ASTRONOMY. 159 



The entire outfit of the observatoiy, in iustrumeuts and buildings, is 

 due to tlie munificence of the late Uoveruor Cadwallader C. Washburn, 

 and cost not far from $50,000. A detailed list of the cost of some of 

 the instruments is given in the volumes of i)ublications of the observa- 

 tory. All salaries and running expenses are paid hy the regents of 

 the university from the general fund. These have heretofore amounted 

 to about $5,000 annually. 



After the departure of Professor Holden, in December, 1885, the as- 

 sistants of the observatory, Mr. Milton Updegrafi" and Miss Alice Lamb, 

 completed the observations and reductions of the three hundred and 

 three star list, and the reading of the proof-sheets for the i)ublication of 

 volume IV (1885) of the observatory reports. During the early sum- 

 mer of 1866 a careful study of the division errors of special diamelers 

 of the meridian circle was undertaken ; also of its horizontal flexure. 

 Observations of the latitude made with the meridian circle since its 

 first mounting show a discordance between circle east and circle west 

 of about 1". Tne cause of this is now an object of study, and is be- 

 lieved to be mainly due to flexure. The large equatorial has been kept 

 employed upon double stars, and in January, 1887, a series of measure- 

 ments was made with its filar micrometer upon the position of Sappho 

 (SO) at opposition. An index to those stars in the six Greenwich cata- 

 logues not occurring in Flamsteed, has been prepared by Miss Lamb, 

 and will be published in volume v. 



The usual routine work of the observatory, such as controlling the 

 clocks in the city of Madison, the time bells in the university recita- 

 tion rooms, and tlie daily furnishing of time-signals to the railroads 

 entering Madison, has been faithfully attended to. Professor Holden's 

 successor as director of the observatory is Prof. John E. Davies. 



Washington University Observatory, St. Louis (1886). — Instruction in 

 theoretical and practical astronomy is the main object of the observ- 

 atory. An extensive time-service is maintained, and the observatory 

 co-operates wich Government field parties in geodetic work. Prof. H. 

 S. Pritchett has one assistant. The income is derived from the general 

 university endowment and from the time-service. 

 • Woodside Observatory. — Mr. Charles L. Woodside has a small private 

 observatory at East Boston, Massachusetts, its approximate t)osition 

 being latitude -f 42° 22' 39" ; longitude 4'^ 44™ 9^ west of Greenwich. 

 The, principal instrument is a silvered-glass reflector of Qh, inches aper- 

 ture and 5 feet focal length ; the mirror is by Brashear, of Allegheny, 

 and the mounting by Mr. Woodside himself. This is to be devoted for 

 several years to a careful and systematic study of the colors of all stars 

 brighter than the sixth magnitude visible at Boston. Mr. Woodside 

 has devised a method of computing occultations which he has described 

 in the Sidereal Messenger for Ju.y, 1886. 



Yale College Observatory (1886). — For the year ending June 1, 1886, 

 Dr. Elkiu reports progress in his work of triangulatiou in the Pleiades 



