les ne suivent aucune loi dans leur apparitions,'
says Le Monnier in 1746.--_Instit. Astron._, p. 83.

"'Solar spots observe no regularity in their shape, magnitude,
number, or in the time of their appearance or continuance,' says Long
in 1764.--_Astron._, vol. ii. p. 472.

"'Les apparitions des taches du soleil n'ont rien de regulier,' says
Lalande in 1771.--_Astron._, vol. iii. Sec. 3131, 2nd edit.

"And Delambre's opinion may be inferred from a well-known passage in
the third volume of his 'Astronomy' (p. 20), published in 1814, where
treating of the solar spots he says, 'Il est vrai qu'elles sont plus
curieuses que vraiment utiles.'"[4]

It will thus be evident that Herr Schwabe had the courage to enter upon a
line of investigation which others had practically condemned as likely to
lead nowhere, and that his discovery was quite contrary to expectation. It
is a lesson to us that not even the most unlikely line of work is to be
despised; for the outcome of Schwabe's work was the first step in the
whole series of discoveries which have gradually built up the modern
science of Solar Physics, which occupies so deservedly large a part of the
energies of, for instance, the great observatory attached to the
University of Chicago.

[Sidenote: Schwabe's announcement.]

It has been our practice to recall the actual words in which the
discoverer himself stated his discovery, and I will give the original
modest announcement of Schwabe, though for convenience of those who do not
read German I will attempt a rough translation. He had communicated year
by year the results of his daily counting of the solar spots to the
_Astronomische Nachrichten_, and after he had given ten years' results in
this way he collected them together, but he made no remark on the curious
sequence which they undoubtedly showed at that time. Waiting patiently six
years for further material, in 1843 he ventured to make his definite
announcement as follows:--"From my earlier observations, which I have
communicated annually to this journal, there was manifest already a
certain periodicity of sun-spots; and the probability of this being really
the case is confirmed by this year's results. Although I gave in volume 15
the total numbers of groups for the years 1826-1837, nevertheless I will
repeat here a complete series of all my observations of sun-spots, giving
not only the number of groups, but also the n