A. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. 37 



ordered from foreign countries, not more than half of them 

 had arrived at the latest advices. Dr. Gould has, however, 

 had the gratification of finding two gentlemen who have each 

 carried on an uninterrupted series of observations for some 

 dozen years past one in Buenos Ayres, and the other near 

 the Patagonian frontier and he has secured the co-operation 

 of about fifteen correspondents. The programme issued for 

 the instruction of his observers differs apparently but little 

 from that of the Smithsonian Institution, the hours of observa- 

 tion being seven, two, and nine, local time. 4 D, 1873, II., 355. 



ASTRONOMY IN THE ARGENTINE CONFEDERACY. 



From the third annual report of Dr. B. A. Gould, director 

 of the National Observatory of the Argentine Republic, as 

 presented on the 31st of January, 1874, we gather the follow- 

 ing items. The observation of zones of southern stars has 

 continued with unabated activity up to the present time. 

 The observations have been fully completed over that portion 

 of the heavens situated between 18 and 6|- hours of right as- 

 cension, and between 23 and 80 of south declination. Those 

 parts of the sky which remain to be examined are among the 

 richest in stars. It is estimated that they will require at 

 least 115 additional zones, and contain not less than 15,000 

 stars; thus the complete work will probably fall but little 

 short of 85,000 observations, corresponding to about 65,000 

 stars. A special catalogue of well-determined stars is also in 

 progress of execution, for which at present about 4000 ob- 

 servations, on nearly 1700 stars, are available. These will 

 form the fundamental stars for the reduction of the zones, 

 and also for the completion of the uranometry. With the 

 exception of about five weeks in October and November, the 

 equatorial was used for photographic work. During the in- 

 terval alluded to, at the suggestion of Dr. Galle, this instru- 

 ment was employed in observations of the planet Flora, in 

 co-operation with other observatories, in order to contribute 

 somewhat to the determination of the parallax of the sun. 

 The observatories of Melbourne and the Cape of Good Hope 

 also carried out a similar course of observations. Awaiting 

 the publication of the uranometry, considerable attention 

 has been given to a revision of some portions of that work, 

 thereby much increasing its ultimate value. The organiza- 



