ASTEONOMY. 157 



library, $1,000 ; repairs to buildings, fuel, gas, furniture, stationery, and 

 contingent expenses, $3,900 ; freight on observatory publications sent 

 to foreign countries, $366. The entire annual cost of the maintenance 

 of the observatory may, therefore, be put at about $58,500; — $50,700 

 being for salaries and wages, and nearly $7,800 for other expenses. The 

 item of salaries- will vary considerably, of course, with the number and 

 rank of line officers on duty, and it should be borne in mind that sev- 

 eral of the officers are engaged upon work carried on at the observatory 

 as a naval institution. 



The sum of $100,000 is now available for the erection of a new obser- 

 vatory, and the plans prepared six or eight years ago are being revised, 

 with a i^rospect of beginning work upon the new buildings in the course 

 of a few months. The total cost of the buildings is limited to $400,000. 



Warner Observatory. —Dr. Swift has confined himself to the discovery 

 of new nebulai and the search for comets. The instruments are : A 

 16-inch (/lark equatorial, provided with a filar micrometer and many 

 convenient accessories ; a 4|-inch comet-seeker, and a sidereal clock by 

 Howardo A spectroscope, to cost $1,000, has been ordered from Alvan 

 Clark & Sons. A description of the observatory, with its instruments 

 and work from 1883 to 1886, has been published as voluuie i of the ob- 

 servatory luiblications. This volume contains a list of four hundred and 

 nine nebula) discovered since July 9, 1883 (it is stated that five hundred 

 and forty have been discovered in all), a list of the Warner astrouom 

 ical prizes, and the full text of the Warner prize essays on comets and 

 on the red " skj' -glows." 



Vanderhilt University Observatory, Nashville, Term. — This observa- 

 tory is sui)plied with the following instruments : 



Six-iuch equatorial refractor, by T. Cooke & Sons, 8-foot focus, with 

 hour circle divided to single minutes, and subdivided to 2» by opposite 

 verniers ; and declination circle divided to 10' and read by two verniers 

 to 10". There is also a third vernier reading to 15", used for setting 

 in declination, and read by the observer at the eye-piece with a small 

 telescope. The instrument is supplied with eight eye-pieces, ranging 

 from 00 to 600, and filar micrometer (bright field, dark wires only). A 

 revolving disk with colored glasses gives a change of color of field, — a 

 red one being found most useful, as it seems to permit observations of 

 fainter objects with sufficient distinctness of the wires. A ring microm- 

 eter (not belonging to the observatory) is also used with the e(iu;itorial. 

 A good driving clock gives a steady motion to tbe telescope. Two 

 spectroscopes belong to this instrument — one, a direct-vision spectro- 

 scope by Merz & Mahler, the other by Grubb. 



The equatorial room is surmounted by a hemispherical dome, revolv- 

 ing readily by hand on twelve pairs of wheels. The shutter is of light 

 corrugated iron, in two sections; the upjjcr section, two-thirds of the 

 entire length, passes through the zenith to the back of the dome ; the 

 other part is drawn to one side, running on two light wheels, upon 



