49 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



prompt and remarkable success, and in the same year his large a Star 

 Atlas "was published. Early in 1871 "The Sun "was printed, and 

 was also well received. In the same year appeared " Elementary Les- 

 sons in Astronomy," and the first series of " Light Science for Leisure 

 Hours ; " in 1872 the " School Atlas of Astronomy," "Essays on As- 

 tronomy," " Orbs around Us," and " Elementary Lessons in Physi- 

 cal Geography." Much of his time this year was devoted to the 

 construction of a chart, showing all the stars visible in the north- 

 ern heavens with the telescopes 2f inches in aperture — in all, 324,198 

 stars. This chart exhibits relations having an important bearing on 

 our ideas respecting the constitution of the heavens. During the 

 past year Mr. Proctor has published the second series of " Light 

 Science," " The Moon," " The Border-land of Science," " The Expanse 

 of Heaven ; " and a new work, entitled " The Universe and the Coming 

 Transits," is now passing through the press. 



Such a rapid multiplication of books cannot of course be otherwise 

 than unfavorable to the promotion of science by original research. 

 This Mr. Proctor recognizes, and he has described it as one of the 

 principal hardships occasioned by the loss of his property, that he was 

 compelled to give but a limited portion of his time to original investi- 

 gations. But, although driven to write about science for a livelihood, 

 or to forsake it altogether for more remunerative employment, he is 

 very far from having neglected the more serious work of research. 

 Few know what can be accomplished by industry and perseverance. 

 It is only necessary to look over the index of the Proceedings of the 

 Royal Astronomical Society to see that Mr. Proctor has been a large 

 contributor to its work. Indeed, although its pages are limited to the 

 record of such work, from 1868 to 1873 Mr. Proctor contributed to 

 these proceedings more freely than any fellow of the Astronomical 

 Society. His papers have related chiefly to the stellar system, the 

 laws of distribution of stars, their motions, the relations between stars 

 and nebulae, and the general constitution of the heavens. But the sub- 

 ject of the solar corona has occupied a considerable space among Mr. 

 Proctor's papers, while even a larger amount of labor has been given 

 to the investigation of the opportunities which will be presented 

 during the transits of Yenus, on December 9, 1874, and December 6, 

 1882. 



The subject of that mysterious connection between meteors and 

 comets which forms one of the most surprising of the results of mod- 

 ern observation has also been largely dealt with by Mr. Proctor. 

 His investigation of the rotation-period of the planet Mars, resulting 

 in a value certainly within one-tenth of a second of the true period, 

 may also be mentioned among his original researches. 



It is but just to say that Mr. Proctor has been singularly fortunate 

 in enunciating theories which have been subsequently confirmed, und 

 in some cases demonstrated by new observations. His confident tone 



