Miscellanies. 361 



MISCELLANIES. 



DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN. 

 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



1. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Philadel' 

 phia* October 18, 1839.— Mr. S. C. Walker, in behalf of the Com- 

 mittee on the paper entitled, " Astronomical Observations made at 

 Hudson Observatory, &c., by Elias Loomis, Professor of Nat. Phi- 

 los., &c. in the Western Reserve College, Hudson, Ohio," made the 

 following report : — 



The memoir of Prof. Loomis contains a description of the Hudson 

 Observatory, erected at the expense of the Western Reserve College 

 at Hudson, Ohio. The building consists of a central portion, fifteen 

 feet square upon the inside. From a circular platform of ten feet di- 

 ameter, rise twelve small cherry columns, that sustain a hemispheric 

 dome of nine feet internal diameter, covering a five and a half feet 

 equatorial of 3.8 inches aperture, by Simms. The dome rotates on 

 ten lignumvitae wheels of five inches diameter. The equatorial rests 

 on an insulated pier, descending six feet below the surface of the 

 ground, and rising three feet above the platform, which is itself about 

 six feet above the surface of the ground. 



The eastern wing is ten feet by twelve, and seven and a half feet 

 high, and covers a Simms' transit circle of eighteen inches diameter, 

 graduated on platinum to 5', and reading to single seconds by three 

 Troughton's microscopes. The telescope has a focal length of thirty 

 inches and an aperture of 2.7 inches. The transit circle, and a clock 

 by Molyneux, are each mounted on separate insulated piers. The 

 western wing contains no instruments ; but serves for a lodging-room, 

 computing-room, &c. 



Professor Loomis gives the following results for the latitude of the 

 Hudson Observatory. 



By u. c. Polaris, 



mean, 41 14 38.1 



* So much has accumulated since our last publication of the Proceedings of the 

 American Philosophical Society, that we are under the necessity of abridging to 

 some extent the abstract given by the Society. — Eds. 



