ASTRONOMY. 37 



One of the most important papers of the year is by Pro- 

 fessor Newton, of Yale, on the " Origin of Comets." It is 

 impossible to give here an abstract of this paper, which is 

 itself a series of propositions, each in a condensed form, and 

 each closely connected with every other. We can only refer to 

 this as a body of doctrine which will become the Principia 

 of this subject. 



In the Monthly Notices, R. A. S. (1878, May, p. 869), Pro- 

 fessor A. S. Herschel has a "List of Known Accordances be- 

 tween Comets and Observed Meteor Showers," which will be 

 useful. Seventy-one such are noted. 



Encke's comet was found on August 3, by Mr. Tebbutt, of 

 "Windsor, jN". S. W., with a 4^-inch telescope. The comet was 

 2' in diameter, and pretty bright. 



ZODIACAL LIGHT; METEORITES. 



The "Results of Ooservations of Shooting-Stars from 1833 

 to 1875," by the late Dr. Heis, of Minister, has been publish- 

 ed. It comprises Dr. Heis's own observations for forty-three 

 years at the observatory of which he was director. Ac- 

 cording to Nature^ it gives the times of occurrence and the 

 points of first and last appearance of 13,000 meteors, fol- 

 lowed by a partial discussion of the results, and catalogues 

 of radiant points. 



The zodiacal light continues to be observed by Mr. Henry 

 C. Lewis, of Germantown, Pa. 



NEW OBSERVATORIES, NEW INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 



Accounts of European and American observatories are giv- 

 en elsewhere. 



Anew private observatory has been founded in Providence, 

 R. L, by Mr. George A. Seagrave. The building is of brick, 

 with a wooden dome. The principal instrument is an equa- 

 torial refractor of eight inches aperture, from the workshops 

 of Alvan Clark <fc Sons. The tube of the telescope is made 

 of sheets of steel riveted together so as to form two conical 

 halves, to insure rigidity. The mounting is unusually heavy 

 for an instrument of this size. The circles for indicating the 

 position of a heavenly body in space are conveniently gradu- 

 ated on their outer edges for roughly finding an object. The 

 declination circle reads by its verniers to 15", and the hour 



