this line a
well-marked object. It is most easily seen at the extremities of the
ring most remote from the planet. To the present writer, who has
examined the planet with the twelve-inch refractor of the South
equatorial at Dunsink Observatory, this outer line appears as broad as
the well-known line; but it is unquestionably fainter, and has a more
shaded appearance. It certainly does not suggest the appearance of being
actually an opening in the ring, and it is often invisible for a long
time. It seems rather as if the ring were at this place thinner and less
substantial without being actually void of substance.

On these points it may be expected that much additional information will
be acquired when next the ring places itself in such a position that its
plane, if produced, would pass between the earth and the sun. Such
occasions are but rare, and even when they do occur it may happen that
the planet will not be well placed for observation. The next really
good opportunity will not be till 1907. In this case the sunlight
illuminates one side of the ring, while it is the other side of the ring
that is presented towards the earth. Powerful telescopes are necessary
to deal with the planet under such circumstances; but it may be
reasonably hoped that the questions relating to the division of the
ring, as well as to many other matters, will then receive some further
elucidation.

Occasionally, other divisions of the ring, both inner and outer, have
been recorded. It may, at all events, be stated that no such divisions
can be regarded as permanent features. Yet their existence has been so
frequently enunciated by skilful observers that it is impossible to
doubt that they have been sometimes seen.

It was about 200 years after Huyghens had first explained the true
theory of Saturn that another very important discovery was effected. It
had, up to the year 1850, been always supposed that the two rings,
divided by the well-known black line, comprised the entire ring system
surrounding the planet. In the year just mentioned, Professor Bond, the
distinguished astronomer of Cambridge, Mass., startled the astronomical
world by the announcement of his discovery of a third ring surrounding
Saturn. As so often happens in such cases, the same object was
discovered independently by another--an English astronomer named Dawes.
This third ring lies just inside the inner of the two well-known rings,
and extends to about half the distanc