AuousT 3, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



131 



Scott, Professor litiy Laiikester of Univei-sity 

 college (Ivondon) and I'rofessor Jcffivv Hell of 

 Kings college, Dr. Spencer Cobbold, Mr. 

 Romvn Hitchcock of New York, Jlr. U. K. 

 Earlf of Washington, Dr. Ilubrecht of Utrecht. 

 Professor Smitt, Professor Torell and Dr. 

 Tr^bom of Sweden. Dr. W. A. Huch of Nor- 

 way, Professor Giglioli of Florence, Dr. Stein- 

 dachner of Vienna, and Mv. E. P. Ramsay of 

 the Sydney nnisenni (New South Wales), — are 

 all liere in the work. Just before the opening 

 of the exhibition. Nature, in an editorial, after 

 stating that the management of affairs had been 

 trusted almost entirely to ' practical ' men. to 

 the exclusion of English men of science, ex- 

 pressed some doubt as to whether this policy 

 would effect as satisfactory results as that of 

 the Berlin exhibition. It would be interesting 

 to know liow far this hint has influenced the 

 action of the executive committee. The com- 

 mittee has shown itself singularly sensitive 

 to the voices of well-meaning advisers, and 

 changes are constantly being made for the 

 better in the management of affairs. For 

 instance : the conference chaml)er has been 

 removed from the conservatory, where it was 

 torture eitlier to speak or to listen, to one of 

 the picture-galleries near the main entrance : 

 and the experimental lisli-market in connec- 

 tion with the exhibition lias been thrown open 

 to the public without admission-fees, and a 

 separate entrance cut tinough from Exhibition 

 road . 



The papers read at the conferences are 

 being printed in full, together with the discus- 

 sions wiiich follow them, and will form a val- 

 uable little library, when supplemented by the 

 shilling handbooks to the exhibition, which 

 are being rapidly printed. Fifteen of these 

 handbooks are announced, in addition to the 

 eighteen or more ■ paiiers of the conferences.' 

 The literature of the exhibition is reserved for 

 future discussion. It is much to be hoped 

 that the authorities will crown the series with 

 an illustrated report, prepared by scientific 

 committees, similar to the valuable ' Amt- 

 liche berichte iibei- die Internationale flseherei- 

 ausstellung zu Berlin.' 



The closing address at the conference by 

 Professor R.av Lankester will be upon ' The 

 scientific results of the exhibition.' It would 

 not be surprising if Professor Lankester were 

 to choose to act the part of the prophet rather 

 than that of the recorder, and to point out in 

 his discourse what the exhibition ought to do 

 for science. A number of prominent educators 

 and investigators have already addressed to 

 the executive committee a memorial advocat- 



ing the establishment of a national marine 

 zoological station with a part of the surplus 

 funds, which, from present appearances, are 

 likely to remain over at the end of the exhibi- 

 tion. In another letter I hope to review briefly 

 the most important features of the exhibits of 

 the several countries. (i. Bkown (Joode. 



lilchmond mil, July 10. 



THE PARfS OBSERVATORY. 



We abstract from Nature the items of chief interest 

 in the report of Admiral Moiicliez, the director of the 

 Paris observatory, on the state of that institution 

 during the past year. Its service has been consider- 

 ably deranged by the preparations for the transit of 

 Venus. Tlie v.arious members of the expedition at- 

 tended the observatory to be trained either in pliotog- 

 raphy or in tlie use of the .xrtificial transit, and no 

 less than five of the personnel of the observatory 

 tliemselves toot; part in the work. The grounds of 

 tbe observatory have l)een extended, the equatorial 

 coude h.as Ijeen installed, and several underground 

 chambers have been constructed for the purpose of 

 studying m.ignetism and terrestrial physics generally. 

 A revision of Lalande's catalogue of stars, numbering 

 forty thousand, has been going on for the past four 

 years. The general catalogue, which will form eight 

 volumes in ijuarto, is well in hand : and four volume* 

 will be published during the next three years. Me- 

 ridian observations, numbering a hundred and ten 

 thousand, have already been made, to assist in the 

 construction of the catalogue. 



The common inconveniences attending the use of 

 equatorials of the usual form of construction have 

 led M. Loewy to conceive the idea of adapting to the 

 equatorial the system of ' lunette hris^e,^ employed 

 first in England, and afterward to a greater extent 

 in Germany, especially in small transit instruments. 

 The new ci>ude equatorial may be thus described: 

 the polar axis of the instrument is supported at its 

 extremities on two pillars, like a meridian instrument ; 

 round this axis the telescope turns, forming a right 

 angle at the lower support; by means of a mirror 

 placed at the summit of this angle, the light is re- 

 flected along the pierced axis, at the end of which the 

 eye-piece, or micrometer, is placed. Lender these 

 conditions, with the telescope at rest, objects on the 

 celestial equator pass across the observer's field of 

 view. In order to secure the observation of objects 

 not on the equator, a mirror free to rotate is placed 

 before the object-glass, and connected with the dec- 

 lination-circle. The inclination of this mirror may 

 be changed so as to throw into the tube the light 

 coming from a star of any declination. The ol)serv- 

 er may thus explore every part of the heavens with- 

 out quitting Ills position at one end of the polar axis. 

 The telescope may practically, by a rotation of this 

 axis, be directed toward any part of the celestial 

 e<|uator, whilst a star of any declination may be 

 made to throw its light down the broken telescope 

 bv means of the external mirror. Preliminary ex- 



