198 REVIEWS — U. S. NAVAL ASTRONOMICAL 



that the government would be glad to purchase our observatories as they stood. 

 Dr. Charles Moesta, a graduate of the university of Marburg, -was appointed 

 director, and was placed in communication with me, so that he could become 

 familiar with his instruments by the time we were ready to surrender them. 



On the return to the United States, of the rest of the expedition 

 by the Panama route, Lieut. MacRae was despatched home via 

 Buenos Ayres, across the Andes aud Pampas. The chief objects of 

 this journey, were to determine the variation of magnetic intensity 

 dependent on the distance from the earth's centre, to assist Baron 

 Lindenauin his investigations relative to atmospheric refraction, and 

 to collect general information respecting the geography and 

 meteorology of the Andes and Pampas. 



The entire journey occupied him about sixty days, of which twelve 

 were employed in observations within the Andes. Accidents 

 having unfortunately occurred to the chronometers, by which dis- 

 credit might be thrown on the longitudes of his stations, Lieut. 

 MacRae, on his arrival in the United States, volunteered to retrace 

 his steps at his own cost if a new set of instruments were supplied to 

 him. His offer being accepted, he embarked for Buenos Ayres, in 

 August. 1853, crossed the Pampas and Andes to Valparaiso, and 

 finally returned to the United States in March, 1854. 



Reports of both his journeys are given in the second volume, occu- 

 pying some eighty pages. With respect to his magnetic observa- 

 tions, to which -he alludes very briefly, he remarks that he encounter- 

 ed much difficulty in making accurate observations in mountain 

 passes, on account chiefly of local attraction and strong winds ; he 

 however, considers their accuracy' sufficient to justify the deduction 

 that the intensity diminishes with elevation, by some law as yet 

 unknown. 



But to return to the 1st volume. This, the exclusive work of Mr. 

 Grilliss, is the more acceptable, from the fact that previous books, or 

 most of them, respecting Chili, refer to a condition prior to the last 

 quarter of a century, and describes v.hat Chili was, instead of what 

 it is. 



In the opening chapter on descriptive geography, and in the 

 following one, on the distribution of industrial resources, the 

 author enters into various details relative to the physical and social 

 causes which have operated in determining the position of the cities, 

 the comparative progress of different districts, and their capacity for 

 further improvement. 



In the chapter on earthquakes, we read some vivid descriptions of 



