SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
191 
Proctor, as we have already mentioned, has recently obtained some rather 
singular results respecting the proper motions of the stars, so far as they 
avail to indicate the motion of the sun through space. His paper on the 
subject has since appeared in the Monthly Notices of the Astronomical 
Society. It will be remembered that Mr. Dunkin, applying a method 
devised by Mr. Airy to the motions of 1,167 stars, found for the point on 
the heavens towards which the sun’s motion is directed a place closely 
corresponding with the mean of results obtained by others. But when 
he applied to the uncorrected sum of squares of the stellar proper motions 
a correction corresponding to the deduced solar motion, he found, in 
place of a considerable reduction, a sum not differing by one-thirteenth from 
the uncorrected sum. Mr. Proctor, analysing Mr. D unltin’s results accord- 
ing to several distinct hypotheses, arrives, by independent methods, repeat- 
edly to this one conclusion, that the distances of the fainter stai'3 have been 
largely over-estimated by astronomers. Finally, dividing the whole number 
of 1,167 stars into two sets, one including the stars of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd 
magnitudes, the other those of the 4th, 5th, and 6th magnitudes, and com- 
paring the mean distances inferrible from the mean proper motions of each 
set, he finds the ratio absolutely one of equality. It would follow, of 
course, that the stars of the lower orders of magnitude are relatively small 
(instead of being very far from us), and that in such a degree as to enable 
us to refer these* orbs to the same region of space as the larger stars. Mr. 
Proctor remarks, however, that he is far from wishing to place so great a 
stress on his results ; but he considers that they do suffice to render the 
usually accepted views respecting stellar distribution wholly untenable. 
Star-drift . — In a paper communicated to the Royal Society, Mr. Proctor 
points out another peculiarity of the stellar proper motions. In certain 
regions of the heavens the stars exhibit a well-marked tendency to drift in 
a definite direction. Madler had already noticed this in the case of stars in 
the constellation Taurus, but the German astronomer was mistaken in sup- 
posing that the drift in this constellation is exceptional. On the contrary, 
there is a more remarkable drift in the constellations Cancer and Gemini ; 
while in many regions of the heavens the drift is at least as remarkable as 
in Taurus. It is to be noticed, therefore, that whatever stress has been laid 
by astronomers on Madler’s conclusion that Alcyone is the centre of the 
stellar motions is misplaced, since a similar community of motion is 
observed in other neighbourhoods. One of the most singular instances of 
star-drift is recognised in the constellation "Ursa Major. The five con- 
spicuous stars (3, y, c, f, and £ are all travelling in the same direction and at 
the same rate, in a direction which is exactly contrary to that due to 
the stellar motion. If these stars indeed form a single system, and it is 
scarcely possible to draw any other conclusion from so remarkable a com- 
munity of motion, the mind is lost in contemplating the enormity of the 
cyclic period of this vast system. The duration of our solar system must be 
regarded as a mere moment by comparison. 
Summary of Sun-spot Observations made by means of the Keiv Photo-Helio- 
graph during the Year 1869. — The following table exhibits the annual 
resume of observations made at Kew, drawn up according to the plan of 
Ilofrath Schwabe, of Dessau : — 
