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SCIENCE. 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 

 Progress. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



PUBLISHED AT 



229 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 

 P. O. Box 3838. 



SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1880. 



To Correspondents. 



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AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL WORK. 



The progress of science in the United States can- 

 not be better illustrated than by a brief review of the 

 astronomical work now in progress, and the instru- 

 ments at the command of those making observations 

 in this country. 



Taking as our authority the " Report on Observato- 

 ries," published by the Smithsonian Institution, and the 

 "Annual Record" prepared by Professor Edward S. 

 Holden, of the U. S. Naval Observatory. Washington, 

 we find that in seventeen States Astronomical Obser- 

 vatories are located, varying in degree of importance 

 from the National Observatory at Washington, to the 

 possessor of a two-inch achromatic telescope of its 

 owner's own make. The work done with the lattei 

 instrument being most instructive as showing how 



much really good scientific work can be done with 

 limited means when directed by intelligence well ap- 

 plied. 



The State of New York can boast of twelve obser- 

 vatories, Michigan four, Pennsylvania three, Massa- 

 chusetts, Connecticut, Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, each 

 two, and Tennessee, California, Mississippi, Min- 

 nesota, Indiana, Kansas, Illinois, Maryland have each 

 one observatory. It will thus be seen what an im- 

 mense territory is covered by American astronomers, 

 ranging from the shores of the Atlantic to the Pacific 

 coast, and from the tropical regions of the Gulf of 

 Mexico to Lake Superior on the North. Many of 

 these observatories are supplied with requisite ap- 

 pliances of the most perfect description, while all, 

 with one exception, have at least a good achromatic 

 astronomical telescope. 



For the benefit of those who desire to promote as- 

 tronomical research, we may state that the single ex- 

 ception we refer to of an observatory without a tele- 

 scope, is that of the Ohio State Observatory, the 

 director of which is Professor R. W. McFarland, who 

 states that he " was trying to get the authorities to do 

 something," apparently with poor results. 



Among the largest equatorials directed nightly to 

 survey the heavenly bodies may be mentioned the great 

 26-inch instrument, by Messrs. Alvan Clark & Sons, 

 at the Naval Observatory at Washington, under the 

 charge of Professor Asaph Hall (who has already 

 made such important discoveries with it), assisted by 

 Professor Edward S. Holden ; the Dearborn Obser- 

 vatory at Chicago possesses an 18^-inch equatorial 

 (Alvan Clark) ; Harvard University employs a 15-inch 

 equatorial by Mertz ; the Allegheny Observatory 

 Pennsylvania, has a 13-inch instrument (Alvan Clark) ; 

 the Morrison Observatory, Glasgow, Missouri, uses a 

 1 2^-inch instrument (Alvan Clark) ; Professor Lewis 

 Swift at Rochester, New York, has charge of a 16- 

 inch equatorial (Alvan Clark) ; the lady Professor of 

 Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, has an excellent equa- 

 torial of 12^-inch (Alvan Clark), while lastly, Dr. 

 Henry Draper at Hastings, N. Y., owns a 12-inch 

 instrument, also by Alvan Clark. 



This powerful battery of astronomical telescopes of 

 the highest excellence might seem to be sufficient for 

 one nation, but the national spirit of American enter- 

 prise appears to be strongly infused into this great 

 branch of scientific research, for new astronomical 

 telescopes of mammoth proportion and exquisite per- 

 fection are now in course of construction for United 

 States observatories, which, in the hands of the able 

 astronomers ready to receive them, will doubtless add 

 to their already well earned lame and the prestige of 

 science in this country. 



