THE SOLAR MYSTERY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10736, 7 April 1913, Page 1

THE SOLAR MYSTERY.

A NEED FOR GREATER KNOWLEDGE.

MISS MARY PROCTOR'S APPEAL

LECTURE AT CANTERBURY COLLEGE HALL.

Miss Mary Proctor is a lady who has decided that she will not live quietly in the memory of her illustrious father, but will give her energy and her powers to the furtherance of science, particularly in that branch that appealed to. him. Miss Proctor is known all over the English-speaking world as a lecturer, and she is famous in the field of astronomical research as an energetic worker. Her present tour in the dominion is in support of the proposal to establish a solar observatory in Australia or New Zealand, to link up the chain of stations from which tho sun can be observed. Her mission has extended to Christchurch. Miss Proctor delivered lectures vercargill, Dunedin, Oafnaru and Timaru, and on Saturday night, in the course of her lecture, eho announced .that up to the present £3O had been obtained by her to assist the funds to help forward the work. The lecture delivered by Miss Proctor in Canterbury College Hall Avas entitled, " Other: Worlds than Ours," being a similar title to that of one of her father's works. Dr Chilton was chairman, as president of the Philosophical Institute, under whose auspices Miss Proctor delivered the address. There was a large attendance. In introducing the lecturer, Dr Chilton spoke briefly, welcoming Miss Proctor to Christchurch, and expressing the delight of the Philosophical Institute in having the opportunity of listening to her. Tlie/ lnstituto, he said, was established to help forward the cause of science, and the special branch in which Miss Proctor was interested could make its appeal to the lnstituto as effectively as any. other. Miss Proctor bore a name that was known to them all, and it was with keen-antici-patory interest that they looked forward to hearing her. . Aided by a large number of excellent lantern slides, including several magnificent views of solar eclipses, Miss Proctor dealt with her subject in a clear, concise and simple manner. Her style was deliberate, lacking the magnetic enthusiasm of Mr Clement L. Wrngge, but she spoke easily, introducing little humorous anecdotes here and there to give added weight to a point and to supply a pleasing contrast with the main subject of ■ the address. The views shown included a number illustrating the three famous solar observatories at Yerkes, at Mount Wilson (South California) and in India. The giant refractor at the Yerkes Observatory, with its spectre-helio-graph, was shown, and the greav, tower telescope -. at Mount Wilson was also the subject of an interesting slide. Pictures of the calcium and the hydrogen clouds about the sun were frequently shown, and there were several pictures of the eclipse in 1896, as seen by the lecturer from a boat off the coast of Norway. The groat eclipse, viewed under remarkable circumstances in Spain*~in"l9os; was illustrated by two slides from photographs. THE SUN SPOT THEORY.

In the opening stages of her address, Miss Proctor traced briefly the history oi : the sun, referring to, and describing in particular, the knowledge gained by th© worship of the sun by the Ineas of Peru. The famous temples of Karnak were the subject of an excellent View, and Miss Proctor described the great ruins as they were at present. Coming down to modern times, the lecturei dealt with the sun and the attention that was being devoted to the sun spot theory. The world's knowledge, she said, was not extensive yet. There were great difficulties to be overcome. Professor Langloy had devoted his life to the study of the sun, and had made drawings of" the sun spots. It was known, she said, that the atmosphere of the sun was transparent, and that the sun spots were the evidences of great disturbances on the 6im. Some of the spots seen were 10,000 miles in depth and 150,000 in diameter. One of the problems of the present day was to determine what connection there was between the disturbances on the sun and the magnetic disturbances on the earth. At tiirss the light of the Aurora borealis was visible at the equator, and science was endeavouring to determine definitely the sympathy between the sun and the earth. Miss Proctor then showed a picture of sun flames, leaping up from the corona of the sun in total eclipse. The flames, she said, leapt up thousands of miles from the sun. THE SOLAR ECLIPSE OF 1896.

This led the lecturer on to solar eclipses, and after explaining the phenomenon and its value for obser ation, she told of the trials and troubles of the scientists who pack off to out-of-the-way places to observe the eclipse, and who are often disappointed by having their view obscured by clouds. Miss Proctor saw the 189G eclipse from the deck of a steamer off the coast of Norway, and she described, with the aid of pictures drawn by herself, the changes in the sky before and after the eclipse. In 1905, Miss Proctor said, she accompanied the scientific observation expedition to Spain. On such occasions, when the time for observation was never more than eight minutes, each member of the party had to carry out a special work. Her duty had been to draw the corona at the moment of totality. The oonditions, she said, were decidedly unfavourable. All the party were ready, but the sun was hidden behind storm clouds, and the rain was falling. Away in the distance they could hear a murmur. It was the peasants praying that the scientists would be able to see the eclipse. "Suddenly, as if by the special dispensation of Providence," said Miss Proctor, in her description of the soene, "the rain ceased, and the clouds parted sufficiently to give us a splendid view of the eclipse, in a frame of sullen storm clouds." THE NEED FOR A SOLAR OBSERVATORY FOR AUSTRALASIA.

The observation of the sun at the famous York cs and Mount Wilson observatories was next described. Miss Proctor explained th" methods employed in observing the sun., and showed samples of the photographs that were taken daily. Professor Halo, who had been in charge at the Yerkes, and was now director at Mount 'Wilson, had invented the ipectro-heliograph' used by Mr Evershcd, who was m charge of tlio station in India. At the Yerkes _and at Mount Wilson. she said. the winters were extremely rigorous, and the observation of the sun was curtailed thereby. If a solar observatory were established in Australia, then " while America was under the_ snows of winter, it wcuid bs possible to carry en the observations under the more favourable conditions of summer. The link was absolutely essential, and already a site at the Federal capital. Canberra, was beinff considered, but the process of establishing an observatory \iT-.s lone, and much valuable time was lost. It inipht be possible that tha observatory should ho established in iU>\v /'<?•:<luiid. and a «-ifv? in North Otaco

had Ikxmi suggested as suitable, but wherever it was established it would do valuable work.

After describing Jupiter and Saturn, both the victims of great storms, Miss Proctor said that the earth, though it was old, still gave evidences of its youth in the earthquakes that , periodically shook it. The earth, too, was t growing bigger. The great comets deposited particles on the earth, and the meteorites added to the matter of the world. Miss Proctor devoted some attention to the planet Mars, describing Professor Langley's theory of the canals on Mars, and showing a map of the planet made by her father. At the conclusion of tho lecture Professor C. C. Farr moved that Miss Proctor should be thanked for her lecture. He remarked that North Otego was" not at all suitable for a solar observatory. It was decidedly favourable for stellar observation, but not for solar work. The proposal, however, should not be approached in any parochial spirit. The observatory should bo established at the point that would be most advantageous to science, and New Zealand should help liberally wherever it was situated. Mr A. T>. Dobson seconded the motion, which was carried amidst applause. •'