A. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. 33 



less night, after reflection from it, is viewed through the in- 

 strument, both bright and dark bands are easily seen. This 

 delicate instrument never failed to indicate the existence of 

 polarized light in the zodiacal light; and Professor Wright 

 sums up his comparative observations on the polarization of 

 this light, and that from terrestrial substances, by stating 

 that the zodiacal light is polarized in a plane passing through 

 the sun. The amount of polarization is, -with a high degree 

 of probability, as much as fifteen per cent.; but can hardly 

 be as much as twenty per cent. The spectrum of the light 

 is not perceptibly different from that of the sun, except in in- 

 tensity. The light is derived from the sun, and is reflected 

 from solid matter. This solid matter consists of small meteor- 

 oids revolving about the sun, in orbits crowded together to- 

 ward the ecliptic 4 D, 1874, VII, 451. 



TELEGRAPHIC STANDARD TIME. 



The telegraphic apparatus at the Naval Observatory at 

 Washington is now connected with the main lines of the 

 Western Union Telegraph Company, so that not only is the 

 time-ball dropped daily at noon, but the same signal is wide- 

 ly distributed by the telegraph company. It goes directly 

 from the observatory to the main office in New York City, 

 and thence it is sent to nearly every state in the Union. The 

 immediate object of these signals is to furnish accurate and 

 uniform time to the railroads, and, throughout the whole of 

 the vast territory in question, there is scarcely a train whose 

 movements are not regulated by the clocks of the observato- 

 ries at Washington, Pittsburgh, Cambridge, Albany, or Chi- 

 cago. The clocks at the Navy Department, at the Army 

 Signal-office, at the Treasury Department, and at the Western 

 Union Telegraph Company's office are all constructed on the 

 system known as Hamblett's, and are directly controlled by 

 electric currents sent every second by the standard clock at 

 the Naval Observatory. Report Sec. JVavy, 1873. 



PROPOSED ENDOWMENT OF AN OBSERVATORY IN MINNESOTA. 



A novelty in legislation consists in the recent introduction 

 into Congress of a bill proposing to grant the State of Min- 

 nesota 200,000 acres of land within its limits, the proceeds of 

 which shall be kept as a perpetual fund, the interest to be 



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