ASTRONOMY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 441 



by the establishment of several well-equipped observatories with funds 

 supplied by the State Governments, or provided by the munificence 

 of private individuals. At Washington there is a central observatory; 

 but one of the most famous observatories in the States is that of 

 Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, which possesses one 

 of the finest refracting telescopes in the world. It was by this instru- 

 ment that Bond discovered the eighth satellite of Saturn. Several 

 ingenious applications of the principle of the electric telegraph to 

 time-signalling, and to the recording of the moment at which astrono- 

 mical phenomena occur, are due to American men of science, and 

 such applications have enabled astronomers to observe the time of 

 these occurrences with a marvellous degree of precision. 



Among other influences promoting the improvement of astronomy 

 may be named the regular publication of observations. Several 

 Ephemerides were, it is true, published periodically during the pre- 

 ceding century, but their utility was restricted by the absence of suf- 

 ficient detail in the records. In 1800 monthly astronomical journals 

 were first published in Germany, and this system has been followed 

 up in various quarters with excellent results. The foundation in 1820 

 of the Royal Astronomical Society of London marks another epoch 

 in the recent historv of the science. 



FIG. 197. LORD ROSSE'S TELESCOPES. 



