180 RECORD OF SCIENCE FOR 1887 AND 1888. 



North Carolina University. — Professor Love, of the University of 

 North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has called attention to an early attempt 

 to establish an astronomical observatory in the United States which 

 seems to have remained unjiotieed by astronomers. Professor Cald- 

 well, the president of the university, went to Europe in 18i4 to pur- 

 chase books and apparatus, and spent the greater part of $3,361.35 for 

 astronomical instruments; this was four years before the purchase of a 

 telescope by Yale. The foundations of the observatory were laid in 

 1831, and the building was finished iu 1832, six years before the Hop- 

 kins Observatory at Williams. There was but one room, 15 feet by 2.'> 

 feet and about 25 feet high. A Simms transit of .3-inch aperture and 

 4i-inch focus was mounted upon a masonry pier in this room, and a 

 Simuis altitude and azimuth instrument upon a i)ier i)r()jec[ing through 

 the roof and covered by a small house moving on rails The observa- 

 tory possessed also a 2^-incli (52-inch focus) Dollaud refractor, an astro- 

 nomical clock by Molyneaux, reflecting circle, sextant, and quadrant. 

 The instruments were removed from the observatory owing to a leaky 

 roof, soon after Dr. Caldwell's death, in 1835, and in 1838 the building 

 was partly destroyed by fire, and astronomical activity was never re- 

 newed. All records of observations have been lost. 



Oaldand. — The private observatory of Mr. F. G. Blinn, in East Oak- 

 laud, contains a 5-iuch Clark equatorial and If -inch Latimer-Clark tran- 

 sit, with mean-time and sidereal clocks. 



Oaldand. — The observatory of Mr. Burckhalter, at West Oakland, 

 California, contains a lOi-inch reflector by Brasliear, and 1|| inch transit. 

 The mechanical work of the building and equatorial mounting ^vas done 

 by the owner. 



G^Gyalla. — Observations of sun spots, spectroscopic and ])hotometric 

 observations of planets, new stars, comets, and stars with variable 

 spectra. The observations for a "spectroscopic Durchmusterung" 

 from 0° to -15° declination have been finished and the catalogue 

 printed. Dr. von Kovesligethy, Dr. vou Konkoly's assistant, accepted 

 a position in the meteorological office in Budapest, April 1, 1887. Con- 

 siderable spectroscopic and photographic apparatus has been added 

 to the equipment. 



Omaha, Nebrasha. — A new observatory at Creighton College was 

 completed in 1887. The instruments are a 5-inch Steward equatorial, 

 3inch Eauth transit, clocks, chronograph, etc. Director, J. lligge, S. 

 J. Latitude, +41° IG' G"; longitude, 6^^ 23"^ 47^ west of Greenwich. 



Orwell Park. — An extensive and valuable series of observations of 

 recent comets has been published. 



Oxford University. — Great attention has been jiaid to photography, 

 and particularly to its application to the determination of stellar par- 

 allax {q. v.), with very gratifying results. The large equatorial is to be 

 remodelled as a i)hotographic telescope of 13 inches aperture in con- 

 formity with the plans adopted by the Paris congress, the necessary 

 funds having been provided by Dr. De La Rue. 



