ASTRONOMICAL PEOGRESS AND PHENOMENA. 



39 



Observatories in the United States. At the Naval 

 Observatory in Washington the 26-inch equa- 

 torial has been used by Prof. Hall in observa- 

 tions for stellar parallax, and also in observa- 

 tions of satellites, of double stars, and of Sat- 

 urn. The transit-circle work has been con- 

 tinued as in former years, and comets and as- 

 teroids have been observed with the 9'6- 

 inch equatorial. Prof. Frisby has been en- 

 gaged upon a revision of Yarnall's catalogue. 

 The facilities for testing chronometers have 

 been improved, and the time-service has re- 

 cently been considerably extended. About 200 

 " Gardner clocks " are automatically corrected 

 daily by a signal from the observatory, and 

 time-balls are dropped at New York, Phil- 

 adelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Hampton 

 Koads, Savannah, and New Orleans. For the 

 erection of a new observatory upon the site 

 near Washington purchased in 1880, Congress 

 has appropriated $100,000, with the provision 

 that the cost of the whole work shall not ex- 

 ceed $400,000. The plans for the new build- 

 ings are now being prepared. 



The latest report of the Director of the Har- 

 vard College Observatory, at present available, 

 was submitted to the visiting committee Dec. 

 7, 1886. The extensive series of photometric 

 observations has been continued, with gratify- 

 ing success. Stellar photography is now re- 

 ceiving considerable attention, and interesting 

 results have been obtained, to which reference 

 has elsewhere been made. The financial re- 

 sources have recently been greatly increased. 

 The Paine bequest, half of which, about $164,- 

 000, is now available, has been added to the 

 endowment of the observatory ; and the Boy- 

 den fund of over $230,000 which was left for 

 the purpose of making observations " at such 

 an elevation as to be free, so far as practicable, 

 from the hindrances to accurate observations, 

 which occur in the observatories now existing, 

 owing to atmospheric influences " has been 

 transferred to the President and Fellows of 

 Harvard College, so that the researches Mr. 

 Boyden had in view may be carried out under 

 the administration of the observatory. Prof. 

 Pickering has already occupied, during the past 

 summer, a high station in Colorado for experi- 

 mental purposes, and intends eventually to es- 

 tablish as observatory in the southern hemi- 

 sphere, where a series of photographic observa- 

 tions will be carried on supplementary to simi- 

 lar work at Cambridge. 



The report of the Dearborn Observatory of 

 Chicago for 1885 and 1886 has lately been is- 

 sued. It contains a list of nebulae discovered 

 there by Prof. T. H. Safford in 1866-'68 ; pa- 

 pers on the motion of the lunar apsides, and on 

 the companion of Sirius by Prof. E. Colbert ; 

 and an illustrated paper on the physical aspect 

 of Jupiter, a catalogue of 209 new double 

 stars, and a description of a printing chrono- 

 graph, by Prof. G. W. Hough. The lawsuit 

 respecting the ownership of the instruments 

 has been decided in favor of the observatory. 



The first of the publications of the Morrison 

 Observatory, Glasgow, Mo., is a well-printed 

 volume of 111 pages, giving an account of the 

 founding of the observatory, with a full de- 

 scription of the building and instruments, and 

 the observations in detail. The instruments 

 consist, chiefly, of a 12J-inch Clark equatorial, 

 and a 6-inch Troughton and Simms meridian 

 circle, similar in plan to the meridian circle of 

 the Harvard Observatory. Observations of 

 double stars, of planets, comets, and occulta- 

 tions by the moon have been made by the di- 

 rector, Prof. C. W. Pritchett, assisted by Prof. 

 H. S. Pritchett and C. W. Pritchett, Jr. ; and 

 as a preliminary work the geographical co-or- 

 dinates of the meridian circle were determined. 

 The volume contains .several drawings of the 

 observatory, and sketches of Saturn and of 

 comets. 



Prof. Stone has devoted the 26-inch refract- 

 or of the McCormick Observatory mainly to 

 the study of nebulas; an especial feature of 

 his work being the determination of accurate 

 positions of all the nebulas north of 30 south 

 declination, which are condensed at the center 

 and as bright as the fourteenth magnitude. 

 The groat nebula of Orion has been repeatedly 

 examined, for the purpose of determining the 

 relative brightness of the various condensations 

 composing it, and thus of furnishing means of 

 detecting any change that may take place in 

 them. Prof. Stone speaks highly of the elec- 

 tric illumination, which he has applied to the 

 equatorial. 



The Washburn Observatory, which was left 

 without a director upon Prof. Holden's resig- 

 nation in the winter of 1885, was placed tem- 

 porarily under the charge of Prof. John E. 

 Davies, on July 1, 1886, and Prof. Davies 

 has now been succeeded by Prof. G. C. Corn- 

 stock, who served as assistant in the observa- 

 tory to both Prof. Holden and his predecessor, 

 Prof. Watson. The fifth volume of publica- 

 tions, giving an account of the work accom- 

 plished down to April 1, 1887, has been issued 

 by Prof. Davies. With the meridian circle a 

 series of observations has been made for the 

 determination of the latitude, and a discussion 

 of that co-ordinate is given by Mr. Updegraff. 

 A list of stars has also been observed in dec- 

 lination, with this instrument. The 15J-inch 

 equatorial has been used for measuring double 

 stars and for observations of Sappho (80) and 

 of comet 1887 II. Miss Lamb contributes a 

 useful index to certain stars contained in va- 

 rious Greenwich catalogues. 



The 36-inch lenses of the great refractor of 

 the Lick Observatory were safely transport- 

 ed across the continent, and were deposited in 

 the vaults of the Lick Observatory on Dec. 

 27, 1886. The safe transportation was a mat- 

 ter of great moment to the trustees. The 

 lenses were wrapped separately in fifteen or 

 twenty thicknesses of soft cotton cloth, and 

 were put into separate wooden boxes lined 

 with felt. No nails were used near the glasses, 



