A. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. 27 



ready appeared as a separate memoir, is included in this vol- 

 ume, as also an appendix embracing the zones of stars ob- 

 served with the mural circle in the years 1846, 1847, 1848, 

 and 1849. 



The observatory is now in excellent condition, and in- 

 cludes in its working force some of the best astronomers and 

 mathematicians of the country ; among them Professors 

 New comb, Hall, Harkness, Eastman, etc. The completion 

 of the gigantic telescope now in process of construction by 

 Alvan Clark will constitute an important addition to the 

 means of research, and be doubtless turned to good advan- 

 tage. 



KIRKWOOD ON COMETS AND METEORS. 



Professor Daniel Kirkwood, in a communication to Nature 

 relative to the late paper of Schiaparelli upon comets, calls 

 attention to an article published by himself in the Danville 

 Quarterly Review for July, 1861, in which the following prop- 

 ositions were maintained : 



1. That meteors and meteoric rings "are the debris of an- 

 cient but now disintegrated comets, whose matter has be- 

 come distributed around their orbits." 



2. That the separation of Biela's comet, as it approached 

 the sun in December, 1845, was but one in a series of similar 

 processes, which would probably continue until the individ- 

 ual fragments would become invisible. 



3. That certain luminous meteors have entered the solar 

 system from the interstellar spaces. 



4. That the orbits of some meteors and periodic comets have 

 been transformed into ellipses by planetary perturbation. 



5. That numerous facts some observed in ancient and 

 some in modern times have been decidedly indicative of 

 cometary disintegration. 



In reference to these propositions Professor Kirkwood re- 

 marks that, though stated as theory in 1861, they have since 

 been confirmed as undoubted facts. 12 A, June 20, 1872, 148. 



DRIFTING OF THE STARS. 



The views of Mr. Proctor in regard to the movements of 

 certain stars in systems of families have lately received a re- 

 markable confirmation in the observations of Dr. Huggins, 



