May 5, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



707 



Printed at his Mr. John (leaf torn) 

 charge on had paper (leaf torn) 

 not so correct as they ought (leaf torn) 

 in 100 sheets. 



The second paragraph relates to meridional 

 distances, transits, etc., observed between 1689 

 and 1704. A brace encloses its four lines, and 

 Flamsteed's comment is: 

 A fair copy of these on 175 

 sheets was put into Sr. Is. New (paper torn) 

 hands Mar. 20 1707/8 to he printed. 



N. B. The figures that give the year are 

 here somewhat doubtful, but see below. 



The third paragraph is divided into num- 

 bered sentences. The first seven relate to 

 Ptolemy's and other catalogues of stars; they 

 are included within a MS. brace; Flamsteed's 

 comment is : 



These he ready to he transcribed. 



Sentence 8 of paragraph 3 (5 lines) relates 

 to the British Catalogue of 3,000 stars; a MS. 

 brace encloses it; Flamsteed's comment is: 

 These are printed at my own charge. 



N. B. The wording here makes it evident 

 that the MS. notes in this handwriting are by 

 Flamsteed himself. 



The next four lines of the text have no MS. 

 comment, but the succeeding three are printed 

 as follows : 



" The iN^ew Figures of the Constellations, or 

 the Ancient Ones restor'd (those in Bayer, 

 and on our Globes being false, and difi^erent 

 from all the Catalogues in all Languages) in 

 about Sixty Copper Plates, each near Two 

 Foot broad, and Twenty Inches deep, with a 

 Preface." 



This sentence is enclosed in a MS. brace and 

 Flamsteed's comment is: 

 These were altogether necessary and 

 ought to have heen first taken 

 care of hut were designedly 

 neglected hy Sr. Is. N. to spoyle 

 ye whole. 



The next printed words relate to part first 

 of the proposed book. A MS. mark refers to 

 the foot of the page where Flamsteed's MS. 

 comments are written, as follows: 

 The first part was printed off in Octoher 1707. 

 March 20 1707/8 Sr. Is. Newton had 175 

 sheets put into his hands to he printed, of 



which what is hecome J. F. knows not, save 

 that E. H alley has printed some sorry Ab- 

 stracts of a part of them without J. F's knowl- 

 edge and consent. 



At the foot of the page are two MS. queries 

 by Flamsteed, as follows: 



1. Qs. What is become of £1200 allowed for 



ye work per Prince Oeorge. 



2. What is hecome of all Copies already 

 Printed. 



At the foot of the page there is a line of 

 MS. written by another hand in a different 

 ink, as follows : 



Memdm. J. F. told W. L. at ye Treasury Office 

 that E. H. had stolen 2 or 3 of his best fixed 

 stars. 



Those who wish to follow the rather com- 

 plicated quarrel of Flamsteed with Newton 

 and Halley can find a sufficient and fair ac- 

 count of the controversy in the ' Dictionary 

 of National Biography,' Vol. XIX. (Article 

 Flamsteed — see also Newton and Halley). It 

 is of extreme interest to have found Flam- 

 steed's own comments on the controversy. 

 The MS. referred to has, by direction of the 

 Superintendent IT. S. M. A., been deposited 

 with the Koyal Society of London, which 

 possesses many of the manuscripts of Flam- 

 steed, Halley and Newton. 



Edward S. Holden. 



U. S. Military Academy. 



A BETWEEN SEASON BIRD FOOD SUPPLY. 



An apparently unnoticed food supply for 

 birds is found in the heaps of drift, the flot- 

 sam and jetsam cast up along the shores of 

 rivers, creeks and other bodies of water. 

 These places are much resorted to by crows, 

 jays and blackbirds, and probably most of the 

 sparrows feed about them from time to time. 

 As they exist during the winter and early 

 spring when food is not easily accessible over 

 the whole country, they are probably welcome 

 stores to our winter birds. 



In order to ascertain the character and 

 quantity of available bird food in these drift 

 heaps I filled a half pint tin can with the 

 material, scraping it in at random from the 

 surface of one of them. Besides the bits of 



