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         NEW THEORIES IN ASTRONOMY

                    BY

             WILLIAM STIRLING

              CIVIL ENGINEER

              [Illustration]

                 London:

    E. & F. N. SPON, LIMITED, 57 HAYMARKET

                New York:

     SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, 123 LIBERTY STREET

                  1906




TO THE READER.

Mr. William Stirling, Civil Engineer, who devoted the last years of his
life to writing this work, was born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, his father
being the Rev. Robert Stirling, D.D., of that city, and his brothers,
the late Mr. Patrick Stirling and Mr. James Stirling, the well known
engineers and designers of Locomotive Engines for the Great Northern
and South Eastern Railways respectively.

After completing his studies in Scotland he settled in South America,
and was engaged as manager and constructing engineer in important
railway enterprises on the west coast, besides other concerns both in
Peru and Chile; his last work being the designing and construction
of the railway from the port of Tocopilla on the Pacific Ocean to
the Nitrate Fields of Toco in the interior, the property of the
Anglo-Chilian and Nitrate Railway Company.

He died in Lima, Peru, on the 7th October, 1900, much esteemed and
respected, leaving the MS. of the present work behind him, which is now
published as a tribute to his memory, and wish to put before those who
are interested in the Science of Astronomy his theories to which he
devoted so much thought.




                        CONTENTS.
                                                               PAGE
                       INTRODUCTION.                              1

                        CHAPTER I.

  The bases of modern astronomy. Their late formation            18
  Instruments and measures used by ancient astronomers           19
  Weights and measures sought out by modern astronomers          20
  Means employed to discover the density of the earth.
       Measuring by means of plummets not sufficiently exact     20
  Measurements with torsion and chemical balances more accurate  21
  Sir George B. Airy's theory,
       and experiments at the Harton colliery                    22
  Results of experiments not reliable.
       Theory contrary to the Law of Attraction                  23
  Proof by arithmetical calculation of its error                 24
  Difficulties in comparing beats of pendulums at top
       and bottom of a mine                                      26
  The theory upheld by text-books without proper examination     27
  Of a particle of matter within the shell of a hollow sphere.
       Not exempt from the law of Attraction                     28
  A particle so situated confronted with the law of the
       inverse square ofdistance from an attracting body.
       Remarks thereon                                           29
  It is not