444 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
to him that a discovery of such a system attending Yega should he made 
known, as of course it would he invested with an interest second to none in 
the list of double stars. 
The total Solar Eclipse of 1863. — At the meeting of the British Association, 
Sir Andrew Waugh read a paper by Major Tennant, regarding the steps 
that are being taken by the Indian Government- to ensure extensive and 
correct observations of the coming eclipse. The eclipse in question will 
he seen to great advantage, and the arrangements that were being made 
gave promise of valuable results. The Secretary of State had sanctioned 
the proposal to send out to India some of the best instruments in this 
country. It was intended, among other obaservtions, to photograph the 
appearances presented, and for this purpose a large telescope was to he 
erected. Provision had been made for obtaining a considerable field of view, 
in order that, if possible, some record might be obtained of the structure of 
the corona. The Astronomer Royal had lent a 42 -inch telescope, with an 
eyepiece, for the examination of the lines of the corona, and altogether the 
preparations which Major Tennant was now in London superintending led 
them to believe that valuable results would be obtained by the observation 
of this eclipse. It was stated by Mr. W. Ladd, who was present, that the 
arrangements of Major Tennant for the polarising eyepiece for the telescope 
were very simple. He had been constructing one of these for Major Tennant, 
and also for Mr. Huggins, and he thought that no astronomer should be with- 
out this polarising apparatus. It might be easily attached to the eyepiece 
of ordinary telescopes. 
The Kew Photo-Heliograph . — According to the recent Report of the Kew 
Committee, it appears that the heliograph, which is in charge of Mr. De la 
Rue, continues to be worked in a most satisfactory manner. During the 
past year 204 negatives have been taken on 144 days. Pictures of the 
Pagoda in Kew Gardens are regularly taken by this instrument, in the hope 
that by this means the angular diameter of the Sun may be satisfactorily 
determined. Since the meeting of the British Association in 1866, a second 
series of solar researches, in continuation of the first series, has been pub- 
lished (the expense of printing having been defrayed by Mr. De la Rue), 
entitled 11 Researches in Solar Physics, Second Series, Area Measurements 
of the Sun-spots observed by Mr. Carrington during the seven years 
1854 -1860 inclusive, and Deductions therefrom 5 by Messrs. De la Rue, 
Stewart, and Loewy.” The heliographic latitudes and longitudes of all 
the spots recorded by the Kew Photo-heliograph during the years 1862 and 
1863 have been calculated, and it is hoped that the results may soon be 
published, forming a third series of Polar Researches. It is believed that 
these results will demonstrate the superiority of photographic pictures over 
all other methods of observation. The sum of 60/. has been obtained from 
the Government Grant Fund of the Royal Society to be applied to the 
discussion of Hofrath Schwabe’s long and valuable series of sun-spots at 
present in the possession of Kew Observatory. These pictures are now being 
examined with this object. Sun-spots continued likewise to be numbered, 
after the manner of Hofrath Schwabe ; and a table, exhibiting the monthly 
groups observed at Dessau and at Kew, for the year 1866, has already ap- 
peared in the Monthly Notices of the Astronomical Society, vol. xxvii., 
No. 3. 
