510 MAEDLER, JOHANN H. 



MAINE. 



tnation issued by the Queen of Madagascar, 

 ordering the liberation of all slaves imported 

 into the kingdom since the date of the treaty 

 of 1865, entered into with Great Britain for 

 the suppression of the traffic in slaves : 



I, Banovalomanjaka. by the grace of God and the 

 will of the people, Queen of Madagascar and defender 

 of the laws of my country, have made an agreement 

 with my relations across the seas that there shall not 

 be allowed to be brought into my country people 

 from across the seas to be made slaves. And on ac- 

 count of this, I command that if there are any Mo- 

 zambiques lately come into my country since the 7th 

 of June, 1865, which was the year of the completion 

 of the agreement with my relations across the seas, 

 then they are to become "isan ny ambaniandro" (a 

 phrase applied to the free inhabitants of Madagas- 

 car) ; and if they wish to dwell in this land, then 

 they may do so, and be of the number of free peo- 

 ple ; and if they wish to return across the sea from 

 whence they came, then they are at liberty to go. 

 And if there are any who conceal Mozambiques lately 

 come to be slaves, and do not set them at liberty to 

 become "isan ny ambaniandro," according to my 

 command, they shall be t>ut in chains for ten years. 

 Says, EANOVALOMANJAKA, 



Queen of Madagascar, etc., etc. 

 This is the word of Eanovalomanjaka, Queen of 



Madagascar. 



Says, EAINILAIAKIVONY, Prime Minister 

 and Commander-in-Chief in Madagascar. 



ANTANANARIVO, October 2, 1874. 



MAEDLER, JOIIAXN HEIXRICH, a German 

 astronomer, astronomical professor, and for 

 twenty-five years director of the Observatory 

 of Dorpat in Russia, born in Berlin, May 29, 

 1794; died in that city, March 17, 1874. He 

 was educated at the gymnasia and the Univer- 

 sity of Berlin, and obtained about 1818 a situ- 

 tion as professor and one of the governing 

 faculty of the Normal School, where he re- 

 mained until 1830. He had devoted himself 

 with great zeal to astronomical studies, and 

 with his friend William Beer, brother of the 

 great musical composer Meyerbeer, he made 

 a long series of observations on the moon, from 

 which they executed and published a large 

 chart of the moon, in four sheets, so carefully 

 and completely exhibiting every point of its 

 visible surface that it remains to this day the 

 best lunar chart published. A treatise on gen- 

 eral selenography, in two volumes, was also pre- 

 pared by them to accompany this chart. The 

 chart and book were published in 1829-'37. 

 In 1836 Ilerr Maedler was appointed to a re- 

 sponsible position in the Observatory of Berlin, 

 and in 1840 called to the directorship of the 

 new observatory at Dorpat, then just founded 

 by the Czar Nicholas, and which at Herr Maed- 

 ler's suggestion was supplied with the best and 

 most complete instruments which money could 

 purchase. Here he occupied himself mainly 

 with observations relative to the movements 

 and aberrations of the fixed stars. These obser- 

 vations, long continued and carefully checked, 

 led him irresistibly^ the conclusion that there 

 was in or near the constellation Hercules a 

 great celestial body, invisible to our sight, 

 which he named the "Central Sun," around 

 which the fixed stars, with their planetary 



systems (our solar system among them) re- 

 volved just as the planets do around our sun. 

 This " Central Sun " he regarded as the centre 

 of the universe, and not improbably as the 

 dwelling-place of the Deity. Herr Maedler 

 published annually a volume giving a full ac- 

 count of the observations of the year, which 

 he subsequently condensed into a large and 

 interesting volume, entitled "Researches on 

 the System of Fixed Stars." His admirable 

 instruments enabled him to make these obser- 

 vations with an accuracy and precision never 

 previously attained. In 1858 the Russian 

 Government made him a Councillor of State. 

 In 1865 he was compelled, in consequence of 

 a disease of his eyes, to resign his position, and 

 returned to Berlin. But, though almost the 

 whole of his long life was devoted to astronom- 

 ical observations, Herr Maedler did not forget 

 the necessity of popularizing science. He pub- 

 lished : " Popular Astronomy " (1846), of which 

 numerous editions have been circulated; "The 

 Existence of a Central Sun " (1846) ; " Ele- 

 ments of Mathematical and Physical Geogra- 

 phy" (1844) ; "Letters on Astronomy" (1845- 

 '47) ; " The Heaven of the Fixed Stars " (1858) ; 

 "Total Eclipses of the Sun " (1861) ; and some 

 "Memoirs " containing important 'calculations 

 concerning some double stars, and two of the 

 satellites of Saturn. 



MAINE. The financial condition of the 

 State of Maine is very favorable. At the end 

 of the year 1873 there was a surplus in the 

 State Treasury of $436,430.68. The receipts 

 from all sources in 1874 amounted to $1,423,- 

 473.70, which, with the balance above men- 

 tioned, gave $1,859,904.38 as the resources of 

 the year. The payments from this amounted 

 to $1,537,718.54, leaving a balance on the 31st 

 of December of $322,185.84. The estimated 

 receipts for 1875 are $1,753,201.84; expendi- 

 tures, $1,557,560.19. The resources of the 

 State, including cash in the Treasury, balance 

 due on State taxes, sinking-funds, and securi- 

 ties in the land-office, amount to $2,940,802.26. 

 The liabilities of the State, including $7,088,- 

 400 of public debt, trust-funds amounting to 

 $2,387,201.09, balances due on various accounts 

 and for county taxes collected, are $9,959,- 

 690.25. The public bonded debt is represented 

 by $2,223,000 in registered, and $4,865,400 in 

 coupon bonds. Against this is $1,514,022.80 

 in the sinking-fund, making the net debt $5,- 

 574,378. The amount of the principal paid 

 during the year was $50,000. The aggregate 

 of payments on account of the debt, including 

 interest premiums, maturing principal, and sink- 

 ing-funds, was $679,558. In ten years nearly 

 $7,000,000 have been paid on account of the 

 State debt, $3,000,000 in reduction of the prin- 

 cipal, and $4,000,000 for interest. At the 

 present rate the remainder will be extinguished 

 within fourteen years. The Governor, in his 

 message to the Legislature of 1875, suggests a re- 

 duction of the assessment on account of the debt 

 from three to two mills, and the renewal of a 



