 
of this group, a very perceptible difference was observable. The 
rings surrounding Merope were more numerous, and had a very 
misty, ill-defined appearance ; they were also markedly extended 
in a direction N. of the star. With these exceptions not the 
slightest traces could be found of the nebula. It has been seen 
with only 2in. Webb saw it readily on October 6, 1863, but 
found it ‘very feeble’? on September 25, 1865. Any member 
of the society, working with a large aperture, would confer a 
favour by searching for this object.” 
_ Coggia’s Comet.—This comet has been seen on several occa- 
sions by Mr. George J. Walker, of Teignmouth. On the 29th 
and 30th of September it was in the field with a large number 
of eight and nine mag. stars. ‘It looked like a tolerably bright 
globular nebula.” 
MANCHESTER 
Literary and Philosophical Society, December 27, 1870— 
E. W. Binney, F.R.S., President, in the chair. ‘‘ Observation 
of the Eclipse of the Sun, December 22, 1870,” by J. B. 
Dancer, F,R.A.S. The eclipse of the sun on Thursday, the 
22nd of December, was favourably observed at Ardwick. Al- 
though a slight fog prevailed, all the details of the phenomenon 
were distinct, and tolerably well defined. A number of,spots 
were visible on the sun’s surface, two of which were of some 
magnitude. The nuclei of these spots were linked together by 
maculze, and surrounded by a penumbra which extended to a 
considerable distance. Faculze also were very numerous and 
distinct. The approximate times of contact taken by a chrono- 
meter corrected by the standard clock at the Town Hall were as 
follows :—first contact of the moon’s limb with the sun 112 5™ 
49°; Contact of moon’s limb with nucleus of the first large spot, 
114 31™ 36°; with the nucleus of the second large spot, 11% 37™ 
208 ; last contact of moon’s limb with the sun, Greenwich mean 
time, 12 37™ 38. The temperature during the progress of the 
eclipse was taken at intervals by a mercurial thermometer with a 
black bulb zz vacuo, exposed to the sun at the height of 4 feet 
from the ground. 
TIME, TEMP. 
He M. Ss. DEGREES. 
TierOeO) Cain acorns 
er PORNO) Be . + 30°25 
sa) 45}, (0) xe : + 29°75 
=— SON OF ter Met fel ons BZOl25 
1222), £0) 5 a net wot yee: 
——=t ISOMOM Ri ers uel. a si Ory 
TS OM Mae ce bof reais! ue of 29 
I had an impression that the moon’s edge could be traced 
a short distance from the edge of the sun at the upper and 
lower points of contact, but this might be imagination. The 
black surface of the moon appeared very uniform in colour. 
I tried with powers of 80 and 180 to distinguish the moon’s 
disc, but did not succeed. Light clouds were passing over the 
sun’s disc at this time. The diminution in light was quite 
perceptible at the time of the greatest phase. Mr. Baxendell 
said that he observed the commencement of the Eclipse at 
Cheetham Hill. The first contact took place at ri 5™ 46°2° 
G.M.T. or 24:2 seconds later than the time calculated by 
Mr. Dickinson and Mr. Hind. The definition of the limbs 
of the sun and moon, and of the spots on the solar disc, was 
remarkably good, and he did not think his observation of the 
time of first contact could be in error to the extent of one second. 
The limb of the moon on the sun’s disc appeared to be more 
sharply defined than the sun’s limb. No distortion of the cusps 
was noticed. Unfortunately he was obliged to leave the 
observatory before the end of the eclipse, and therefore did 
not observe the time of last contact. 
EDINBURGH 
Royal Society, December 19.—Dr. Christison, the Pre- 
sident, in the chair. The following papers were read :—1. 
Additional Remarks on the Theory of Capillary Attraction, by 
E. Sang, Esq., C.E. 2. Laboratory Notes: On Thermo- 
Electricity, by Prof. Tait. An endeavour to prove, experi- 
mentally, that the electric connection of heat is proportional to 
the absolute temperature, and an application of this result to the 
