SCIENCE. 
213 
SCIENCE: 
A Weekly Record of Scientific 
Progress. 
JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 
Published at 
229 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 
P. O. Box 3838. 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1880. 
Smyth’s Celestial Cycle in its day was probably 
the most valuable companion which had at that time 
been prepared for the use of amateur astronomers. 
The second volume is known as the Bedford Catalogue , 
and contains an excellent list of the most interesting 
double stars, nebulae and clusters, with descriptions, 
and much other valuable information. When pub- 
lished, this Catalogue was received with such favor 
that the Royal Astronomical Society bestowed upon 
its author a gold medal. In presenting the medal, 
the president of the Society, Sir G. B. Airy, called at- 
tention to the fact that the original observations upon 
which the Catalogue was based had not been placed 
at the command of the Society, and hoped that such 
would be done at no distant period. A careful exam- 
ination of the Cycle now shows that it is full of inac- 
curacies. Mr. Burnham called attention to these 
some years ago, but the subject attracted no general 
attention until a paper by Mr. Herbert Sadler, a mem- 
ber of the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society, 
appeared in the Monthly Notices for January, 1879, 
in which Mr. Sadler used language which might easily 
be construed into a charge of dishonesty on the part 
of Captain Smyth. The words actually used were as 
follows : 
“ I have thought it better, therefore, as the charge 
I have brought against the Bedford Catalogue is of a 
very serious character, to place an asterisk against the 
symbol of the observer whose erroneous measure 
Smyth appears to have followed, so that anyone may 
be able to detect the source of Smyth’s error at a 
glance in cases where he has presumably copied the 
measures of others.” 
This criticism raised a perfect storm in the Society. 
As Mr. Burnham had originally called attention to 
the inaccuracies of the Cycle , he immediately set to 
work re-observing the stars of the Bedford Catalogue , 
and has published his results in the J une number of 
the Monthly Notices. This paper contains about 350 
measures of 148 stars, which he has compared with 
the measures of Captain Smyth. Mr. Burnham divides 
these stars into two classes : Those which had and 
those which had not been carefully measured by any 
other observer up to the time of the publication of 
the “Cycle of Celestial Objects;” and concludes that 
the measures of the former class are in the main cor- 
rect, while those of the latter class are either roughly 
approximate or grossly inaccurate ; in fact, are not 
micrometrical measures at all in the usual sense of the 
term. In explanation of the remarkable character 
of the “ Cycle ” measures Mr. Burnham says : 
“ We know that the observations in the Bedford 
Catalogue , which, so far as the double stars are con- 
cerned, could have been easily made in one year, are 
scattered over a series of years. It may, I think, be 
fairly assumed that they were made in leisure mo- 
ments, without that care which a more zealous and 
experienced observer would bestow ; with no definite 
idea of their publication and use ; and as an amuse- 
ment rather than as a serious astronomical work. If 
we assume that at the beginning the observer made it 
a practice, in measuring double stars, of setting the 
micrometer wires in accordance with the previous 
measure of other observers, for the purpose of identi- 
fication, or for some other reason, and with the inten- 
tion of making such changes in the wires as the ap- 
pearance of the object seemed to warrant, we have at 
once a complete explanation of the very close agree- 
ment with other measures.” This explanation seems 
reasonable and implies no dishonesty on the part of 
Captain Smyth. 
Immediately following Mr. Burnham’s paper is one 
by Mr. Knobel, who calls attention to the fact that 
the majority of these so-called measures have a weight 
1 assigned, and that Captain Sr.iyth repeatedly as- 
serts that such are mere guesses. Mr. Knobel ac- 
counts for many of the discrepancies in position 
angles by errors in computation. 
Both of these interesting papers give a pretty clear 
insight into the Bedford Catalogue ; and, although it 
is undoubtedly true that the principle upon which it 
secured the medal of the Royal Astronomical Society 
was a wrong one, as the Astronomer Royal showed at 
the time of presentation, still in its preparation Cap- 
tain Smyth performed a useful service, and all lovers 
of astronomy will be glad to know that Mr. Cham- 
bers is preparing a new edition which will embody the 
progress of astronomy up to 1880. 
The United States Fish Commission has completed 
its summer’s work at the Newport Station, and its 
parties have returned to Washington. The Fish 
Hawk, the steamer of the Commission, is now at 
Wilmington receiving the remainder of its fish-hatch- 
ing apparatus for use during the winter. 
The work has been successful beyond any expecta- 
tions. Among the acquisitions of three days’ work on 
the edge of the Gulf Stream were fifteen new species 
of fishes, one hundred and seventy-five species of 
mollusks, of which one hundred and fifteen were new 
to southern New England, sixty-five new to America, 
and thirty or more undescribed. Corresponding ac- 
quisitions have been made in other branches of marine 
zoology. 
