ASTRONOMY. 431 



time. This includes roads run by Macon, Home, Nashville, Salem, Mo- 

 bile, Saint Louis, Vicksburg, Dubuque, Minneapolis, Saint Joseph, Gal- 

 veston, Houston, and Omaha time, in addition to those named above; 

 also, the Union Pacific to North Platte and Wallace, the Burlington 

 ;iii(l Missouri River to McCook, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe" 

 Railway to Coolidge, the Texas Pacific to Toyah, and the Galveston, 

 Harrisburg and San Antonio to Sanderson. 



u 3. That west of the above-named section the roads shall be run by 

 the 105th and 120th meridian times respectively, two and three hours 

 slower than Eastern time. 



" 4. That all changes from one hour standard to another shall be made 

 at the termini of roads or at the ends of divisions." 



No general arrangement of the running of railway trains has ever 

 before been attempted of equal importance to the public with this new 

 movement, and it can readily be seen that'it cannot but very greatly 

 simplify and systematize the present complex and almost infinite variety 

 of running schedules upon our railroad lines. The matter has been 

 from the first in the hands of practical men who know their business, 

 and the universal adoption of the system proposed on November 18, 

 1883, was a remarkable witness to the widespread intelligence and to the 

 common sense of our people. 



A subject-index to scientific papers. — One of the most important works 

 for the student of science is the "Royal Society's Catalogue of Scientific 

 Papers," a list of the articles on every branch of science published in 

 periodicals and transactions of learned societies between 1800 and 1872. 

 In these volumes the various articles are catalogued by authors, the 

 arrangement being alphabetical. In answer to an inquiry, the secretary 

 of the Royal Society recently informed Dr. H. Carrington Bolton that 

 the society had abandoned the project of publishing a subject index to 

 their " Catalogue of Scientific Papers." This is greatly to be regretted, 

 for the utility of that monumental work is reduced one-half owing to 

 the want of an index of topics. The chief reasons for this decision on 

 the part of the Royal Society are the enormous expenses, and the diffi- 

 culty of arranging the material in a systematic manner acceptable to 

 all. The expense would be greater than mere clerical hire, for it is con- 

 ceded that superior talent would be necessary to do this work in a satis- 

 factory manner. 



Copernicus. — With the publication of volume in (1883), this valuable 

 astronomical journal will come to an end. It has not had a sufficient 

 number of subscribers to make it self-supporting. It is a matter of 

 regret to astronomers that a journal which fills so excellent a place is 

 to be discontinued, and for such a reason. It has been from the first 

 admirably edited, and it contains so many excellent papers that a set 

 of the three volumes of Copernicus is a necessary part of an astronomical 

 library. At any rate, the editors may congratulate themselves that they 

 and their friends have left nothing undone to found a first-class journal 

 of astronomy in Great Britain. It appears from this failure that the 





