394 Polydesmus complanatusi [July, 
heavy.” Where the disease came from appears not to be 
distinctly known : the potato crops of Belgium suffered 
from it in 1842, and in 1844 it was noticed in the United 
States of America and in the Isle of Wight. 
N ow it would be hardly imagined at first sight that, supposing 
a wet year — or, as growers say, the rains that come between 
June and the close of October — be proved to bring about a 
state of matters favourable to the spread of the potato disease, 
we could thence argue the probable periodicity of its recur- 
rence. There is, however, a growing feeling among our first 
meteorologists that we have all along been ignoringthe sun’s 
influence over the rainfall and the growth of vegetation. 
Certain is it that the sun blackens over with spots about 
every eleven years, and three or four years previously to 
this spottiness it is at its brightest. To these sun phases, 
as Mr. Norman Lockyer has lately officially stated, “ the 
rainfall of our globe has been in measure determined. to 
respond.” No marvel, then,-— when we discover that in 
1846, i860, and 1882, the sun was very much spotted over 
and the potato disease very rife, — we should entertain qualms 
about 1890 or 1900, when we may expeCt the spots back 
again. The visitation of the potato disease in Ireland from 
1876 to 1879, on the other hand, corresponds with the period 
of solar clearness preceding 1882, at which times there is 
evidence to show that the summer rainfall is often in 
excess. 
Lastly, when speaking of these phases of fitful brightness 
and spottiness of our day-star, and their appointed rule over 
mundane affairs, I might allude to an interesting theological 
scientific discussion that has taken its rise with the sun-spot 
year of 1882. Early this spring my friend Mr. Kirsop, of 
the Glasgow Natural-History Society, knowing me to be 
interested in Solar Physics, favoured me with the following 
newspaper-cutting, headed “ The Star of Bethlehem ” : — ■ ■ 
“ A recent telegram from a Berlin correspondent mentioned 
that the Star of Bethlehem was predicted to reappear during 
the current or next year. The predication is based on the 
supposition that certain stars of the class known as 
‘ temporary ’ are simply reappearances of the same orb. 
Pliny mentions that the sudden appearance of a bright star, 
which after a time vanished again, led to the formation of 
the first catalogue of stars, which was compiled by Hippar- 
chus. This statement is corroborated by the Chinese 
records, in which the rise of a new star in the constellation 
Scorpio is mentioned in the year 134 b.c., nine years prior 
to the date of Hipparchus’s catalogue.” 
