ASTRONOMY. 1 85 



Turin. — Observations of comets, iiKteoiolojiiiinl observations, an<l a 

 (letenninatioii of tlje latittule of a station at Termoli have been pub- 

 lished. 



United St atts Naval Observatory. — Tlie work of 1887-'SS was similar 

 to that of previous years. With the 26-inch equatorial observations 

 were made of double stars, satellites, and of Saturn and Mars, and 

 observations for stellar parallax; with the 9.()-inch, observations of 

 comets and asteroids. The observations with the transit-circle for a 

 catalogue of miscellaneous stars were completed in 1888, and prepara- 

 tions have been made for observing- with this instrument the zone — I-i^ 

 to —18°. The time-service has been considerably extended. The con- 

 tract for the erection of the nine buildings comprising the new obser- 

 Aatory was awarded in 18^8, and some progress has been made with 

 the necessary excavations. 



JJpsala. — Dr. Ilermann Sehultz describes at some length in the Yier- 

 telj all rssch rift (23:144) the recent additions to his instrumental outfit: 

 a transit and a vertical circle, both by Eei)sold, with objectives of 9 >"'■" 

 (4 inches) aperture; a transit, by Steiuheil, of 54""" (2 inches) aper- 

 ture, mounted in the prime vertical; a 4-incli refractor, parallactic 

 mounting, by Simms ; clock Hohwii 34, three chronometers, two chrono- 

 graphs, and minor apparatus. The principal instrument of the obser- 

 vatory is a 9-iuch refractor. 



Vassar College. — Miss Mary W. Whitney has been appointed to fill 

 the vacancy caused by the resignation of Miss Maria Mitchell. 



Vienna {^VienOttalcring). — The private observatory of U err von Kuff- 

 ner, which was beguu in 1884, was completed iu 18S7. The buildiikg- is 

 in the shape of a cross, 82 feet from east to west and GL feet from north 

 to south. The instruments are: A meridian circle, by llepsold, of 4.8 

 inches aperture and 5 feet focal length, with circle 21. (J inches in diam- 

 ter, divided to 2' and read by four microscopes; and a refractor, also 

 by Kepsold, of 10, G inches aperture and 12.i feet focal length, with 

 filar, double image, and ring micrometers. The position of the obser- 

 tory, as provisionally determined by Dr. Herz, is: Latitude, +48° 12' 

 47".2; longitude, 1'' 5"' UM east of Greenwich. 



Warner [Rochester .^ New Yorli). — Seaich for new nebuhiB. 



Washhurn. — The fifth volume of i)ublications contains the observa- 

 tions made with the meridian circle by ]\Iiss Limb and IMr, T^pdegiaff 

 from the latter part of 188G to Ai)ril 1, 1887, observations made with 

 the 15.^ iuch equatorial, and a summary of meteorological observations 

 made by various observers at IMadison from 1^5 J to 188G. Miss Lamb 

 contributes a very useful index to stars in Airy's six Greenwich cata- 

 logues not found in Flamsteed, and jMr. Updegrafif a dis(,'ussion of the 

 latitude of the observatory. Professor Davies was succeeded by Prof. 

 G. 0. Comstock as director, and Prof. Asaph Hall as consulting director. 

 Mr. Updegraif and Miss Laml) (now jMrs. Updegraff) have removed to 

 the Cordoba observatory. The assistants now at the observatory are 



