MISCELLANY 



763 



visited and enjoyed by many thousands of 

 people each year, while they are of immense 

 value to students as a vast scientific treas- 

 ure-house of the vegetable kingdom. But 

 Ayrton, who has control of the Public 

 Works, in which the Kew Gardens are in- 

 cluded, a surly, grouty, ill-mannered, and 

 meddlesome old politician, seems to have 

 taken every occasion to make himself dis- 

 agreeable to Dr. Hooker by impertinent in- 

 terference with his management, and va- 

 rious kinds of insulting treatment. Dr. 

 Hooker endured it as long as he could, but 

 his position at length became so uncomfort- 

 able that he felt himself compelled either to 

 resign or to appeal to the government to 

 keep its bully somewhere within the bounds 

 of decent behavior. When the facts be- 

 came known, a committee of the most emi- 

 nent scientific men of England, including 

 Lyell, Tyndall, Busk, Huxley, Darwin, and 

 others, drew up an elaborate statement of 

 the case, and appealed to Mr. Gladstone to 

 check the outrageous course of Ayrton, and 

 make it possible for Dr. Hooker to continue 

 his relations to the establishment. This 

 waked up the press, who were not slow to 

 ventilate the case, and the subject was at 

 length brought before Parliament. The 

 effect has been that the crabbed Super- 

 intendent of Works has received a sharp 

 and thorough public rebuke, which will 

 probably exert a salutary influence upon 

 his future behavior. 



The Work of the Coast Survey. We 



copy from the Tribune the following notices 

 of papers which were read at the late scien- 

 tific meeting : 



Prof. Benjamin Peirce, Superintendent 

 of the United States Coast Survey, gave an 

 exceedingly interesting account of the meas- 

 ures taken by that Bureau with reference 

 to stations for astronomical observations at 

 great heights, such as Sherman, on the 

 Rocky Mountains. Prof. Young, of Dart- 

 mouth College, was selected by Prof. Peirce 

 as the proper astronomer to determine the 

 best position for astronomical observations. 

 In a higher position you get rid of absorp- 

 tion of light by getting rid of half the at- 

 mosphere. This problem Prof. Young was 

 specially adapted to investigate, as his 

 know ledge of spectrum analysis is superior 



to that of any other man in this country. 

 Prof. Young reports the whole number of 

 lines in the chromosphere seen from Sher- 

 man as 150, which is three times as great a 

 number as have been observed before. 

 This fact alone shows that higher points 

 should be resorted to for astronomical ob- 

 servations. Telescopes will hereafter be 

 placed at points higher than ever before 

 in Europe probably on the Alps. The next 

 element of success depends upon the steadi- 

 ness of the atmosphere. It can be said in 

 reference to this, that a star has been recog- 

 nized at these high altitudes as having a 

 companion, or being a double star, not pre- 

 viously known as such. An observer on 

 the Pacific coast reports to Prof. Peirce that 

 he can see the companion of the star Polar- 

 is from a high point on the Sierra Nevada. 

 It is well known that this is a test of great 

 nicety, requiring the utmost purity of at- 

 mosphere. As to the character of the ob- 

 servations for precision, there are not yet 

 sufficient observations to determine it. The 

 evidence is already at hand to show that at 

 some of these elevated points an observato- 

 ry should be established. The best work 

 in astronomy is done in the few best nights 

 at any place, and by these alone the value 

 of the position must be determined. 



Prof. J. Lawrence Smith adverted to 

 the extreme brilliancy of stars in those re- 

 gions. West of Sherman the air is so dry 

 that even the lips of observers crack, and 

 their health is otherwise affected. He 

 thought that more exact observations upon 

 the planets and satellites would be made 

 from those lofty points which would add as 

 much of interest to this department of as- 

 tronomy as did the recent discoveries in 

 stellar analysis. It was resolved that Prof. 

 Peirce should be added to the committee to 

 press this matter of elevated astronomical 

 stations upon the Government of the United 

 States. 



Prof. Peirce showed that the necessities 

 of the Coast Survey extended its operations 

 to all parts of the United States. No sci- 

 ence could be divided and separated so as 

 to stand alone. If one begins by measuring 

 his town-lots, the method involves geometry 

 and astronomy, geology and surveying, in- 

 cluding ultimately the coast survey. To 

 prove the paths by which vessels can best 



