shown a sharp and well-defined outline, and at no time has it coalesced
or been joined to any belt in its proximity, as has been alleged by
some observers. During the year 1885 the middle of the spot was very
much paler in colour than the margins, causing it to appear as an
elliptical ring. The ring form has continued up to the present time.
While the outline of the spot has remained very constant, the colour
has changed materially from year to year. During the past three years
(1884-'86) it has at times been very faint, so as barely to be visible.
The persistence of this object for so many years leads me to infer that
the formerly accepted theory, that the phenomena seen on the surface of
the planet are atmospheric, is no longer tenable. The statement so
often made in text-books, that in the course of a few days or months
the whole aspect of the planet may be changed, is obviously erroneous.
The oval white spots on the southern hemisphere of the planet, nine
degrees south of the equator, have been systematically observed at
every opposition during the past eight years. They are generally found
in groups of three or more, but are rather difficult to observe. The
rotation period deduced from them is nearly the same as from the great
red spot. These spots usually have a slow drift in longitude of about
five seconds daily in the direction of the planet's rotation, when
referred to the great red spot; corresponding to a rotation period of
twenty seconds less than the latter.'

"This shows," continued Bearwarden, "that as long ago as towards the
close of the nineteenth century the old idea that we saw nothing but
the clouds in Jupiter's atmosphere was beginning to change; and also
how closely the two English writers and Prof. Hough were studying the
subject, though their views did not entirely agree. A white spot is
merely a storm-centre passing round and round the planet, the wind
running a little ahead of the surface, which accounts for its rapid
rotation compared with the red spot, which is a fixture. A critic may
say we have no such winds on earth; to which I reply, that winds on a
planet of Jupiter's size, with its rate of rotation--though it is
480,000,000 miles from the sun and the internal heat is so near the
surface--and with land and water arranged as they are, may and indeed
must be very different from those prevailing on earth, the conditions
producing and affecting them being so changed. Though the s