November 14, 1884. 



SCIENCE. 



461 



eter of the spot itself was six times that of the 

 earth, about V 46"; but the portion of the sun's sur- 

 face which was affected was much larger. By the 

 27th the secondary spots (fig. 4) which accompanied 

 it had become much less conspicuous, while the 



' 



'-" - . '•- '"-"/ 



;V -■ , rA>O v 







It. 



'*•■?«.• . ■: 





^S^'^^MW:^: ' 





it! 







^- :i>: 4- ^\ • 



', -^y'i[. 1 







\] ~ ~ V V 



.. v v .-'; : m^ ^.^..-J* *^V :'-*§■&■;.'• 



:-:';.->-V- '•':.■ 1 



'.'■-. 











,->. 











"■/.'-'■.■r 









•_ — 



e3f . 









^ ° ~, /. :?J 



Fig. 



spot itself was the more marked, and curved tongues 

 above it indicated great activity. From that day the 

 spot began to diminish, and become more regular. 

 On the 1st of August it reached the west limb, in 

 latitude —11° 13', having 



consequently moved 3° 33 .- _g 



toward the south. The 



appearance of this spot ' -. * 



was heralded on the east- > 



ern limb by small, very , •■ . 



br i 1 1 i ant chromospheric - .- 



flames; and its disappear- ,} ,.■•;-■; 



ance was followed by small " . -.' . ,. }" . t /:•: 



but brilliant protuber- - .V'- ■ 



ances, and by the reversal " ; 



of the coronal ray 1474 k . « 



It returned on the east at 



latitude —10° 15', but only 



as a couple of small dots, : , ,\. 



which vanished on the 21st. ! ■ . ■ ■': -v' : '^v? 



It is worthy of remark, 

 that these two large spots 

 were formed almost at the 

 ends of the same solar 

 diameter, and that each 

 showed a motion towards 

 the pole of its respective 

 hemisphere. 



quarto of about twelve hundred pages and many 

 plates and maps, is a curious medley, discuss- 

 ing as it does such diverse subjects as the 

 newspaper and periodical press, the resources 

 and sealeries of Alaska, and our ship-building 

 industry. The appear- 

 ance of these monographs 

 under one cover is clear- 

 ly a matter of conven- 

 ience of distribution only. 

 The first portion, deal- 

 ing as it does only with 

 the political and literary 

 press, hardby needs our 

 special attention. 



The report on the pop- 

 ulation, industries, and 

 resources of Alaska, by 

 Ivan Petroff, occupies a 

 hundred and seventy - 

 seven pages, while that 

 on the seal-fisheries and 

 collateral topics, by Hen- 

 ry W. Elliott, covers an 

 equal number, not includ- 

 ing indices. 

 As must always happen when reports of 

 a frontier region remain unpublished for 

 four or five years, the picture presented by 

 them is chiefly useful for comparison with 



Earth 



NEW VOLUME OF THE TENTH CENSUS. 



The eighth volume of the census of 1880, just 

 issued from the government press, a bulky 



Fig. 4. 



preceding or subsequent reports of the same 

 kind. That there should, at the time of 

 publication, be a considerable gap between 

 the state of things as presented in the re- 

 port, and their actual state, is inevitable ; 

 but perhaps in none of the census reports is 



