We trust the time is not distant when, with the completion of a tele- 

 graphic cable between Japan and the United States, this system will be 

 extended to the eastern part of Asia, and the astronomers who are now 

 in process of education in the United States, both from China and Japan, 

 will be able to participate in the facilities thus offered for co-operation 

 in the advance of astronomy. In connection with the publication of this 

 circular, the National Academy of Sciences, at its meeting on the 15th of 

 April, adopted a resolution recommending that amateur astronomers 

 devote a portion of their time to sweeping the sky for the discovery of 

 comets. 



JOSEPH HENRY, 



Secretary Smithsonian Institution. 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 



Washington, D. C., May, 1873. 



