LITERARY NOTICES. 



753 



regular magnetic observations have been 

 maintained; time-signals are sent all over 

 the kingdom daily, and time-balls are 

 dropped from points such that outgoing 

 ships may see them plainly, and thus regu- 

 late their chronometers to Greenwich time 

 on the eve of their departure for sea, and 

 multitudes of chronometers have been test- 

 ed, purchased, rated, and distributed to sea- 

 going vessels and to scientific expeditions. 

 Meteorological phenomena have been scru- 

 pulously registered by approved methods. 



Extended experiments on the attraction 

 of mountain-masses were made by Maske- 

 lyne, and Airy's Haston-Colliery pendulum 

 experiment is too well known to require 

 more than a mention. Constant assistance 

 has been given to the Government in the 

 training of observers for the transit of Ve- 

 nus, for boundary and other surveys, and 

 for comparison and determination of stand- 

 ards of length, and in many other ways, 

 which the Astronomer Royal does not re- 

 count in this Report, but which are well 

 known. His own researches on the theo- 

 ries of the moon and planets, and on scores 

 of allied topics, have made the observatory 

 known throughout the world. 



True to the traditions which have 

 brought Greenwich its great success, the 

 Astronomer Royal reiterates in this Report 

 the importance of holding fast to " the fun- 

 damental idea " that of meridional obser- 

 vations ; and he indicates that if the force 

 of the observatory must be reduced, that 

 reduction should take place in the photo- 

 graphic and spectroscopic work. He says 

 truly that "the [Royal] Observatory is not 

 the place for new physical investigations," 

 but that it is " well adapted for following 

 out any which . . . have been reduced to 

 laws susceptible of verification by daily ob- 

 servation." He lays down once more and 

 very plainly the principles which have 

 guided him in his long series of useful and 

 honorable labors, and it is well worth the 

 while of all who are interested in astronomy 

 to read this concise expression of them. 



We see a new example of how much 

 useful and valuable work may be done in 

 science by the mere force oi persistent effort 

 in the right direction, and this is a lesson 

 which America needs to take well to heart. 

 By virtue of attention to it, Greenwich can 



claim that what Delambre said years ago 

 is now doubly tme that if by some great 

 revolution the sciences had perished, while 

 the collection of Greenwich observations 

 alone, with a lew methods of calculation, 

 had survived the general wreck, there would 

 still remain sufiicient materials for recon- 

 structing the whole edifice of astronomical 

 science. 



A Summer in Norway. With Notes on the 

 Industries, Habits, Customs, and Pecu- 

 liarities of the People, the History and 

 Institutions of the Country, its Climate, 

 Topography, and Productions. Also an 

 Account of the Red Deer, Reindeer, and 

 Elk. By John Dean Caton, LL. D., ex- 

 Chief- Justice of the Supreme Court of the 

 State of Illinois. Chicago : Janseu, Mc- 

 Clurg & Co., IS'JS. Price, $2.50. 



We follow with interest the traveler 

 who describes countries and peoples not 

 familiar to us. For this reason we are 

 pleased with Judge Caton's volume, which 

 presents to us a series of pictures, some- 

 times vividly drawn, of scenery and life on 

 the coast of Norway. His route was from 

 Aalesund, a seaport town in Southern Nor- 

 way, to Hammerfest, which is more than 

 four degrees within the Arctic Circle, and is 

 the most northerly town in Europe. He 

 also gives an interesting account of a visit 

 to North Cape, made by some traveluig 

 companions. 



The journey of Judge Caton and his 

 party was by steamers, and nearly all the 

 way among the rocky islands which line 

 the coast. That which seems to have most 

 impressed the party was the perpetual pres- 

 ence of daylight. Day after day the mid- 

 night came, but no darkness. This, which 

 was at first pleasing from its novelty, be- 

 came excessively wearisome before the jour- 

 ney was ended. 



The steamer made frequent stops along 

 the coast, but nowhere came alongside the 

 docks to discharge and receive passengers 

 and freight. All this must be done by small 

 boats. The author thought that the most 

 stupid thing he saw in Norway. 



Fishing is the principal business of the 

 coast inhabitants the principal season for 

 cod being in February and March. The 

 rocks were in many places covered with 

 these fish drying for market, or else piled 



VOL. VII, 



