ASTRONOMY. 321 



Aperture inches. 



Gambey trausit 5.91 



Gambey mural circle 4. 74 



^1) Eichens meridian circle 9. 48 



(2) Eichens meridian circle 7. 48 



Lerebours equatorial 14. 96 



Secretan equatorial 12. 20 



Secretan equatorial 9. 44 



A short and interesting history of the administrations of the various 

 directors is given, most attention being naturally paid to the present 



one. The salaries paid are : 



Francs. 



Director 15,000 



Vice-director 12, 000 



Astronomers 7, 000 to 10, 000 



Adjunct astronomers 3, 500 to 7, 000 



The meridian observations are to-day chiefly devoted to a reobserva- 

 tion of the Lalande stars, some 48,000 in all. Probably the places of 

 some 23,000 Lalande stars will be ])rinted in 1882. The ten observers 

 obtain some 28,000 observations yeiirly. 



The six observers with the equatorials are engaged on the observa- 

 tion (and discovery) of asteroids, double stars, &c. The reflector of 47 

 inches aperture is not in use. The large refractor of 29.13 inches aper- 

 ture will be mounted shortly. 



It is announced that with the year 1883 a new journal, Science, will 

 be published in Cambridge, Mass., with Mr. S. H. Scudder as editor and 

 the principal scientific men of the country as coadjutors. It is intended 

 to fill a corresponding place to the English Nature, and certainly it 

 starts with the fairest prospects, and occupies a field in which there is 

 much to do. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Standard time. — The two following papers (which do not exhaust the 

 subject, however,) may be taken to show the general interest in the 

 question of a standard or of many standards of time. For America the 

 question should be settled after careful discussion and general consent, 

 and not be allowed to drift to its solution : 



" In response to the circular of the general time convention, asking 

 for communications bearing upon the matter of a standard time for the 

 railways of the United States and Canada, Admiral Kodgers, late Super- 

 intendent of the United States Naval Observatory, wrote the following : 



'"The various countries of the world generally have their own prime 

 meridian, as Greenwich, Paris, Pulkova, etc., and the national maps 

 are drawn to the respective national prime meridians. The maps of the 

 United States are drawn with reference to the meridian of Washington. 

 The observatories of Europe — Pulkova, Greenwich, Paris, etc. — give 

 time to their respective nations. In England the differences of longi- 

 tude are not great, and all England uses Greenwich time. But the 

 H. Mis. 26 ^21 



