Analyses of Books. 
295 
18S5.] 
The Sun ; a Familiar Description of his Phenomena. By the 
Rev. W. Webb, M.A., F.R.A.S. London : Longmans, 
Green, and Co. 
The author of this little treatise claims for Astronomy the first 
and highest position of all the sciences — a point on which there 
is room for difference of opinion. He divides Astronomy into a 
theoretical branch, an observational, and a descriptive, the last 
of which alone admits of being popularised. He confines him- 
self, further, for the present, to a description of one of the 
heavenly bodies, that which in every way most concerns man — 
the Sun. He raises even the somewhat naive question, “ What 
should we do without him ?” To this query the answer is easy: 
we should either have never existed at all, or should have been 
creatures of which we can frame not the remotest conception. 
The author takes up the questions as to the nature, the mate- 
rial, the size, and distance of the Sun. In explanation of the 
latter point he gives a very clear account of the manner in which 
transits of Venus are employed for the determination of our 
distance from the Sun. In speaking of the Sun’s magnitude he 
refers to its apparent increase when near the horizon, and gives 
the doubtful explanation of this illusion that both it and the 
Moon look very large in that position, “ because we think that 
they ought to appear much smaller at a supposed greater 
distance.” 
The Sun-spots next engage the author’s attention. After 
describing their appearance and their periodicity, he concludes 
that they are probably openings in the photosphere through which 
we look down upon something at a lower level. 
As concerns the influence, real or supposed, of the Sun-spots 
upon a number of terrestrial phenomena, Mr. Webb observes a 
possibly judicious silence. The temperature of the Sun is also 
left, in view of the discrepant results of observers and calcu- 
lators, an open question. 
We come next to an account of the recent speCtroscopic re- 
searches on the Sun’s constitution, of the chromosphere, the 
zodiacal light, and of the Sun’s relation to electrical — and espe- 
cially to magnetic — phenomena. 
It will be seen throughout that the author deals merely with 
what may be regarded as fairly established, avoiding the regions 
of doubtful speculation. Within these boundaries he has given 
to the public an accurate, clear, and readable guide to one of the 
most important departments of Astronomy. 
