ASTRONOMY. 43 



the discovery of telescopic comets. The prizes consist each 

 of a gold medal, or of its money value of twenty Austrian 

 ducats (about 9 105.), and are awarded for the first eight 

 successful discoveries in each year of comets invisible to the 

 naked eye at the time of discovery, and the appearance of 

 which could not have been predicted. The priority is to be 

 decided by the epoch of the first position, and the discovery 

 is to be made known to the Imperial Academy of Sciences 

 immediately, and without waiting for further observations, 

 by telegraph, where practicable, otherwise by earliest mail. 

 Tiie first notice must contain the position and motion of the 

 comet, besides place and time of discovery, and it is to be 

 supplemented at the next opportunity by later observations. 

 If the comet should not have been verified by other observ- 

 ers, the prize will be awarded only when the observations of 

 the discoverer are sufficient for determining the orbit. Ap- 

 plication for the prize must be made within three months of 

 the discovery. 



The prizes (in astronomy) of the Paris Academy of Sci- 

 ences have been awarded as follows : The Lcdande prize to 

 Professor A. Hall, for the discovery of the satellites of Mars. 

 The VaUiant prize to M. L. Schulhoff, for the analytic meth- 

 ods and ephemerides which have led to the re-discovery of 

 three minor planets which had been lost fifteen and a half, 

 eight and a half, and five years respectively. The report 

 of the commission speaks in the highest terms of the mathe- 

 matical excellence of the methods of M. Schulhoff. The Valz 

 prize to the MM. Henry, for their series of (17) celestial charts. 



The medal of the Royal Astronomical Society has been 

 awarded by the council to Baron Dembowsky for his obser- 

 vations of double stars, communicated at various times dur- 

 ing the past twenty years to the Astronomische JYcichrichten . 

 It has loiio - been a matter of regret that this valuable series 

 of observations has not been published in a collected form; 

 and we trust that, as public attention is now directed to this 

 vast accumulation of material, some means may be found of 

 rendering it more readily accessible to all astronomers. The 

 medal was presented at the meeting of the R. A. S., on Feb- 

 ruary 8, by the President, Dr. Huggins. 



Of the Government Grant Fund of 4000 administered by 

 the Royal Society of London, the following sums have been 



