54 The Planet Saturn. 



1861-2, were, as far as I have seen them, of the same character. 

 As the ring diminished, Secchi found, if the air was not good, 

 E. ansa sometimes the shorter. Nov. 8, both were short, but 

 especially W. ; E. the fainter. 15, ansae dotted; E. much the 

 narrower. 19, E. "apparent" ansa (qy. : does not this mean 

 the real W. in an inverted field ?) certainly the shorter. [We 

 must not forget that these differences in length which so re- 

 peatedly come before us, may be as fairly ascribed to excen- 

 tricity, as to deficiency in reflective power of the. extremity of 

 the line.] During the following observations by Schwabe, with 

 6ft. Frauenh. up to 360, the earth was on the sunny side of 

 the ring. — Feb. 7 — 10, both uniformly smooth, E. growing 

 brighter. 1 7, W. very blunt-ended ; E. with 5 or 6 fixed 

 knots, 2 strongest very near ball. 18, 19, W. the shorter; E. 

 dotted and very pointed. 27, E. still dotted. March 1, 8, 

 W. a little the more distinct. 10, both alike bright, long, and 

 smooth. The dark spaces begin to appear as 2 very fine black 

 lines. [This seems inconsistent with any appreciable thickness 

 of C] 12, ditto. Ring begins to be brighter than ball. 15, 

 16, 24, ansa? unchanged. April 1 — 8, W. less defined and 

 shorter than E., which had a granular light. 10, E. obviously 

 the longer. 14, E. very pointed and somewhat knotty. 15, 

 E. certainly the brighter. 22, E. alone knotty. 24, E. so 

 sharp that its termination is sometimes doubtful. 25, ditto ; 

 W. the more distinct. 29, E. end often vanishes. 30, 2 knots 

 on E., and its end fainter. May 1, E. had 2 knots ; it often 

 vanished. 2, a third knot E. 3, E. the feebler ; no knots. 4, 

 5, W. the plainer. Throughout these observations, from Feb. 

 7 to May 2, the ansae preserved invariably a wedge-shaped 

 aspect, tapering from W. to E., as Schroter had represented it 

 in a " rough but very faithful " design ; whence Schwabe infers 

 that, whatever explanation may be given of the dots of light, 

 rotation is impossible. — 1861. Wray 7 in.: Dec. 17, line irre- 

 gularly broken (looking on dark side) ; 26, 16h. 30m. E. 

 scarcely, W. readily visible, and broken in 2 places; 18h. 30m., 

 both equally bright; 19h., E. the brighter. Jan. 4, W. 

 much broken, brighter than E. 5, 13h. 30m., W. much fainter 

 and shorter than E. ; 16h. 40m. equal in length and light; 

 17h. 15m. to 18h. W. decidedly the brighter. 18, ansae equal. 

 —1862. Huggins, May 2, 12, 13, two bright dots E. at inner 

 and outer edges of ring. 16, ansae steady; no dots. — Carpen- 

 ter at Greenwich, May 5, E. -^ the longer. 1 7, W. just visible ; 

 only one spot E. 19, W. the more visible. — Birt, May 13, with 

 2 achroms. by Slater, 3 beads W. ; 4 (Slater 5), E., which was 

 the longer. — 2 II. May 16, W. the longer as 5 to 4. 17, 18, 

 19, W. the more visible. June 3, perhaps the shorter. 



The unvaried bearing of all this testimony is in favour of 



