New-York tribune., 1903-01-23
STELLAR SCIENCE.
Three Good Handbooks for Students.

ASTRONOMY FOR EvERYBopx; A o Popslsr I,shs ESr Ry
position Of the Wonders Of the heavens .b bs
Simon Newcomh. LII. ID; Irirostssas rroIessols i9ro.
PIP SSS Mcclure. Phillips 4 Co.
A POPULAR HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY DUB ls,.
ING TIE NINETEENTH rENTCRiG I1 By
sS The Macmillan Company.
ASTRONOMY WITHOUT TELESCOPE; S AouiSe noe
the CONSIDERATIONS and lntroductIon I SISTED se
sight By e Walter Maunder; With Maps ,o,T,l ana
edge Office
Except for some very limited departments Vi
natural history. branch OF science eher's
more powerful IA 5cination over the popular nl'o
tl7-n that which relates TO the stars and other
celestial bodies Interest in them has been los
tered by the periodical and daily press 10 su''
an extent of late years that q demand has
arisen for a more popular class OF astrononllo0l
books than was formerly available Feneranie
ss is this line of study. moreover. fresh dis
ooveries are made. and clearer convictions are
reached every few years. Hence the necessity
for The revision Of older works and the prepara-
fion Of new ones.
The latest volume which Professor Newcomo
has written derives its value chiefly from the
fact that simon Newcomb is its author A's
score is much the same that OF any eie-
inertary book astronomy. hut the authof
wide experience sound judgment and high repn-
tation warrant in reposing unusual con-
fdence in what he may say upon mooted points
He also has the faculty Of making intelgioie
some rather obscure and complicated processes
in computation. II is noteworthy, for instance
that he believes there is little water on the
moon. that the suns corona shines mostly by
its own light and not by reflected rays; that the
forces which project the corona from the sun $
surface operate most strongly in the sunspo'
belts rather than in the polar regions. tha'
Venus rotates its axis once IN ABOUT
tNrenty-four hours and not only once in the year
Of that planet: that the supposed discovery OF
Satuln's ninth satellite needs confirmation ana
that the white polar caps on Mars are not heaNy
6enosits Of snow nor composed Of carbonic oxide.
hut are thin films OF condensed water vapor-
scarcely more than hoarfrost- perhaps
Professor Newcomb's treatment OF the
canals Of Mars is strikingly conservative
He remarks on the ragueness Of these streaks,
she lack Of agreement between Schiaparellfs
and Iowell's charts and the tendency OF some
lines 10 break up into chains of dots when ex-
amined by powerful glasses Ceruli once saw
the same thing the moon. and PROFESSOR
NeU-cornn saws This phenomenon is not TO be
regarded as a pure illusion, on the one hand, or
an exact representation OF objects On the other
il grows out of the spontaneous action OF the
eve in shaping slight and irregular combina-
separately made out into regular. forms" Con
oerning the possible inhabitants of this same
planet re remarks: The reader knows just
as much of the subject as I DO, and that is
nothing at all"
The repulsion which the sun exerts upon the
tails of comets may possibly be explained by
Maxv els theory that light exerts mechanical
pressure in vacuum. Another factor which
may have some influence here and in the shaping
of the solar corona is the force which drives
particles smaller than atoms. called corpuscles
ions. with high velocity off from intensely
heated hod,es.
In attempting TO give just idea OF the prog
ress Of astronomy during the last hundred
years Miss Clarke undertook a rather formida-
hle task She performed il so thoroughly. so
accurately and in charming manner that
she won the admiration both Of the professional
stargazer and Of the amateur. Nearly ten years
have elapsed since the third edition of her his
tory appeared. Although important addi-
lions have been made in the fourth. careful
comparison between the two shows that the
latter is more I'D to date in number Of details.
Impressive as are many celestial objects which
visible only through a telescope. large field
Of pleasure ard instruction remains open to the
systematic observer who has glass at all.
10 the professional astronomer, too. These facts
afforded a pretext for Mr.. Servisss Astronomy
with an Opera Glass" and justify Mr.. Maunder's
later venture in the same line. The latter writer
was at one time q member OF the staff of the
Greenwich Observatory. and is Tor was) Editor
of knowledge" a periodical founded by Mr..
Proctor, and largely devoted TO astronomical
news. He is admirably qualified to direct
beginner in the study Of the heavens.