1G2 RECORD OF SCIENCE FOR 1886. 



Hastin<?s, and Mr. Numsen a 4-iuch Cooko equatorial, mentioned in the 

 report last year under the " Denmore Observatory." Physical obser- 

 vations are nuide of the sun, moon, planets, and comets. Mr. Stnlm 

 has kept a record of sun-spots, and has devised numerous ingenious 

 accessories for his instruments. 



Astronomical Journals. — The re issue of the "Astronomical Jour, 

 nal" by Dr. Gould is cordially welcomed, particularly by Anierican 

 astronomers, who are thereby furnished with a more prompt means 

 of intercommunication than has been heretofore available. An inter- 

 val of twenty-five years occurs after No. 144; and No. 145, bearing- the 

 date of November 2, 1888, begins volume vii. The Journal is edited 

 by Dr. Gould, as before, at Cambridge, Massachusetts. 



A new monthly astronomical review, Revista do Observatorio, has 

 appeared, under the editorship of Dr. Luis Cruls, of the Imperial Ob- 

 servatory of Rio Janeiro. The journal will be found interesting and 

 valuable b3^ amateurs and those interested in the progress of astron- 

 omy, as well as by i)rofessional astronomers. 



We are at the same time obliged to record the discontinuance of the 

 Astronomical Register, with the completion of its twenty-fourth vol- 

 ume, December, 188G, No. 288. 



The Influence of astigmatism on Astronomical Observations. — It ap- 

 pears from Professor Seeliger's researches that this malformation in the 

 eye, which is far from uncommon, exerts a greater inliuence on astro- 

 nomical measurements than is generally supposed. Thus, he shows 

 that a systematic error in a series of observed declinations amounting 

 to 0".26 may very well be due to it ; and it appears that the discordances 

 in observed position angles of double stars — depending on the inclina- 

 tion of the line joining the components to the vertical — with which the 

 measures of some observers are affected, may be referred to the same 

 cause. (Nature, November 18, 1886.) 



Determination of time. — Dollen has described in the Nachrichteu 

 (114: 289) an expeditious method of obtaining a clock correction where 

 great refinement is not necessary. The observation is nmde in the ver- 

 tical of the polo-star, and tables have been published by the Pulkowa 

 Observatory giving for some sixty odd stars all the quantities which 

 are independent of the latitude, required in the formulae. The work of 

 reduction is made as brief as possible. 



An astronomical directory. — M. A. Lancaster, the librarian of the 

 Brussels Observatory, has published a very useful list of observato- 

 ries, their geographical coordinates, and the astronomers attached to 

 them ; of astronomical societies and institutions, and of reviews and 

 journals specially devoted to astronomy. The little book contains also 

 a list of names and addresses of astronomers not attached to any ob- 

 servatory, and of amateurs, as well as a list of makers of astronomical 

 instruments. 



Miss Gierke's admirable " Popular History of Astronomy during the 



