TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 11 
On Sun-spots and their Connexion with Planetary Configurations. 
By B. Stewart, FBS. 
The author described the results of his examination of a continuous series 
of pictures of the sun’s disk taken by the Kew photoheliograph between February 
1862 and August 1863. He atta that “there is little difficulty in finding 
approximately, by a comparison of two or three consecutive pictures, at what por- 
tion of the sun’s disk any spot ceases to increase and begins to wane, or, on the 
other hand, breaks out into a visible appearance.” Now, it appears to be a law 
almost universal, that if there be several spots, and one decreases before coming to 
the central vertical line passing through the sun’s disk, another spot does the same ; 
if, on the other hand, a spot breaks out on the right half and increases up to the 
border, another will do the same. The author thinks that he has noticed a con- 
nexion between this behaviour of sun-spots and the configuration of the nearer 
planets, Mercury and Venus, of the followmg nature. Let us suppose that Mercury 
and Venus are both in a line considerably to the right of the earth, then spots will 
decrease as they come round from the left-hand side, and before they reach the 
centre of the disk. On the other hand, if these two planets are considerably to the 
left of the earth, there will be a tendency for spots to form on the right half of the 
disk and to increase up to the border, 
Lieut anp Haat. 
Account of Preliminary Experiments on Oalcescence. By C, K, Axi, Ph.D, 
In this paper the author described the attempt which he had made, conjointly 
with Mr. one Griffith, the Assistant General Secretary of the British Associa- 
tion, to carry out some of the experiments proposed by him in his paper “ On the 
Transmutation of Spectral Rays,” for the purpose of producing the converse phe- 
nomenon of fluorescence, for which the term calcescence* was suggested to him 
for adoption. As the experiments, partly from the unfitness of the apparatus em- 
ployed, and partly from other interruptions, were not brought to a successful issue, 
and moreover are likely soon to be renewed under more favourable conditions, and 
with the more pewerful and convenient instruments supplied by the liberality of 
the British Association, a description of the same in print will best be reserved for 
a future occasion. 
On some Phenomena produced by the Refractive Power of the Eye. 
By A. Crauper, F.R.S. 
This paper was to explain several effects of refraction through the eye, one of 
which is, that objects situated a little behind us are seen as if they were on a 
straight line from right to left. Another, that the pictures of external objects 
which are represented on the retina are included in an angle much larger than one- 
half of the sphere at the centre of which the observer is placed; from this point of 
view a single glance encompasses a vast and splendid panorama, extending to an 
angle of 200°. This is the result of the common law of refraction. All the rays 
of light passing through the cornea to the crystalline lens are more and more re- 
fracted in proportion to the angle at which they strike the spherical surface of the 
cornea. Consequently, the only objects which are seen in their true position are 
those entering the eye in the direction of the optic axis. By this refraction the 
rays which enter the eye at an angle of 90° are bent 10°, and appear to come from 
an angle of 80°. This phenomenon produces a very curious illusion. When we 
are lighted by the sun, the moon, or any other light, if we endeavour to place our- 
* From calcium, the name of the characteristic chemical element of lime, whose action 
on the oxyhydrogen flame most probably represents a phenomenon of the kind alluded to, 
and has suggested the speculations contained in the paper adverted to in the text. 
