THE MOVKMKNTS OF J 1 1 I : STAKS. 



41 



We have long ago learnt to recognize that the planets are 

 mutually related and form a system governed by a. simple 

 physical law; but among the stars the " mutual correspondencie 

 and unitie " has been hard to find. I do not think we shall ever 

 see in the great stellar universe that harmony of movement 

 which prevails in our own little system ; there will be no music 

 of the spheres ; but we are learning that there are associations, 

 vague though they may be, which bind star to star and unite 

 even the most distant of them into some kind of an organization. 



Discussion. 



The Chairman invited the Meeting to return their cordial thanks 

 to Professor Eddington for the admirable Lecture to which they had 

 just listened. They were particularly grateful to him for taking 

 their minds away from the War and all its sorrows and anxieties 

 and turning their thoughts to so lofty and attractive a subject. 



Professor Eddington had referred to the researches of several other 

 astronomers in this particular field of astronomy, but he had been 

 silent as to his own work. But this enquiry into the existence and 

 relationships of stellar systems, as evidenced by the movements of 

 stars, was one in which Professor Eddington had done especially 

 valuable work. Earlier in the year Professor Fowler had shown the 

 Institute how the evidence of the spectroscope as to the constitution 

 of the stars pointed to the unity of the stellar universe ; now, from 

 a line of evidence quite distinct in character, that unity was shown 

 from the mutual correspondences in the movements of the stars. 



Mr. Maunder said : A well-known astronomer not very long 

 ago expressed the fear that the progress of the science would 

 inevitably slacken because the number of data which were being 

 accumulated would greatly exceed the power of scientific men to 

 discuss them. Fortunately, we possess men who are able enough 

 and bold enough to tackle these problems. Thus in three 

 succeeding Sessions of the Victoria Institute we have been favoured 

 by addresses from Dr. Chapman, Professor Fowler and Professor 

 Eddington, each dealing with a special aspect of the problem of the 

 sidereal universe ; each a chief worker in the department which he 

 expounded. Dr. Chapman showed the Institute how the number of 

 the stars had been determined ; Professor Fowler placed before us 



