92 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA AND PROGRESS. 



so large a part in the spectrum discoveries, be- 

 sides determining the composition of meteorites, 

 and leading to important deductions from both 

 sources to photography, as employed in delin- 

 eating the solar- and lunar surfaces, the posi- 

 tions of stars, &c. and to electricity, which, 

 besides its many incidental services, is com- 

 ing into quite general use as a means of the 

 automatic registering (at the moment) of tran- 

 sit 'observations. As the field of practical as- 

 tronomy is thus continually enlarged and made 

 to extend into those of its cognate sciences, it 

 becomes more difficult in fact, within the lim- 

 its of an annual resume, scarcely practicable 

 at once to present the progress of the science as 

 a whole, and also to allow to each subordinate 

 topic the distinct and full treatment that may 

 be due to its individual importance. In addi- 

 tion to the points below considered, however, 

 the reader will find others, astronomical proper, 

 snd related, included under the titles Atmos- 

 phere ; Mars; Observatories, &c. 



General View. Among recently formed as- 

 tronomical societies, is one in Germany, its lo- 

 cation being at Heidelberg, and its existence 

 dating from August, 1863. Though its more 

 active membership will, of course, be found in 

 the Germanic States, yet this society will in- 

 clude on its list savants of all countries. Its 

 purpose appears to be to enter upon the funda- 

 mental questions of astronomical science, and 

 to undertake those long and difficult problems 

 which are usually too exacting for the time and 

 facilities of the individual astronomer. 



About the beginning of the year 1864, M. 

 Leverrier, director of the Imperial Observatory 

 at Paris, took the requisite steps for enlisting 

 astronomers and the educated classes of the 

 empire in the formation of a society, apparent- 

 ly to consist in a large and somewhat general 

 .membership, and designed for the cultivation of 

 astronomical and meteorological if not, gen- 

 erally, of physical science. The association, 

 the plan of which has been approved by the 

 Emperor, is to be under the direction of M. Le- 

 verrier, and to have its central office in the 

 Imperial Observatory. The moderate contribu- 

 tions required of the members are to be em- 

 ployed in developing the director's great me- 

 teorological enterprise, and in furnishing an 

 outfit of implements to the observatories of the 

 southern provinces. In April, 1865, the associa- 

 tion had already expended some 2,500 livres in 

 the general furtherance of scientific objects, be- 

 sides assigning 1,000 francs to aid M. Cazin's in- 

 quiries into the dynamical theory of heat ; 700 

 francs to aid those of M. Terquem, as to the vi- 

 brations of plates, rods, and cords ; 500 francs 

 for those of M. Gernez, on the rotatory power 

 of quartz at high temperatures ; and 500 also 

 to MM. Gaugain and Diacon, to aid their re- 

 searches in electricity and the spectrum anal- 

 ysis. 



In the United States, the most important 

 movement in the way of association for scien- 

 tific ends has been the organization, in 1863, of 



the recently constituted National Academy of 

 Sciences. Of the field of operations of this So- 

 ciety, however, embracing, as it is intended to 

 do, the mathematical and physical sciences gen- 

 erally, the subjects of astronomy will of course 

 form but a part. 



In the death of Captain James M. Gilliss, U. S. 

 N., which occurred at "Washington, February 

 9th, 1865, and in that of Professor George P. 

 Bond, at Cambridge, on the 17th of the same 

 month, astronomical science in the United 

 States has suffered a very severe loss. Biograph- 

 ical notices will appear in the proper place hi 

 this volume. 



The director of the Royal Observatory of 

 Turin, and one of the most distinguished among 

 astronomers and. mathematicians of his time, 

 Baron J. B. Plana, died at the city named, Jan- 

 uary 20th, 1864, in his eighty-third year. His 

 greatest work was perhaps his " Theory of the 

 Moon's Movements," 1832 ; but his labors were 

 varied and extensive the latest volume of 

 Transactions of the Turin Academy containing 

 no less than seven elaborate memoirs from his 

 pen. Sir William Rowan Hamilton, late As- 

 tronomer Royal for Ireland, died on the 2d of 

 September, 1865, at the age of sixty years. 



The gold medal of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society, London, was, in 1862, awarded to Mr. 

 "W. De la Rue, for his astronomical researches, 

 and especially for his applications, in these, of 

 photography ; and in 1863, to Professor Arge- 

 lander, for his survey of the northern heavens. 



The gold medal of the Society was, in 1865, 

 at the meeting of February 10th, awarded to 

 Professor G. P. Bond, of the Harvard College 

 Observatory. The President, Mr. W. De la 

 Rue, accompanied his announcement of the 

 award with a most flattering but well-deserved 

 eulogy on the labors and achievements of Pro- 

 fessor Bond in connection with astronomical 

 science, instancing the evidences to be found in 

 recently published volumes of the Annals of the 

 Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College; 

 his magnificent work on the great comet of 

 1858; the contributions made by him to the 

 theory of planetary perturbations; his mono- 

 graphs on Saturn ; the part he rendered in per- 

 fecting apian for recording by the electric meth- 

 od the times of transit of stars across vertical 

 lines on transparent mica, attached to the dia- 

 phragm of the spider-line micrometer; the 

 photographing of the moon's surface, first suc- 

 cessfully accomplished by him, with the aid of 

 Messrs. Whipple & Black, of Boston; and an 

 unfinished work upon the nebula of Orion. Tlio 

 distinguished astronomer, however, did not live 

 to learn of the honors designed for him his 

 death having occurred February 17th, just one 

 week after the date of the award. 



At the public sitting of the French Academy, 

 early in February, 1865, the Lalande medal, the 

 highest astronomical prize in its gift, was 

 awarded to Mr. Richard Carrington, of Red- 

 hill, for his observations upon and plates of the 

 solar spots. 



