there to see how the work was progressing, and Mr. Elvins, who had learned that what was then regarded as a quite large instrument had been ordered by an amateur, felt so much interested that he often came into Foster's, and as it chanced on that particular day his visit, made during his noon-hour, coincided with my own. He accosted me, saying: "You are Mr. Miller, the owner of that fine telescope?" "Yes, sir; and you are Mr.?" "Elvins," he replied; on which we shook hands and became friends. at once, for I knew of Mr. Elvins by reputation as a scientific man; in fact, had heard of him long before. He was much pleased with the new telescope, desired to be permitted to try it, and invited me to come to his house the following Tuesday evening. telling me I would meet some kindred spirits there. I willingly accepted the invitation, and found two or three present beside our host. I thought some little effort was made, because a visitor had been asked, to give an appearance of order and method to the proceedings, as there was some mention of "minutes" and so forth; but, as I found afterwards, the meetings were entirely. informal and no records were kept. However, on that particular occasion Mr. Elvins read a paper on the moon, illustrated with a few slides which he showed by means of a lantern he had bor rowed from some friend. I cannot recollect who were present, except Samuel G. Roberts and, I think, Garnett Meldrum, both of whom were known to me before; indeed, I had a friendly acquaintance with the latter for more than a year previously, going to his house and he returning my visits. And I had also gone to Mr. Roberts' house to see an 8-inch reflector he had constructed, and mounted in his garden, where it stood out exposed to all weathers. I need hardly say, Mr. Elvins's acquaintance with the lunar surface was quite extensive and I was much interested in the little gathering. I continued to attend the meetings, which were held fortnightly, on alternate Tuesdays. I think the arrangement has been perpetuated in the meetings of the R.A.S.C. I met in that way G. G. Pursey, David Howell, and some others. One was a Mr. Livingston, a very eccentric person, who always insisted the celestial bodies (stars and planets) should be photo

graphed and the photographs viewed with what he termed a "mick-roscope!" Other people came at times, sometimes as many as seven or eight, and all sorts of theories were expounded, and subsequently pounded, complete freedom of speech being the rule. Among all the habitués, I was only impressed by Mr. Elvins, whose remarkable fund of knowledge and originality of thought seemed to me far beyond the common. He was admittedly the leader, the master mind, and seldom advanced a theory or made an assertion without having ready good evidence in support of his views. The attendance gradually fell off and sometimes Mr. Elvins and I would be alone. On one of those occasions he showed me a "spectroscope" he had contrived, with a cardboard slit and a prism cut from a glass lamp-pendant. By means of it he showed me the characteristic bright line of a sodium salt, which was the first chemical spectrum I had seen, though familiar with the subject theoretically since "grammar-school" days. I set out to make a similar contrivance, but when hunting for a better prism, had the good fortune to find a Hofmann direct vision spectroscope, which was a kind of God-send to our little scientific band (though I soon substituted very much better instruments procured from Browning, and later mounted a Rowland grating from Brashear, who was then very little known). These advancements infused some fresh life into the cénacle of amateur astronomers. The meetings were revived, and generally each one had something to tell of or exhibit, either in the way of drawings of the planets, etc., or optical instruments contrived on simple lines. I recollect a spectroscope made by that dear old gentleman, Mr. Roberts, which he assured us was "very good indeed, only it did not show any lines"; and he made finders, microscopes, etc., all of which were "good-only

When the Thompson firm (Mammoth House) wound up their business, Mr. Elvins was out of employment and doubtless underwent some hardship. The meetings at his house were discontinued indeed, we never met there again--and for a while the little group ceased to come together. However, he soon began a small business in Yonge Street Arcade on his own account, and

his old associates made that a rallying place. Then we resumed meetings, alternating from the home of one member to another. Mr. Elvins and the rest liked to come to my house because I had the best telescope and some apparatus for experiments, in which my old friend was keenly interested. About this time we were joined by A. F. Hunter, whose science training made him a most valuable acquisition, as he had the modern ideas and could explain them clearly. The smallest experiment made successfully delighted Mr. Elvins. I remember one night he was showing the colors produced by polarized light; I suggested examination of the colored light with a spectroscope. Immediately the cause of the colors became plain, and Hunter gave us the explanation. I then reproduced the effect with common light by receiving a spectrum on a large concave mirror, in the focus of which a white image was formed, but colors appeared when an opaque bar was passed along over the spectrum-this to illustrate how we used to work away with any means we could command. One night I showed them the sodium line "reversed". Mr. Elvins was charmed and thanked me again and again. Sometimes old Mr. Turnbull would come; poor man, he had a wretched life! A little later we were joined by Mr. Lumsden and a new order of things came into existence. Mr. Carpmael accepted the presidency and incorporation was secured. From thenceforth the society, as it now exists, took the place of the older and simpler gathering. Lindsay and the Collins brethren became members, Harvey also.

Mr. Elvins was always remarkable for the clearness of his ideas and the originality of his theories. His views were based upon an atomic theory of primitive simplicity; the atoms were very minute, hard, impenetrable bodies, possessing elasticity, moving always and only in straight lines; this motion was energy, which, like matter, was eternal and must pass from one material thing to another. He held he could explain all phenomena by "moving matter". He had me make him a model with suspended balls to demonstrate his contention. He maintained it was impossible for one body to act on another from a distance by a pull, hence gravity must be a pushing together of bodies: he strongly

objected to the word "attraction". He was strong on Newton's laws of motion, but rejected his explanation of the tides. He was to some degree uncertain as to the truth of the wave-theory of light, but allowed it to stand for want of something better. He conceived the existence of light pressure long before the theory of it was promulgated, and that inclined him to revert to Newton's corpuscular theory, though he saw the difficulties of that. He insisted that when green was "produced" by superposing blue and yellow glass or pigments the wave-lengths were changed, and when I showed him with a scale spectroscope what actually happens, and he could not deny the evident conclusion, he rather sulkily allowed he had been in the wrong-unwilling to admit it because he had founded other theories on the erroneous conclusion. He insisted that precession was the cause of the ice ages. and warm periods, and it was useless to tell him the contrary. He was deeply interested in the phenomena of fluorescence, phosphorescence and similar matters. He loved to observe the aurora, and managed with his home-made spectroscope to see two or three lines. He held that the aurora was caused by matter projected from the sun when solar activity prevailed; however, he said it was meteoric iron, that the green line he saw was the same as the green coronal line, and a line in the spectrum of the zodiacal light which he believed he had seen (probably auroral). These are a

few of the views he would expound to me.

While in Yonge Street Arcade, and later when he removed to College Street, he always had at the back a collection of homemade scientific instruments and various odds and ends, which he would bring out to illustrate some theory or prove some hypothesis.

I need not state what a bright, clear mind he had or what a pleasant companion he was. He would come to my house sometimes of a night when the temperature was below zero to be shown some telescopic object, also early of a Sunday morning to see the prominences and solar spectrum as shown by a grating. He liked to come to see me in summer when my family were in the country, and would partake of such simple hospitality as I could give.

(Lumsden was the same.) He would sit in my garden looking at the trees, the sunshine, the clouds, finding beauty and joy in everything. When I built my small observatory and mounted my telescope in it permanently he, of course, came to see it, and before going home he said to me: "Now you have got everything you wished for, and when that happens to a man, he always dies." That was in 1892, but I am still alive (and often kicking!).

He was sceptical as to many matters of religious belief, such as the inspiration of the Scriptures, also much opposed to rules and regulations adopted by various religious bodies. His religion consisted in truth and kindness toward all men and all things. He characterized as abominable and foolish cruelty such actions as are recorded of the Israelite invaders of Palestine under Joshua. As to very much of the teachings of orthodox Christian bodies he would say excitedly: "I am infidel!" He admired the character and teachings of Jesus, but thought He was sometimes in error. He did not think well of Jacob, David, and other important. Old Testament characters. I never heard him speak ill of anyone living; would excuse their faults on one ground or another. He was opposed to war-wanted peace at any price-thought the Quakers' principles those on which the world should be conducted.

I kept in touch with him till he gave up his business and went to live with his grand-daughter. Then I gradually lost sight of him, being also overburdened with work connected with the building and running of the new hospital, which took up all my time. So it was we ceased to come together at the last. Now I have more time, I would have been seeking to renew our old friendship --but he has gone.

A. F. MILLER.

As the last living member of the original Astronomical Society of Toronto, I have much pleasure in briefly stating my recollections of the founder of the Society, the late Andrew Elvins. When I first met him he was a journeyman tailor working for a dollar a day. He was contented in his vocation, and supremely