intensity of the sun's heat, as measured by the bolometer and
other instruments. This continued through the first part of 1903,
with wide variations at different places, and it was more than a
year after the first diminution before the sun's rays again
assumed their ordinary intensity.

This result is now attributed to the eruption of Mount Pelee,
during which an enormous mass of volcanic dust and vapor was
projected into the higher regions of the air, and gradually
carried over the entire earth by winds and currents. Many of our
readers may remember that something yet more striking occurred
after the great cataclasm at Krakatoa in 1883, when, for more than
a year, red sunsets and red twilights of a depth of shade never
before observed were seen in every part of the world.

What we call universology--the knowledge of the structure and
extent of the universe--must begin with a study of the starry
heavens as we see them. There are perhaps one hundred million
stars in the sky within the reach of telescopic vision. This
number is too great to allow of all the stars being studied
individually; yet, to form the basis for any conclusion, we must
know the positions and arrangement of as many of them as we can
determine.

To do this the first want is a catalogue giving very precise
positions of as many of the brighter stars as possible. The
principal national observatories, as well as some others, are
engaged in supplying this want. Up to the present time about
200,000 stars visible in our latitudes have been catalogued on
this precise plan, and the work is still going on. In that part of