Feb. 15, 1872] 



NATURE 



309 



These huts must have been covered, some, perhaps, 

 with stones, others with a wooden or wattle superstructure, 

 covered with clay or sods of turf; and their poor inhabi- 

 tants evidently cultivated, to a small extent, some of the 

 cereals, had an early knowledge of weaving, and lived 

 domesticated with oxen, goats, and swine. The red-deer 

 were most likely obtained by hunting in the dense forest 

 that then occupied the deep clay lands of North Hamp- 

 shire, as an extension of the ancient forests of Harewood, 

 and Chute, and Finkley. Further, these shallow pits 

 might have been the summer residences of a people whose 

 winter habitations were at Finkley. 



J. Stevens 



A^ 



INAUGURATION OF THE OBSERVATORY AT 

 CORDOBA 



N interesting account of the inauguration of the 

 Argentine Observatory at Cordoba in October last 

 appears in the Slaiulard of Buenos Ayres. The chief 

 feature of the ceremonial was a very able address by 

 Prof. Gould, the Director, from which we make the follow- 

 ing extracts, as bearing specially on the work of the 

 observatory : — 



" In the year 175 1 a French astronomer, the Abbd de la 

 Caille, visited the Cape of Good Hope for the purpose of 

 determining the positions of the principal southern stars. 

 With a little telescope of comparatively insignificant 

 dimensions, he succeeded in obtaining the materials for 

 so complete a catalogue— as far as the limit of brightness 

 which his telescope permitted — and in determining the 

 positions of those stars so well, that this catalogue of about 

 9,800 stars constitutes to-day the chief reliance of 

 astronomers for their knowledge of a large portion of the 

 southern sky. Since that time a permanent observ:ilory 

 has been established by the British Government at the 

 same place, and a large number of valuable observations 

 have been made by various eminent men. Other observa- 

 tories in the southern hemisphere have been founded at 

 Paramatta, .Santiago dc Chile, and Melbourne, all of which 

 have contributed essentially to our knowledge of the 

 southern sky ; as also has the observatory at Madras, which, 

 although north of the equator, commands a view of the 

 greater portion of the southern heavens. Yet how much re- 

 mains to be done in this direction will be very evident when 

 I state that, while the numberof stars in the northern hemi- 

 sphere whose positions and magnitudes have been deter- 

 mined cannot fall short of about 330,000, the number in the 

 southern hemispliere ^^ hose observed places have been 

 published does not probably exceed 50,000. But this is 

 not all. The greater portion of those which have been 

 observed lie in that part of the sky which is clearly visible 

 in Europe ; and if we consider the regions beyond 30°, 

 there are scarcely 13,000 southern stars whose places anel 

 magnitudes have been determined and made available for 

 scientific use, while the corresponding portion of the 

 northern sky contains something like 164,000 such stars. 



"The first undertaking now proposed for the Argentine 

 Observatory is to do something towards filling this hiatus 

 by determining the places of the principal stars situated 

 between the tropics, where the observations of northern 

 astronomers begin to become less numerous, and the 

 polar circle, where Gilliss' observations commence. This 

 work is best performed by dividing the sky into narrow 

 zones or belts, and subjecting each zone to a special 

 scrutiny for the purpose of measuring the positions of all 

 stars of a sufficient brightness within its limits. If no un- 

 foreseen impediment presents itself, these observations 

 should be completed within two years from their com- 

 mencement. 



■' There is another most important investigation espe- 

 cially desirable in the present condition of our knowledge : 

 this is the application of the newly-discovered methods of 



stellar photography to the more prominent objects in the 

 southern heavens. The ingenious researches and inven- 

 tions of Mr. Rutherford in New York have resulted in the 

 development of methods by which the relative positions 

 of clusters of stars may be permanently recorded by 

 photographing them upon glass, and the numerical values 

 subsequently determined by means of a measurement of 

 the photographic impressions, with a degree of precision 

 far greater than that of the ordinary methods. And 

 this process possesses the signal and pecuUar advan- 

 tage, that the representations thus obtained of the 

 stars' places at a given moment may be preserved, 

 and the measurements repeated at any subsequent 

 time. The process has not yet been introduced 

 into European observatories, but it has been thoroughly 

 tested in America, and valuable researches have already 

 been made by this photographic method. 



" During the greater part of the year we have had 

 neither instruments nor building, and during the short 

 time these have been available we have experienced an 

 unexpected and most serious obstacle in the clouds of im- 

 palpable dust, which, rising from all sides, penetrate to 

 the inmost crevices of every part of the instruments. This 

 difficulty will, I think, be obviated to a great extent when 

 vegetable growth shall have covered the soil ; and to this 

 end the Minister has given directions for providing 

 as good a supply of water [as may be possible, while the 

 building and instruments have been provided with special 

 and unusual protections against the evil. The position of 

 the city of Cordoba renders this trouble inevitable, inas- 

 much as water for irrigation is only to be found in the 

 valley, whilst an observatory must necessarily be placed 

 upon high land. With the arrival of the rainy season I 

 trust that a carpet of vegetation may remove this source 

 of anxiety. 



" A considerable time would, under any circumstances, 

 have been requisite for computing the numerical table, 

 and making the various other calculations needful for 

 bringing the instruments into active service. The addi- 

 tional interval has been employed in an undertaking of a 

 totally different sort, which may, I trust, be found in the 

 end to possess as much scientific importance as the w'ork 

 originally intended. During this period of enforced delay 

 we have succeeded in making a full catalogue of all those 

 stars of the southern heavens which are visible to the 

 naked eye, determining for each one the precise degree of 

 its brightness. When, after the moon has set to-night, 

 you raise your vision to the starry sky, and, as you look 

 more intently, perceive one faint star after another reveal 

 itself to your sight, you will yet succeed in discerning no 

 star whose place and magnitude has not been recorded 

 within the past'year by some one or more of the observers 

 in this institution — 



" ' Sidera cuncta notans tacito labentia ca4o.' 



" The progress of the work so far has not failed to afford 

 its due share of discoveries. It has given us the know- 

 ledge of a considerable number of stars which possess 

 the singular character that their brightness is not always 

 the same, but undergoes systematic variations. Some 

 have been seen to rise to considerable brilliancy, and then 

 fade away until telescopes of some power arc needed for 

 rendering them visible. Others still are now found to 

 possess a brilliancy decidedly greater or decidedly less 

 than that which has been assigned to them by more than 

 one astronomer in times past. Such stars must be care- 

 fully watched, and the fact of any regular and periodic 

 fluctuation in the amount of their light either established 

 or disproved. Of such cases there are already many on 

 our records, thanks to the assiduity and zeal of the assistant 

 astronomers, no one of whom has failed to make manifest 

 the existence of several. One of those most remarkable 

 for the rapidity of its changes is a little star in the con- 

 stellation '■ Musea," which is invisible to the unaided 



