"OTHER WORLDS THAN OURS."

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1628, 20 December 1912, Page 6

"OTHER WORLDS THAN OURS."

MISS PROCTOR AT TOWN 'HALL. . Miss Mary Proctor, daugfoterof the late Mr. E. A. Proctor, tho distinguished astronomer, lectured interestingly at the Concert Chamber, Town Hall, last night - on the subject of "Other AVorlds Than Ours." Sir Bobert- Stout presided, and, in introducing the lecturer, recalled the fact that her father had delivered interesting discourses in New Zealand many years ago. Inferring to the manner in which tho study of astronomy was now being taken up in the Home universities, Sir Robert remarked that if people studied the heavens more they might get a much grander view of the universe. Miss Proctor, who was received with applause, pointed out that the subject she was about to deal with .was not strictly scientific, because we knew nothing about "Other Worlds than Ours," and could only' theorise. It was, however, the most interesting subject one could deal with, because in these enlightened days, one could not believe that this tiny world of ours was the only inhabited one. . Miss Proctor described the work that' is being done at the great Solar Observatory at T Mount Wilson, in Southern California. At Mount Wilson, however, and also at Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay, AVisconsiu, the scientists are handicapped because of the difficulty of carrying on w.ork in the winter season. Here was a reason why a solar observatory was so necessary in the Southern Hemisphere. There are now solar observatories in England, India, Europe, and America, and one is required in Aew Zealand or Australia to "complete the gap, and render continuous observation of- the sun possible throughout the twenty-four hours of the day, and practicable throughout the different. months of the year. New Zealand seemed eminently fitted for the establishment of an observatory, and it did not seem necessary to start in a largo 'way, but rather go on from miniature until the institution could be made the equal of any in" the worW. As an example of what had already been done In i the Dominion, Miss Proctor -showed mnny fine photographs of the heavenly bodies taken by the" Rev. Dr.. Kennedy at the Meanee Observatory. Total eclipses were dealt with at- some length in the lecture, and included, mention of that at Burco, Spain,. in ICOS, United States in 1900, and a vividcount of that in Norwny in 189G—a most impressive scene never to be forgotten by those who Lnd the good fortune of witnessing it,- The lecturer traced the life of other worlds through the molten stage (Junior), the period of planetary- old nee (Mars), down to that region -of desolation (the moon), where (he wind .lacks breath and life cannot pxi?t. The ronolndine illustrations included the Milicy Way. ■'the Pleiades.' We' Southern Cross, Magellan Clouds, the Coal Sack, Halley's Comet, find numerous others. Dr. Hector, in p-ropo.sin? a vole of thanks to the lecturer.' referred to the mnny benefits that would te derived froni the establishment of a solar'observatory in N«v; Zealand.