November 13, 1885.] 



SCIElSrCE. 



427 



western limit of the province of Santa Catherina, 

 has been for some time in doubt. Efforts hitherto 

 made to settle it have been fruitless ; and the dis- 

 puted area between the Uruguay and Iguassu 

 Rivers, a strip some seventy-five miles wide, has 

 been regarded as neutral ground. In the little- 

 known region known as the Missiones, formerly 

 governed by the Jesuit missionaries, an old treaty 

 between Spain and Portugal fixed upon two rivers, 

 the Peperi and San Antonio, flowing respectively 

 north to the Iguassu, and south into the Uruguay, 

 as the boundary in question. The determination 

 in modern times of the particular rivers, out of 

 many existing, which were entitled to bear the 

 above names, has been fraught with difficulty. 

 The two governments have now agreed to a joint 

 exploration of the neutral ground, in order that the 

 matter may be permanently settled. 



In the report of Governor Swineford of Alaska, 

 recently made public, an interesting resume of 

 affairs in the territory is presented. Educational 

 matters have made some progress, though a want 

 of tact on the part of the agent of the bureau of 

 education, notwithstanding his energy and ability, 

 has aggravated difficulties which, in the nature of 

 thmgs, were serious enough already. The value 

 of the south-eastern part of the territory is warmly 

 maintained by the governor, who upholds essen- 

 tially views expressed by many travellers, which 

 it has been the fashion, on the part of ignorant or 

 interested persons, to deride as ' rose-colored.' The 

 success of mining and fishing enterprises, and the 

 practicability of auxiliary agriculture, are insisted 

 upon. Hardy vegetables do well, and cattle are 

 sleek and in the best condition. The white popu- 

 lation of this part of the territory amounts to 

 1,900, and that of the partly civilized natives to 

 7,000 more. 



In this connection the New York Times very 

 reasonably points out the usefulness of explora- 

 tion in Alaska, as compared with arctic expedi- 

 tions. The prospect of a survey of the very dubi- 

 ously defined boundary will probably before long 

 require systematic and extensive work in this 

 direction. The indirect results of such investiga- 

 tion can hardly fail to be important. 



ASTRONOMICAL NOTES. 



Standards of stellar magnitudes. — The third 

 report of the American committee on standards of 

 stellar magnitudes states that the zones following 

 the twenty-four selected equatorial stars have 

 received a second careful revision with the Prince- 

 ton 23-inch, which should make them include all 

 stars down to about 16.0 mag., and that a revision 



will probably be made with the Washington 

 26-inch. Four of the charts have been distributed 

 to all observatories having large telescopes, with 

 requests for all visible additions which will fur- 

 nish comparisons of the penetrating power of 

 different kinds of telescopes. Certain selected 

 standards in each zone, about 0.5 mag. apart, 

 have been measured at the Harvard coUege obser- 

 vatory with photometer I, and the two brightest, if 

 not too faint, with the meridian-photometer. A 

 catalogue of these selected standards in the twenty- 

 four zones, giving the positions and provisional 

 magnitudes, is published, and also a table of 

 twenty-one close circumpolars ranging in magni- 

 tude from 2.2 to 15.7. 



Observing comparison stars. — Dr. Gill ex- 

 presses the hope {Astr. nadir., 2,688) that some of 

 the numerous well-equipped European or Amer- 

 ican observatories will take up the systematic 

 observation of stars that have been used in comet 

 comparisons, faint stars whose occulations have 

 been observed, zones of stars employed for scale 

 or screw values, or stars that have been used for 

 geodetic purposes. The editor. Dr. Krueger, 

 heartily seconds the proposal, and announces that 

 Dr. Hirsch, director of the Neuchatel observatory, 

 stands ready to determine the places of such stars 

 at the request of computers of orbits. He hopes 

 to announce later that other observatories have 

 promised co-operation. 



The new observatory of Bordeaux. — This ob- 

 servatory, founded in 1871, has just now {Comptes 

 rendus, ci. 690) published its first volume of 

 Annales, containing a minute description of the 

 instruments (a meridian-circle of 0.19 m. aperture, 

 two equatorials of 0.22 and 0.39 m., and three 

 clocks), and also a determination of the longitude 

 of the observatory. An important piece of work 

 has been undertaken by the director, M. Rayet, in 

 the re-observation of the 23,000 stars in Argelan- 

 der's southern zones between — 15° and — 31° of 

 declination. 



Longitude of the Cordoba observatory. — In 

 the Astromische nachrichten, 2,683, Dr. Gould 

 publishes the finally adopted value of the longi- 

 tude of the Cordoba meridian-cu'cle, depending 

 upon exchanges of longitude signals with Buenos 

 Aires on the east, and Valparaiso on the west. 

 Buenos Aires was determined by Capt. Green, 

 U.S.N., via Lisbon and Rio de Janeh-o, and 

 Valparaiso by Commander Davis, U.S.N., via 

 Washington and Panama, and the two results 

 agree within 0^.05, a very satisfactory accordance. 

 Dr. Gould adopts as the final definitive position 

 of the Cordoba meridian-circle : — 

 (/. = — 31° 25' 15''.46 

 2 = 4h 16m 48s. 2, "vv. 



