xxxiv President'' s Address. [-A.ug. 29, 



test ; if the method was a sound one it ought to be possible to obtain 

 a picture during the partial phase of the eclipse shewing the moon's 

 contour against the background of the coronal light. No trace of 

 the Moon however was discernible in the photographs taken at the 

 Cape and Grenada ; and for the present at least the method is not 

 practicable. When the effects of the Krakatoa eruption have entirely 

 passed away, it will without doubt be tried again at some elevated 

 station where the coronal light will not suffer so much absorption by 

 the earth's atmosphere. 



Passing now to the other members of the solar system, we may say 

 with certainty that there is no intra-mercurial planet as large as 300 

 miles in diameter, though it is very probable that there are intra- 

 mercurial asteroids. During the eclipse of 1878 Swift and Watson 

 claimed to have seen two objects where no stars existed and it was 

 generally thought at first that the missing Vulcan had been found ; 

 but on examining their observations it was seen that they could not 

 possibly be brought into harmony, and it is almost certain that they 

 both observed the same two stars in Cancer, the hurry and excitement 

 of the moment leading to errors in the record of their position. An 

 exhaustive search for any such planets was made during the eclipse 

 of 1883 with negative results, and we can only come to the conclusion 

 that there is no such object of any considerable size. 



Our knowledge of Mercury and Venus has not been greatly 

 increased during the last ten years, but an interesting and successful 

 attempt has recently been made to clear up the mystery of the satellite 

 of Venus which was seen on several occasions in the 17th and 18th 

 •centuries. It has usually been supposed that the object seen was a 

 false image or " ghost " arising from some internal reflection in the 

 itelescope, but this explanation has been felt to be weak, inasmuch as 

 ►the supposed satellite was seen on several of the occasions by expe- 

 iiienced astronomers who would be fully aware of the danger of 

 deception from such a cause. Last year Dr. Stroobant made a careful 

 examination of the positions given for the satellite and found that the 

 majority of them coincided sufficiently closely with the places of stars 

 •of about the oth magnitude to make it reasonably certain that the 

 objects seen were these stars ; and he satisfied himself by actual 

 observation that stars of this magnitude could be seen under favourable 

 •circumstances by daytime. Thus another astronomical ghost has been 

 laid to rest. 



The planet Mars always comes in for a large amount of attention, 



