676 



OBSERVATORIES AND INSTRUMENTS. 



patronage of a Russian nobleman for the means 

 of bringing ont several of his works. His most 

 remarkable productions were, La France Litte- 

 raire" a record of French literature, chiefly 

 during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, 

 of unexampled accuracy and fulness of detail, 

 in ten volumes octavo; and Les Supercheries 

 Litteraires Devoilees, in five volumes octavo, 

 an account of the apocryphal, disguised, and 

 fictitious names and books in French literature, 

 and of the authors who have gained credit 

 under false pretences. He was engaged in 

 bringing out a new edition of this at the time 

 of his death. His life was a stormy one, for his 

 books had made him many enemies, and the 

 Government had failed to recognize, by his ap- 

 pointment to any official position in one of the 

 public libraries, the great services he had ren- 

 dered to French literature. 



Dec. 16. BIXIO, ALEXATTOER, a French pub- 

 lisher, editor, and statesman, the founder of the 

 best agricultural periodical (" The Journal of 

 Agriculture"), the most extensive publisher of 

 agricultural works in France, one of the leading 

 minds of the Credit Mobilier, and an ardent ad- 

 vocate of education, died in Paris, aged 56 years. 



Dee. . FoRcnnAMMEE, JOHANX GEORG, 

 an eminent Danish geologist and chemist, Sec- 

 retary of the Copenhagen Academy of Science, 

 and Professor of Geology and Mineralogy in 

 the University of Copenhagen, died in that city. 

 He was born in Husum, Schleswig, July 26, 

 1T94, became secretary of the Danish geologist 

 Oersted in 1818, and accompanied him in a 

 mineralogical expedition to the Island of Born- 

 holm in 1818-'19. He subsequently made 

 several journeys to Great Britain, France, and 

 in Denmark, for the purpose of geological inves- 

 tigation, his expenses being defrayed by the 

 Danish Government. In 1825 he was elected 

 a member of the Academy of Sciences of Copen- 

 hagen, and in 1835 appointed Professor of Min- 

 eralogy and Geology in the University of Copen- 

 hagen. In 1851, on the death of Oersted, he 

 was elected Secretary of the Academy. He 

 has published a manual of Universal Chemistry 

 (Laerebog i Staffernes almindelige Ghemie 

 1834-'35); Danemarlcs geognostulce Forhold, 

 1835; Skandinaviens geognostiske Natur, 1843 

 (two works on Danish and Scandinavian geol- 

 ogy), and numerous papers on geological and 

 chemical topics, all in Danish. He had been 

 for many years a careful and constant observer 

 of the physical effects of ice in producing geo- 

 logical changes ; and an elaborate paper of his, 

 giving the results of his observations, was pub- 

 lished in 1864, and translated into English. 



OBSERVATORIES AND INSTRUMENTS, 

 ASTRONOMICAL AND METEOROLOGICAL. With- 

 out an attempt to include here all that is of 

 real importance even in relation to the estab- 

 lishment and working of observatories, during 

 the two years or more ending with 1865, and 

 to the improvement of the instruments and 

 methods employed in connection with them, it 

 is still hoped that enough is presented to afford 



the general scientific reader a satisfactory idea 

 of what is in our time being done in the way 

 of astronomical and meteorological observa- 

 tion, and of the character of the results there- 

 by attained. Many points that might here re- 

 ceive mention will be included under other 

 heads ; and the reader may in particular con- 

 sult the article ASTROXOMIOAL PHENOMENA, etc., 

 and others referred to under it, and also those 

 of BAROMETER and METEOROLOGY. 



United States. To the number of observato- 

 ries in the United States, one has recently been 

 added at Chicago, having been established 

 through the liberality of citizens of th.it place, 

 and being connected with its University. The 

 large equatorial telescope ordered for this ob- 

 servatory, of Mr. Alvan Clark, is to be 23 feet 

 in length, and of 18 J inches aperture. The en- 

 tire cost, including transportation and mount- 

 ing, has lately been stated at $18,187. The 

 tower is to be octagonal in shape, 35 feet in di- 

 ameter, and 100 feet in height to the hemi- 

 spherical top. Another tower is to be erected 

 for the meridian circle. 



The annual report for the Observatory of 

 Harvard College, 1864, made before the decease 

 of the late Director, Prof. G. P. Bond, shows 

 that the labors of the year have been chiefly 

 devoted to a continuation of the zone observa- 

 tions, the examination of nebulae, observations 

 on the asteroids, on variable stars, and on cer- 

 tain telescopic comets of the year. Among the 

 observations, those on Orion are spoken of as 

 being of great interest, while six variable stars 

 were discovered in the neighborhood of the 

 trapezium. In the zone observations, Mr. Saf- 

 ford obtained by the great equatorial the posi- 

 tions of 4,700 stars, besides performing the re- 

 ductions and computations involved in the work. 



The report for the Dudley Observatory, 

 Albany, for the year 1863, made by the astron- 

 omer in charge, Prof. G. W. Hough, and issued 

 the following year, contains an account of the 

 condition of the principal instruments employed 

 in it, with discussions of methods of adjust- 

 ment, etc. 



The system of meteorological observation in 

 the United States has its centre in the Smithso- 

 nian Institution, at Washington. From an early 

 period in the history of its labors, this Institu- 

 tion has, in fact, devoted special attention to 

 the investigation of all questions relating to 

 meteorology. One of its first steps was that 

 of organizing a system of observers which 

 should extend as widely as possible over the 

 whole North American continent these con- 

 tributing their services without compensation. 

 Under its direction, a set of carefully prepared 

 and accurately graduated instruments, now 

 generally known as the Smithsonian standards, 

 were manufactured. A series of instructions 

 for the use of the instruments and for the ob- 

 servation of meteorological phenomena, and 

 also series of blank forms as registers, having 

 been prepared and distributed, the system was 

 soon brought into practical operation. 



