664 
world, and that idealism is indifferent to all 
this love of merely fantastic and romantic mys- 
tery. It regards the world as through and 
through rational, and for that very reason it 
does not suppose phenomena to be more divine, 
merely because of the accident that we cannot 
explain them by any general rules of experi- 
ence. It insists, that if we could produce new 
life of any order, high or low, as easily as we . 
ean strike a light, life would be no more and 
no less a manifestation of the divine reason 
than it now is. And this idealism needs no 
subtle ‘ astral fluids’ to convince it that there 
are spiritual realities. The true nature of a cow 
is not more manifest in skimmed and watered 
milk than it is in the rich new milk; and this 
trust in ‘ subtle media’ is merely a demand 
that we shall believe only the skimmed milk of 
nature to be a genuine expression of the di- 
vine life. If all the matter in nature were for 
our senses composed of indivisible particles as 
big as paving-stones, and if every heap of these 
paving-stones, however and whenever made, 
behaved just like a rational being, and wrote 
philosophic lectures, the spiritual nature of 
reality would be just as manifest as it now is, 
and philosophic materialism would be just as 
absurd.. Hence Professor Coues does what this 
second form of idealism regards as something 
worse than wasted labor. He not only talks 
confusedly about his unintelligible biogen, but 
he helps to disseminate the impression that a 
belief in a spiritual truth in the world depends 
upon a faith in the existence of some fluid so 
thin that you cannot say any thing definite 
about it. All this is rank paganism ; for it is 
analogous to the views of those peoples whose 
gods are conceived after the fashion of smoke. 
JostaH Royce. 
REPORT OF THE OBSERVATORY AT 
HERENY, HUNGARY. 
Publikationen des astrophysikalischen observatoriums 
zu Herenyin Ungarn. Herausgegeben von EuGEN 
von GotuarpD. Hefti. Herény, 1884. 104 p., 
6 pl. 4°. 
Tue astro-physical observatory of Herény 
has recently issued its first volume of publica- 
tions, prefaced by the director, von Gothard, 
with a graceful tribute to his friend, the well- 
known Dr. von Konkoly. 
The observatory is situated on the estate of 
Herény, near Steinamanger, in the western 
part of Hungary. The main building was 
finished in 1881, and is of two stories, with a 
SCIENCE. 
[Vou. ILL, No. 69. 
tower for the equatorial at one corner: a 
smaller building receives the transit instru- 
ment. ‘The rooms are all admirably planned 
and arranged to promote the comfort and 
efficiency of the observers. In the upper 
story we find an office, a room for the direct- 
or, and a large, well-appointed physical labo- 
ratory. On the ground-floor there are, be- 
sides two smaller rooms, a chemical laboratory 
fitted with many conveniences, and a work- 
shop. The workshop, a feature in which most 
of our observatories are deficient, is supplied 
with tools intended not only for making minor 
repairs, but for constructing many valuable 
pieces of apparatus; and what is even more 
valuable, as it is unusual, the director and his 
assistants appear to be skilful mechanics. 
The principal instrument of the observatory 
is a Newtonian reflector by Browning, of ten 
and one-fourth inches aperture, which is pro- 
vided with a very complete outfit of photo- 
graphic and spectroscopic accessories. <A 
little portable transit of about an inch aperture, 
the object-glass of which is by Fraunhofer, and 
the mounting by Reichenbach, is used for 
determining time. ‘There are two astronomical 
clocks by Freitag, a set of meteorological in- 
struments, and a large collection of subsidiary — 
physical apparatus. ‘The library, though still 
small, is steadily increasing. 
The director of the observatory, Eugen von 
Gothard, is assisted by his brothers, Alexander 
and Stefan von Gothard, and by Josef Molnar. 
The observations in the present volume are, 
for the most part, upon the spectra of the fixed 
stars. In 1881 and 1882 the spectra and 
colors of nearly three hundred fixed stars were 
examined, and the stars classified according 
to Vogel’s types. Spectroscopic observations, 
and observations of a generally descriptive 
nature, were also made of Wells’s comet, the 
great comet of 1882, and Barnard’s comet. | 
This, together with observations for time, and 
the care of the clocks, has been the director’s 
work. Alexander von Gothard contributes 
the physical observations upon Jupiter and 
Mars, accompanied by twenty-four well-exe- 
cuted sketches. Miscellaneous observations 
include observations of the solar eclipse of 
May 16, 1882, and the August meteors of that 
year. Satisfactory observations of the transit 
of Venus were not obtained on account of un- 
favorable weather. 
In the typography of the volume, and in | 
the care and neatness with which the plates 
are prepared and bound, the young observatory — 
will compare favorably with many older in- 
stitutions. ’ 
