SCIENCE. 



9* 



With these facts before us, we read without sur- 

 prise the note by Professor O. Stone in our last issue, 

 in which he says of a recently published " Record of 

 the Progress of Astronomy during the year 1879," by 

 Mr. Deyer, of Dublin, one-third of the memoir is de- 

 voted to the result of astronomical work done in the 

 United States. 



An article on this subject would be incomplete 

 without a reference to the very perfect work of Messrs. 

 Alvan Clark & Son, of Cambridge, Mass., who appear 

 to have distanced both the English and the Conti- 

 nental opticians in the excellence of their objectives, 

 and who have secured to the United States the honor 

 of supplying the objective for the great equitorial about 

 to be manufactured for the Russian Government, to 

 be used in the Pulkowa Observatory by the distin- 

 guished astronomer, Otto Von Streuve. We also 

 notice that of the forty observatories recognized by the 

 Smithsonian Institute, seventeen have telescopes made 

 by this firm. In regard to the work now in progress 

 at the Messrs. Clark's establishment, it may be stated 

 without exaggeration that the world awaits with eager 

 expectancy the result of their labors. 



We record with pleasure the very perfect harmony 

 with which American astronomers co-operate and 

 work, which has doubtless been a leading point in 

 gaining the successes that have been attained. This is 

 in strong contrast with the constant bickering among 

 members of the Royal Astronomical Society and many 

 English astronomers, some of whom have not thought 

 it humiliating to charge the Astronomer Royal with 

 ignorance, and a stubborn adhesion to error, and to 

 allege that members of the council of the Royal Astro- 

 nomical Society suppress the papers of their fellow 

 members from personal and unworthy motives. 



Of American astronomers, it might seem invidious 

 to make a personal reference to particular men, but 

 the names of Newcomb, Hall, Eastman, Holden, 

 Stone, Burnham, Draper, Swift and Rutherford are 

 familiar in all civilized countries, and respected 

 wherever the science of astronomy is appreciated. 



M. Mascart has been making some observations at the 

 College of France, on atmospheric electricity, with a 

 Thomson quadrant electrometer, the deflections of the needle 

 being transmitted to a pencil. The two pairs of quadrants 

 are kept at equal potentials of contrary sign by two poles 

 of a battery which communicate with the ground ; the 

 needle is connected with a vessel letting flow a continuous 

 stream of water into the outer air. Generally the poten- 

 tial of the air, always positive, is found much higher, and 

 more uniform by night than by day. From 9 P. M. to 3 

 A. M„ it varies little, falls at daybreak, reaches a minimum 

 about 3 P. M., and rises rapidly to a maximum about 9 

 P. M. It is commonly thought that there are two maxima, 

 viz. morning and evening, and two minima, one in the day- 

 time, the other at night. M. Mascart believes that insula- 

 tion has been too much neglected. 



A NEW ELECTRIC PILE DEVISED BY M. 

 REYN1ER. 



Translated for " Science." 



M. Emile Reynier, the electrician, and inventor of an 

 electric lamp, which we have more than once had occasion 

 to present to our readers, and which its author has never 

 ceased to improve and perfect, with the view of making its 

 use more satisfactory, more convenient, and more econom- 

 ical, has now arranged a pile, which is at the same time 

 powerful and economical. This apparatus is composed of 

 a glass vessel in the form of an oblong square, in which is 

 immersed a sheet of copper bent upon itself, as shown in 

 Fig. 1. Upon the bottom of this copper hook rests a cup 

 of parchment, into which the zinc plate is placed, as shown 

 in Fig. 2. 













: . - — 



i 't 



!>:-- 















i^= 



tL'J i© 



-- 







':- 



>ei 



n 



% 



i-^^- 



V% 



* 





/ 





f r ~ 



'/ 



Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 



Fig. 1. — The copper plate of the Pile of Reynier. 

 Fig. 2. — The zinc plate of the Pile of Reynier. 



This vessel or porous diaphragm has this peculiarity, that 

 it is made up of a conical sheet of parchment, and that 

 corresponding with the rectangular or octagonal form, just 

 as may be chosen, it is folded upon itself (Figs. 3 and 4) as 

 indicated by the tracings of the diagrams (Figs. 5 and 6). 

 The strongly marked lines in the figures represent the folds 

 of the angles, the figures indicating the faces, whilst the 

 lighter lines represent the intermediate folds which insure 

 the stability of the system. 



Fig. 3 . 



Fig. 4. 



Fig. 3. — Parchment diaphragm of the hexagonal form. 

 Fig. 4. — Parchment diaphragm of the rectangular form. 



When the different parts are thus mounted, forming the 

 group known as an element (Fig. 7), a solution of caustic soda 

 is turned into the porous cup containing the zinc ; into the 

 outer vessel, a concentrated solution of the sulphate of 

 copper. The two electrodes, zinc and copper, being placed 

 in relation by the conductors, a constant chemical decom- 

 position begins. This pile, which M. Reynier qualifies as 



