ragraph, to understand, or even fully to remember, the
impression produced by them at the time; the sensation caused in some
quarters, and the ridicule excited in others. They were in flat
contradiction to all accepted views; and it was believed that these views
were not only theoretically sound, but had been matured by a thorough
examination of observational evidence. The only period in which the
earth's pole could revolve was believed to be ten mouths; and here was Mr.
Chandler proclaiming, apparently without any idea that he was
contradicting the laws of dynamics, that it was revolving in fourteen
months! The radius of its path had been found to be insensible by careful
discussion of observations, and now he proclaimed a sensible radius oL
thirty feet. Finally, he had the audacity to announce a _variable_ period,
to which there was nothing at all corresponding in the mathematical
possibilities. This was the bitterest pill of all. Even after Professor
Newcomb had shown us how to swallow the other two, he could not recommend
any attempt at the third, as we shall presently see; and Mr. Chandler was
fain ultimately to gild it a little before it could be gulped.

[Sidenote: Pulkowa puzzle solved, also Washington.]

But this is anticipating, and it is our intention to follow patiently the
evidence adduced in support of the above statements, made with such
splendid confidence to a totally disbelieving world. Mr. Chandler first
examines the observations of Dr. Kuestner of Berlin, quoted at the end of
his last paper, and shows how well they are suited by the existence of a
variation in the latitude of 427 days; and that this new fact is
added--when the Cambridge (U.S.A.) latitudes were the smallest those of
Berlin were the largest, and _vice versa_, as would clearly be the case if
the phenomenon was due to a motion of the earth's pole; for if it moved
nearer America it must move further from Europe. He then examines a long
series of observations made in the years 1864-1873 at Pulkowa, near St.
Petersburg, and again finds satisfactory confirmation of his law of
variation. Now it had long been known that there was something curious
about these observations, but no one could tell what it was. The key
offered by Mr. Chandler fitted the lock exactly, and the anomalies which
had been a puzzle were removed. This was in itself a great triumph; but
there was another to come, which we may let Mr. Chandler describe in his
own words:--