SCIENCE. 



73 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 

 Progress. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



Published at 

 229 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 

 P. O. Box 3838. 



SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19. 1881. 



PROFESSOR WATSON'S SUCCESSOR. 



Prof. E. S. Holden, U. S. N., has been detached 

 from the Naval Observatory, and granted a year's 

 leave of absence, in order to take charge of the Wash- 

 burn Observatory, of the University of Wisconsin. 



The sudden death of Prof. Watson left his plans in 

 a very unfinished state. He had partially completed, 

 at his own expense, a "solar observatory" which 

 bears his name. His plan was new, and he intended 

 to re-discover the intramercurial planet, Vulcan, 

 which he reported during the total eclipse of 1878. 

 At the bottom of a hill, sloping at an angle of about 

 forty-five degrees, a small building with a deep cellar 

 was built. A tunnel about eighteen inches in dia- 

 meter and fifty- five feet long, parallel to the earth's 

 axis, connects this cellar with a pier at the top of the 

 hill which is to support a heliostat. As the tube 

 is pointed directly towards the north pole, it is neces- 

 sary to give the heliostat but one motion in order to 

 keep the sun in the field of view of the observing tel- 

 escope placed in the cellar at the bottom of the hill. 

 The object of the long tube was to cut off as much of 

 the stray light as possible, and to enable the observer 

 to examine objects close to the sun's limb. 



The Washburn Observatory is provided with an ex- 

 cellent 16-inch Clark equatorial, which is ready for 

 work. Fauth & Co., of Washington, are making 

 a good 3-inch transit instrument, similar to that of the 

 Princeton College Observatory, and it is probable that 

 later a 6-inch meridian circle will be ordered from 

 Repsolds, of Hamburg. 



The work to be carried on for the coming year con- 

 sists, mainly, of a systematic review of the heavens, 

 following up Herschel's work. It is probable that this 

 work will be done by Professor Holden and Mr. S. W. 

 E-urnham, in concert. The transit instrument will 

 be used by Mr. G. C. Comstock in maintaing a time- 



service, and incidentally in obtaining a set of Right 

 Ascensions of the sun, and an extended series of ob- 

 servations of Polaris. 



The State of Wisconsin has provided for the print- 

 ing of the publications of the Observatory. The vol- 

 umes will be issued at irregular intervals. No. I. will 

 be a History of the Observatory under Prof. Watson's 

 administration, together with the reduction tables pre- 

 pared by his directions, and No. II. will probably 

 contain Burnham's General Catalogue of Double 

 Stars for 1880. 



It is said that during the memorable battle of Water- 

 loo, competent judges pronounced Wellington more 

 than once a defeated general, and that, according to 

 the rules of war, he should have retreated on Brus- 

 sels. But Napoleon looked in vain from La Belle 

 Alliance to see his foes fleeing before him, for 

 Wellington had given the order " stand fast, we 

 must not be beaten" and in a few hours he was march- 

 ing victoriously on the road to Paris. 



During the last twelve months we have heard much 

 of another man, who was supposed to be defeated in 

 every point, and was reported by the English scientific 

 press to have abandoned the battle field at Menlo 

 Park, and to be slowly retiring on California. Pro- 

 fessional men and others, who accepted such views on 

 the subject, have from time to time, with a persis- 

 tence worthy of a better cause, proclaimed aloud that 

 Edison was beaten, and that, in their opinion, his 

 whole system of electrical lighting must end in failure. 



But Edison, like Wellington, in the midst of many 

 difficulties, merely closed up his ranks and gave the 

 order " we must not be beaten /" The historical par- 

 allel may be carried further ; Edison may be said to 

 have marched on Paris, and entered the enemy's Capi- 

 tol, for having accomplished his task at Menlo Park, 

 and perfected his system of electric lighting in all its 

 details with the most perfect success, we now find him 

 installed in sumptuous offices in Fifth avenue, New 

 York city, putting into practical operation the full re- 

 sults of his previous experiments. 



A company has been formed which will control and 

 place Edison's system of electrical lighting on the 

 market, but "the Master" will himself superintend all 

 the details of the construction department, until a 

 district has been finally laid out and found to be work- 

 ing satisfactorily. Progress has been made in this 

 direction, and the Edison lamps are being placed in 

 position as fast as they can be produced at Menlo 

 Park, under the direction of Mr. Upton. 



Taking a retrospective view of the last eighteen 

 months, one may well pause to ponder over the im- 

 mense amount of work accomplished by Edison during 



