38 ANNUAL KECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



tion of the Meteorological Office lias been intrusted to Dr. 

 Gould as an additional temporary labor; but it is contem- 

 plated that the complete control of the Meteorological Office 

 will soon be placed in the hands of another person. The la- 

 bor of carrying out the computations of all kinds is estimated 

 by Dr. Gould to require four or five hours of office-work for 

 every hour spent in observation, and has apparently been 

 prosecuted with much zeal, notwithstanding the interruption 

 which existed during a portion of the year, occasioned by the 

 departure of two assistants and the arrival of their succes- 

 sors. A list of fifty-four circumpolar stars used for determin- 

 ing instrumental azimuth has been prepared, and a proper 

 ephemeris computed therefrom. The measurements, the read- 

 ing of the chronograph sheets, and general computations 

 upon the zone observations, have been recently entered upon. 

 The differences of longitude of four places have been deter- 

 mined Rosario, Buenos Ayres, Rio Cuarto, and Mendoza; 

 and of still more importance has been the accurate determi- 

 nation of the difference between Cordova and Santiago. 

 Time-signals for regulating the clocks on various lines of 

 telegraph have been sent regularly once a week. The pho- 

 tographic lens designed to replace that which was first fur- 

 nished, but was broken in transit, was received in the month 

 of June. It thus appears that, notwithstanding numerous 

 annoyances which are mentioned in more or less detail in Dr. 

 Gould's report, and which are well known to the astronomers 

 of the world who have read his special letters thereupon, he 

 has, with characteristic energy, actively pushed on the great 

 labor that he had undertaken, and whose ultimate success is 

 the earnest wish of numerous friends. Buenos Ayres Weekly 

 Standard, February 25, 1874. 



young's theory of the sun's crust. 



Professor Young has put forth a very novel theory as regards 

 the construction of the exterior of the sun. He says there 

 can be but little doubt that Faye, Secchi, and others, who 

 hold that the sun is mainly gaseous, are correct; while, at 

 the same time, the phenomena of eruption which are always 

 occurring on the surface as shown by the telescope establish 

 the idea that there is a crust of some kind which restrains 

 the imprisoned gases. Professor Young states that this crust 



