56S 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 177 



the results of a critical examination of the latitude 

 observations made by army engineer officers at 

 Willets Point during the year 1885. These obser- 

 vations are of peculiar interest from their bearing 

 upon the mooted question of the variability of ter- 

 restrial latitudes ; but it appears that the sequence 

 of the results from 18S0 to 1884, which seemed to 

 indicate a gradual decrease of latitude, is inter- 

 rupted by the result for 1885, which is practically 

 the same as that for 1881. The conclusion which 

 Miss Lamb reached from a similar discussion of 

 previous observations {Science, vi. p. 118) is now 

 further confirmed. The evidence seems to be 

 rather against a systematic change of latitude at 

 AVillets Point, though the results for future years 

 will be awaited with interest. 



Astronomical activity. — In looking over the 

 reports of observatories for the year 1885, one can- 

 not but be impressed with the increase of activity 

 in all branches of observational astronomy. Green- 

 wich has ordered a 28-inch refractor for spectro- 

 scopic work ; Struve at Pulkowa, with the new 30- 

 inch, can go deeper than ever into the star depths 

 for faint 'doubles;' the Vienna 27-inch, in the 

 hands of Dr. Vogel, has already done good work 

 in astronomical physics ; and Paris has taken the 

 front rank in stellar photography. The interest- 

 ing report of Admiral Moucher, the director of the 

 Paris observatory, now before us, gives especial 

 prominence to this comparatively new method of 

 research. A reproduction of a photograph of the 

 Pleiades, taken by the Henry Brothers with an ex- 

 posure of one hour, has suggested a comparison 

 with Wolf's well-known chart of that group, upon 

 which he spent three years' labor, and the advan- 

 tage of photography in certain directions is strongly 

 brought out. Wolf's chart contains 671 stars, the 

 limit being the 13th magnitude ; while the photo- 

 graph shows no less than 1,421, the faintest being 

 of about the 16th magnitude. In the meridian 

 service over sixteen thousand observations have 

 been made by sixteen different observers ; the 

 instrument devised by M. Loevvy, the equatorial 

 coude, has been brought into regular use for ob- 

 servations of comets and minor planets ; and the 

 time service, meteorological department, etc., are 

 all in a most satisfactory condition. A depart- 

 ment of the observatory w T hich we should like to 

 see imitated in this country is the ' Ecole d'astro- 

 nomie.' in which courses of instruction are given 

 by such members of the observatory staff as Loevvy, 

 Tisserand, Gaillot, and Perigaud. The students are 

 given employment in the computing bureau, and, 

 after sufficient instruction, they take part in the 

 observations with the meridian instruments. The 

 schools of astronomy in this country are not very 

 thriving adjuncts of our colleges. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The following appropriations are recom- 

 mended by the committee on appropriations for 

 the various scientific departments of the govern- 

 ment for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887 : — 

 coast survey, $407,246, being $146,250 less than 

 was appropriated the past year ; the number of 

 field officers is reduced from 64 to 48 ; office force, 

 from 103 to 91 : geological survey, $467,700, the 

 same amount as was appropriated last year : signal 

 service, $799,493, being $64,587 less than was ap- 

 propriated last year : national museum, $157,500, 

 $19,000 more than was appropriated last year : 

 Smithsonian institution — international exchange, 

 $10,000 ; North American ethnology, $40,000 ; 

 being the same amounts as were appropriated last 

 year : fish commission, $220,040, being $40 more 

 than was appropriated last year. 



— The final excursion of the geological class of 

 the Academy of natural sciences of Philadelphia, 

 extending over a period of about ten days, and 

 beginning with the first week in July, will be 

 directed to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. It 

 is proposed to investigate the physical (geological 

 and paleontological) features of the islands, and 

 the recent fauna of the coast. The total expense, 

 including the academy admission-fee of seven dol- 

 lars, will not exceed thirty-five dollars. 



— About twenty-five thousand deaths from 

 typhoid-fever occur in this country annually, says 

 the Medical record, and this represents fully one 

 hundred and fifty thousand cases of the disease. 

 Statistics show that there is no disease so easily 

 preventable as this ; and it is safe to say that fully 

 one-half of this mortality might be saved by greater 

 cleanliness and more attention to sewage. 



— A new monthly magazine devoted to the now 

 popular art of photography has just appeared in 

 England under the appropriate title of the Camera. 

 Mr. R. A. Proctor supplies an interesting paper 

 on photography and astronomy, with illustrations 

 of some of the recent results of observations ; Dr. 

 Lindsay Johnson and Mr. T. C. Hepworth also 

 contribute useful articles ; and a descriptive ac- 

 count of the amateur photographic exhibition in 

 Bond Street, with reproductions of some of the 

 principal examples, is carefully written. 



— Letters from Colonel Lockhart's mission, 

 dated May 9, have reached India. The party were 

 then near Gumbaz, on the northern slopes of the 

 Hindoo-Koosh. They had gone northward from 

 Gilghit, through Hunza. and would work along 

 the Hindoo-Koosh, and enter Kafristan from the 

 north. 



— Dr. Julius Stockhardt, the well-known agri- 



