JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 143 
amateur, the President of the Hamilton Astronomical Society has 
made his of brass, and they read to seconds. It thus happens that 
when it is required to see a first magnitude star, or a planet in broad 
daylight, he has only to find the position as recorded by the Nauti- 
cal Almanac for his longitude, adjust his circles accordingly, and the 
object desired is in the field of view of his refractor, located in full 
sunshine to a second of time on the great dial-plate of the sky. 
_ In the Transit Room is a Transit instrument of 2-inch aperture, 
by Troughton, which is firmly fixed on a concrete pillar reaching five 
feet into the ground. All determinations of time, which, by the way, 
form an important part of the work carried on in Aberdeen Obser- 
vatory, are made with this instrument, and it has been verified from 
Toronto Observatory and other important astronomical centres that 
Dr. Marsh can obtain the time from both Solar and Stellar observa- 
tions to a fraction of a second. 
As photography has of recent years played such an important 
part in astronomical matters, it is interesting to note that some very 
good photographs of the moon have been secured with the 5-inch 
Telescope of the Observatory, as the accompanying photograph 
will bear out. Those who have had any experience of celestial 
photography will know the difficulty of taking photographs with a 
Refractor, as in this kind of instrument the visual and actinic foci 
are different. It thus follows that a suitable adjustment has to be 
made in the focus of the telescope before taking a negative. To 
overcome this difficulty a color screen has recently been utilized to 
exclude the out-of-focus blue light, which would destroy the sharp- 
ness of the photograph and allow only the sharp yellow or visual 
image to reach the sensitive plate. Dr. Marsh experimented inde- 
pendently in this field of research, and he is probably one of the 
first in Canada who has succeeded in producing photographs of the 
celestial bodies by this method. 
General observations of the Sun, Moon, planets and fixed stars 
are constantly made at the Observatory, the results of which are 
from time to time laid before the Society, and the enthusiasm which 
our President throws into all the work he undertakes acts as an 
incentive to further study and research on the part of all the mem 
bers who come in touch with him. 
