REPORTS OF ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORIES. 



lu the latter part of the year 1880 the following circular was sent to 

 all known observatories in America and to a number of foreign estab- 

 lishments : 



[Circular. J 



Smithsonian Institution, 



Wafihhigton, J). G. 

 My Dear Sir: It is desired to jjresent in the annual report of this 

 institution a yearly summary of the state and progress of astronomy in 

 the United States and elsewhere. To this end it is requested that tlio 

 directors of observatories, public and private, ^^^ll return this circuUir, 

 with the blanks filled out, and with such additional information as they 

 may deem suitable for ijublication. 



It is intended that one such circular shall reach every observatory, 

 public or private, in the United States; if any have been omitted it has 

 been by inadvertence, and notice of such omissions is desired by the 

 editor (Prof. Edward S. Holden, U. S. Naval Observatorv, Washing- 

 ton, D. C). 



It is proposed to continue the summaries in the future, and it is hoped 

 that the directors of the various institutions will desire to furnish from 

 year to year brief sketches of the activity of tlie observatories under 

 their charge. In this way a record of current astronomical work will' 

 be kept up, which otherw:ise it is difficult to maintain in the absence of 

 any American periodical specially devoted to astronomy. 

 Very truly yours, 



Spencer F. Baird, 

 Secretary Smithsonian Institution. 

 To . 



The information asked for embraced : 1. The Personnel : II. The In- 

 struments employed: (a) Meridian circles; (&) {b') Meridian transit in- 

 struments ; (c) {&) Equatorial instruments ; (d) Spectroscopes ; (e) Pho- 

 tomers and other subsidiary apparatus ; (/) Chronographs ; (g) Clocks ; 

 (h) Chronometers; (t) Miscellaneous instruments : III. The character of 

 observations made or contemplated. 



Replies to this circular received up to March 15, 1881, are given be- 

 low, in two classes: Eeports of American observatories, and reports of 

 Foreign observatories. Additional information of a statistical nature 

 has been obtained from an article in the Annuaire de V Ohservatoire 

 Royale de BruxeUes, 1881; which has been translated by Miss Lockwood. 



In the absence of Professor Holden (at the Washburn Observatory, 

 Wisconsin) Mr. George H. Boehmer, of the Institution, has attended to 

 the arrangement and editing of these Notices. 



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