Mr. W. D. Barbour, President of the Leeds Astronomical Society, using his four inch achromatic, says: "In one of those brief intervals of atmospheric steadiness I saw distinctly a number of well-known markings," the names of which he gives. Dr. Phil. Fauth, using a seven inch refractor, made sixty-three drawings of Mars, showing in wonderful detail the canals, oases, etc. Mr. W. J. Lockyer, in London "Nature," testifies that "a keen and patient observer, sitting at the eyepiece of a comparatively small equatorially mounted telescope, if he makes his observations carefully, and with due regard to atmospheric conditions for good seeing, can do more useful and valuable work than one who has a large aperture at his command and employs it indifferently." Mr. E. Ledger, in speaking of Dawes, who made a remarkable map of Mars, says he was justly famed for the remarkable distinctness of his vision; he had detected and drawn a few lines which seemed to be identical to those of Schiaparelli. In the authorities above quoted we have endeavored to show that a steady atmosphere, a persistent devotion to the work, accompanied by acute vision, and also a talent for observation, are all the factors needed, not only to confirm the remarkable discoveries of Schiaparelli and Lowell, but possibly to detect, at favorable moments, new features which have escaped the eyes of these keen observers. At this point we cannot resist giving the words of Sir David Gill, Director of the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope. Professor S. W. Burnham, of the Lick Observatory, in reviewing a memoir entitled "Double Star Observations at the Cape of Good Hope," quotes as follows from the preface: "Sir David Gill, in speaking of the routine character of the work involved in the investigation, says: 'There is no instance, as far as I know, of a long and valuable series of double star discovery and observation made by a mere assistant acting under orders. _It is a special faculty, an inborn capacity, a delight in the exercise of exceptional acuteness of eyesight and natural dexterity, coupled with the gift of imagination as to the true meaning of what he observes, that imparts to the observer the requisite enthusiasm for double star observing._ No amount of training or direction could have created the Struves, a Dawes, or a Dembowski. _The great double star observer is born, not made_, and I believe that no extensive series of double star measurement will ever emanate from a regular observatory, through successive directorates, unless men are specially selected who have previously distinguished themselves in that field of work, and who were originally driven to it from sheer compulsion of inborn taste.'" If the reader will substitute the words _planetary markings_ for _double star_ in the above quotation from Sir David Gill's report, he will understand why we have ventured to italicise certain lines, and will appreciate their significance. In no stronger or truer words could