74 CORRESPONDENCE ON ASTRONOMICAL ANNOUNCEMENTS. 



Letter from the editor of the ^'- Science Observer, ^^ Boston, May 13, 1881, to 

 the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



Dear Sib: It is with pleasure that I am able to call your attention 

 to the success of a scheme devised by Mr, S. C. Chjindler, jr., aud my- 

 self for the transmission by cable of astronomical intelligence. It has 

 just been successfully tested by transmission both ways, of the elements 

 and ephemeris of Swift's comet, and I append a scheme showing how 

 an announcement would look according to both codes. 



Yours, &c., 



J. ElTCHIE, Jr. 



Announcement of Swift's comet per "Science Observer" code: 

 12 3 4 5 6 7 



comet Swift conge ratify torsim smart-money tolerate 



According to present (European) code: 



Comet Swift may zero one zero two zero five ascension zero zero zero 

 zero north three seven two five plus zero three south one* two. 



[Ti-anslatioD.] 



Comet Swift, May 1, 2^ 5°>; R. A. 0^ 0™; declination i!T. 37° 25'; daily 

 motion + 3™R. A.; — 1° 2' declination. 



Should words 4, or 4 and 5, in the " Science Observer" code, or words 

 5, or 5 and 6, or words 4, or 4 and 7, be made unintelligible in trans- 

 mission, the message would still be as intelligible and the comet as 

 easy to find as was the case before the present European code was 

 adopted, while the loss of word 2 would be of no consequence, being 

 merely the name of the discoverer, and word 3 the time of discovery is 

 as a rule so well determined by the date of message that its loss would 

 not be of detriment to the general sense. By loss I mean the mutila- 

 tion of a word so as to render it unrecognizable as is sometimes the 

 case in ocean telegraphy. 



J. Ritchie, Jr. 



Letter from the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, May 10, 1881, to 

 Mr. J. Ritchie, Jr., editor of the " Science Observer,''^ Boston. 



Sir: This Institution hails with satisfaction every attempt at en- 

 larging the channels, and at increasing the fullness and accuracy of 

 scientific information. It is possible that for the purpose of cable trans- 

 mission of the details of an astronomical ephemeris, an arbitrary signal 

 code (as suggested by you) may have some advantages ; though it must 

 not be concealed that it also presents some disadvantages ; the comi)lica- 

 tion both of preparation and of translation increasing with the number 

 of elements to be communicated." 



With the spread of astronomical knowledge and interest, and the 



*I am in some doubt about this figure as I have net the code by me. 



