pared with that from the artificial star. Mr. Dibden has adjusted 

 his instrument so finely, that he can diminish the light of his 

 artificial star to the two hmidred thousandth of a sperm candle ! 

 I admit that the idea of comjiaring the light from a star to that of 

 a sperm candle does not sound poetic, but it is at any rate a more 

 exact style of measurement than the vague phrase of a " star of 

 the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd magnitude." 



Father Perry, to whom I have previously alluded, had for some 

 years made most interesting observations on sun spots, which have 

 been decreasing in number for the last tbree or four years. The 

 minimum time is however drawing to a close, and will probably be 

 succeeded by a maximum period of disturbance. Father King, 

 also of Stoneyhurst, has succeeded in taking on an average 258 

 drawings a year of sun spots, and in many respects they are con- 

 sidered more reliable than photographs. The area of the S'ln 

 spots sometimes ch?.nged as much as one hundred million square 

 miles in a day. Father King suggests that the sun spots may be 

 caused by meteoric streams. 



Mr. Isaac Roberts has, as usual, done good work in his admir- 

 able photographs of nebulfe. His photograph of the nebulae in 

 Andromeda shows that it is a bright central mass, surrounded by a 

 stream of nebulous matter, spiral in form. The 81 Messier nebulae 

 shows a spiral formation, and many bright starry pohits on the 

 spiral streams. The 51 Messier nebulae also shows a spiral struc- 

 ture, and lines of stars seem to follow the line of the spiral streams. 

 These photographs are considered so wonderful, that they have 

 been alluded to as a " new cosmical revelation." 



Mr. Stanley Williams has made some interesting observations on 

 the planet Jupiter, and has systematically noted the changes in 

 those spots and markings which were sufficiently distinct for the 

 purpose. The red spot, which was so conspicuous in 1887, had 

 become much paler, but the red tinge is still visible ; its period of 

 rotation is nine hours, 55 minutes, 40 seconds. 



On the 20th September last there was a closer conjunction of 

 Mais and Saturn than at any period during the last six thousand 

 years. That is to say the two planets were almost in the same 

 longitude, their centres being not more tha,n 55 seconds apart, so 

 that to the naked eye they appeared as but one orb. 



It is no uncommon event for Mars and Saturn to be in line, but 

 the interest on this occasion was in the smallness of the interval 

 which apparently separated them. And on the 26th of the same 

 month, another rare occurrence, known to astrologers as ' 'J'rigon,' 

 took place, in other words Venus passed within little more than 

 the moon's diameter of Mars and Saturn. A ' Trigou ' can only 

 occur once in about 200 years, the last time being in 1603, when 



