been remarked that we can determine the day of the year by indicating the true rising and setting of a star at a certain spot. As far as the apparent rising and setting are concerned this indication can only be approximate, since the visibility of a star depends on several variable factors--the size of the star (because a smaller star, in order to be visible, must move farther from the sun than a brighter one), the transparency of the atmosphere, the keenness of vision of the observer, the geographical latitude of the place of observation (since the farther north or south the sun is, the more slowly, because more obliquely, will it sink below the horizon). In this latter respect, for instance, there is a perceptible difference between Rome and Egypt. Only an approximate indication of time, therefore, can be derived from the rising and setting of the stars”. The phases of the climate and of plant and animal life cannot be particularly described, since they naturally vary so much in different countries. It can only be remarked that though they depend upon the course of the sun, yet in certain cases, owing to the special climatic conditions of the individual years, they may be to some extent advanced or retarded, and further that the climatic phenomena of many parts of the earth, especially in the Tropics but also in the Mediterranean countries, recur with a far greater regularity than in our northern climes, which are subject to such uncertain weather. Instances are the trade-winds and monsoons, the dry and the rainy seasons.