22 



REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



stood to mean 20 h 3 m 40 8 . Again, "north thirty six" would be +20° 

 6', but " north thirty six nought" is +36° 0'. In a similar way h of 

 right ascension, or s of declination are to be distinctly expressed by the 

 word " nought." Only for the seconds of right ascension when they are 

 zero, that word for brevity's sake is omitted as unnecessary. 



V. — The right ascension and declination in the dispatch will be under- 

 stood to give the position (by proper motion approximately reduced) for 

 the midnight following the date of the dispatch : Washington time 

 for American discoveries ; Greenwich time for European. 



Usually the discoverer himself has more complete data on hand 

 than others for bringing the position up in advance, and for this 

 reason the following midnight is given preference to any preceding time, 

 as, for example, that of the discovery. 



YI. — Since in conformity with the preceding article, only an approx- 

 imate estimate of a later position, and not that of the first observation 

 itself, is giveu, the dispatch is not to be considered as a document for 

 deciding the question of priority of discovery. 



On the other hand, it is expected that observers, in communicating 

 their discoveries, will adhere to the form of the programme explained 

 in the foregoing articles, and thus save much time and labor to those 

 that wish to co-operate. 



List of minor planets discovered in the year 1879. 



LIST OF COMETS DISCOVERED IX 1879. 



A.. 

 B . 



C . 



E .. 

 D. 



Brorson's Comet. 



Periodic 



Comet 1^1)7. 11. 



Periodic 



1879. Ill 



L879. IV 



1879. V 



February 2G 



April 

 June 

 August 

 August 



24 

 15 



21 

 21 



Tenipel 



Lewis Swii'i 



llartwig 



Palisa 



Windsor, N. S. W. 



Florence. 

 Rochester, N. Y. 



Pola. 



