54 ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA. 



AUBEE, DANIEL F. E. 



stars enumerated by the aid of telescopes, 

 and recorded on Argelander's charts. His ob- 

 ject, in charting these stars on a single sheet, 

 is to endeavor to determine the ?AWS of distribu- 

 tion among stars of the first nine or ten degrees 

 of magnitude. Struve has already examined a 

 portion of the same list for a somewhat similar 

 purpose ; but Mr. Proctor will be the first to 

 study the subject as a whole, with the object 

 mentioned in view. 



Studies of the Southern Heavens. Prof. B. A. 

 Gould, director of the new observatory at Cor- 

 dova, in the Argentine Republic, makes an 

 interesting official report of his labors during 

 the greater part of 1871. Before the large in- 

 struments were put up, he had directed a la- 

 borious series of observations of all the stars 

 in the southern heavens visible to the naked 

 eye, according to their position and degrees of 

 brilliancy, and constructed maps representing 

 the general aspect of the heavens in those lati- 

 tudes. The charts thus obtained comprehend 

 the entire firmament from 10 north of the 

 equator to the south pole, and will be accom- 

 panied by a catalogue of the stars arranged by 

 constellations. He has found the heavens of 

 Cordova less serene and more subject to clouds 

 than he had expected ; but nevertheless about 

 4,500 stars have been observed, and reduced 

 to the maps. The number visible to the naked 

 eye between the north-pole and 30 of south 

 latitude, according to Argelander, is only 3,256. 

 The completion of this part of the work will 

 be followed by a systematic study of the South- 

 ern Hemisphere with instruments, beginning 

 at the limit to which Northern astronomers 

 have advanced. The valuable observations 

 taken at Cape Town, Madras, Melbourne, and 

 Santiago, will serve as a foundation for the 

 work. Prof. Gould speaks highly of the lib- 

 erality shown by the Argentine Republic in 

 sustaining this enterprise, and closes his re- 

 port with the suggestion that the observatory 

 can be made of especial use in developing the 

 science of the country : first, by the telegraphic 

 determinations of longitude ; and, second, by 

 the formation of a system of meteorological 

 observations throughout the republic. 



In a letter, written subsequently, to the edi- 

 tors of the American Journal of Science, Prof. 

 Gould speaks with enthusiasm of the occasional 

 wonderful transparency of the Cordova sky, by 

 which he is enabled to see twice as many faint 

 stars (with the naked eye) as can be seen on 

 the most favorable nights in New England. 

 Stars of the 7th magnitude are easily per- 

 ceived, and some that are mapped as the 8th. 



For constellations farther south the comparison is 

 of course not so fair, on account of their superior alti- 

 tude here ; still you may form some idea of the work 

 in hand, when I tell you that in Orion we have twice 

 the nuraher of stars given by Argelander, and that 

 in Canis Major, the whole of wh'ch is visible at Bonn, 

 though to he sure its southern boundary has only an 

 altitude of a little more than 6}, we have 200 stars 

 while Argelander saw but 39. 



It is to bo expected that, in the course of our work, 



we may encounter a number of variable stars suf- 

 ficient to make the number in the Southern Hemi- 

 sphere approximately equal to that of those already 

 known north of the equator. As yet, however, we have 

 not followed through any very decided changes, al- 

 though there is a considerable number of stars whoso 

 magnitudes, as observed by us, differ widely from 

 those recorded by other astronomers, and which also 

 appear to have varied during the period of our ob- 

 servation. 



The star Eta Argus has naturally attracted a good 

 deal of my attention. It is at present not far from 

 the 6J magnitude, and recognizable with great dif- 

 ficulty by the naked eye. In the field of my small 

 Tolles telescope, of 5-inch aperture and 35-inch focal 

 length, it is a conspicuous object, and prominent by 

 its ruddy color among the cluster of which it forms a 

 part, against the bright nebula as a background. 

 With this telescope, the same one which I employed 

 for observing the total eclipse of 18f0, I have been 

 examining the whole group ; and have found to my 

 astonishment that it exhibits with distinctness a con- 

 siderable number of stars, which are recorded in Sir 

 J. Herschel's catalogue of this cluster, as being of the 

 14th magnitude. 



The magnificence of the Milky Way in this vicinity 

 is indescribable, surpassing the Pleiades or the Prce,- 

 sepe in richness, and exhibiting numerous huge clus- 

 ters, the sight of which through the Tolles telescope 

 evokes exclamations of astonishment and delight 

 from every beholder, young or old, whether with or 

 without astronomical information. Keen as was my 

 desire for a photographic equipment before leaving 

 home, it has been a hundred-fold increased since I 

 began the survey of this most gorgeous of all the 

 regions of the sky. Even yet I have not abandoned 

 some hope that the friends of astronomy at home 

 may be disposed to provide means for some perma- 

 nent photographic record of these magnificent groups 

 and splendid double stars. The transparency of the 

 atmosphere would greatly reduce the needful time of 

 exposure, and it gives peculiar opportunities for the 

 success of the photographic method in other re- 

 spects. 



AUBER, DANIEL FKAN^OIS ESPKIT, the most 

 popular of modern French musical composers, 

 born at Caen (Calvados), France, January 29, 

 1782; died in Paris, May , 1871. He early 

 manifested a passion for music ; but his father, 

 who was a merchant, had determined to train 

 him for business, and sent him to London in 

 1802, to acquire a business education. On the 

 breaking of the Peace of Amiens, he returned to 

 France, and soon after composed some instru- 

 mental pieces, which were favorably received 

 by private theatrical circles. Auber had, how- 

 ever, the good sense to perceive that he needed 

 a much more thorough training to enable him 

 to come with confidence before the theatrical 

 public, and put himself under the direction of 

 Cherubini, one of the severest of masters. After 

 a time he wrote two or three Masses, which 

 were favorably received ; but his first attempt 

 with an opera, in 1813, proved so complete a 

 failure that he was discouraged, and, though 

 the financial ruin and death of his father left 

 him in such straits that he was fain to give 

 lessons on the piano for a livelihood, he did 

 not make another venture till 1819, which was 

 attended with the same ill success. Despair, 

 however, nerved him to further effort, and 

 in 1820 he achieved a success with the opera 

 "La Buy ere Chatelaine" at the Opera Comique. 



