ASTRONOMY. 
99 
patience and perseverance of M. Goldschmidt around this star (and which 
he states have undesignedly been termed satellites) are considered by this 
eminent observer to be real objects. In order to guard against optical 
illusion or “ sickness of the eyes,” he turned his attention to other bright 
stars, such as Altair and Antares , but could perceive nothing similar to 
the appearances observed in Sirius. The object rediscovered by Mr. 
Dawes, and which is about four seconds (in time) to the east of the star, 
although the most conspicuous from its distance, is not considered by 
M. Goldschmidt to be so bright as the two nearest ones, which he says 
“ seem to be bodies of great importance relative to Sirius.” All those 
discoveries have been made with an object-glass of only four inches in 
aperture ! 
Observations by Reflection compared with Direct. — It is well known that 
zenith distances taken with a meridian circle in the usual manner, differ 
in a sort of regular discordance with those observed by reflection in a 
trough of mercury. By some it has been attributed to flexure of the tele- 
scope when approaching to a horizontal position, in which it is generally 
greatest. Professor Airy, however, endorses the opinion of M. Faye, that 
it is caused by the condition of the atmosphere and its warmer and cooler 
strata in the observing-room. The latitude of an observatory, the Astro- 
nomer-Royal states, may be wrong to the extent of a quarter of a second, 
if direct observations only are used, and that polar distances of seventy or 
eighty degrees are uncertain to half a second. The only method of 
removing this source of error, he maintains, is by making use of re- 
flection observations on both sides of the zenith. 
Clock-driving Apparatus for Telescopes. — The utility of a uniform 
motion for equatoreals, by which the star is kept in the same field of view 
of the telescope, is beyond doubt ; and when micrometrical measures are 
wanted it can scarcely be dispensed with. M. Foucault has been for some 
time occupied with this problem, and has just completed a machine for 
the purpose, which is about to be applied to the great equatoreal of the 
Paris Observatory. Lieutenant-Colonel Strange speaks highly of its 
time-keeping qualities, and M. Foucault affirms that for all practical 
purposes uniformity of rotation under considerable changes of resistance 
is absolutely obtained by it. The invention has been patented in France 
and England. 
Shooting Stars. — During the present autumn the fall of meteors has 
been very remarkable, both in respect to their number and brightness. 
The majority occurred on August 10. 
Eclipses of the Sun and Moon. — At the last meeting of the Astronomical 
Society various observations of the late eclipses were presented. Captain 
Noble states, in reference to that of the moon on June 1, that he never 
remembers to have seen such a nebulous density in any other lunar eclipse 
as that presented by the shadow on this occasion. In the eclipse of the 
sun, Lord Wrottesley states that the cusps and limb of the moon were 
sharply defined shortly after the commencement, but that afterwards the 
limb became tremulous, and viewed with the large telescope appeared 
much jagged, resembling the teeth of a saw. 
Solar Faculce. — A very conspicuous bright streak was noticed on the 
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