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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
bluish portion had a very irregular and hard outline in its darkest part, 
like the coast-line of a terrestrial continent broken by bays and inlets. 
Delicate markings were visible on the red and brown parts. Where the 
white part is near the margin, there appeared to be a protuberance at that 
part. 
Fringes of Light during Solar Eclipses. — The appearance of moving 
fringes of light seen on a whitened wall during the total eclipse of Dec. 31, 
1861, is remembered to have been seen by M. Goldschmidt in the 
annular eclipse of Sep. 7, 1820. He perceived them fully two and a half 
minutes before the annulus was formed. He was walking at the time in a 
direction from east to west, when he saw the moving shadows coming 
towards him slowly. The movement was not rapid, and the aspect like 
the shadows of smoke in sunshine ; the forms being rhomboids of four or 
six inches in diameter, mixed up with ribbon-shaped shadows. The inner 
spaces were filled with round spots mixing gradually with the other in 
grey transparence. M. Goldschmidt saw this strange apparition whilst he 
walked for about one hundred steps, when the annulus was suddenly 
formed, the light of the sun running round the moon like a fluid. At the 
eclipse of July, 1860, these spots, yellow in colour, were noticed by a 
Spanish countryman hitting over his white dress from west to east, and the 
fringes were also seen during the same eclipse by Captain Mannheim in 
Africa. 
Motion of Sun in Space. — From a consideration of the proper motions of 
stars in space, Sir W. Herschel, Argelander, Galloway, &c., determined 
that the sun was moving in the direction of the constellation of Hercules; 
and Struve has even calculated its annual motion towards that point. The 
Astronomer Royal, however, from discussing a larger series of observations 
from 1,167 stars, doubted this conclusion; and Mr. Dunkin, by pursuing 
the same calculations, has arrived at the same result. It may be stated 
that Mr. Carrington and Professor Fearnley consider it hopeless to deter- 
mine this problem by investigating it by the method which the former has 
pointed out — viz., as to whether the direction of the motion of comets 
before coming into solar influence was different from the concluded motion 
of the sun. Mr. Carrington, therefore, advises the persevering observation 
and determinations of proper motions. 
Lunar Mountain Plato.— When the moon is full, and circumstances are 
favourable, by making use of a moderately sized telescope, two or three 
bright spots may be seen on the otherwise dark surface of the interior of 
Plato. It was not known whether these were pits, or elevations above the 
surface. On the evening of April 26, however, Mr. Dawes saw them to 
great advantage, and they were proved to be veritable craters or pits with 
elevated surrounding wall, which cast a shadow outwards on one side and 
inwards on the other. The other round spots were found to assume a 
similar appearance. There are some other bright spots and streaks which, 
however, Mr. Dawes considers neither elevated above nor depressed below 
the surface, like those bright patches which are seen at other parts of the 
moon. Some of the round spots are so small that it has been impossible to 
determine whether they are craters or not. 
The Lunar Mare Imbriwn, — Mr, Birt points out that between the S.W , 
