Occultation. 151 



always greedy of time, ran to the vehicle he had ordered. I 

 do not know whether any, among the persons who hear me, 

 may recollect having seen, at this period, canary -yellow cabs — 

 that is, of the fiercest (la plus farouche) yellow that can be 

 seen. Delacroix stopped short before the body of his cab ; it 

 was a yellow like that which he wanted ; but in the position 

 where the carriage was placed, what gave it that dazzling 

 tone ? It was not the tone itself, it was the shading which 

 made it come out. But these shadings were violet. Delacroix 

 had no further occasion to go to the Louvre ; he paid the cab 

 and went upstairs to his room : he had caught his effect." 

 The observer of double stars may sometimes do well to bear 

 in mind the cab of Delacroix. 



On re-examining R, Leonis with a 91-inch silvered glass 

 speculum, by With, 1867, Feb. 2, I found the colour very 

 fine, though the magnitude was much diminished from what I 

 had previously seen. Its variation ranges, according to Pog- 

 son, from 5 to 10 mag., with a very irregular period of about 

 312d. I do not know whether it may now be on the increase 

 or decrease ; if the latter, it should soon be looked for, before 

 its colour becomes less striking for want of light. There seem 

 to be only two ways of accounting for the singular colour of 

 these very beautiful and striking objects ; reckoning from ter- 

 restrial analogies, it might be due either to simple ignition or 

 to peculiarity of composition. There is no antecedent im- 

 probability in the former supposition ; one sun might as readily 

 exist at a red, as another at a white heat. But it appears to be 

 negatived by the fact, that our terrestrial red-heat is attended 

 by an inferior degree of luminosity, in accordance with its low 

 temperature, hardly corresponding with the vivacity of stellar 

 light. It seems, therefore, more likely that this tint is derived 

 from a peculiarity of elementary composition, which it would 

 be most interesting to ascertain, but which is never likely to 

 be disclosed to mortal research. The colossal reflector of 

 Parsonstown may indeed give so great an intensity to a 5 mag. 

 (the largest attained by any distinctly crimson star), that the 

 spectroscope, which has been recently prepared for it by the 

 skill of Mr. Browning, may be able to effect its analysis ; but 

 the probability is, that like our sun through a great extent of 

 its spectrum, it would only exhibit to us a hieroglyphic inscrip- 

 tion to which we possess no key. 



Occultation. — March 22nd, k Virginia, 4* mag., 9h. 28m. 

 tolOh. 17m. 



