ASTRONOMY. 7! 



position, referred to the neighboring Coast Survey stations, is lati- 

 tude 41 49' 46.4" N., longitude 52 m 34.51 s E. of Washington. The 

 building is a substantial cylindrical tower 18 feet in diameter and 

 built of brick, surmounted by a drum which revolves on gun-metal 

 balls. It was completed, and the instrument mounted, in the spring 

 of 1878. 



The 'personnel of the observatory at present comprises my pupil, Mr. 

 Frank E. Seagrave, Jun., and myself; the instruments are: 1. An 

 8-inch Equatorial, by Alyan Clark & Soxs, completely furnished 

 with clock-work, circles, etc., for micrometric measurement ; 2. A 

 number of small Telescopes from 3 to 1^ inches aperture for various 

 uses ; 3. Three Spectroscopes of from ten to one-half prism (of 60 

 flint) dispersion ; 4. Box Chronometer, Pocket Chronometer, Meteorolog- 

 ical Instruments, and the usual miscellaneous apparatus for use with 

 an Equatorial. 



During the past year the following subjects have engrossed our 

 attention : 1. The observation of the total solar eclipse from Fort 

 Worth, Texas ; 2. The observations of the satellites of Saturn; 3. 

 The observations of p Cassiopeia^ to investigate its large proper 

 motion; 4. Some desultory measures, when the Equatorial was not 

 needed for the other series of observations, of Burnham's double 

 stars. 



During the coming year we hope to continue the above series of 

 observations. 



Our work under the first item will be included in the report of 

 the Fort Worth eclipse party (now in press), and it is probable the 

 work under the second item will be printed within six months. 



EockesteiyN. Y. : Private Observatory of Professor Lewis Swift. 



My prospective observatory being not yet completed, and my pres- 

 ent Telescope a 4^-inch achromatic being, as heretofore, mounted 

 as an alt-azimuth, and therefore not well adapted to other work, I 

 have devoted every clear moonless night to comet-seeking, and the 

 charting of such nebulae as had escaped detection during the many 

 years devoted to comet-seeking. 



I have had the good fortune to discover one new comet, which is, 

 up to this date (Nov. 20), the only new one of the year. I first ran 

 upon it on the morning of July 7, at 2 o'clock civil time, in, by 

 estimation, R. A. 17 h 37 m , Dec. -|-18 . I immediately suspected its 

 cometary character, and, during the half- hour only between then 

 and dawn, my suspicions were verified by the detection of motion. 

 I at once gave the customary notification to the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution; but, although its discovery was immediately cabled to Eu- 

 rope, it seems not to have been observed there, owing probably to 

 the presence of moonlight ; though, to prove that its taintness was 



