May 16, 18S4.] 
faction of all immediately concerned, and to the 
instruction and guidance of others. The remedy for 
the excessive love of money would be found in the 
substitution of other and higher objects of ambition. 
This could not be expected at this stage of our 
nation’s growth, but it would come with greater 
maturity. This age, he said, was the seed-time, and 
not the harvest; nor could the full corn appear until 
aiter the intermediate stages of the blade and ear. 
THE PRESENT SUN-SPOT MAXIMUM. 
AT p. 72 of the second volume of this journal, the 
observations of the solar spots, made during the pre- 
vious six years by Professor Todd, now of Amherst 
college, were collated, and the inference drawn that 
the present maximum of spots had already passed at 
the middle of the year 1883. The remarkable solar 
outbursts, occurring at intervals throughout that year, 
and the continued manifestation of spot-activity dur- 
ing the present year, have led to renewed discussion 
of this subject abroad, where very different views 
are held by the leading authorities in solar physics. 
Dr. Wolf of Zurich inclines to the belief that we have 
not yet the data for determining accurately the epoch 
of maximum; much the highest monthly maximum 
having occurred in April, 1882, while the relative 
number expressing the spot-prevalence for the year 
1885 is easily seen to be greater than that for the year 
previous. Faye thinks the maximum undoubtedly 
past, and regards the spottedness during 1883 as ‘‘ just 
such secondary maxima as ‘might well occur in the 
progress of a periodic phenomenon which passes 
rapidly and without hesitation from a minimum to 
the following maximum, but which passes gently by 
a series of secondary oscillations from the maximum 
to the following minimum,’ as it is well. known the 
solar spots do.’’ Wolf states, that in 1882 there were 
no days without spots, while there were four such in 
1885. Tacchini of Rome concludes, from the spot-ob- 
servations of 1882 and 1883, that the solar activity has 
been on the increase during the latter year: ‘‘for, al- 
though the difference in the number of spots is very 
small, the number of groups in 1883 has been very 
much greater, and the extent of the spots has been 
truly extraordinary: it has been double that of 1882.”’ 
Dr. Spoerer of Potsdam calls attention to a question 
regarding the numbers, and positions on the solar 
surface, of the spots observed during the past thirty 
years. While it has long been recognized that the 
spots are most numerous, not at the solar equator, but 
in zones of solar latitude about 15° to 20°, Spoerer’s 
discussion emphasizes the fact, ‘‘ that, from the time 
of one minimum until the next, the region of greatest 
spot-frequency gradually drifts downward from the 
zone 30° to 25°, to the immediate neighborhood of the 
equator, and that about the time of maximum its seat 
lies about 17° or 18°. As the next minimum period 
is approached, spots more than 15° from the equator 
gradually become rarer than spots of 35° latitude 
and upwards were at the time of maximum. But 
SCIENCE. 
599 
directly the time of minimum is past, spots begin to 
appear again in those higher latitudes where but very 
few, perhaps not a single one, had been seen for sey- 
eral years.’’ As justly remarked by the editor of 
the Observatory, this law of sudden transfer of spot- 
activity from one zone to another is one of the most 
striking revelations of solar research, and must be 
accounted for by that theory of spot-periodicity which 
would be accepted as satisfactory. 
Regarding the determination of the present spot- 
maximum, the same writer observes, that the chief 
difficulty lies in a variety of opinion regarding what 
class of data is to be accepted as affording the true 
index of the state of solar activity. The unusual mag- 
netic perturbations have occurred in coincidence with 
‘the appearance or rapid development of some single 
spot or group of spots of abnormal extent,” and not 
at the same time with the existence of great numbers 
of small spots. It would appear, thus, most likely 
that the total spot-area, rather than spot-numbers, 
should be taken as the true index. 
GUYOT’S VIEW OF CREATION. 
Creation ; or the biblical cosmogony in the light of 
modern science. By Arnotp Guyot, LL.D. 
New York, Scribner’s Sons, 1884. 164189 p., 
Oeple 16°. 
THE great eminence of Professor Guyot in 
several departments of science is a guaranty 
that what he writes is worthy of attention. 
The singular simplicity and clearness of his 
style make what he writes interesting. But, 
more than all, the earnestness, the truth-loving 
sincerity, and deep devoutness of the man, in 
all he wrote, or said, or did, take captive the 
reader, or hearer, or companion, and bear him 
along by the force of sympathy. ‘There has 
been no teacher in this country who has in- 
spired his classes with deeper personal love, or 
profounder reverence. ‘To us who knew him 
well, his very presence was a benediction. It 
is hardly necessary to say, therefore, how 
deeply and sincerely we sympathize with the 
devout spirit which pervades this his latest 
book, and the noble aim of the author in pub- 
lishing it. Surely, if we must have reconcilia- 
tions of this kind between the geological record 
and the Mosaic cosmogony, this one is the 
noblest and the most rational which we have 
yet seen. If any one’s declining faith still 
requires such tonic, we most cordially recom- 
mend this one; but it has long seemed to us 
that a complete change of air is the better, 
indeed the only, remedy. We believe that the 
time is rapidly approaching, if it has not al- 
ready come, when the whole subject must be 
looked upon from a different and higher point 
of view. We have ourselves, in earlier years, 
