104 

scales. I hope that the error of observation may not 
exceed four seconds of time, corresponding to about 013 
of arc. I shall be very glad to see, in a detailed form, a 
plan for making the proper measures by heliometric or 
photographic apparatus ; and should take great interest in 
combining these with the eye-observations, if my selected 
stations can be made available. But my present impres- 
sion is one of doubt on the certainty of equality of parts 
in the scale employed. An error depending on this cause 
could not be diminished by any repetition of observations. 
As, inthe event of any national enterprise being promoted 
in the direction of photographic record, itis probable that 
the Astronomer Royal may ministerially take an important 
part, I venture to submit to the Board of Visitors that 
suggestions on the value and plan of such observations 
fall entirely within their competence.” 
All the American observers of the Solar Eclipse, as well 
as M. Janssen, have visited the Observatory during the 
past year. J 
The current reductions of observations, it is remarked, 
are in a healthy state. Regular reductions give, “in 
general, great facility for the most advanced inferences ; 
the star-catalogues, and solar, lunar, and planetary errors, 
lend themselves immediately to investigations of a phy- 
sical character ; the magnetic reductions distinctly, though 
tacitly, exhibit some of those results (for instance, annual 
inequalities) which in various observatories have been the 
subject of special memoirs. 
“But from time to time it becomes desirable to unite 
some of those annual or nearly annual results in groups, 
so as to exhibit the results justly derivable from masses of 
observations extending over long periods of years. These 
operations require new organisations ; and, what is worse, 
they require additional grants of money. I have usually 
refrained from asking for these, without the distinct 
approval of the Visitors. JI would now submit for their 
judgment the following subjects :— 
“The vigorous prosecution of the Meteorological Reduc- 
tions (exhibiting the results deducible from the photo- 
graphic registers) already begun. 
“The combination of the results of Magnetic Observa- 
tions on disturbed days, from the year 1864. 
“The discussion of Magnetic Storms, from the year 1858. 
“ Perhaps, also, the discussion of observations in groups 
depending on Lunar Declination, or other phases.” 
The report concludes as follows :—“ There is another 
consideration which very often presents itself to my mind: 
the waste of labour in the repetition of observations at 
different observatories. The actual Greenwich system 
was established when there was little to compete with. 
Other observatories have since arisen, equipped with and 
principally using the same classes of instruments, and 
devoting themselves in great measure to the samesubjects 
of observation (except the unrelenting pursuit of the moon, 
and perhaps the fundamental elements of the ecliptic). | 
Ought this Observatory to retire from the competition? 
I think not ; believing that there is greater security here 
than anywhere else for the unbroken continuity of system 
which gives the principal value to series of observatiors. 
Still, I remark that much Jabour is wasted, and that, on 
one side or another, that consideration ought not to be 
put out of sight in planning the courses of different ob- 
servatories.” 
This isa very broad hint for some English as well 
as Foreign Observatories, and it will be well for the 
cause of Science if the directors of those observatories 
will take it. 

THE SCIENTIFIC VALUE OF CHEESE- 
FACTORIES 
HE American system of cheese-factories was estab- 
lished nearly twenty years ago, and in its present 
condition of maturity it retains all the essential features 
NATURE 



[Fune 8, 1871 
which were characteristic of its infancy.* The test of 
twenty years’ experience in a country where apparent im- 
provements are eagerly submitted to a fair trial is amply 
sufficient to prove the success of the system. Recently 
the question of its adaptability to English dairy districts 
has acquired considerable prominence in agricultural 
circles, and is now passing from the stage of discussion 
to that of experiment. The two great merits which are 
claimed for it are, economy in the labour of production, 
and superiority of quality in the produce. It is evident 
that if a dozen farmers convey their milk to one building 
(a factory) to be made into cheese or butter, fewer hands 
are required to perform the work than if the process were 
carried on at a dozen different places by as many sets of 
people. The factory can be furnished with better labour- 
saving machinery than the farm-dairy, and the former 
establishment requires no more supervision than the latter. 
The process of cheese-making, also, occupies practically 
the same length of time, whether the quantity of milk 
under treatment be large or small, so that two or three 
persons whose energies are concentrated at one place will 
produce as great an economic result as a dozen or more 
who are necessarily employed at as many different points, 
each one going through the same routine independently 
of the other. 
The superiority in the quality of the manufactured 
article may be more difficult of explanation, for the best 
farm-dairies produce as good cheese as any factory. The 
reason why the establishment of factories has improved 
the average make of cheese is because fewer first-rate 
cheese-makers are required under the factory system. 
But when Mr. Jesse Williams established the first factory 
twenty years ago, the great bulk of American cheese was 
extremely poor, and for many years after it was almost 
unsaleable in the English market. At the present day, 
on the contrary, it can compete on even terms with all but 
the very choicest English makes, notwithstanding that it 
has to undergo the ordeal of a long sea-voyage. The 
factory-system, therefore, has not only improved the 
average quality of American cheese, but it hasvery consider- 
ably raised the standard of the choicest brands. 
Students of nature are perfcctly well aware that the 
most sure and rapid progress is made by means of associ- 
ation and co-operation, The same phenomena are ob- 
served from different points of view by workers in the 
same field; a comparison of their notes leads to the group- 
ing of kindred facts ; the apnarert exceptions are seen to 
be the product of attendant variations in the methods or 
circumstances of observation ; and by a process of induc- 
tion an explanatory theory is air-ved at, to be confirmed 
or rejected by future investigations. In this manner the 
cheese-factory system has gone far towards the establish- 
ment in America of a science of cheese-making. Each 
factory has been the theatre of ¢xact observations, which 
have been duly recorded. Tie results of comparisons of 
these records have been emLodicd in papers read before 
the American Dairymen’s Association ; and the conclu- 
sions of the authors have been frequently put to the 
crucial test of experiment. 
The American Dairymen’s Association is only a child 
of the Factory-system. It is organised on a plan similar 
to that of the British Association for the Advancement of 
Science, and like that institution, holds an Annual ‘* Con- 
vention,” at which papers are read and lectures are de- 
livered. These contributions to the literature of dairying, 
and the discussions thereon, are published in an annual 
“ Report,” which also contains detailed reports from numer- 
ous cheese and butter factories, giving the dates of com- 
mencing and finishing work, the number of cows supply- 
ing the factory, the quantity of milk received, the quantity 
of cheese made, the percentage of cheese to milk at 
different periods of the year, and as compared with 
* For detailed descriptions of this system, zd@e Journal Royal Agricultural 
Society, 2nd Series, vol. vi. p. 173, and vol, vil. p. 1. 
