A PAIR OF PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN AT THE HARVARD COLLEGE OBSERVATORY BEFORE AND AFTER ITS APPEARANCE (_The arrow indicates the place of the new star. It will be seen that the left-hand picture though it shews fainter stars than the other, has not a trace of the new star._)] [Sidenote: Dr. Anderson.] [Sidenote: Nova Persei.] Generally these stars have been noted by eye observation, as in the case of the two found by Dr. Anderson of Edinburgh. In these cases also we may say that deliberate search was rewarded; for Dr. Anderson is probably the most assiduous "watcher of the skies" living, though he seldom uses a telescope; sometimes he uses an opera-glass, but usually the naked eye. He describes himself as an "Astrophil" rather than as an astronomer. "I love the stars," he says; "and whenever they are shining, I must be looking." And so on every fine night he stands or sits at his open study window gazing at the heavens. I believe he was just about to leave them for his bed, near 3 A.M. on the night of February 21, 1901, when, throwing a last glance upward, he suddenly saw a brilliant star in the constellation Perseus. His first feeling was actually one of disappointment, for he felt sure that this object must have been there for some time past without his knowing of it, and he grudged the time lost when he might have been regarding it. More in a spirit of complaint than of inquiry, he made his way to the Royal Observatory at Edinburgh next day to hear what they had to say about it, though he found it difficult to approach the subject. He first talked about the weather, and the crops, and similar topics of general interest; and only after some time dared he venture a casual reference to the "new portent in the heavens." Seeing his interlocutor look somewhat blank, he ventured a little farther, and made a direct reference to the new star in Perseus; and then found to his astonishment, as also to his great delight, that he was the first to bring news of it. The news was soon communicated to other observers; all the telescopes of the world were soon trained upon it; and this wonderful "new star of the new century" has taught us more of the nature of these extraordinary bodies than all we knew before. [Sidenote: Records previous to discovery.] [Sidenote: Was Nova Geminorum previously shining faintly?] [Sidenote: The suspicion negatived.]