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VARIETIES, SCIENTIFIC AND MISCELLANEOUS: » 
Chronometers at Greenwich—We alluded 
some time since in our number for June to 
the singularly capricious performance of the 
chronometers which, to use 4 common but 
incorrect plirase, are entered for'the prize 
at Greenwich. We were not at that time 
as fully aware as at present of the treatment 
these very delicate instruments receive, and 
of the circumstances under which the rates 
are determined upon which the adjudication 
of the prize depends, and by which the cha- 
racter of an artist may be unfairly raised, or 
his reputation unjustly injured. We have 
seen a letter from the observatory in reply 
to some specific charges, in which it is stated 
that “the business of the chronometers”’ 
is conducted “with the greatest degree of 
honour and attention ; but we have like- 
wise perused another communication from 
the same quarter, in which, after repeated 
denials, it was at length reluctantly acknow- 
ledged, that a chronometer entered for the 
prize had been let down. Now for this neg- 
lect the astronomer-royal may not be ac- 
countable ; we are aware that he disavows 
all responsibility for the conduct of his as- 
sistants, and, for the present at least, we 
admit his plea ; but, without we are greatly 
misinformed, this gentleman pledged him- 
self'a very few years back that, if the salary 
of his assistants were augmented, no money 
should hereafter be received for the rates of 
chronometers, and the salaries were in con- 
sequence increased; still the dishonest* 
practice exists in flagrant notoriety. If it 
be intended to form a just estimate of chro- 
nometers, it is necessary that the greatest 
regularity should be observed in the wind- 
ing of them up; any variation in the time 
of doing so producing a corresponding va- 
riation in the rate, which last is altogether 
changed when the instrument is allowed to 
go down; and, above all, the works should 
neyerbe touched. Now of the time-keepers 
entered at Greenwich some have been al- 
lowed to go down, and no notice taken of 
the fact, which was even for a time denied ; 
of others the hands were altered ; one, with 
a fast rate, when returned to the maker was 
found to be two hours slow; of another the 
glass had been screwed off, and. between 
the second and minute hand there was 
found to be a difference of ten seconds ; 
but it is needless to multiply instances, and 
we shall only add one more case in, which 
a most able artist, not a little surprised at 
- * Ifa chronometer were recommended to 
the ¢aptain of a vessel, the rate having been 
kept by the maker himself, the former might 
object to the correctness of the entries, but 
if the rate were supplied from the Royal 
Observatory, no suspicion would be enter- 
tained of a fraudulent certificate ; hence the. 
Li ~ wy if Bee ISG 4 } ia or r 
PEACH, OF Pay PPTL BOR ES Bh, GREER 
wich. | ’ Per soe aes Ihsan at 
» a8 To! bomitide ownal 
the vagaries of his chronometer, 
the pendulum stud had ‘been ‘tw 
and not tightly screwed down again. “Re- 
gisters ate kept at the Royal Observatory fi 
which the daily rate of thé time-keepérsIs 
supposed to be entered, and'in Which shotild 
be noted down whatever is done to accele- 
rate or retard the rate of the instruments, 
to vary their performance or to evince their 
regularity. If these registers can be’ made 
out by the assistants, it is not for us to con- 
demn the unintelligible manner in which 
they are at present kept; but we do ‘say 
that no figure when once entered should be 
altered or erased, and, in the official returns 
at least, every artist should be informed if 
not why his instrument in particular has 
been neglected, still that sich has been the 
case, and that their regularity of the machine 
proceeds not from any defect in the work- 
manship, but from the heedlessniess (? )’ of 
the persons to whom it was intrusted. As 
an eminent philosopher has observed ““Eng- 
land has now lost her supremacy in the manu- 
facture of achromatic telescopes, and the go- 
vernment one of the sources of its revenue. 
Inafew years She will also lose her superiority 
in the manufacture of the great divided instru- 
ments for fixed observatories,’ and if by ne- 
glecting the chronometers which first-rate ar- 
tists have produced, and treating others with 
scrupulous attention, the pledge of oo at 
tive perfection, a national prize be conferred 
upon inferior makers, our hitherto’ unrivaled 
reputation in this branch of the arts will’be 
soon and wantonly sacrificed. _‘“ When these 
sources of occupation for scientific talent 
decline, the scientific character of the coun- 
try must fall along with them, and the Bri- 
tish government will deplore, when it is too 
late, her total inattention tothe sciéntific 
establishments of the empire.’ When a 
great nation ceases to triumph in her arts, 
it is no unreasonable apprehension, that she 
may cease also to triumph by her arms.””” 
Sympathetic Ink, —The following appli- 
cation of a modern chemical discovery has 
never before been communicated to the 
public, and affords a sympathetic ink very 
far superior to any, as yet, in use. Dissolve 
a small quantity of starch ‘in a saucer with 
soft water, and use the liquid like common 
ink ; when dry no trace of the writing will 
appear upon the paper, and the letters ean 
be developed only by a weak ‘solu ee of 
iodine in alcoho], when they will’ appear’ of 
a deep purple colour, which will not be 
effaced until after long exposure to’ the” 
atmosphere. So permanent are the traces? 
left by the statch that they cannot (when? 
dry) be effaced by Indian’ rubber;’ and int’ 
another case, a letter sete te ea cate! 
ried in fhe pocket fot a fortight, had HRB? 
seene arate See OO et 
Mae, 1 389, 3ft 
very slightly moistene e al 
tioned preparation, ae F omic 
ft 2 
