REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 33 



The announcement of this arrangement has called forth the approba- 

 tion of the astronomers of the world ; and in regard to it we may quote 

 the following passage from the fifty-fourth annual report of the Eoyal 

 Astronomical Society of England : 



''The great value of this concession on the part of the Atlantic telegraph 

 aiud other companies cannot be too highly prized, and our science must 

 certainly be the gainer by this disinterested act of liberality. Already 

 planets discovered in America have been observed in Europe on the 

 evening following the receipt of the telegram, or within two or three 

 days of their discovery." 



To carry out the proposition, the following arrangements have been 

 adopted : 



Center of communication in the United States : 



1. The Smithsonian Institution, Joseph Henry, director. 



Centers of communication in Europe : 



1. Greenwich Observatory, Sir George B. Airy, astronomer-roj^al. 



2. Paris Observatory, M. Leverrier. director. 



3. Berlin Observatory, Prof. W. Eoerster, director. 



4. Vienna Observatory, Academy of Sciences, Prof von Littrow, 



director. 



5. Pulliova Observatorj', M. Struve, director. 



Telegrams received at the Smithsonian Institution from observers in 

 the United States will be forwarded immediately by Atlantic cable to 

 Greenwich, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Pulkova, and thence by telegraph 

 to other observatories in Europe. 



Directions. — Discoveries made in Europe of new comets, planets, &c., 

 will be announced without delay from Greenwich, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, 

 or Pulkova by Atlantic cable to the Smithsonian Institution, and thence 

 by telegraph to American observatories and the Associated Press. 



The telegraphic dispatch announcing a discovery should be as brief 

 as possible 5 and, after conference with astronomers, the following form 

 has been agreed upon : 



After the single word " i^lanet" (or " comet '-) is given, 



(1st) its right ascension in time, hours and minutes only ; nest, 



separated by the word 

 (2d) north or south, is given its 

 (3d) declination to the nearest minute. 



In the case of a planet, in addition to the foregoing follows finally the 



magnitude expressed by the nearest ordinal number. In the case of a 



comet follows the word bright ov faint, and it is well to add the direction 



of motion, requiring at the utmost two words combined, of S. W. N. E. : 



and also, if rapid, the quantity of its daily motion, the latter to the 



nearest whole number in degrees. For example, the following dispatch, 



'' Planet twenty-three thirty-five north twenty-one forty-six eleventh, " 



would be interpreted: A new planet is discovered in 23^^ 35"' of right 



ascension and +21° 46' of declination 5 eleventh magnitude. 



Or a dispatch like the following : " Comet twenty-two forty-three nortS 

 3 s 



