m S DISCARD Staris It'tbraru I! Ali.v.S'l'Alil.l. ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY FOR 1877 EDITED BY SPENCER F. BAIRD WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF EMINENT MEN. OF SCIENCE , *, NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHER; FRANKLIN SQUARE 1878 ,'>iu v Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by Harper & Brothers, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PREFACE. The present volume is the seventh of a series com- menced in 1871, and which, although entirely unconnected with a work having somewhat the same object the An- nual of Scientific Discovery took up the record of scien- tific and industrial progress where the latter left it off, after having been published since 1850. The two there- fore form a continuous history of the subject for twenty- seven years. Heretofore the "Annual Record" has for the most part been composed, first, of a summary of scientific progress during the year; and, second, of a series of abstracts of the more important articles contained in the proceedings of learned societies and in the scientific and industrial journals of the day. With the rapid increase in the num- ber of such papers, it has been found impossible to com- press the abstracts in the limits necessarily assigned to the annual volume ; and it has therefore been concluded to omit them entirely, and, by an extension of the Summa- ries, to furnish what will probably better answer the pur- poses of the student. A minute alphabetical index will supply the means of ready reference to the more important data. The names of the several gentlemen whose assistance has been ob- tained in the preparation of the series of summaries will be sufficient guarantee of the completeness of their work. iv PREFACE. As in the earlier volumes, there will be found a list of the principal losses to science by death, and a bibliography of the more important publications, whether in the form of books or of scientific memoirs. The latter, as hereto- fore, has been prepared with the assistance of Professor Gill, of Washington. ^ ^ Spencer 1\ 13aird. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, March 1, 1878. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PREFACE Pao-e e> v 111 ASTROXOMY. By Edward S. Holden, U. S. Xaval Observatory, Wash- ington 1 Introduction 1 Nebulae and the Xebular Hypothesis 2 Xew Stars 4 Double, Multiple, and Binary Stars G Star Catalogue and Maps 9 The Sun n Planets, Asteroids, and Satellites 17 The Moon 23 Comets 25 Spectroscopic Observations 26 Zodiacal Light 26 Time 27 Instruments and Observatories 28 Astronomical Instruments 28 Publications and Reports 32 Astronomical Bibliography 34 Reports of American Observatories 35 Albany, X. Y. : Dudley Observatory 36 Allegheny, Pa. : Allegheny Observatory 38 Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard College Observatory 39 " " L. Trouvelot's Physical Observatory 41 Chicago, 111. : Dearborn Observatory 42 Cincinnati, O. : Cincinnati Observator\ r 43 Gettysburg, Pa. : Pennsylvania College Observator) r 43 Glasgow, Mo. : Morrison Observatory 44 Hartford, Conn. : Private Observatory. 45 Hastings-on-Hudson, X. Y. : Dr. Henry Draper's Observatory 46 Xew Haven, Conn. : Observatory of Yale College 46 Princeton, X. J. : Princeton College Observatory 46 Quebec, Observatory of 48 Ripon, Wis. : Observatory of Ripon College 48 Rochester, X. Y. : Rochester Observatory 49 San Francisco, Cal. : Lick Observatory 49 South Bethlehem, Pa. : Lehigh University Observatory 50 Poughkeepsie, X. Y. : Observatory of Vassar College 51 Williarostown, Mass. : Hopkins Observatory, Williams College 51 v i TABLE OF CONTENTS. PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. By Cleveland Abbe, of the Weather Bu- reau, Washington Page 53 I'm: K \i:i 11 : Internal Condition 53 Internal Temperature 53 Volcanoes 53 Earthquakes 54 Terrestrial Magnetism 54 Earl h Currents 55 Tin. < >< i an : I tensity, etc 56 Tides 50 Waves 56 The Atmosphere: Introductory 57 Institutions and Persons 57 Instruments and Methods 66 Temperature and Diathermancy 70 Winds and Currents 71 Pressure and Isobars 76 Precipitation, Clouds, etc 77 Storms 80 Optical Phenomena 83 Electrical Phenomena 84 Relations with Sun-spots 84 Relations with Meteors 85 Climatology 85 Hypsometry , 87 Agriculture and Forestry 88 Climate and Hygiene 88 Climate and Geology. . . , 89 PHYSK S. By George F. P>arker, Professor of Physics in the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 91 Generai 01 Mechanics 92 1. Of Solids 02 2. ( )f Liquids 04 ::. < i' Gases 06 ACOI 9TI< - 09 Hi \t : 1. Thermometry 102 2. Expansion 103 3. < lhange of State 104 l. Radiation 107 TABLE OF CONTENTS. VII PHYSICS Continued. Light : 1. Reflection Pa^e 1 1 1 2. Refraction 1 12 3. Dispersion 113 4. Interference and Polarization 117 Electricity : 1. Magnetism 120 2. Electromotors 1 2 L 3. Velocity 122 4. Electrolysis , 124 5. Electric Spark 124 6. Electric Light 127 7. Thermo-electricity 130 CHEMISTRY. By George F. Barker, Professor of Physics in the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 131 General 131 Non-Metallic 132 Metallic 136 Organic 110 Physiological 144 Technical 116 MINERALOGY. By Edward S. Dana, Ph.D., Yale College, New Haven, Conn 151 Recent Publications 151 Foreign Researches 152 American Researches 154 New Mineral Species 157 Meteorites 162 GEOLOGY. By T. Sterry Hunt, LL.D., F.R.S., Professor of Geology, In- stitute of Technology, Boston, Mass 165 Geology of Newfoundland 165 Pre-Cambrian Rocks of Wales 168 Rocks of the Ardennes 169 Geology of Vermont 169 Geology of Wisconsin 170 Eozoic Rocks West of the Missouri 171 Eozoic Rocks of the Blue Ridge 172 Geology of the Cincinnati Anticlinal 173 The Carboniferous Rocks in Kentucky 174 The Ontario Salt Region 175 Subterranean Temperature 176 Tertiary Formation of the Arctic Regions 177 Fossil Floras 177 Ancient Arctic Climate 178 v iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. GEOLOGY Continued. Supposi d Display emknt ok the Earth's Axis Fage 178 An Am LENT ATLANTIC CONTINENT 1<9 EUBOPJ IND ASIA DX THE GLACIAL PERIOD 180 I'm. Loi as of Central Europe 180 Gla< iAi. Phenomena around Lake Ontario 181 Glacial Phenomena in Labrador 181 HYDROGRAPHY. By Francis M. Green, Lieutenant - Commander, U.S.N 183 (ii:< IGRAPHY. By Francis M, Green, Lieutenant-Commander, U.S.N. . 191 Costa Rica 192 [sthmus of darien 192 Colombia and Ecuador 192 Guyana *93 Brazii 193 Bolivia 193 I Via- 191 Patagonia 195 Arctic Regions .' 19- r > Greenland 196 Europe 196 Palestine i 197 Asia 198 Africa 200 Australia ' 20-4 New Guinea 205 GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. By Samuel H. Scudder, Cam- bridge, Mass 206 Tmk [nteriob Department: United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Terri- tories, under Prof. F. V. llaydcn 206 United States Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, under Prof. J. W. Powell 213 United States Entomological Commission 224 The War Department: United States Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian, under Lieut. G. M. Wheeler, U. S. Engineer 216 I faited St ates Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, under ( tlarence King, Engineer 220 Survey of the < Ireat Lakes and of the Mississippi River 220 Miscellaneous Department Surveys 219 I'm. I 1:1 181 i:v Db PARTMENT: United States Coaal Survey 222 1 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS. J x GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA Continued. The United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries Page 226 The Smithsonian Institution 220 Alaska 227 Coast of California 227 West Indies 227 Nicaragua 228 Bermuda 228 State Surveys 228 Topographical Survey of New York. J. T. Gardner 228 State Survey of Kentucky. Prof. N. S. Shaler 229 State Survey of Pennsylvania. Prof. J. P. Lesley 229 Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota 231 Other Surveys 233 Private Explorations 233 Peabody Museum, Cambridge 233 Howgate Arctic Expedition 235 MICROSCOPY. By Professor Hamilton L. Smith, Hobart College, Ge- neva, N. Y 237 Limits of Vision 237 Apparatus and Objectives 238 Histology 240 Staining and Mounting 241 Bacteria, etc 241 Monads and Amceb^e 240 For aminifer a, etc 247 Zoology 248 Botany 248 mlcrogeology and mineralogy 252 ANTHROPOLOGY. By Professor Otis T. Mason, Columbian University, Washington. D. C 255 Archaeology 250 North America 250 Middle America 258 South America 259 Europe 259 Africa 202 Asia 202 Australia 203 Ethnology 203 Anatomy, Physiology, and Psychology 203 Ethnography 26 North America 26a 1* x TABLE OF CONTENTS. ANTHROPOLOGY Continued, South America Page 265 Europe 206 Africa 207 Asia 207 < teeanica 207 I reneral Discussions 208 Demography 208 Philology 208 America 208 M iddle and South America 209 Europe 209 Asia 270 < k canica 270 ( ieneral Discussions 270 Culture 270 Aliment 270 Edifices 270 Vessels 270 Implements 270 Valuing 271 Music 271 Sports 271 The Family 271 Social Life 271 < rovernment 272 Religion 272 ( reneral Treatises 273 Instrumentalities 273 Apparatus 273 Terminology 273 Meetings 273 Transactions 274 Lectures 274 Museums 274 Periodicals and Bibliography 274 ZOOLOGY. By Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., Director of the Peabody Acad- emy of Science, Salem, Mass * 275 (ii.M i: \i. Zoology 275 Treatises 275 I \plorations and Besearchcs 275 Relation of Animals to their Surroundings 279 Dimorphism 280 Anatomy and Physiology 281 'i The ch the vertebrates has beeu furnished by Professor Theodore Gill, ol W tshington, l> I . TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi. ZOOLOGY Continued. Evolution Tage 283 Parthenogenesis 283 Vertebrates (by Professor Theodore Gill) 284 The Limits of the Branch of Vertebrates and its Classes 284 Origin and Relations of the Vertebrates 288 Fishes of the United States 289 The Northernmost Fish 290 Ceratodontids 290 The Catfishes 291 Suckers 291 The Sunfishes and Black Bass 292 The Etheostomids 292 A New North American Family of Fishes 293 Gigantic Tortoises 293 Birds 296 Avifauna of Madagascar 296 The Wild Camel 297 Deer's Antlers 297 The Placenta of Prosimians 298 Invertebrates 300 Protozoans, Sponges, and Worms 300 Echinoderms 304 Mollusks 305 Crustaceans 306 Insects 308 BOTANY. By Professor W. G. Farlow, Boylston Hall, Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass 325 General 325 Phaenogams 325 Vegetable Anatomy and Physiology 326 Ferns and Mosses 328 Fungi 329 Lichens 330 Algae 331 Bacteria 332 In General 332 Progress in America 333 Descriptive 333 Physiological 335 In General 336 Miscellaneous Notes 337 Classification of Palms 337 Boots of the Banian Tree 337 x ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. BOTANY Continued, History of ffeliantkus tuberomu Page 338 Living and Fossil Oaks of Europe 339 Rapid Growth of Fourcroya 339 Exhalation in Lichens 340 Vitality of < irain 340 Fluorescence of Calycanthns 340 The Effect of Frost on Chlorophyl Granules 341 I . (Feet of Frost on Evergreen Leaves 341 The Wood-Oil Tree 341 ( ';ip< rus aeult ntua 342 The Prickly Tear 342 1 ' lisonous Grasses 343 History and Uses of Jaborandi 343 Vegetable Eider-Down 344 Charcoal for Gunpowder 344 Homogonous and Ileterogonous Flowers 345 Three Feet of Fern-Spores 345 Vegetable Poisons of Samoa 346 Sarraa nia variolaris ^6 Fertilization of Gentiana Andreicsii 348 AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. By Professor W. O. At- water, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn 349 Agricultural Experiment Stations 349 Growth of the Experiment Stations 349 Resources, Appliances, and Work of the Experiment Stations 350 The Atmosphere as Related to Vegetation 352 Nitrogen Compounds Brought to Soil by Snow 352 Influence of Forests upon Rainfall and Temperature 352 The Soil in its Relations to Vegetable Production 353 Agricultural Geology 353 New Jersey Marls 353 Percolation of Water through the Soil, and Consequent Loss of Plant-Food .354 Loss of Plant-Food through Rivers 354 Soil-Absorption 355 The Causes of Soil-Absorption 356 The Absorption of Bases by the Soil 350 ( Oxidation of Nitrogen Compounds in the Soil 357 Sources and Functions of Ingredients of Plant-Food 358 The Sources of the Nitrogen of Vegetation 358 Sources of Nitrogen Removed from the Soil by Crops without Ni- trogenous Manure 358 Leguminous ( Irops and Soil Nitrogen 359 TABLE OF CONTENTS. xiii AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY Continued. Assimilation of Nitrogen by Leguminous Crops Aided by Potassic Fertilizers Page 359 Is the Free Nitrogen of the Air a Source of the Nitrogen Assimi- lated by Plants ? 3G0 Is the Combined Nitrogen of the Air the Source of the Assimilated Nitrogen? 30 1 Nitrification by Electrical Discharges 302 Is the Nitrogen Combined under the Influence of the Soil a Source of the Supply Assimilated by Plants ? 302 Best Forms of Nitrogen for Plant-Food 303 Source of the Carbon of Plants 304 Phosphoric Acid as the Food of Plants 305 Lime as Plant-Food 305 Root-Development of Plants 300 Manures 300 Phosphatic Fertilizers 300 Nitrogenous Fertilizers 307 Fish-Scrap 308 Fermentation of Fish-Guano 308 Potassic Fertilizers 308 The Need of Better Information about Fertilizers 371 Composition of Plants 372 Fodder Corn and Sweet-Potatoes 372 Buckwheat Straw 372 Pumpkins, Squashes, Broom-Corn Seeds, Weeds, etc 373 Sugar-Beet Culture and Beet-Sugar Making 373 Nutrition of Animals. Stock-Feeding 374 Sources of the Fat of the Animal Body 374 Effect of Fodder upon Milk Production 375 Changes in the Milk during the Period of Lactation 370 General Conclusions from Experiments on Effects of Food upon Milk Production 370 Other Feeding Experiments 377 The Digestive Capacity of Horses 377 Digestion of Foods by Swine 378 Digestion of Foods by Sheep 378 Value of Animal Waste as Food for Stock. Fish-Scrap 379 Practical Inferences from Feeding Experiments 380 ENGINEERING. By William H. Waul, Ph.D., Philadelphia, Pa 381 Railroads 381 The Canal Across the American Isthmus 3*2 The Mississippi Jetties 383 Other American Engineering Works 384 X1 V TABLE OF CONTENTS. ENGINEERING Continued, Improvement on mi Upper Mississippi Page 385 Tin-. Madeira ami Mamokk Railway 385 Tin. Sutro Tunnri 387 Steam-Motors on City Railways 388 'I'm Patent Model System 389 Ship-Canal Pboject on the Seine 391 Tin Algerian Inland Ska 391 Flooding ok the Sahara 392 Another Ai rican Project 392 The Sihplon Tunnel Project 393 Draining ok the Zuyder-Zee 393 Ml-. BLLANEOUS 393 TECHNOLOGY. By William II. Waul, Ph.D., Philadelphia. Pa 395 I'm; Dupuy Direct Process 395 A notiier Direct Process 39G Comparison of a Coal-Furnace and a Siemens Gas-Furnace in the Manufacture of Plate -Glass 39G Telegraphy 397 The Articulating Telephone 398 The Phonograph 399 Electric Lightning 399 Utilization of Blast-Furnace Slag 400 Cold-Pknched versus Hot-Pressed Nuts 402 Iridescent Glass 403 Miscellaneous 403 INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS. By William II. Waul, Ph.D., Philadel- phia, Pa 40G Production of Pig-Iron in 187G 40G ( '< >ndition of Blast-Furnaces October 1, 1877 407 Tin: Comparative Product of Pig-Iron by States 408 Production of Polled Iron in 187G 409 Rail Production in 187G 409 The 1>ksskmer-Stkel Industry 409 Steel Production Other than Bessemer 410 Production ok Iron and Steel by the Open-Hearth Process.. 410 Tin Product ok the Forges and Bloomeries 411 <.i m ral Analysis ok Total Iron and Steel Production 411 Tin; Ikon Trade ok the United States in 1877 412 Com. Trade ok 1877 413 Prodi < won of 1'k> < k>us Metals in 1877 413 NECROLOGY 415 BIBLIOGRAPHY 422 ALPHABETICAL [NDEX 4G5 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY 187 7. ASTRONOMY. By EDWARD S. HOLDEX, U. S. Natal Observatory, Washington. INTRODUCTION. The year 1877 will be remembered by the discovery of the two faint satellites of Mars more than by any other one event. A possible satellite of Mars has often been sought for by D'Arrest, Tuttle, and others, but an imagined analogy placed such a satellite or satellites farther from the planet than either of the bodies discovered by Professor Hall. These satellites may be said to be fatal to the analogies ordinarily quoted, and to show how vague a guide these really are. The outer satellite is almost unique in the solar system, and the inner one is quite so, in its relations of distance and mass with its primary. A further account of these will be found in the proper place. The changes of spectrum of Schmidt's JVbva Cygni are of great importance, and are certainly not yet understood ; and the same may be said of Dr. Henry Draper's discovery of oxygen in the sun, even the nearer consequences of which have not yet been worked out. A ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. The astronomical expedition of Mr. David Gill to Ascen- sion Island is particularly noteworthy; and by advices from Mr. Gill up to October 8, it appears probable that success is ured. These and other subjects are spoken of briefly under their appropriate heads, but it must be remembered that the accounts here given are necessarily the barest sum- maries, and are intended mainly to call attention to work which has been done, in order that a reference to the origi- nals may be made when desired. NEBULAE AND THE NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS. Lord IJosse is preparing for publication all the observa- tions of nebulae made at Birr Castle with his six and three feet mirrors during the last thirty years. Those drawings which have already been published in the Philosophical Transactions will not be republished. The whole will probably be divided into three or four parts, each com- prising G h. or 8 h. of right ascension. The editing is done by Dr. Dreyer, Lord Rosse's assistant, and the work is to be published by the Royal Irish Academy. It is expected to be soon in the hands of astronomers. Dr. Dreyer is also engaged in preparing a supplement to UerschePs general catalogue of nebula), etc., and any addi- tions or corrections to this should be sent to him. The Melbourne reflector has for some time been employed for the purpose of re-drawing all nebulae previously figured by Sir John Ilerschel. Forty-nine nebulae have been care- fully drawn by the observers, and the results of the work are about to be published. Mr. Ellery speaks of the litho- graphic copies of these drawings as fully successful. M. Stephan, of Marseilles, gives the places of thirty new nebulae discovered by him, making 185 in all found at Mar- seilles. The first 125 of these will appear in Dreyer's new catalogue of nebulae. Dr. Koch, of the Leipzig Observatory, has published a micrometric investigation of the cluster G. C. 1712 for his inaugural dissertation. It contains an interestinc: resume of previous work of this kind. Other work of the kind is now in hand at this observatory. The cluster Gamma Arr/i1s, respecting which Gilliss re- ported changes since Sir John Herschel's observations, has ASTHONOMY. 3 been photographed several times by Gould at Cordoba; and Dr. Gould also reports that he has eight plates of Ma Argils and surrounding stars, of which a very large number is se- cured upon the photograph by an exposure of from eight to ten minutes. Dr. Valentiner, at Mannheim, has begun the investigation of several star clusters, and such investigations are to be continued as a principal work of this observatory. At Kiel, Peters continues observations of nebula? for posi- tion, which were undertaken at Altona. Dr. Schmidt, of Athens, has just published in the Astrono- mische JVachrichten a suggestive paper on the connection of the nebula h. 3770 with variable stars in the vicinity. His facts seem to indicate a relation between them. M. Tempel, of Florence, sends to the Astronomische JVach- richten, No. 2138, a long account of his observations of nebula? at Florence, which are prosecuted under many difficulties, and gives some account of the great variations which he has found to exist between drawings of the same nebula by va- rious observers. Professor Holden has a paper in Sillimaii's Journal on the proper motion of the Trifid Nebula. From the older observations of the two Herschels it fol- lows that 1. From 1784, July 12, to 1833, the triple star Sh. 379 icas centrally situated between the three nebulosities. Again, from the later observations of Mason, Herschel, Lassell, Langley, Trouvelot, and Holden, it follows that 2. From 1839 to 1877 the triple star was not centrally situ- ated beticeen the three nebulosities, but involved in A. It is shown that each of these propositions rests on a firm basis. Granted that 1 and 2 are correct, there are but three ways to reconcile the opposing facts : a. The triple star has a large proper motion. b. The nebula has a large proper motion. c. The nebula is subject to decided changes of brilliancy. The first point will be settled by meridian observations now in progress. The relative positions of the various stars of the group seem to have been unchanged since 1839. If, as is probable, the proper motion of the triple star is small, there remain the two alternatives b and c to choose between. 4 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. Mr.Plummer lias a note on the collective light distribution of the fixed stars. lie finds that fully three fourths of the light of a fine night comes from stars which are individually invisible to the naked eye, and that on his hypothesis the total light of all the stars of the Durchmusterung is equal to 10.17 x Venus at maximum brilliancy, or l-f-78.6 of the mean full moon. His final conclusion is that " either the Durchmusterung contains many stars (more than one third of the entire number) which, though rated as 9.5 magnitude, are sensibly below it, or else it must be assumed that at the average distance for stars of this magnitude a denser stratum actually exists, succeeded possibly by regions less fruitful beyond." NEW STARS. "Schmidt's observations of the new star of 1866 (TCoro- nce), continued up to the present time, show that after fall- ing from the second to the seventh magnitude in nine days, its light diminished very gradually year after year down to nearly the tenth magnitude, at which it has remained pretty constant for the last two years. But during the whole period there have been fluctuations of brightness at tolerably regular intervals of ninety-four days, though of successively decreasing extent. After the first sudden fall, there seems to have been an increase of brilliancy which brought the star above the seventh magnitude again, in October, 1866, an in- crease of a full magnitude; but since that time the changes have been much smaller, and are now but little more than a tenth of a magnitude. The color of the star has shown no change from pale yellow throughout the whole course of ob- servations." Lord Lindsay makes the important announcement that Schmidt's Nova Cygni (R. A. 21 h 36 m 52 8 ,Dec.-f 41 16' 53"), which blazed forth suddenly last November, exhibiting a continuous spectrum with numerous bright lines, now gives monochromatic light, the spectrum consisting of a single bright line, corresponding in position to the characteristic line of gaseous nebulae. From this fact Lord Lindsay infers that this star, which has now fallen to 10.5 magnitude, has actually become a planetary nebula, affording an instance of a remarkable reversal of the process imagined by Laplace in his nebular theory. ASTKONOMY. 5 Lord Lindsay's discovery is, according to Mr. Christie, of Greenwich, "confirmed by an examination of drawings of the spectrum of this star at five epochs between 1S76, Dec. 8, and 1877, March 2, given by Dr. Vogel in a paper sum- marizing his own observations as well as those of other ob- servers. Though in themselves these are not sufficient to indicate the conversion to a nebula, they acquire great im- portance in the light of the Dun-Echt observation, for they show clearly the progressive fading out, not only of the continuous spectrum, but also of the hydrogen and other bright lines." This new star in Cygnus has been the subject of observa- tion by Cornu, Copeland, and Yogel by means of the spec- troscope ; and from all the observations it is plain that the hydrogen lines at first prominent have gradually faded. With the decrease in their brilliancy, a line corresponding in position with the brightest of the lines of a nebula has strengthened. On December 8, 1876, this last line was much fainter than F, while on March 2, F was very much the fainter of the two. Lockyer, in commenting upon these facts, says that it has been shown by Croll that if the incandescence of this star came from the collision of two bodies, each havinsr half the mass of our sun, and moving 476 miles per second, enough light and heat would be produced to cover the sun's radiation (at the present rate) for 50,000,000 years. As so much light, etc., has not been produced, Lockyer argues that this body "might weigh only a few tons or even hun- dred-weights," and that it may therefore be quite near to us, and he suggests that accurate observations for position may indicate a motion. Mr. S. C. Chandler, of New York, gives in the Astrono- mische Naclirichten, No. 2119, the results of his observations in 1875 on twenty-five variable stars. Anomalies have been detected in the light curve of R. Sagittm which point out the necessity of further examination. This series is note- worthy as being the only one made in the United States (we believe) since Masterman's, published in Gould's Astronom- ical Journal. Dr. Schmidt, of Athens, communicates to the > AstronomiscJie Kackrichten a long series of variable star observations made in 1876. G ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. A new work of 113 pages quarto on the photometry of the fixed stars, by Wolff, is published at Leipzig. Klein, of Cologne, formerly announced that Alpha Vrsm Majoris periodically changed color from an intense fiery red to a yellow or yellowish-red every live weeks. Weber, of Peckeloh, has observed this star during August, September, October, and part of November, 1876, and finds this period to be about thirty-five days, as before. This periodic change of color must, then, be admitted, and it is the first one which rests on a sure basis, and which regularly recurs at short intervals. Pogson's catalogue and maps of variable stars are referred to under the head of star catalogues. Montigny, in the Bulletin of the Belgian Academy, 187G, No. S, publishes an elaborate discussion on the scintillation of stars. Dr. Schmidt, of Athens, publishes in Astronomische JVach- richten, 2109, an important paper on meteors, which com- prises the results of a thirty-four years' series of observa- tions. P. Secchi has drawn up a list of 444 stars of marked color, giving their positions for 18*70, as well as magnitudes and notes on the color. "This is a considerable enlargement of Selijellerup's Catalogue, which contains 280 red stars; but that it is very far indeed from being exhaustive is shown by the circumstance that M. Fearnley, at Christiania, lias noted no fewer than thirty-four such objects in observing a zone of about 5. In fact, it would seem that the comparative rarity of red stars in catalogues is simply due to the observ- er's attention not having been directed to this point; and there can be little doubt that a lars;e number of stars of the sixth magnitude and under will be found on careful exami- nation to be decidedly red." DOUBLE, MULTIPLE, AND BINARY STARS. A general catalogue of double stars is now printing which will probably be found to fulfil all the conditions for a work of this class. It is from the hands of Mr. Burnham, of Chi- cago, and is the work of many years. It will contain all the elements of position (for 1880) with the particulars concern- ing each star from the latest trustworthy authority, and ASTRONOMY. 7 copious notes referring to previous measures. For impor- tant stars the entire history is given or rendered accessible, a special treatment having been adopted for binaries. It is to be printed as an Appendix to the Washington Astronom- ical Observations for 1876, and will be eagerly looked for- ward to by all to whom such a work is a daily need. The Observatory at Cincinnati lias begun its work, since its removal to its new site, by researches in this field. The former observations of Mitchell have been reduced and pub- lished, and also a series of measures of double stars of south- ern declination. It is announced by the director, Professor Stone, that it is the plan of the Observatory to observe the doubles lying in the zone between 15 and 35 S. The great number of measures made by Otto v. Struve, at Pulkova, have been reduced and printed, but no copy has yet reached the United States. Recent measures of a large number of Struve's doubles are, however, available in the work of Dune r, of Lund. This includes 2679 observations made in the nine years from 1867 to 1875. Measures of many of the doubles, arranged in chronological order, accompanied by a tolerably full discussion of the whole series of observations, from Her- schel's to Duner's, are given. A table is added in which the stars are arranged in classes according: to the arc throuo-h which they have moved since the earliest observation. Class I. contains those stars which have moved through a complete revolution, and comprises 8 stars. Class II., those stars which have moved through 180 of their apparent orbit 8 stars. Class III., those which have moved through 90 8 stars. Class IV., those which have moved through 30 16 stars. Class V., those which have moved through 10 4S stars. Class VI., those which certainly have an orbital motion 59 stars, etc., etc. So that there are 147 stars in this list which have been proved to be binary in character. The recent measures of Dembowski, Ferrari, Schiaparelli, Wilson and Seabroke, Hall, ISTewcomb, Gledhill, and others are noteworthy, as well as the theoretical researches of Do- berck on binaries, but they are too numerous to be referred to in detail. The work of Lord Lindsay ("Publications of the Dun-Echt Observatory," vol. i.) is intended to supply the place of a g;cn- 8 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. eral catalogue so far as the double stars of W. Struve are concerned. It is a careful collection of all the measures of Struve in the "Mensurse Micrometrica?," and in the minor works, and all these stars (above 3000 in number) are ar- ranged in order of their right ascensions for 1875.0. For each pair all the particulars of magnitude, color, distance, position- angle, date of observation, even the magnifying powers employed, are given, as well as the co-ordinates, right ascension and declination for 1875. The precessions are to be taken from a table appended to the book. The full notes give further measures. Thus the particulars re- garding each star are to be found collected on one line. If a reference to Struve's own measures is desired, a column gives the page of the original work where these may be found. Flammarion, of Paris, has in the press a work on binary stars, etc., in which all observations are given for each star, and a discussion of their orbits, etc., follows. Burnham, of Chicago, has lately discovered some interest- ing doubles, among which we may cite L 22020, pz=60, 8=0.5", mags. 9, 9; O. Arg. 11836, p = 80, s=l", mags. 8, 9 ; L 18231, p = 70, s=1.3", mags. 8.5, 10. These are re- markably difficult stars to be found with a six-inch aperture. Mr. Burnham also notes that 8 Sextantis=A. C. 5 is a rapid binary, having moved 130 since 1860. It may be definitely stated that the new companions to Polaris reported by Boe do not exist, as Mr. Burnham, of Chicago, has examined this neighborhood with the 18-inch refractor at Chicago without finding them. Struve and Dubiago, of Pulkova, publish in the St. Peters- burg Academy Bulletin a new investigation of the orbit of 2 1728 = 42 Cornea Berenices. The orbit is based on thirty- eight measured distances alone (the apparent orbit being strictly a right line), and the observations are represented with unusual exactness. The period is 25.71 0.080 years. This orbit must be regarded as better established than that of any binary. Gruber, of Buda-Pesth, gives the following elements for "Eta Cassiopeice: Periastron passage, 1706.72; periodic time, 195.235 years; eccentricity, 0.6244; longitude of node, 33 20', of periastron, 229 27'; inclination, 48 18' (1850.0). These ASTRONOMY. 9 elements satisfy the normal places well: = 8.639", and Struve has found the parallax 0.154"; mass of the system, 4.63, that of the sun being 1, and a=56.10, the earth's mean distance being 1. STAR CATALOGUES AND MAPS. The progress made in the zones of the AstronomiscJie Gesellschaft cannot be definitely stated until after the pub- lication of the report of their meeting at Stockholm. The "Durchmusteruns: ties Nordlichen Gestirnten Himmels," the joint work of Argelander and his assistants, Kriiger and Schonfeld, embraces all the stars of the first nine magnitudes from the North Pole to 2 of south declination. This work was begun in 1852, and at its completion a catalogue of the approximate places of no less than 324,198 stars, with a series of excellent star-maps giving the aspect of the northern heav- ens for 1855, was at the service of astronomers, and has been in the most constant use from that time forward. Argelan- der's original plan was to carry this Durchmusterung as far as 23 south, so that every star visible in a small comet-seeker should be registered. His original plan was abandoned, but his former assistant and present successor at the Observatory of Bonn, Dr. Schonfeld, is now engaged in executing this important work. The same methods will be followed by Schonfeld which were so successful formerly; the equinox of 1855 is chosen as the fundamental one; and almost the only changes are the adoption of a telescope of six inches aperture for the work, and a closer discrimination of the magnitudes of the fainter order of stars. In the prosecution of the plan, Schonfeld has already determined the position of 74,885 stars; and astronomers in the northern hemisphere will soon possess an index, as it were, to every star likely to be used in their observations. The last report of the National Observatory of the Argentine Republic is dated March, 1876. Dr. Gould re- ports that the Uranometry is ready for the press, except the text. The Zones, which were begun September 9, 1872, were finished August 9, 1875, and contain over 105,000 stars, and comprise the region from 22 50' to 88 10'. The Standard Catalogue now contains 4253 stars (12,661 observations), besides 54 circumpolars (1461 observations), A2 tO ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. and the lime stars (1G84 observations). The observations for the catalogue will terminate in 1877. From a letter of Dr. Gould's we learn that the reductions of these zones are in a forward state. All observations are reduced to the middle of the field in both co-ordinates in duplicate. The reduction to 1875.0 is completed for 700 zones out of the 754 ; At, c, and n are computed for all the zones and two thirds of the refractions are completed. In February the work of printing the first meteorological vol- ume commenced. The maps of the Uranometry of the Southern Heavens, made by Gould and his assistants at Cordoba, are now pre- paring at Bien and Co.'s in New York. They are to be lithographed, and each map will be about half the size of the maps to the Durchmusterung. From the annual report of the Astronomer Royal to the Board of Visitors we learn that the new nine-year catalogue is well under way, and that Sir George Airy will publish his numerical lunar theory as an appendix to the Greenwich volume. The Paris Observatory continues the publication of ecliptic charts compiled from observations of MM. Henry. Houzeau, of Brussels, has presented to the Belgian Acad- emy a Uranometry of nearly 6000 naked-eye stars, which was constructed by him during a residence of thirteen months in the West Indies. It is presumed that this work will shortly be published. The Cape of Good Hope Observatory has published a vol- ume which contains the mean positions of 1246 stars, includ- ing all of Lacaille's stars in the " Ccelum Australe Stellife- rum," which now fall between 155 and 165 N. P. D., and some additional ones in the same zone. Lacaille's stars be- tween 145 and 155 N. P.D. were similarly observed in 1875, and those between 135 and 145 in 1876. We shall soon, therefore, have accurate places of all Lacaille's stars. " Although the observations of the moon, planets, and corn- el s made at Kremsmunster have been published from time to time, no publication of the results for stars has taken place, with the exception of a catalogue of 208 stars, printed in the Memoirs R. A. S., vol. xii. lleslhuber, however, re- duced the observations of 560 stars to the epoch 1840; and ASTRONOMY. u in order that this labor should not be altogether in vain, Herr Strasser, the present director, has incorporated with them his recent results for the period 18G4-1874. He has thus formed a catalogue of 750 stars, all reduced to the epoch 1870, the two sets of observations being combined in case of agreement between the results." Mr. Pogson, of Madras, has about 29,000 unpublished me- ridian observations of about 3000 southern stars, from which a catalogue is to be compiled and published. He is also making a complete atlas of telescopic variable stars in 136 maps, containing the approximate positions of over 40,000 stars. Dr. Gylden, director of the Observatory of Stockholm, has published the first part of Vol. I. of the annals of that ob- servatory. It contains the observations of right ascensions made at Stockholm during 1874, and a catalogue of the mean rio-ht ascensions of these stars for 1875.0. Part second will contain the north polar distances ; part third will contain tables of elliptic functions of use in the calculation of the perturbations of comets. Professor SafFord, of Williams College, has prepared for the use of the United States Engineer Department Survey under Lieutenant Wheeler a catalogue of the declinations of 2018 stars, which is now passing through the press. The catalogue of standard declinations, prepared by Pro- fessor Boss, of Albany, is now being printed. Dr. Loewy, of Pads, has presented to the French Academy of Sciences a catalogue of 521 moon-culminating stars. The places of these depend upon observations made at the Ob- servatory of the Bureau of Longitudes with portable instru- ments. The bureau has just completed the determination of the telegraphic longitudes of Neuchatel, Geneva, and Lyons. It will shortly undertake the determination of the longitude of Lisbon. KnobePs important work on the Chronology of Star Catalogues is mentioned under Bibliography. THE SUN. In a paper published in the American Journal of Science and Arts, Dr. Henry Draper, of New York City, announces the discovery, by means of spectroscopic photography, of Oxvgen in the solar atmosphere ; and he brings the evidence 12 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. to the eye by printing from his original negatives the juxta- posed spectra of the sun and of the gas. In the photograph can be Been each bright line of the oxygen spectrum matched and prolonged by a corresponding bright line in the spectrum of the sun. " While the metallic elements reveal themselves by dark lines in the solar spectrum, oxygen shows bright, and this is probably the reason why it has so long remained concealed; for these bright lines or bands which indicate its presence arc inconspicuous and easily mistaken for mere unoccupied intervals between the multitudinous dark lines which abound in the portion of the spectrum where they are found. The attempt has always been to identify some of the dark lines of the solar spectrum with those of the element in question, and the bright bands escaped investigation until the photo- graph brought out their significance. Why oxygen should behave thus differently from the other substances before de- tected it is not yet possible to say with certainty. A pos- sible explanation is that its very abundance has hidden it. A gaseous substance, sparingly present in the solar atmos- phere, would declare itself by faint dark lines in the solar spectrum ; but if the quantity of the gas should be gradually and continuously increased, these dark lines, after growing for a time more intense, would then by degrees fade away, and when the quantity of the gas had become sufficiently great, would be replaced by bright ones. But on this hy- pothesis it is very difficult to understand why oxygen is not conspicuous in the chromosphere; like the substance which gives the so-called D 3 line, brilliant in the chromosphere spectrum, but invisible (usually) in the spectrum of the suifs surface. Probably the full explanation lies somewhat deeper." Professor Langley, of Pittsburgh, publishes in the Monthly Notices, K. A. S., a paper on the measurement of the direct effect of sun-spots on terrestrial temperature. It is not in- tended to show that the earth is, on the whole, cooler in maximum sun-spot years, as the discussions on the paper (a- reported in the Astronomical Register) indicate it to have been misinterpreted to mean. The observations consisted in measuring the relative amounts of umbral, penumbral, and photospheric radiation. The relative umbral, penumbral, ASTRONOMY. 13 and photospheric areas were deduced from the Kew observa- tions of spots; and fr6m a consideration of these data, and confining the question strictly to changes of terrestrial tem- perature due to this cause alope, Langley deduces the result that " sun-spots do exercise a direct effect on terrestrial tem- perature by decreasing the mean temperature of the earth at their maximum." This change is, however, very small, as "it is represented by a change in the mean temperature of our globe in eleven years not greater than 0.3 C, and not less than 0.05 C." Professor Langley has also had constructed an apparatus, which is similar in principle to one devised by Dr. Hastings. It consists of two prisms by which two spectra from various parts of the sun can be juxtaposed. Comparing the light from the two limbs, for example, one is enabled to discrim- inate the atmospheric lines, and the proof of solar rotation and a measure of its velocity is easily to be had. It has also other applications. Nyren, of Pulkova, has published an important paper on the position of the equinox for 1865.0, derived from obser- vations of the sun made with the Pulkova transit instrument (Wagner) and vertical circle (Dollen and Gylden). The de- duced position of the equinox differs by +0.064" from that assigned by Greenwich observations, by +0.055" from Pul- kova (1845), by +0.011" from Paris, and 0.002" from Wash- ington. Professor Wolf, of Zurich, who has collected all available data in regard to sun-spots for nearly twenty-five years, has now these data for more than 22,000 days between 1749 and 1876. Since 1848 these data may be said to be complete. The mean value of the solar-spot period he finds to be 11.111 years 0.307 ; but single periods may be two years longer or shorter than the mean. The maximum is nearer the pre- ceding minimum than the following one. A longer period of about 178 years (not 55) is also indicated. It is to be noted that 16 sun-spot periods, 15 revolutions of Jupiter, 6 of Saturn, and 298 of Venus are nearly equal. Sun-spots continue to be observed photographically at Greenwich, Paris, Moscow, Toulouse, Kasan,Vassar College, and are observed visually at Madrid, Oxford, Berlin, Zu- rich, Leipzig. 14 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. Rrottiberanees arc observed at Palermo, Home, Greenwich, Moscow, ( HI valla, etc. The chief signal-officer of the army lias proposed to the various observatories of this country, both public and private, to co-operate in physical observations of the sun. Every phenomenon of interest should be registered, whether relat- ing to spots, faculse, or protuberances, etc. Each observa- tory that is willing to take up any special field, or that al- ready occupies such a field, is requested to give its results, or such part of them as it is willing to give, to the Signal Bureau for record in its Monthly Weather Review. Thus a prompt publication is secured. In response to this invitation, the United States Naval Observatory is furnishing a record of the number of spots daily observed on the sun's disk. This record is prepared by Mr. D. P. Todd. It is to be hoped that a regular series of photographic records of sun-spots can be made by some one or more observatories in the East, and by at least one on the Western coast. In order to render such observations of the sun complete, the establishment of these stations and one in Japan is required. Captain J. Waterhouse, of India, publishes a very com- plete account (illustrated with photographs) of the prepara- tions by himself and Tacchini to observe the solar eclipse of 1875, April G, in the Nicobar Islands. No photographs of the spectrum of the corona were obtained, on account of cloudy weather, but the details of the methods adopted are of value. Sir George Airy sends to Nature a list of thirty-seven ancient eclipses which have been computed by Hind, and of which the original manuscript calculations are preserved at the Royal Observatory. The earliest of these is B.C. 885, the latest A.D. 1G52. There are twenty-one previous to the Christian era, and sixteen after it, and the whole is a most valuable contribution to chronology and the history of as- tronomy. Celoria, of Milan, has also published in No. XI. of the publications of that Observatory a discussion of the solar eclipses of 1239, June 3, and of 1241, October C. The important total solar eclipse of 1878 will probably be well observed in America. Estimates for $8000 have been submitted to Congress for American parties. The reductions of the American Transit of Venus observa- tions are in a forward state. ASTRONOMY. 15 A discussion of the telescopic observations of the late transit of Venus made by the British expeditions has been laid before Parliament. In this preliminary result the inter- nal contacts observed at five stations have been made use of, viz. : Honolulu, ingress accelerated ; New Zealand, ingress retarded very slightly; Rodriguez and Kerguelen, ingress retarded ; Egypt (Mokattam, Suez, and Thebes), egress re- tarded ; Rodriguez, egress retarded very slightly ; Kergue- len, egress accelerated. The value of the sun's parallax thus found is 8.760", with a probable error of 0.013", corresponding to a distance of 93,300,000 miles, with a probable error of 140,000 miles. According to Christie, of Greenwich : "Al- though there may be some small corrections to be applied to the individual results for errors in the provisional longi- tudes used, their amount can be but small, and it is hardly conceivable that the mean value can be sensibly affected. Nor is there any possibility of materially altering the re- sult by another interpretation of the language of the ob- servers concerned. We must, therefore, accept the fact that these observations of the transit of Venus give a value for the sun's parallax which is considerably less than most of those which have been recently put forward, though still decidedly larger than Encke's result. There remain, how- ever, the observations made in India and Australia, which will reinforce the rather meagre results for egress, and also the measures of photographs which promise to give a very accurate value of the parallax." Deichmuller, of Bonn, has published an investigation of the circumstances of the transit of Venus in 1882 ; it has been com- pared with a discussion lately published by Peter, of Leipzig. Mr. David Gill, of England, has taken up his residence at Ascension Island, for the purpose of making heliometric ob- servations of Mars to determine the solar parallax. The heliometer to be employed is the one used by Mr. Gill in the Transit of Venus Expedition of Lord Lindsay in 1874, in which Juno was observed and the parallax 8.82" deduced. This expedition is of great importance, in many ways, as it is quite possible that from its results the best determina- tion of solar parallax may be had, as the method employed admits of great refinement. The support given to the ex- pedition is also noteworthy, as the Royal Astronomical So- 10 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. ciety guarantees the expenses, 500, and as many observa- tories will join in the fixing of the star-places, etc. It con- trasts with the unfortunate expedition of Gilliss in 1849-52, who, on li is return to the United States from Chili, found that his brilliant labors in the same field, although by a dif- ferent and less independent method, had been practically in vain, through the feeble support given by Northern observ- ers. Mr. Gill will also observe three of the asteroids for the determination of the solar parallax. The photographs of the transit of Ve?uts obtained by the United States parties have been examined, and all those which were capable of measurement have been read off. They are as follows : Northern Stations. "Wladiwostok 13 plates. Nagasaki 50 " Peking 2G " Total 89 " Southern Stations. Kerguelen Island 8 plates. Hobart Town 38 " Campbell Town 32 " Queen stown 47 " Chatham Island 7 " Total 132 " The grand total for both hemispheres is 221 plates. Ow- ing to the great variability of the photographic diameters of the sun tm&Venus, it was found impossible to make use of any pictures which did not show a complete image of the sun. This excluded several hundred small photographs taken near the times of contact between the limbs of Venus and the sun. The above-mentioned measurements of the photographs have been so far reduced that the position-angles of Venus, relatively to the centre of the sun's image, and the positions of the sun's image relatively to the centres of the plates, have been tabulated. Their further reduction is under way, and it is expected that the reduction of all the observations of the transit itself will be brought to a close by the coming spring. It is also ASTRONOMY. !7 hoped that the observations for longitudes of stations will be reduced before the end of the fiscal year, and with the present appropriation. The question of the best means for determining the solar parallax will receive new light by the publication of the re- sults of the heliometer measures of Juno by Lord Lindsay and Mr. Gill at Mauritius in 1874. The preliminary results obtained show a surprising accordance between the several nights' work, and indicate a parallax not far from 8.82". Another method promising good results is the observation of Mars and companion stars at the opposition of 1877 ; and to facilitate the application of this method, Professor East- man, of Washington, has prepared a carefully selected list of stars for observation on the meridian with the planet dur- ing the period from July 18 to October 12, with suggestions as to the method of observation. At the private observatory of Lewis M. Rutherford, Esq., New York, Mr. Chapman is making a series of photographs of Mars and comparison stars, which are afterwards to be measured. Two or more photographs are taken 3 h. east of the meridian, and the same number 3 h. icest, so that from such a series the diurnal parallax may be had. It is said in Nature, of January 18, that the measurements of the French photographs of the transit of Venus is not nrooressino' favorably, unforeseen difficulties having; arisen. Only forty-seven out of one thousand have been measured. All the observations of the transit of Venus made by Rus- sian expeditions will be collected and published in one vol- ume, which is preparing at the Pulkova Observatory. PLANETS, ASTEROIDS, AND SATELLITES. Volumes X., XL, and XII. of the Annates of the Paris Observatory have arrived in the United States. They are mainly occupied with the development of Leverrier's theories of the motion of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Vol. X. contains an important paper by Wolf and Andre on the " black drop," with experiments. The Observatory has also published a series of six ecliptic charts in continuation of Chacornac's. Leverrier's researches on the planet Vulcan were concluded early in 1877. After an examination of all probable hypoth- 18 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. eses, the conclusion was that, to observe the planet in transit, astronomers must wait till 1881 or 1885, although there is a possibility of a transit in 1877. It has been suggested that the total solar eclipse of 1878 will be a favorable opportunity to search for it ; and if an approximate position of it for that time is given, the planet must be sure of detection, if it really exist. Lassell, of England, examined Venus on the 12th and 13th of July for the purpose of seeing the unilluminated portion of the disk, but he was not successful. Ertborn, of Antwerp, publishes in the Bulletin of the Bel- gian Academy a series of observations on spots on Venus. Trouvelot, of Cambridge, is still pursuing his observations of the planets. During the present year he has made 112 sketches of Jupiter, 80 sketches of Mars, and several of Sat- urn. The weather has been unfavorable for Mars, and a quiet atmosphere has not yet been obtained. A spot which appeared on Jupiter April 15 is still visible, and has been observed by Trouvelot twenty times. The adopted period of rotation does not agree with that indicated by the spot. If the adopted period be correct, the spot has a retrograde proper motion of great regularity, " almost too regular," as M. Trouvelot remarks. Mr. Brett has published speculations on the " specular re- flection" of Venus, the main idea of which is that Venus reflects the sunlight from a vitreous envelope, much as a thermometer-bulb would do. Mr. Brett suggests to observ- er^ of the next transit of Venus the propriety of looking in the globe of Venus for a reflected image of the earth, which will appear as a " minute nebulous speck of light." This " nebulous speck" would be less than one fiftieth of a second of arc in diameter. Considering the difficulty of seeing Venus herself when very close to the sun, the hope of carrying out the provisions of this plan is rather a forlorn one, particular- ly as the light of this "speck" is diminished by reflection, and is to be seen close to a bright background. Cj CD On December 7, 1876, Professor Hall, of the Naval Observa- tory at Washington, discovered on the disk of Saturn a brill- iant oval white spot, which was observed to move across the disk for about an hour. It was central at G h. 18 m. "Washing- ton mean time. Information was sent to various observato- ASTKOXOMY. 19 ries in the United States, and observations were received from Edgecomb at Hartford, Mitchell at Vassar College, Boss at Albany, and Clark at Cambridge. It was first seen by Monck- hoven, of Gand, December G, at 22 h. 15 m. sidereal time, and w T as then about central. It should be noted that the rotation time of Saturn'' 's ball, as given in many modern books (10 h. 29 m.), belongs to the ring (Laplace, " Mecanique Celeste"), while the true rotation time is near that given by Sir William Herschel (10 h. 16 m. 0.44 s.). Observations of this bright spot on Saturn were obtained through sixty-one revolutions of Saturn 's ball. The resulting rotation time is 10 h. 14 m. 23.8 s.2.30 s., which differs from Sir William Herschel's determination (10 h. 16 m. 0.4 s.) by less than 2 m. Marth, of London, continues the publication of an extend- ed ephemeris of the satellites of Saturn. These objects are observed by Hall, of Washington, at Greenwich, by Pratt at Brighton, and by Pritchett, of Glasgow, Missouri. Professor Hall has given in the Astronomische JVachrichten elements and an ephemeris of Hyperion, the faint satellite of Saturn, derived from his own observations. Although these elements are regarded only as provisional, the inclination in particular requiring further observations to determine it, they are very close approximations, as is shown by the ac- cordance of the ephemeris with the Washington observa- tions of 1877. With regard to Hall's elements of Hyperion, Hind remarks that they lead to the following numbers, assuming the solar parallax as 8.86": mean distance, 914,000 miles; least dis- tance, 800,000 miles; greatest distance, 1,028,000 miles. In Comptes Benclus (March 26), Tisserand gives the re- sults of his observations of the five interior satellites of Saturn. Mimas has been observed five times, Enceladus seven times, etc. Tisserand gives the apparent diameter of the ring, as deduced from observations of three of the satellites, as below: Tethys, 40.45"; Dione, 40.61"; PJiea, 40.47"; mean, 40.51" which shows that the method of observation adopted (William Herschel's and LasselPs) is susceptible of great accuracy. Professor Hall read to the Philosophical Society of Wash- ington a paper on the shape of the shadow of the ball of Saturn on the ring, in which mention was made of the ab- 20 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. normal direction of the curvature of the bounding-line of the shadow, it being now convex towards the ball, instead of concave. The abnormal figure of this shadow has often been noticed, and is corroborated by many independent ob- servers. In particular the drawing of the shadow by M. Trouvelot, October, 1874, is undoubtedly correct, as other drawings made at the same time by other observers give the same appearance. Todd, of Washington, has prepared a continuation of Damoiseau's tables of the satellites of Jupiter, which ex- tends to 1900. This has been printed by the American Ephemeris in a quarto of forty pages, and will be sent to any astronomer having a copy of Damoiseau. The errata in Damoiseau's tables found by Hind, Kendall, and Todd, respectively occupy nearly throe quarto pages. The British Nautical Almanac for 1881 contains tables with a similar object by Professor J. C. Adams. An outer satellite of Mars was observed by Professor Asaph Hall, U.S.N., at the United States Naval Observa- tory, on the night of the 11th of August, 1877. Cloudy weather prevented the certain recognition of its true char- acter at that time. On August 16 it was again observed, and its motion was established by observation extending through an interval of two hours, during which the planet moved over thirty seconds of arc. An inner satellite was first observed on the night of August 17, also by Professor Hall. Both were discovered with the 26-inch telescope made by Alvan Clark and Sons. On Saturday, August 19, the discoveries were telegraphed to Alvan Clark and Sons, Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, in order that, if the weather should be cloudy at Washington, they might confirm the existence of the satellites with the 2G-inch telescope of Mr. M'Cormick, which is in their hands. These discoveries were confirmed by Professor Pickering and his assistants, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the 15-inch telescope, and by the Messrs. Clark, at Cambridge- port, with a 12-inch glass. On August 19 the discoveries were communicated to the Smithsonian Institution, by which they were announced to the American and European observatories. The period of the outer satellite is about 30 li. 18 m. ; of the inner,*? h. 35 m. ASTRONOMY. o\ The inner satellite is intrinsically the brighter, and the outer one has been seen with the 9.6-inch Munich equatorial at Washington. The most remarkable point of this im- portant discovery is the short period of the inner satellite, which is only one third as long as that of Mimas, the in- nermost satellite of Saturn, hitherto the object having the shortest period in the solar system. Apart from the physical interest of these brilliant discov- eries, these satellites will furnish an accurate determination of the mass of Mars. From the observations of the first nine days this mass appears to be -g-oWoinT- The discus- sion of all the observations will change this somewhat. A curious fact about the relative visibility of these satel- lites in various European telescopes is noticed elsewhere. Photometric measures of the satellites of Mars have been made by Professor Pickering and Mr. S. C. Chandler. The series of observations made by Professor Hall on the moons of Mars ended October 31, the planet having re- ceded to a distance at which they become invisible, even with the 26-inch refractor. Not until 1879 will there be any opportunity to see them again, and that will not give nearly so good a view as the past season. Professor Hall has secured fifty-one observations of the outer (Deirmis) and forty-six of the inner satellite (Phobus). A passage in the 15th book of the "Iliad," where Ares is preparing to descend to the earth, has suggested these names for the two satellites of Mars, which names, it is understood, Professor Hall has approved : " n Qfi t* the moon during the past 250 years may be very ASTRONOMY. 95 closely represented by the alteration of a single term in Hansen's tables. The question whether this alteration is admissible in the theory cannot yet be decided. COMETS. The recent dearth of comets has been supplied in 1877 by the discovery of five. Comet a was discovered by Borelly, of Marseilles, on February 8, and was visible as a telescopic object till March 18 in Europe, but was observed by the 26- inch telescope at Washington so late as March 30. It had the usual comet spectrum. Comet b was discovered by Win- necke, of Strasburg, on April 5. Young, of Dartmouth, and Wolf, of Paris, have investigated its spectrum, which 4s of the usual type. Comet c was discovered by Swift, of Roch- ester, on April 10, and independently by Block, of Odessa, on the same date, and by Borelly on the 14th. Cornet b remained a tolerably bright object until some time in July. Comet c was always faint. There is a strong resemblance between the elements of comet c and those of the comet of 1762, but the researches of Holetschek indicate that these are different bodies. D' Arrest's comet was found by Tempel, of Florence, in the place indicated by Le Veau's ephemeris. Comet e was discovered by Coggia, September 13, and/" by Tempel, October 2. In regard to comet b, 1877 (Winnecke's), the discoverer has remarked that a similarity exists between its elements and those of comets II. 1827 and II. 1852. The intervals 1827-52 and 1852-77 being equal (twenty-five years) lends additional strength to the supposition of identity. This question is remarked upon by Hind in Nature (April 19), w 7 ho says: "The case is a very curious one, and possibly unique of its kind : similarity of elements at three epochs separated by very nearly equal intervals; and on the as- sumption of a corresponding period of revolution, a very near apparent approach to the planet {Jupiter) which so greatly disturbs the cometary orbits ; yet action to account for outstanding: differences of elements could not have taken place on either occasion of the comet's passage through that part of the orbit where great perturbation would be looked for." B L G ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. The Annah of the Moscow Observatory (Vol. III., Part I.) contains an important paper by Bredichin on the anomalous forms in the development of the tails of comets, with especial reference to comet II. 1802, and a reduction by Gromadski of meridian observations of fundamental stars by Bredichin and Khandricoff. The results of the first of these papers have been published in the AstronomiscJie Naehrichten. Duner publishes in the Proceedings of the Stockholm Academy, 187G, No. 1, a paper on Coggia's comet of 1874, accompauied by nine drawings. SPECTROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS. No publication in regard to photographic spectra of stars lias been made by either Dr. Huggins or Dr. Draper since the first announcement of their preliminary results. It is under- stood that the observation of the spectra of fixed stars will be a principal work of the new observatory of Princeton College. Dr. Konkoly, of the O'Gyalla Observatory, in Hungary, has recently communicated the result of his observations on the spectra of 160 fixed stars to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The bright bands in the spectrum ofJJeta Lyra?,, found by Vogel in 1871, and previously by Secchi, are now wanting. Secchi publishes a list of 444 colored stars from Schjel- lerup's list and his own observations, with notes on their spectra, etc. It is noteworthy (and little known) that Sir William Ilerschel recognized the essential differences of the first three types of Secchi so early as 1 798. (See Phil. IWins., 1814, page 2G4). The change of spectrum ofJYbva Ci/gni is noticed in an- other place. ZODIACAL LIGHT. From information received from Mr. II. C. Lewis, of Ger- mantown, Ave learn that he continues to see the zodiacal light from horizon to horizon, and also that the veritable Gegenschein, as an oval spot of light in the zodiacal light, appears distinctly, and. from month to month shifts its place in tin 1 stars so as to keep about opposite the sun. In the Comptes Rendus for July 2, Hugo has a note on a luminous column vertically extended above the moon, and some lour degrees in length; and Trouvelot has recently ASTRONOMY. 27 published in the Proceedings of the American Academy a note on a similar phenomenon, under the caption " The Moon's Zodiacal Light." In the Paris Jlemoirs, 1771, p. 434, Messier describes a similar phenomenon, which lias never yet been explained, and gives a wood -cut of its appear- ance. TIME. One of the few ways in which astronomy can make itself practically valuable to the community at large is in the dis- semination of standard time to navigators and to men of business. The following notes refer to what has been done in this direction during 1877. The recent invention of Barraud and Lund, of London, for controlling a clock by automatic or other signals is de- scribed in an advertisement in the Telegrapliic Journal for May, 1877. It has the capital advantage over the Bain system that the clock may run either fast or slow without aifectins; the control. It suffices to control a clock whose rate is 2 minutes daily. It appears to be a suitable de- vice for the regulation of the clocks of manufactories, rail- ways, churches, etc., where a control to the nearest minute is all that is required, and where economy is necessary. In this connection it may be noted that the Paris Observatory now controls the clocks of the Conservatoire, St. Sulpice, and the Luxembourg, and the system is to be extended to the clocks of the various cab-stands, which will be a very prac- tical and valuable step. The public clocks of Vienna are controlled by a pneu- matic-motor clock which is said to have been very satisfac- tory. The Trinity House of England is adopting gun-cotton as a means for fog-signals, and it may prove a valuable substi- tute for the time-guns now established in the various ports of the world in cases where the sound only is available for sig- nals. Where the flash can be observed a gun is preferable, or an electric light, as used at Melbourne. Redier describes in the Co?nptes JRendus a simple device for correcting the going of clocks for changes in rate due to changes of atmospheric pressure, by means of a small aneroid barometer fastened to the pendulum bob. The Naval Observatory of Washington has been for some 28 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. time dropping a time-ball erected by the Western Union Telegraph Company on their main building in New York City. The ball is dropped at New York noon, for the bene- fit of navigators and others. This ball has been in opera- tion for lour months without a single failure. It is al- ways within 0.5 9 of the truth, and every day its error is published in the New York papers, so that it is practical- ly a perfect signal. A similar one is to be erected at Baltimore at the expense of the Baltimore Board of Trade. The Observatory of Harvard College offers to supply standard time to railways and others in New England in extension of its present system, which is already widely useful. The Navy Department has printed an important paper on the rates of chronometers as affected by temperature, by Lieutenant-Commander C. H. Davis, U.S.N., and the same subject is elaborately treated by MM. de Magnac and Yil- larceau in " La Nouvelle Navigation." INSTRUMENTS AND OBSERVATORIES. .Astronomical Instruments. Alvan Clark and Sons, of Cambridgeport, have just com- pleted an 11-inch photographic refractor for the Lisbon Ob- servatory. It can also be used for visual purposes. The general design of its mounting is very stable and elegant. They have also finished the objective of a new 9^-inch equa- torial for Princeton College. It is constructed on Gauss's curves, and is said to be very fine and to have decidedly less outstanding color than the ordinary forms of this aper- ture. The crown-glass is capable of being rotated in the cell of the flint, and is thus separated from it. In this way it is intended to adapt this objective to photographic work. Xo crown-glass has yet been ordered for the 27-inch flint- glass belonging to Yale College, and the M'Cormick 26-inch glass is still in the workshop, although it is fully completed. Mr. Howard Grubb, of Dublin, publishes an important paper on the great telescopes of the future, in which lie discusses, first, the advantages of each class of instrument, and, second, the effect upon these advantages of increasing ASTRONOMY. 29 the size. He gives the considerations which indicate in what respect important advances in the art of instrument- making are to be looked for. First, Mr. Grnbb says that beyond an aperture of 35.435 inches reflectors will have the advantage over refractors. Refractors have the advantage in their "greater permanence of collimation, and consequent suitability for ordinary observatory work, and for measur- ing purposes," as also in permanence of the optical parts, in the fact that they have no central mirror to disturb the course of the rays, and the comparatively slight effect of air-currents upon them, since the tubes can be closed at both ends. The advantages of reflectors are absence of a secondary spectrum, better applicability for work in celes- tial photography, photometry, spectroscopy, etc. ; the pos- sibility of supporting them with perfect freedom from flexure irrespective of size (perhaps this conclusion of Mr. Grubb will not be generally accepted), and their general convenience for observing purposes. Mr. Grubb looks with most hope to large metal specula for the best results. The question of the relative goodness of reflectors and refractors has some light thrown upon it by recent obser- vations of the satellites of Mars. These were both easily seen and measured in a refractor of 12 inches aperture. The outer satellite has been certainly seen with a refractor of 7 inches. With an 18-inch silvered-glass reflector, Key, of Hereford, was barely able to see the outer satellite when its exact position was known. At Marseilles the outer sat- ellite has been observed with a refractor, but neither of the two has been seen with the reflector of 31 inches aperture, " on account of diffused lteht in the field." The silverinc: of this mirror has, however, deteriorated through age. With the 6-foot reflector of Lord Rosse the outer satellite alone was seen up to September 20, and " not well enough to measure it." At Melbourne neither satellite was seen with Mr. Grubb's 4-foot reflector, and we have no account of observations with Mr. Lassell's 2-foot reflector. As far as has been reported, not a single reflector has even seen the inner satellite. At the same time Grubb also publishes his new illustrated catalogue of instruments, domes, etc., which is really an im- portant addition to the literature of the subject. The cata- 30 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. logues of two American makers, Buff and Berger, of Boston, and Fauth and Co., of Washington, arc notewortliy in this connection. The latter firm lias lately proposed to make a transit-circle for Princeton College, which, when completed, will be the first meridian instrument of large size made in the United States. A transit instrument for the same col- lege lias been completed by Kahler of Washington. The 18-inch refractor for Strasburg has had several objec- tives made for it by Merz, among which a choice must yet be made, and until then work on the mounting is stopped. Grubb, of Dublin, has just completed two 8-J-inch equa- torials for Berlin and Dresden, in which he has incorporated his latest improvements with regard to illumination of field, wires, etc. One reading microscope suffices to read both declination and rioht-ascension circles. CD The Naval Observatory of Washington has recently pub- lished a description of its principal instruments, with plates. It is Appendix I. to the Observations for 1874. Titano-silicic glass prisms have been examined by Pro- fessor Stokes and Dr. Hopkinson, and the hopes that had been entertained of the utility of this glass in the correc- tion of the secondary spectrum were not fulfilled. The phosphatic glass of Ilarcourt, while a success in this respect, is too soft for use in optical glass, and the new glass, in which a portion of the phosphorus was replaced by tita- nium, would have been suitable in this respect. The ques- tion is, then, as far from a practical solution as ever. Experiments on the electro-static capacity of glass did not bear out Maxwell's conclusion as to the relation be- tween the refractive index for long waves, the electro-static capacity, and the magnetic permeability. The paper on the refractive indices of glass refers mostly to glasses which are articles of commerce, and hence is of immediate value. Specimens of hard crown, soft crown, titano-silicic crown, extra light flint, light flint and dense Hint, extra dense flint, and double extra dense flint were examined, and an expression for the irrationality of dis- persion of each of these glasses compared with a stand- ard is obtained and tabulated. This table shows how little there is to choose between the glasses ordinarily used. ASTRONOMY. 31 New Observatories. Dr. Lobse contributes to the Astronomical Register for August an account of the Astrophysikalischen Institut, now building: at Potsdam. It is on an elevated site, and CD 7 the grounds contain 179,000 square meters. There are at present finished four dwelling-houses (three for observers and assistants) and the machinery-house. The observatory proper is in progress, and will be completed during 1877. One part of the scientific establishment is already com- pleted,- viz., a well of forty-six meters deep, with horizontal shafts connected with it. This is to serve for observations where a constant temperature is required, for observations on the temperatures of the soil, etc. The observatory will have three domes a central (to contain a 12-inch equatorial by Schroder), a western (to contain an 8-inch by Grubb), and an eastern (to contain a 5-inch). A photoheliograph will be erected north of the central tower, and the physi- cal, chemical, and photographic laboratories will be suit- ably placed in the main building. The work undertaken will be spectroscopic observations of the sun and stars, ob- servations of the nebulae and double stars, on the physical nature of the planets, etc., photographic researches of all kinds and photographic registration of sun-spots. The ob- servatory is managed by a "Direction" of three members Auwers, Forster, and Kirchhoff. At present there are three astronomers Vogel, Sporer, and Lohse. The Wilna Observatory was destined by fire on Decem- ber 2S, 1876. In spite of strenuous efforts, only some of the books and smaller instruments were saved. The refractor and the photoheliograph were totally destroyed. This is much to be regretted, as we owe to Wilna a larg;e number of excellent photographs of the sun, a regular series of which was kept up. It is to be hoped that the negatives of these photographs have been preserved. Ex-Governor C. C. Washburn intends, during the next year, to erect and equip an astronomical observatory for the University of Wisconsin. This gift will be made avail- able by an annual appropriation for its support from the state. The firm of Clark and Sons are now making a 10-inch equatorial for this observatory. 32 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. The Troy Polytechnic School is fitting up an observatory in connection with its courses of study. A new observatory lias been founded at Lyons, France, of which Andre has been named director. Its meridian- circle was presented by M. II. Bischoffsheim, of Paris. The observatory at Kiel is now in its new building, and has lately received a new refractor, by Steinheil, of eight inches aperture. Its meridian circle is engaged in observ- ing a zone of stars of less than 10 N. P. D. A sum of $12,000 has been devoted by Oxford University to the building of additions to the observatory. Professor Young has accepted the chair of astronomy at Princeton. lie will have a large telescope at his disposal. The third volume of Andre and Rayet's Astronomie Pra- tique (History of Observatories) is concerned with the ob- servatories of the United States, and will be found a useful book of reference. It is compiled from the notes of M. An- got, one of the editors. It supplements the older works of Loomis and Mailly. Publications and Reports of Observatories. The report of the Secretary of the Navy for 1877 contains that of the Superintendent of the Naval Observatory, which gives an account of the work of the past year. The 26-inch equatorial continues to be used in the observations of the faint satellites. The transit circle, besides its regular work of observations of the sun, moon, and major planets, has made a very large number of observations of asteroids, and is also engaged in the formation of a catalogue of the B. A. C. stars between 120 0' and 131 10' of N. P. D. The old meridian instruments are in use for completing Yarnall's catalogue, of which a second edition is in preparation. The investigation of the moon's motion is continued. The tran- sit of Venus reductions are in progress. The photographs of the transit are now measured. The division errors of the ruled -glass scale micrometer have been carefully determined. The bill introduced in the United States Senate, to pro- vide for the removal of the Naval Observatory, directs the Secretary of the Navy to appoint a commission of three members to select a new site within the District of Colum- bia, which shall possess the advantages of healthfulness, ASTKONOMY. 33 clearness of atmosphere, and convenience of access from the City of Washington, and upon receipt of the report of this commission to purchase said site, accept such plans as he may deem suitable to proceed with the erection of the ob- servatory and its appropriate buildings. The bill for this purpose appropriates $300,000, or as much thereof as may be necessary, provided the aggregate cost shall not exceed that sum, and that no expenditures shall be made until ap- proved. It also directs the Joint Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds to take such measures as may be fit and expedient to sell the present observatory reservation, the sale to take effect after the removal of the observatory, and the proceeds to be covered into the United States Treas- ury. The bill furthermore provides for the transportation and use, in the new building, of any materials belonging to the present observatory. The transit of Venus papers of the English commission are now in the hands of the printer, and the first part has been issued. The eleventh annual report of the Board of Visitors of the Melbourne Observatory describes the work of the past year (to 1876, June), which has been the usual meridian obser- vations, drawings of over seventy southern nebulae, daily photographs of the sun, etc., etc., and describes a plan for enlarged meteorological activity, which will probably be adopted. The report of the Oxford University Observatory for the year 1876-77 records the taking of 426 lunar photographs (making 652 taken to date), which are to be measured micro- metrically for the determination of the Vibration; 117 double stars have been measured during the year (259 meas- ures), and six satellites of Saturn observed ; the chromo- sphere has been delineated on twenty-two days. The direc- tor describes a new micrometer, which appears to be similar to Alvan Clark's doable eyepiece micrometer, described some twenty years since. One of these is now at the Naval Ob- servatory, Washington. The volume of the Cape Observations for 1874 is the thir- teenth publication circulated by Mr. Stone, the director, since his accession in 1871. It contains the mean positions of 1246 stars, including all of Lacaille's stars in the Cceluni B2 34 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. Austral* SteUiferum -which now fall between 155 and 1G5 X. P. I)., and some additional ones in the same zone. La- caille'a stars between 145 and 155 N. P. D. were similarly observed in 1875, and those between 135 and 145 in 187G. We shall soon, therefore, have accurate places of all La- caille's stars, especially as Dr. C. Powalky, of Washington, lias reduced all of Lacaille's observations (about 400 in number) taken with the altitude instruments both at the Cape of Good Hope and at Paris. By introducing new values of the latitude, refraction, and corrections for the division errors of the instruments, lie has been able to brinsf excellent agreement between the Paris and Cape observa- tions with both sextant and sector. The results appear to be comparable in precision with Bradley's observations. The epoch chosen is 1750.0. "The Results of Observations of Shooting-Stars, from 1833 to 1875," by the late Dr. Heis, of Miinster, has just been pub- lished. It comprises Dr. Heis's own observations for forty- three years at the observatory of which he was director. According to Nature, it gives the times of occurrence and the points of first and last appearance of 13,000 meteors, followed by a partial discussion of the results and by a catalogue of radiant points. ASTRONOMICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY. The St. Petersburg Academy has published a "Tableau general methodique et alphabetique des Matieres contenues dans les Publications de l'Academic Imperiale des Sciences, depuis sa Fondation." The first part, "Publications en Langues etrangeres," 489 pp., 8vo, was printed in 1872, and has just reached England. It will be of immense ser- vice as a key to these important Transactions. The continuation of the Royal Society's Catalogue of Sci- entific Papers (18G4-73) is nearly ready for distribution. It contains over 95,000 titles, and will be printed in two vol- umes, uniform with the former volumes. Vol. VII. contains the initials A-II, Vol. VIII. II-Z. The Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium has recently published an important bibliographical work, which gives a complete list of the members, etc., of the Academy, and a list of the works of each, which is complete so far as its own ASTRONOMY. 35 publications are concerned, and very full in the publications of other bodies. It is a useful supplement to the indispensa- ble Royal Society catalogue of scientific papers. Mr. Knobel, of England, has published in the Monthly Notices, Royal Astronomical Society, a very complete and accurate index catalogue to scientific literature on the sub- jects of Double Stars, Variable and Red Stars, Nebula}, etc., Proper Motions and Parallax, and Stellar Spectra. Since this has appeared, a very complete bibliography by Mr. Knobel lias been printed in the Memoirs of the same soci- etv under the title "Chronology of Star Catalogues." The Smithsonian Institution has published a complete bib- liography of works on Nebulae and Clusters, by Professor Holden, of 110 pp., 8vo. Professor Merriman* of Yale College, has published a valu- able bibliography of works on the Method of Least Squares. It is proposed to found an American journal of pure and applied mathematics at Baltimore, under the editorship of Professor Sylvester, aided by the professors of the Johns Hopkins University and others. We note the establishment of a new astronomical period- ical (monthly), under the editorship of Mr. Christie, first assistant at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. He is to be assisted by several eminent astronomers. The first number appeared on April 20, 1877, under the name, The Observa- tory: a Monthly Review of Astronomy , and contains articles by Huggins, Gill, Darwin (G. PI.), Birmingham, Tupman, Brett, and Marth. The Science Observer, published monthly since July, 1877, as the organ of the Boston Amateur Scientific Society, con- tains notes on variable and double stars, etc. The Popular Science Monthly for February, 1877, publishes a list of the principal telescopes of the world, which may be of use for reference. REPORTS OF AMERICAN OBSERVATORIES. For the purpose of rendering the summary of the progress and condition of astronomical science in 1877 fuller and more satisfactory, a circular was sent to the directors of the vari- ous observatories of the United States, asking for informa- tion on the following points : 3G ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. First, the personnel of the observatory ; Second, its principal instruments ; 'Third, the subjects of observation to which attention has been devoted during the past year; Fourth, those which will be taken up during the coming year; and Fifth, the principal publications of the year. To secure a fuller response to these inquiries it was sug- gested that a systematic presentation of the information in question, as derived from all the principal observatories, would serve the purpose of a permanent record in the ab- sence of any journal in the United States specially devoted to such subjects. It was intended that one such circular should reach every observatory, public or private, in the United States. If any have been omitted, it lias been by inadvertence, and notice of such omissions is desired by the editor.* The various replies to this circular follow in the alphabet- ical order of cities, and are given unchanged, except that oc- casionally material elsewhere accessible has been omitted to gain space. Dudley Observatory, Albany, N. Y. Professor Lewis Boss, Director. For some time previous to July, 1876, the astronomical office of the observatory had beeu vacant. At that date astronomical work was resumed, with a limited personal staff. During the past year this has consisted of the director, Lewis Boss, and assistant, O. H. Landreth, with a janitor to care for the buildings and grounds. The instrumental equipment of the observatory has received no material alteration for many years. The principal features of these instruments are described with more or less detail in Volume I. of the "Annals of Dudley Observatory." A mere enumeration is all that need be given here. The principal instruments are : * This circular was sent to the observatories at Chicago, Albany, Hast- ings, Bethlehem, Amherst, Hartford, Cordoba, Pittsburgh, West Point, Vas- sal- College, Clinton, Cambridge, New York, Cincinnati, Rochester, Williams- town, Miildletown, Gettysburg, Hanover, Ann Arbor, Princeton, Quebec, etc, ASTRONOMY. 37 1st. The Equatorial Refractor, of 13 inches clear aperture and 15 feet 2 inches focal length, made by Henry Fitz, of New York. 2d. The Olcott Meridian Circle, of 8 inches aperture and 9 feet 8 inches focal length, with circles of 36 inches diameter, graduated to 2', made by Pistor and Martins, of Berlin. This instrument is supplied with collimators, reversing carriage, and other apparatus essential to its use. 3d. The Transit Instrument, of 6.4 inches clear aperture and 8 feet focal length, made by Pistor and Martins, of Berlin. 4th. The 4-inch Comet-seeker, by Alvan Clark and Sons, of Cam- bridgeport, Mass. 5th. Two Standard Sidereal Clocks, one clock regulated to mean solar time, and several Counting Clocks. 6th. A Printing Chronograph, by Professor G. W. Hough, and a Dish Chronograph, from designs by Professor Mitchell. These chron- ographs are entirely out of rejDair. 7th. A Printing Barometer, Thermometer, and Anemoscope. 8th. Miscellaneous apparatus of minor importance. The observatory is supplied with an astronomical library of about 1000 bound volumes, besides numerous pamphlets. During the term of office of the present director the buildings have been thoroughly repaired and the grounds improved. Observations have been made, principally with the Equatorial Refractor and the Olcott Transit Circle. The principal observations with the former instrument have been : 1st. Physical observations of Mars at opposition, with numerous measurements of the inclination of its polar axis. 2d. Observations of Iris at opposition for solar parallax. 3d. Observations of the position of small planets. 4th. Phenomena of Jupiter's satellites. The Olcott Meridian Circle has been devoted 1st. To observations of Mars during opposition, on the plan pro- posed by Professor Eastman, of the Naval Observatory. 2d. The positions of many small stars have been observed, both in right ascension and decimation. Particular attention has been di- rected to stars of the sixth magnitude, or brighter, which at present lack satisfactory modern determinations. 3d. Observations of Ariadne, Iris, and Melpomene. 4th. Standard time has been furnished to the city of Albany, and to all railroads and telegraph lines radiating from this point. 5th. Many observations have been made for latitude, flexure, values of telescope micrometers and other instrumental constants. During the year 1878 it is proposed to continue the observation of selected stars and asteroids. Plans for observations on a more extended scale are under consideration, but not fully matured. It 38 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AN]) INDUSTRY. is not improbable, however, that a series of observations of the satel- lites of Jupiter, throughout its ojjposition, will be taken with the Equatorial. An extended discussion of the declinations of 500 principal and miscellaneous stars, with reductions of nearly all published series of declinations to a homogeneous system, is in press. The results have already been incorporated in the American Epihemeris and Nautical Almanac. Allegheny Observatory, Allegheny, Pa. Professor S. P. Langley, Director. Replies to inquiries for information in circular of Professor S. F. Baird (without date) : 1st. Personnel of the observatory: S. P. Langley, Director ; R. F. Hall, Assistant to Director. 2d. Principal instruments: Equatorial, 13 - inch objective, finished by Clark, 15 feet 8 inches focus, 20-inch hour and declination cir- cles. This instrument has a considerable number of attachments (besides the Filar-position Micrometer) fitting it for physical research. Such are a Prism Spectroscope, of Huggins's pattern, and a more powerful one using gratings ; a Polarizing Solar Eye-piece, apparatus for projection, etc. An additional lens, 4 -inch aperture, of about 150-feet focus (by Clark), is mounted so that when used in conjunc- tion with the 13 -inch objective the so-called actinic rays from the central parts of the latter may be focussed together for photographic purposes. An accessory part of the Equatorial, peculiar it is believed to this instrument, has been lately added, consisting of a 12-inch Silvered Plane, by Clark, mounted at the southern extremity of the j)olar axis ; so that a fixed solar beam may be sent down the prolongation of this axis by using the ordinary clock-work of the telescope, which, thus considered, becomes a great "Fahrenheit" Heliostat; change wheels in the driving-clock convert it at pleasure into an "August's " Heliostat, maintaining a fixed horizontal beam. In either position, heavy apparatus which could not be carried by the Equatorial can be mounted on a firm support and still used in connection with the telescope. The other instruments are a Transit of'thc English pattern, 4 inches in aperture; a Chronograph ; a Sidereal Clock,by Frodsiiam; & Mean- time Clock, by Howard ; an Accessory Clock, by Howard ; one Break- circuit and an ordinary Chronometer, both by Frodsiiam. Besides these, there are a number of minor instruments chiefly adapted to solar physical research. :;d. The principal subjects of observation of the past year have ASTRONOMY. 39 been connected with solar physics, though studies for the prepara- tion of an apparatus for eliminating personal equation in transit observations have occupied some time. In solar physics, work is being done here now on the comparison of the heat of the sun with terrestrial sources, on the distribution of radiant energy in the spectrum, and on the change of wave-lengths of light from the different parts of the sun caused by rotation the latter in connection with an appropriation from the Bache Fund all in active progress. Besides these, other investigations in the same field are in progress. The routine work for time-determinations has also always been carried on. Besides its work of research, this observatory has been, since 1870, the supplier of time to a large number of railroads, of which it is the official standard, and since to cities. The automatic signals from its mean-time clock have thus been transmitted from Pittsburgh to New York for the past seven years, and during the latter part of that time as for west as Chicago, and over about 6000 miles of main and branch railway lines daily, as well as to the city of Pittsburgh, etc. ; and observations and computations for the control of these are made daily. 4th. The work of the coming year, it is anticipated, will be in solar physics very largely, and will, it is hoped, be made to include, for the first time, systematic solar photography. Pending the intro- duction of this, the usual daily studies of the solar surface will be continued, accompanied (as at present) with a daily drawing on a scale of 8 inches to the solar diameter, made by projection, and an enlarged drawing of any part of interest, made with the micrometer and polarizing eye-piece. A daily spectroscopic review of the solar limb will be made also, and most of the subjects already mentioned will be continued. 5th. The incompletion of work now in hand, and the desire to make a thorough presentation of it, have limited the publications of the past year. Three communications to scientific journals, describ- ing results recently obtained here, have been made by the director in the Comptes Rendus des Seances de V Academie des Sciences for May, 1877, and in The American Journal of Science and Arts for July and August, 1877. Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, Mass. Professor E. C. Pickering, Director. First. The observers and computers at present constantly employ- ed at the observatory building are : Edward C. Pickering, S.B., Phillips Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Observatory. William A. Rogers, A.M., Assistant Professor of Astronomy. 40 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. Arthur Searle, A.M., Assistant. Leonard Waldo, A.M.. Assistant, in charge of the time-service. Winslow Upton, A.M.; employed in work undertaken in aid of the CoaBl Burvey, and in Equatorial observations. Miss R. < ; . Bannders; employed in reductions of the observations made with the Meridian Circle. Mr. Joseph F. McCormack ; employed in assisting in the observa- tions made with the Meridian Circle, and in reducing them. Mr. C. II. Met calf; employed in reductions of photometric work. There arc other persons not immediately connected with the observatory who are customarily employed in performing computa- tions for it. Second. The principal instruments of the observatory are: The East Equatorial, a refractor of 15 inches aperture and 22 feet focal length, made by Merz, of Munich, and mounted in 1847. The West Equatorial, a refractor of 5 inches aperture and 7 feet focal length, made by Alvan Clark and Sons, and mounted in 1869. The East Transit Circle, made by Troughton and Simms, and mounted in 18-48. Aperture of telescope, 4J inches; focal length, 5 feet. The Meridian Circle. The object-glasses of the instrument and of its collimators were made by Alvan Clark and Sons; the metal work mainly by Troughton and Simms. The instrument was largely designed by the late director of the observatory, Professor Joseph Winlock, and has done great credit to his ingenuity. The aperture of the principal telescope is 8 inches, and its focal length 9 feet 4.4 inches. The aperture of each collimator is 8 inches, and its focal length the same as that of the chief telescope. The instrument was mounted in 1870. The Portalle Transit Instrument, made by Herbst, of Pulkova, and mounted in 1870. Aperture of telescope, 2f inches ; focal length, 33 inches. Third. The subjects of observation to which attention has been devoted during the past year may be classified with regard to the instruments employed in investigating them. The work done with the Equatorials has been principally pho- tomet lie The objects observed have been the satellites of the supe- rior planets (including those of Mars), some of the asteroids, and -Mine of the fixed stars. Mars and Saturn, and also Jupiter andl tvjws, have been compared with each other. Micrometrie measures have been made, chiefly of Mars and of its satellites. The Meridian Circle has been employed, first, in observing the zone 50 to 55 north declination, undertaken by this observatory as ii contribution to the work of determining the places of the stars ASTRONOMY. 41 of the ninth magnitude, or brighter, belonging to the northern hemi- sphere ; secondly, in observing the stars contained in a list drawn up to facilitate astronomical work of various kinds ; thirdly, in ob- serving Mars during the period of its opposition, with suitable com- parison stars, and also some comparison stars for use by Mr. D. Gill in his observations of asteroids at Ascension Island. Meteorological observations have been regularly made. Special observations for clock-error are regularly made, to main- tain the accuracy of the clock-signals transmitted to various points in this part of the country, for the purpose of supplying the com- munity with a trustworthy standard of time. Fourth. The work of the coming year will be a continuation of that just described, with the exception of the observations connected with the recent opposition of Mars. The stars of a list drawn up by the Coast Survey will also be observed at the request of that institution. Fifth. The eighth volume of the Annals of the observatory was pub- lished in November, 1876 ; the tenth volume in the spring of 1877. L. Trouvelot's Physical Observatory, Cambridge, Mass. Observer, L. Trouvelot, occasionally assisted by Geo. H. Trouvelot. Principal Instruments. 1st. Equatorial Refractor, by Merz, 6 inches aperture, 8^- feet focal length. 2d. Rutherford's Diffraction-plate Spectroscope, by Alvan Clark axd Sons. 3d. Apparatus for Photographing the Sun-spots. The observatory was built early in 1875, and observations begun March 15 of the same year. During the years 1875, 1870, and 1877, close attention was given to the Sun, Moon, Planets, Clusters, Nebula?, Double Stars, Meteors, Zodiacal Light, and the Auroral phenomena. From March 15, 1875, to November 30, 1877, the following observations w T ere made : The Sun was observed 955 times, and 48 d rawings made . Diagrams made The Moon" (< 154 it ii 26 ii It Mercury " iC 12 it Venus " (( 114 ii ii 16 ii II Mars " (1 189 a ii 148 ti II Jupiter " it 290 a ic 269 u 11 Jupiter's Satellites 35 it a it a 35 " Saturn was observed 136 (i it 12 ii n 67 " " Uranus " It 1 II Comets " (4 7 It ii 5 ii i< Nebuloe " It 170 11 ii 46 ti (i Clusters " II 12 II ii 1 ii II Double Stars II 54 it it It ii 19 Total of observations, 2159 ; drawings, 571 ; of diagrams, 121 42 ANNUA! BECOBD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. The Zo%iacal Lighl and the Milky-way have both been particu- larly Btudied on every favorable occasion, and elaborate drawings representing them in their most characteristic appearances have been produced. Besides, a Beries of thirty-four astronomical drawings in pastel was prepared from the above observations and drawings, and exhib- ited at Philadelphia at the International Exhibition. Comparatively few of the results of these observations have yet been published. In 1875 two papers were communicated to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences: 1st. "On Some Physical Observations on the Planet Saturn;" 2d. "On Veiled Solar Spots." [n 1877 three papers were presented to the Academy: 1st. "On the Moon's Zodiacal Light;" 2d. "Vibrations Observed in the Tail of Cosrsria's Comet;" 3d. "Sudden Extinction of the Light of a Solar SO i ^ Protuberance." The scries of 127 drawings of Jupiter, made during the year 187G, were forwarded to the " Jupiter Committee" of the Royal Astronom- ical Society in London, and thence sent to Dr. Oswald Lohse, at Potsdam, for discussion, in order to ascertain whether there be any connection between the changes on Jupiter and those on the sun. A series of twenty-five large astronomical drawings, intended for the use of schools and colleges, is now in process of preparation, and will soon be issued by Messrs. J. H. Bufford's Sons, of Boston, who have reproduced in chromo the best of the drawings exhibited at Philadelphia. The numerous drawings of Mars obtained during the favorable opposition of the present year will enable me to perfect the map of Mars, or at least that of its southern hemisphere. During the next year it is intended to continue observations on the physical appearance of the sun, etc. Mars will be followed as long as possible for the study of its climatology. Saturn will be closely watched for the phenomena exhibited at the disappearance of the ring. The study of Jupiter, commenced two years ago, will be continued. The study of the moon will also be continued, with a view to make the needed corrections to its existing maps, and with the intention to give at some future time a general view of our satellite as it appears .it the most favorable moments. The study and delineation of the clusters and nebulae will be continued, with the hope that, some day, means of publishing the results will be found. Dearborn Observatory, Chicago, 111. , Director. In reply to your circular requesting information in regard to the work, etc., of the Dearborn Observatory, I beg to say: Since July of the pre, nt year 1 have been using (unofficially) the 18i-iuch ASTRONOMY. 43 Refractor in double-star observations. Up to this time I have dis- covered and measured over 100 new pairs, most of them difficult and interesting objects. The list embraces a number of prominent stars : 8 Andromeda?, 51 Cygni, 47 Tauri, 38 Persei, Aldebaran, etc. Also several of the pairs already known have been found to be triple, as Nos. 17, 171, 366, 2287, 2342, and 2579 of Struve ; 02 336, OS (app.) 220, etc. The larger part of the time has been given to mi- crometrical measurements of the most difficult of pairs already cat- alogued, special attention being paid to pairs supposed to be now single, or too close to measure with ordinary apertures ; and very unequal pairs and doubles generally, which have not been measured since Struve, or within the last twenty or thirty years. The field in these directions is large, and the results obtained will in the end, I think, be more valuable than measures of the recognized binaries and other familiar objects, certain to be attended to by other ob- servers. I expect to follow up this work vigorously during the coming year. No other use is being made of the telescope. It is admirably adapted to this class of work, and probably superior to any instrument in the world, except the Washington 26-inch. (Signed) S. W. Burnha^i. Cincinnati Observatory, Mount Lookout, Ohio. Professor O. Stone, Director. 1st. Personnel. There is no regularly paid assistant. The director has been greatly aided, however, by two of his pupils, Messrs. Her- bert A. Howe, and Winslow Upton. 2d. Instruments. The only large instrument is a Munich Refractor, of 28 centimeters clear aperture. The object-glass of this was re- figured, and a new Driving-clock attached in December, 1874, by Alvan Clark and Sons. The observatory is also supplied with a number of subsidiary instruments. 3d. Observations. Principally the observation of double stars be- tween and 40 south declination. Incidentally a number of new doubles have been detected. A few miscellaneous observations have also been made. 4th. Publications during 1877. 1. Catalogue of New Double Stars discovered by Mr. H. A. Howe. 2. Micrometrical Measurement of Double Stars, made by Professor O. M. Mitchel in 1846-8, at the ob- servatory on Mount Adams. 3. Micrometrical Measurement of Dou- ble Stars, made in 1875-6, at Mount Lookout (new observatory). Pennsylvania College Observatory, Gettysburg, Pa. Professor Philip M. Bikle, Director. Our observatory is used almost entirely for the general purposes of class-instruction. Like many others, I am so burdened with the 44 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. s Journal the results of an exam- ination of the astronomical conditions of the atmosphere of the Rocky Mountains, made during the past summer. On the whole, the conclusions are that the steadiness of the telescopic images is less than at New York, while the transparency of the air is much greater at the higher elevations. Observatory of Yale College, New Haven, Conn. Professor C. A. Lyman, Director. This observatory is intended chiefly for use as a means of in- struction in connection with the classes in astronomy taught in the college. There is no endowment for other purposes. During the past year it has been in charge of Mr. H. A. Hazen and Mr. Wm. Beebe. Instruments. Equatorial, 8f inches; Altitude and Azimuth Instru- ment^ inches; besides smaller instruments; two Sidereal Clocks and ;t Sidereal Chronometer ; Sextants, etc. A full scries of observations on comets u, c, and/, and a few on e, have been made, and partially published. Princeton College Observatory, Princeton, N. J. l'rofessor C. A. Young, Director. The Ilalstead Observatory, with its magnificent dome (nearly forty feet in diameter), does not at present possess an instrument; but it i-> hoped that within a short time the deficiency will be supplied. A small observatory, for purposes of instruction, is just completed after tin- plan- of Professor Young, the funds being supplied for its ASTRONOMY". 47 equipment by the trustees of the estate of the late John C. Green, who founded the School of Science. The building is of wood, this material being chosen for the pur- pose of allowing the temperature of the outside and inside air to be rapidly equalized. To prevent danger from fire, all the lights are from fixed gas-jets fitted with Bogarfs automatic electrical appa- ratus for lighting. The dome is 18 feet in diameter, and is provided with a fine Equatorial, by Clark, of 9^- inches aperture and about 12 feet focal length. The Gaussian curves are used in the construction of the object-glass, and the two lenses are so mounted that the distance between them can be adjusted so as to give whatever chromatic correction may best suit the work in hand, whether visual, spectro- scopic, or photographic. The instrument is provided with all the usual micrometric acces- sories, and with a Singh Prism-spectroscope by Clark, which is also adapted to the use of diffraction gratings. Of these there are three, with lines If inches long, the ruled space being 2 inches in width, prepared expressly for this instrument by Mr. Chapman with Mr. Rutherford's machine. There is also a powerful compound Spectro- scopic, by Grubb, and there are the necessary electrical appliances. In the meridian three instruments are, or rather are to be, mount- ed in separate rooms. The Meridian Circle is in process of construction by Fauth, of Washington. Its telescope will have an aperture of 4 inches, and its circles will be 2 feet in diameter, reading by four microscopes. It will be provided with collimators, reversing apparatus, and ap- paratus for examination of pivots. It will be mainly on the plan of the instrument at the Harvard College Observatory, and will in all points be a very complete and perfect instrument for purposes of instruction. In the adjoining room is mounted a " broken"' Transit, by Kaiiler, of Washington. It has an aperture of 2f inches, with a focal length of 30 inches ; is fitted with a reversing apparatus, with the necessary level and micrometer for latitude determinations, and with a pair of collimators. In a third room are mounted a small Transit Instrument, of about If inches aperture, and a Universal Instrument, with 8-inch circles, by Buff and Berger, of Boston. In the prime-vertical is mounted the Aycrigg Transit, of 3 inches aperture and 3 feet focus. It has an iron stand and reversing appa- ratus, by Stackpole, of New York. At the junction of the two wings a room is formed which contains a lift by which portable instruments may be taken up to the roof, and used upon a platform, which is detached from the building and 48 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. secure against vibrations. The instruments to be used in this way are a 9~inck Silccred-glass Reflector, by Browning ; a Comet-seeker, of G inches aperture, by Fitz, and a 3-inch Telescope, by Fraunhofer. The time is furnished by two standard Clocks (one Solar and one Sidereal), and by 5 subsidiary Clocks electrically controlled by the standard Sidereal, one in each of the observing-rooms. The Clocks are by Howard & Co., of Boston, and the Sidereal standard has the new escapement invented by Professor Young. Both this and the Solar Clock have a modification of Robinson's barometric conden- sation. The Chronograph, by Clark, has three independent cylinders. This and the standard Clocks are mounted in a room which is heated in cold weather. The cost of the whole was about $23,000. The building and its equipment will be used mainly for the pur- pose of teaching practical astronomy to select classes. Its equip- ment is such, however, that it will be possible to do some real as- tronomical work in the way of determining star positions with the Circle, observing occupations and similar phenomena, measuring double stars, and especially in keeping up a series of solar observa- tions, ocular, spectroscopic, and photographic. Experience only, however, can determine how much of this work will be practicable without interfering with the work of instruction, which will always hold the first place. At present Professor Young is without assistants ; but it is hoped that before long the want will be provided for, either by persons specially appointed or by post-graduate students. Observatory of Quebec. Commander E. D. Ashe, R.N., Director. 1st. The personnel consists of myself and assistant. 2d. Two Clocks a Sidereal one, by Dent, and a Meantime one, by Molyneux ; a 3G-inch Transit, mounted between stone piers ; and a splendid Equatorial, of 8 inches clear aperture and 9 feet focus, by Ativan Clark; a 42-inch Telescope, by Dolland. The principal object of the observatory is to give time to the ship- ping by dropping a ball at one o'clock, showing 5 h 44 m 49 s Green- wich time. Besides this, I have been very successful in solar photog- raphy. There will be no alteration in the observations during the next year. Observatory of Ripon College, Wisconsin. Professor C. A. Kenaston, Director. This observatory contains a fine Transit Instrument, a Mitchell Chronograph, and a good Astronomical Clock. ASTRONOMY. 49 Rochester Observatory, Rochester, N. Y. Professor Lewis Swift, Director. My Telescope is a 4|-inch achromatic, and was equatorially mount- ed ; but being at present without an observatory, I have changed it to an alt-azimuth, as being much more convenient for comet-seek- ing. For the past one and a half years I have done my observing comet-seeking a specialty from the flat roof of an elevated building commanding in every direction an unobstructed horizon. Arrangements are pending for a regularly equipped observatory, with probably a 9-inch Telescope, Micrometer, Driving-clock, etc. The line of study will be, as heretofore, comet-seeking and the forma- tion of a chart of all nebulae visible through a telescope of 5 inches aperture. For many years I have seriously felt the want of such a chart. I shall construct it for the especial benefit of comet-seekers. The result of the year has been the discovery of comet c, and ob- servations of comets a, 0, e, and/. Comet cl, " D' Arrest's," with all my efforts, I was unable to find from excessive faintness. The secondary tail to comet I discovered, and published a de- scription of it in our city papers, long before I heard of its discovery in Europe. Office of " The James Lick Trust." The specific information that you request we are unable to give, as the construction of the Lick Observatory has not been actually begun. I am instructed, however, by the president of the trustees to en- deavor to give you such information concerning the proposed ob- servatory as might prove of interest. Mr. Lick reserved in his deed of trust the right to himself de- termine the site of the observatory, and, after long consideration of various other points in California proposed, finally selected the summit of Mount Hamilton, situate in the county of Santa Clara and about thirteen miles east of the city of San Jose (in a direct line). In consideration of this selection, the county of Santa Clara agreed to assume the expense of constructing a suitable road from San Jose" to the observatoiy site, which is now completed. By said road the distance from San Jose" to the summit is about twenty-five miles. From San Francisco to San Jose the distance is a little less than fifty miles by railroad, with two lines available. The summit of Mount Hamilton is elevated above the sea about 4250 feet, and in point of atmospheric conditions favorable for an observatory is, so far as appears from present information, probably C 50 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. as good as the summit of any other mountain in the California coast range of equal elevation. It has not yet been decided whether, in attempting to construct an instrument " superior to and more powerful than any telescope ever yet made," the better success would be promised by attempting a great reflector or a great refractor. The opinions of many distin- guished astronomers, as far as we have yet learned, seem to be di- vided on this question. The nature of the site of the observatory will perhaps enter as one of the many important considerations in determining the kind of instrument. Work will not be commenced, nor will any steps be taken towards contracting for the great telescor)e, until the claims of Mr. Lick's heirs against his estate are settled by the suits now pending in our courts. The heirs have offered a compromise for $383,000, which all of the various beneficiaries have agreed it advisable to accept; but the California Academy of Sciences have demurred to the proposition to pay the compromise-money from the residuum of the estate after all the specific bequests have been paid in full (they being, with the Society of California Pioneers, the residuary legatees), and are now contending in court for a pro rata payment of the compromise-money to wit, that all the bequests be adjudged liable to provide their pro rata of the amount necessary to complete the compromise. The trustees hope soon to get a decision of the court which will finally settle this matter, and enable them to begin carrying out the various objects of Mr. Lick's donations. I have mailed you such printed matter as I could furnish to aid you in determining for yourself if there is any matter of interest for your purpose. I am, yours, respectfully, H. E. Mathews, Secretary. Lehigh University Observatory, South Bethlehem, Pa. Professor C. L. Doolittle, Director. The observatory was founded by Robert Sayre, of this place, and is known as the Sayre Observatory. It was built primarily with a view to furnishing facilities for instruction in astronomy to students of the university. Since my connection with the institution, I have been engaged, as fin* as my other duties would permit, in making and reducing the following series of observations : 1st. Determination of longitude of observatory. Signals were ex- changed with the Washington Observatory on six evenings for this purpose, a preliminary reduction of which gives our longitude G m 40.3 s ( Bout h Bethlehem) E. of Washington. A final reduction may change this slightly. ASTRONOMY. 5 ] 2d. A series of 450 observations with zenith telescope, for latitude, made on sixty pairs of stars. A preliminary determination of the latitude from 182 of these observations gives 40 36' 23.75" N. 3d. A series of micrometrical measurements of the position of Mars during the recent opposition for parallax determination. It is intended to publish the foregoing in the form of a pamphlet, which, I hope, will appear before the end of 1877. There is no especial provision given for regular astronomical work. Such as I undertake is on my own responsibility, and in addition to the work of instruction. The only assistance in that direction is such as I can get from my pupils. Our instruments are : A 6-inch Equatorial, by Alvan Clark and Sons ; a Zenith Telescope, by Blunt ; a Field Transit, by Stackpole ; a Sidereal Clock, by Bond and Sons. Observatory of Vassar College, Miss Maria Mitchell, Director. First. The personnel of the observatory is confined to myself. I have the aid, however (and it is often very valuable), of volunteer work by my students. Second. The instruments of the observatory are : An Equatorial Telescope, of 13 inches aperture, the glass of which has been re- ground by Alvan Clark, and is very good ; a Meridian Instrument, by Young, of Philadelphia, the aperture 3f inches (adapted to this are two Collimating Telescopies, by Clark and Sons, of Cambridge) ; a Sidereal Clock and Chronograph^ by Bond and Sons, Boston. The observatory has also the use of several portable telescopes, photo- graphic apparatus, etc., but they are private property. Third. Photographs of the sun are taken every fine day, and have been for several years. Observations with the Equatorial are made on the planets Jupiter and Saturn, with measurements, whenever the weather is suitable. Observations for Time. These observations it is proposed to con- tinue during the coming year. Hopkins Observatory, Williams College, Williamstown, Mass, Professor T. H. Safford, Director. The personnel of this observatory consists of the director and two students. The main instruments are a 7|~inch Clark Equatorial, of ancient date, and a 3^-inch Siaims Transit, with Clock, by Moltneux and Cope. Observations for a year past have been such as were needed for teaching the undergraduates and makiug myself acquainted with 52 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. the instruments and their capacity. My intention is to observe right ascensions of certain stars with the present Transit, and, if practica- ble, to get a better Meridian Instrument and pursue the observation of the zone 35 to 40, undertaken at Chicago. My leisure is rather limited. I am professor of physics and as- tronomy, and am printing two volumes: (1) Observations of right ascension, about 15,000 in number, made at Cambridge in 1862-65 by several observers (about half my own), on a plan arranged be- tween Professor G-. P. Bond and myself. The stars are largely those near the pole, and contribute to my general plan of work. (2) A compiled catalogue of 2018 latitude stars, for Lieut. Wheeler, U.S.E. Modern authorities are utilized, including many scattered series by Bessel, Gauss, Argelander, Struve, and others, which have mostly escaped notice because used in special memoirs on latitude. My last publications, w r ith one exception, treat of the solar motion as connected with the stars 1 proper motions and distances; and the observations of the next year will bear on this subject. My present working list contains nearly 400 stars. These are such as occur in the two books above mentioned and need reobservation ; mostly those which exhibit a decided proper motion not yet deter- mined with accuracy ; in many cases wrongly given elsewhere. PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. By CLEVELAND ABBE, Of tiie Weathek Bureau, Washington, D. C. THE EARTH. INTERNAL CONDITION. The remarkable address of Sir William Thomson at the Glasgow meeting of the B. A. A. S. in 1876, in which he re- nounced the views so Ions: entertained bv him as to the inter- nal fluidity of the earth, and gave in his adherence to Hop- kins's conclusion as to its solidity, has been followed by a paper by Gen. J. G. Barnard, in which he differs from some of the points taken by Thomson. INTERNAL TEMPERATURE. . In reference to temperatures observed deep within the earth, Mr. Oswald Foster has communicated to the Cam- bridge Philosophical Society a memoir in which he main- tains that the abnormal temperatures observed in the arte- sian well 4000 feet deep at Sperenberg might be accounted for by vertical currents, while the average rate of increase is 1 Fahr. for every sixty feet of descent. The very delicate and exact and convenient method of observing temperatures at points underground, or otherwise of difficult access, by means of the so-called electro-thermom- eter, as used by Becquerel at Paris, deserves to be introduced at some of the physical laboratories of America. Observa- tions have been made daily for many years at Paris, the results of which have lately been communicated to the Academy of Sciences. VOLCANOES. Of general work on vulcanicity we make especial mention of the investigations of Mr. G. K. Gilbert, of Powell's Geo- logical Survey of the Western Territories, who by the study of peculiar formations among the Henry Mountains, of Utah, 54 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. o lias revealed an entirely new type of volcanic eruption, in which the lavas, instead of finding vent at the surface of the ground, ceased to rise while still several thousands of feet under ground, and lifted the superincumbent strata so as to make for themselves deep-seated subterranean reser- voirs, within which they congealed, to be revealed only after the erosions of subsequent ages. The volcanoes of Iceland have been investigated by Professor Johnstrup, whose re- port is published by the Danish government. EARTHQUAKES. A violent earthquake occurred at 8.30 P.M. May 9th on the southern coast of Bolivia and Peru, destroying many small towns. It was central near Iquique, and was accompanied by an oceanic wave about sixty-five feet high at the cen- tral stations. This wave reached San Luis Obispo and Hon- olulu simultaneously at about 5 A.M. of the 10th (Honolulu time), doing much damage in tjie Sandwich Islands, where much activity had been previously observed in the volca- noes (see Monthly "Weather Iteview, May; Am. Journal of Science; and Petermann's Mittheilungen, Dec. 1877). A new electric seismograph of much completeness has been invented by Secchi. Some such instrument is much to be desired for use on our Pacific coast. TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM. An interesting memoir is published by AVijkander on magnetic perturbations and their connection with the aurora borealis. This is mainly an historical introduction to the im- portant observations published by the Swedish expedition to Spitzbcrgen in 1872-73. The connection was first noted by Celsius and Hjorter (1741) in Sweden, at whose request Graham (1761), in England, made corresponding observations, so that the simultaneity of the phenomena was at once re- vealed. The Swedish expedition lias established the fact that the magnetic disturbances which attend an aurora have their origin, or act as if they originated, at points on a zone that extends from British America northeast to North Cape and then around the globe, apparently not far from the zone of greatest auroral frequency as established by Loomis or Fritz. The cause of these disturbances is to be looked for PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. 55 in the existence of abnormal electric currents produced near the earth's surface by some change in atmospheric conditions. These disturbances are themselves subject to daily and an- nual fluctuations ; they are of a general and of a local nat- ure, and can be detected instantly by simultaneous observa- tions at several distant and several neighboring: stations. The connection between the aurora and these disturbances in the magnetic instruments is of a secondary nature to the connection between the latter and the telluric electric cur- rents. Since the lesser magnetic disturbances are almost continually occurring, the traces of aurora are also almost as frequent. (This agrees with the inference fairly deducible from the numerous auroras recorded in the Monthly Weather Reviews of the Army Signal Office.) The magnetic survey of Russia during 1871-75 by J. Smir- now has been published in a translation from the original Russian. Smirnow gives a comparison with Sabine's charts, and shows where observations are now or soon will be most needed. Hann contributes an instructive review and comparison of the diurnal and annual periods in the magnetic declina- tion at Russian and Australian stations. "The Absolute Direction and Intensity of the Earth's Magnetic Force at Bombay, and its Secular and Annual Variations," by Ch. Chambers, gives the result of magnetic observations at Bombay since 1867. The magnetic elements are all progressing in the positive direction. The Coast Survey Report for 1874, published during this year, contains valuable memoirs by Schott on secular change of magnetic declination in the United States, and ^J cj j a discussion of the results of the self-recording instruments at Key West, 1 860-1 8G6. EARTH CURRENTS. At a recent social meeting of the London Society of Tele- graph Engineers, Mr. Saunders, of the Eastern Telegraph Company, exhibited some diagrams showing some results of simultaneous observations of the earth currents observed at both ends of the broken cable between Suez and Aden. A striking coincidence is seen between the currents observed on the two sections of the cable. 5G ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. THE OCEAN. DENSITY, ETC. Mohn contributes to Petermann's Mittheilungen a memoir on the temperature of the Atlantic east of Greenland. He shows that a belt of warm water extends northeastward to beyond the North Cape. This belt moves eastward in sum- mer and westward in winter. He also accurately defines the limits of the bottom stratum of cold water at maximum density, and shows how it is limited by the configuration of the sea bottom. Schmidt, of Dorpat, has extended his memoir on the salin- ity of natural waters to the ocean and salt seas, and in a comprehensive table gives the results of all known observa- tions. TIDES. The tidal observations made by the English Polar Ex- pedition of 187G have been reduced by Professor Haughton, and. in a preliminary account of his results read before the British Association, he stated that the results obtained by Dr. Bessels from the Polaris expedition were confirmed by the English expedition, viz., that there was a junction of two important tides in the largest portion of Smith's Sound. A new type of tide had been found confirming Dr. Bessels' reasoning to show that Greenland is an island. At the same meeting of the B. A. A. S., papers " On the Tides of Port Louis and of Freemantle" were read by Sir William Thomson, and " On Solutions of Laplace's Tidal Equation for certain Special Types of Oscillation." ^VAVES. Forel, of Morges, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, has from the study of the self-recording tide-gauge of large scale shown that the surface of the lake oscillates rhyth- mically in fixed periods about two axes, i. e., the longest and shortest diameters of the lake. The times of vibration are respectively seventy and ten minutes. Numerous notices have appeared in the Monthly Weather Review of remarkable fluctuations in the waters of our Great Lakes. These, however, appear mostly to be due to earth- quakes, and have as yet never been shown to have any such PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. 57 regularity as Forel finds for Lake Geneva, although possibly- such may be revealed by self-recording instruments. The oscillograph is the name given by Bertin to an appa- ratus for recording continuously the rolling and pitching of a vessel at sea. The apparatus has been lately extensively used in the French navy, and affords important data both for ship-builders and for students of wave motion. It is also applicable to the determination of that correction to an ane- mometer record on shipboard needed in order to obtain the correct velocity of the wind at sea. An important paper on the progression of waves was read by Osborne Keynolds at the Plymouth meeting of the B. A. A. S., and an equally important one by Lord Ray- leigh on the same subject was presented to the Mathemat- ical Society in November. THE ATMOSPHERE. INTRODUCTORY. The following brief notice of the scientific activity of the year in the department of meteorology brings our record down to the last of December; and, however imperfect it may be, yet suffices to show that but few preceding years have been marked by more important events. Among these latter we would place the extension of the United States network of meteorological observers over the elevated re- gions west of the plains of the northwest and southwest, the extension of its system of international simultaneous obser- vations to the vessels of the United States Navy and the United States, British, and German merchant marine ; the publication of several volumes by the new India Meteoro- logical Office under Blanford ; the works of Brault on the winds of the Atlantic; those of Guldberg and Mohn on the mechanical laws that pervade the cyclonic and anticyclonic areas of wind and pressure; and the elegant memoir ofFerrel on the general circulation of the atmosphere, with accom- panying polar charts of isotherms and isobars. INSTITUTIONS AND PERSONS. The Army Signal Office, although somewhat hindered by a diminution of its quota of men, has continued its labors C 2 58 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. with increasing industry. Its usefulness as a medium of direct communication with all parts of the country was sin- gularly apparent and highly appreciated by the President during the riots of August. A series of novel and very ele- mentary, yet practical, stations has been established, wher- ever telegraph lines penetrate into the Rocky Mountains and Sierra regions, and from these as well as from all other stations reports of the appearance of the sky at sunset are sewt daily to the Washington Office. The number of foreign stations and ships reporting simultaneous observations on its plan of international exchange has now increased to about 375, to which the United States adds 80, with the promise of more land stations. Daily weather maps for the whole northern hemisphere are now compiled daily by this Bureau. The preliminary expedition in pursuance of Captain How- gate's plan of Polar colonization sailed for the North in Au- gust, and was accompanied by Mr. O. T. Sherman, a graduate of Yale College, as meteorologist. A supply of all necessary apparatus was taken, and we may expect a full record of observations. Among the novelties we may mention the supply of a number of small balloons for the determination of currents of air and of the heights of the clouds according to the methods recently used in Paris by Fonvielle and Secretan. The Permanent Committee of the Vienna Congress has published the report of its meeting at London in 1876, in continuation of its reports of the meetings at Vienna, 1873, and Utrecht, 1874. A mass of information is given in ref- erence to the various practices of observers in regard to in- struments and methods, and the way prepared to a greater uniformity in these matters. The unpublished data now in the hands of European offices, and the investigations in prog- ress or needed, are also put on record. Of the publications of the Physical Observatory at St. Petersburg we have received only the valuable but rather cutting brochures of Wild on the accuracy of standard barometers and on the accuracy of modern anemometry. Doubtless the regular annual volumes have been somewhat delayed in transit. The second part of Volume V. of the IiepertorUnn^ and a supplementary part, were published in September. (Sec Climate.) PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. 59 The Dorpat Meteorological Observatory has published the " Met. Beob., 1875," completing the lustrum 1870-75, and also "Zehnjahrige Mittelwerthe, 18G6-75, nebst neunjahrige Stun- denmitteln, 1867-75," forming the Appendix to Volume II. of the Dorpat Observations. The authors, Professors A. von Oettingen and K. Weihrauch, have spent great labor upon the discussion of these excellent observations, especially those of the wind. The volume also includes observations made at Reo, in the island of Oesel. The first annual report (1875) of the Meteorology of India, by Blanford, marks a long-hoped-for epoch in the history of the progress of our knowledge of that portion of the world. Hitherto the Indian observations have been strewn through numerous transactions and miscellaneous volumes, but now the establishment of a central office will do much to con- centrate effort and increase knowledge. Blanford's folio vol- ume, of 387 pp., contains a highly instructive review of the physical peculiarities of India, and especially of the meteor- ological stations. These latter are classified as first class, 2; second class, 21; third class, 65; and rainfall stations, 198. Not only are means, etc., given for 1875, but for many long series of observations ; so that the volume is in some respects a summary of the past previous to the start on the new ca- reer now opening before him. A very fine feature of the India Office is the publication of " Indian Meteorological Memoirs," a volume similar to Wild's JZepertorium, and containing the results of the in- vestigations made by the Calcutta Office. Of these mem- oirs, Vol. I., Part I., containing three memoirs by Blanford, is published simultaneously with the "Observations."* The climate of South Australia is well described, both popularly and scientifically, by Charles Todd, of Adelaide, in "The Observatory and Climate of South Australia." Mr. Todd, as Meteorological Reporter, has been able to make good use of the telegraph lines of Australia, over which he * Jan. 25, 1878. We cannot refrain as we go to press from calling atten- tion to Blanford's Part II. of the " Meteorologists' Vade Mecnm," which is just received, and is simply an elementary treatise on meteorology as exem- plified in the climate of India. In this work all the errors that still disfigure our text-books are dropped, scarcely mentioned, and the best thoughts of the best men of 1877 are clearly set forth. GO ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. has control, being Superintendent of the Post-office and Telegraph Lines. There report to him daily by telegraph a number of rain and weather stations, and in the volume above named he gives the means and sums for 70 stations out of the 80 that he has established. Russell, at Sydney, also publishes a daily telegraphic weather bulletin. The French Meteorological Association has begun the publication of a semi-monthly, La Quinzaine Miteorologique, giving for fifteen or twenty stations the daily observations and general weather notes. Possibly this may develop into something equivalent to the Monthly Weather Review of the Signal Office, a publication that has already been copied from by the Berlin and the Toronto weather offices. Professor Ragona, of Modena, has issued a circular call- ing for the formation of an Italian meteorological associa- tion. This is done at the request and with the support of very many Italian scientists, and the new society will un- doubtedly be a most active and efficient body. In the highest portion of the upper valley of the "Kleinen Fleiss," a branch of the "Mollthal" in Upper Carinthia, there have existed from ancient times gold and silver mines more than 8000 Paris feet above the sea. Here upon the Gold- zeche Fleiss, at an altitude of 2740 meters, was established in August, 1870, a meteorological station, which, as yet, re- mains the highest in the world Pike's Peak only excepted. This station is in the midst of the lesser Fleiss glacier, and a brief discussion of the results of the meteorological observa- tions for six years is given by Hann in the Zeitschrift of the Austrian Meteorological Association. The report of the Treasury Committee at London upon the working of the British Meteorological Office recommended that ocean meteorology be transferred to the Admiralty, that the annual grant be increased, and that some aid be given to scientific investigations, as also to the Scottish Me- teorological Society; also that the Council in future assume more entirely the control of the office. The report makes a Blue-book of 21G pages, the whole thoroughly indexed, and forming a valuable resume of the present state of practical meteorology in England. The very voluminous evidence published by the committee shows that unfortunately none of those whom they consulted entertain any enlarged or ad- PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. 61 vanced views of meteorology as a dynamical or physical study. In this respect, possibly, the evidence of Professor Airy is most interesting. He testifies that, in his opinion, meteorology cannot be called a science, because as yet we have scarcely taken a step from causes to effects; that, in order to develop the science proper, there are needed more observations from more numerous stations throughout the world, by means of which to construct daily weather maps. He also points out the necessity of studying the viscosity of the air, the diffusion of vapor, the radiation of heat, and other physical properties which require experimental inves- tigations; that, in short, what we want is a theory to apply to what we observe in the atmosphere. Had the Treasury Committee called to their councils some other witnesses than those they did, they could easily have been furnished with those well-established theories that are now recognized as the basis of the true deductive science. We have our- selves for some years past urged the establishment among our American colleges of special schools and physical labo- ratories devoted to meteorology. These should, on the one hand, train up the experts needed as advisers to large busi- ness interests and in the Army Signal Office, and, on the other, should contribute to the development of that deduct- ive science concerning which so little seems to be known by the witnesses who testified before the Treasury Committee, but which is none the less recognized by most of those who actually make the official weather predictions in Europe and America. In accordance with these recommendations the London Office is now somewhat differently organized, being directly under the control of the Meteorological Committee, to which Mr. Scott is now appointed as secretary. The report just published for the previous sixteen months shows, however, but little evidence of change. Its sphere of work is some- what increased. In Mexico, under the Department of Public Works, a Me- teorological Bureau has been established, and hourly obser- vations are published in monthly sheets. Sefior Barcena hopes that eventually weather reports and warnings will be exchanged with the United States to the advantage of both parties. 02 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. The Royal Academy of Copenhagen has published the valuable meteorological observations of the famous astrono- mer Tycho Brahe. The record extends over sixteen years (1582 to 1597), and enumerates seventy-eight auroras; it has been carefully analyzed by De la Cour. The Paris Observatory has published, the Atlas 3feteorolo- gique ties Orages for 1875. This series of annual volumes now embraces some of the most admirable memoirs that we possess on subjects relating to thunder-storms. The Observatory at Sydney, Australia, has during the year published a daily weather map, based, of course, on telegraphic reports, and which may be expected to be the precursor of a general map for Australia. The director of the Paris Observatory seems to have taken the right course in encouraging the enterprise of the New York Herald, which paper has endeavored to lay all Europe under still further obligations to it by showing that storm predictions are possible for Europe a week in advance. This bold undertaking has been welcomed with considerable popular applause in Great Britain and France ; but the more conservative and rational students still continue to doubt the possibility of real success in the undertaking twenty- five per cent, of successful predictions will hardly overbal- ance the seventy-five per cent, of failures that a careful ex- amination of the weather maps has revealed. When in 18G8 the writer started the Daily Weather Bul- letin of the Cincinnati Observatory, with its local predic- tions, the proposition to furnish daily synopses to Leverrier was gladly accepted by him, and a greater familiarity with the subject, while serving to show the difficulties, has also impressed him with the possibilities. A simple synopsis of existing conditions on our side of the Atlantic would be a decided help to the European students in their daily pre- dictions. Since the death of Leverrier the advocates of a complete separation of meteorology from the Paris Observatory have made strong efforts to accomplish their aims. Probably nothing will be done that is inconsistent with existing de- crees. It seems to be felt in France that meteorology has not made the advance that it should have done. The rapid extension of weather warnings for agricultural PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. 63 N purposes in France is seen by the fact that 1000 communes will by the end of the first year be in receipt of free daily forewarnings from the Paris Observatory. Among the newest attempts to investigate the meteorol- ogy of the upper strata of the atmosphere, we note the estab- lishment by Secchi of a complete observatory on the summit of Monte Cavo, 2800 feet above the Roman Campagna. The meteorology of the Libyan Desert forms the subject of the second volume of Rohlf 's Expedition. The editor, Dr. Jordan, finds that the diurnal barometric range is unusu- ally large. The daily range of temperature is 24; the mean relative humidity at 2 P.M. is 17 per cent. Half an inch of rain fell in February a matter of rare occurrence. With the 1st of January the weather maps published by the meteorological offices in Germany and Austria have re- ceived considerable enlargement and improvements. The daily weather map published at Vienna is for Europe the best that has as yet appeared, being upon a large scale, and very clear in all its details. The Hydrographic Office at Berlin lias begun the publication of monthly weather re- views for Europe. Its articles are compiled and signed by well-known meteorologists; and as it appears only a long- time after the month to which it refers, its scope and objects are evidently somewhat different from those of the reviews published by our Army Signal Office. The Monthly Weather Review deserves a wider circula- tion than it appears to have in this country. It consists of ten or twelve pages of text and three maps, and gives in a very condensed review all the matter received by our Weather Bureau within fifteen days after the close of the month. Perhaps the most interesting event that has occurred of late years to extend our means of studying the storms of the atmosphere consists in the important order issued on Christ- mas-day, 1876, by the Secretary of the Navy, to the effect that, wherever our vessels may be, there shall every day be made a complete meteorological observation, simultaneously with those made at Washington at 7 h. 35 m. A.M. It is hoped that the other navies of the world will unite in this simultaneous system of weather observation, and that the merchant marine will follow so far as able. These observa- 64 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. tions will form an important part of the Bulletin of Inter- national Simultaneous Meteorological Observations, to which so many nations contribute, in response to the invitation of General Myer and the advice of the Vienna Meteorological Congress. The British and United States merchant marines have already voluntarily added valuable observations to this Bulletin. The navies of Portugal and France also contrib- ute. We learn from the Japan 'Weekly Mail that an excellent pamphlet on meteorology has been published by Mr. Joyner, of the Meteorological Department at Tokio, in which he ad- vocates strongly the establishment in Japan of an extended system of observations by carefully trained observers. Such observations have hitherto been made by Mr. M'Vean and Mr. Joyner for the Department of Public Surveys, and by some of the Americans stationed as professors in the other government institutions. The International Congress of Meteorologists that was ap- pointed to be held in Rome in September having been de- ferred to September, 1878, the advocates of a series of inter- national Polar expeditions (Messrs. Wilczek and Weyprecht) have widely circulated their programme, detailing the w r ork to be done, which, of course, largely relates to terrestrial physics. It is proposed that each station be occupied one whole year; besides the usual meteorological observations, particular stress is laid upon observations of ice, tides, auro- ra?, magnetic phenomena, and earth currents. As these proposed international Polar stations are for purely scientific investigations, and as their plan so perfectly harmonizes with the Howgate plan of an Arctic colony, it is to be hoped that our own government will establish, at least, two such scientific stations one at Point Barrow, the other to the north of " Hall's Rest." The sixth annual report of the Superintendent of the Me- teorological Service of the Canadian Dominion, presented by Carpmael in the absence of Professor Kingston, shows the continued activity of the office in gathering meteorological observations from the entire northern portion of America. Twenty new rainfall stations have been established in Brit- ish Columbia; five new complete stations in the northwest territories; eleven in Ontario; two in Manitoba, etc. In PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. 65 all, 120 stations report to the Central Office. Telegraphic reports are received from stations in the United States and the Dominion sufficient to allow the office to issue its own daily weather predictions and storm warnings independent of those received from the office at Washington. The work of the office for the year has been highly complimented by the Toronto Board of Marine Exchange. Detailed tables of observations and averages, etc., accom- pany the report, as in former years, together with short re- ports from the observatories at Kingston, Quebec, Montreal, and St. John. Early in 1S77 the large volume containing the meteoro- logical and physical observations of the Polaris Arctic Expe- dition was published by the National Academy of Sciences. As only a very small edition of this volume was printed, we shall give a somewhat extended resume of its contents as soon as Dr. Bessels has published the results of his revision of the work. Anion g the interesting items that Dr. Bessels an- nounced was the demonstration of the fact that in Smith Sound there meet two opposing tidal waves from the north and south, confirming the theory that Greenland is an island. The same fact is now independently deduced by Rev. Samuel Haughton from the tide observations of the British Polar Expedition, and a deserved tribute should be paid to Dr. Bessels's sagacity. Some progress has been made in the formation of state meteorological associations in the United States. The first annual report of the Iowa weather stations shows that about ninety observers report to Professor Hinrichs, who in various ways finds opportunity to foster an increasing intelligent in- terest in the subject of meteorology. The rainfall map for Iowa is published monthly, and is a most praiseworthy con- tribution. An enthusiastic beginning has been made by Professor Nipher, of St. Louis, who will publish monthly reports of "The Missouri "Weather Service." The first steps have been taken towards the organization of a state system of reports in Illinois. The statistics gener- ally published annually by the regents of the University for New York, and by the Secretary of State for Ohio, together with the data given in the annual reports of various Boards of Public Works, Chambers of Commerce, Boards of Trade, CG ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. etc., show that there is a considerable independent activity in weather observation. INSTRUMENTS AND METHODS. The application of the thermo-electric pile to the study of terrestrial radiation has been treated of by Frolich in Wild's Hepertorium. He employed a blackened surface as his nor- mal standard ; this was heated to known temperatures, and its effect upon the pile observed. An empirical formula was thus obtained, which gave the temperature of the surface as a function of the movements of the galvanometer needle. The instrumental constants being thus known, the face of the pile is to be turned towards the sky, and the temperature then observed becomes the basis of further computations, whence the mean temperature of the atmosphere and eventu- ally the mean temperature of exterior space may be deduced. As illustrating his results, Frolich deduces for the mean temperature of the atmosphere 17 C. on August 17 and 36 C. on October 23, 1876. Dr. Buff, of Giessen, describes a method by which he at- tempts to make the thermo-electric pile an important mete- orological instrument. He claims that it enables us to meas- ure the greater part of that portion of the sun's rays which lias not yet been converted into sensible heat. Dr. Buff's method of operating consists in exposing both ends of the pile to the temperature of the air when the needle assumes its zero position. The upper end is then exposed to any por- tion of the sky, when, of course, the needle indicates heat or cold, according to the position of the sun and condition of the sky. If, now, a plate of glass is held as a screen to this exposed end, it cuts off all rays of low refrangibility, and the needle returns partially, but never during the daytime en- tirely, to its zero. With a perfectly clear sky, and without the glass screen, the radiation of the exposed end caused, for instance, an indication of 50, but protected by the glass screen an indication of +10. On another day the blue heavens gave 30, the glass screen +20, and the clouds + 50. The ends of the pile are covered with lamp-black, whose radiation is nearly the same as that of the green haves, and the instrument, therefore, gives a just idea of the range of temperatures to which leaves arc subject. It is a PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. 67 most important instrument to those engaged in investiga- tions bearing on the growth and distribution of plants, as well as to the physical meteorologist. The importance of knowing the sum total of the tempera- tures at any place for various meteorological and phamolog- ical studies, lends value to the suggestion of Steinecke that clocks uncorrected or anti-corrected for temperature be in- troduced as a part of the meteorological apparatus. Such clocks or chronometers, called thermo- chronometers, have lonor been used in lono-itude determinations and for ratine: chronometers, and will abundantly answer the required purpose. But for meteorological purposes, self-recording thermometers, in connection with Ausfeld's planimeter, offer every facility for accomplishing the same end cheaper and better. The idea of temperature clocks is also worked up by Mr. F. Stanley in the Quarterly Journal of the London Meteorological Society. Of the numerous precautions to be taken in using the wet- bulb thermometer, we find some account in Marriott's report detailing the results of observations on ten wet and three dry thermometers all enclosed in the same cage. It is neces- sary that all should be covered with the same kind of mus- lin, which should be very thin, and be connected with the water reservoir by six or eight threads of yarn tied to the upper end of the muslin. For the minute yet important de- tails we must refer to the volume itself. The formulae for correction of the instrumental errors of the aneroid are given by Von Wullerstorff Urbain, who ex- emplifies them by an example drawn from the record of the ship Tegetthoff. In the course of his remarkably accurate investigation into the truth of the Boyle or Mariotte law, Mendelleff in- vented an improvement upon the barometer undoubtedly one of the most important that has ever been suggested. It consists simply in terminating the upper end of the ba- rometer tube by a capillary tube bent downward. By means of this it is possible to cut off and expel the last trace of any foreign gas that may remain in the vacuum chamber. He thus obtains a perfect instrument Avithout boiling the mer- cury in the tube. His determination of the correction for capillarity and his method of measuring the barometric press- 08 ANNUAL KECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. urea are the most refined of modern times. He attains an accuracy of the twenty-five-hundredth part of an inch, in his results rivalling the new normal barometer constructed by- Wild. There have come to hand from the India Office Blanford's pamphlets of Instructions to Observers and Tables for the Use of Observers, both of which correspond in every way with the latest views of meteorologists. We note as to his tables for the psychrometer that Blanford has computed them for barometric pressures of from 29.7 to IS inches, thus allowing the use at each station of a table adapted to its own altitude. He lias also introduced the correction to the tension of vapor for reducing barometric heights to gravity at 45 latitude, a correction that is quite sensible, but ought not to be ap- plied unless all the barometric readings are similarly correct- ed, as has been done by Ferrel in the isobars on his charts of the earth on a polar projection. Professor Mendelleff, of St. Petersburg, author of a well- known hand-book of chemistry, has announced his intention to devote to the prosecution of atmospheric studies by means of balloons all the profits of his published works for the next five years. He will probably begin by constructing a cap- tive balloon holding from 50,000 to 70,000 cubic feet of gas. Some interesting facts deduced from observations made during balloon voyages near Nashville, Tennessee, under the conduct of the well-known aeronaut Professor S. A. King, of Boston, are given in the Signal Office Monthly Weather Reviews during the year. The highly important observations of clouds and currents of wind by means of toy balloons continue to be daily made at Paris, under the patronage of Secretan. No more prom- ising field of research has of late years been opened up to meteorologists, and its economy places it within every one's reach. Bell's telephone proves to be so exceedingly sensitive to disturbing: currents that it is said that the occurrence of a thunder-storm anywhere within the horizon was made evi- dent by a peculiar class of noises indeed, storms still out of sight have thus preannounced their approach, and it is suggested that this instrument may prove a highly useful addition to the equipment of the meteorological observer. PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. G9 CONSTITUTION AND PROPERTIES OF THE AIR. Mr. G. W. Hill, of Nyack, New York, contributes to the July number of t\\Q Analyst a paper on an empirical formula for the volume of atmospheric air at any temperature and pressure. Starting with the fundamental assumptions (1) that under constant pressure the ratio of volume to temper- ature is constant, and (2) that the constant ratio is itself a function of the pressure, he shows that Regnault's observa- tions of the volume and tension of air, intended as a test of the law of Boyle and Mariotte, lead to the conclusion that this law is exactly true only at the temperature of 130 C, and that the coefficient of expansion under a constant press- ure is 0.0036445 at a pressure of zero, whence it increases up to 0.0038618 at a barometric pressure of 21.5 meters, or about twenty-eight atmospheres. The carbonic-acid gas in the atmosphere has been observed by Farsky at Tabor in Bohemia, altitude 1400 feet. Daily observations for one year gave a mean value of 3.43 vol- umes in 10,000, or 0.034 per cent. The quantity of this gas increased with the variability of the weather. Winkelmann shows that observations lend probability to the theoretical conclusions of Von Obermayer that the co- efficients of conduction for heat of air and hydrogen have different and not the same ratios at different temperatures. Similarly Von Obermayer has shown that the coefficient of friction for hydrogen increases with the temperature more slowly than does that for the air. These results are con- firmed by a more recent investigation by Pulitz. The absorption of radiant heat by aqueous vapor has been treated of very well by Haga, who reviews the work of Hoor- weg, and concludes that a column of saturated air at 17 or 18 C, one meter long, absorbs 3 per cent. ; 3.3 meters long, 10 per cent, of the heat radiated from a Leslie cube at 100 C. Besides these, Buff, of Giessen, has also shown that aqueous .vapor is far more, and dry air far less, diathermanous than was maintained by Tyndall. Their results materially effect some meteorological theories. Lins shows how observations of halos may be utilized to determine the dew-point at high elevations in the air. Kummer has, in the Berlin Abliandlungen, continued his investigations into the resistance of air to projectiles. 70 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. TEMPERATURE AND DIATHERMANCY. Our knowledge of the transparency of our atmosphere is reviewed by liicco in the Memoirs of the Italian Spectro- scopic Society; he gives an instructive collation of the co- efficients of transmission of the total solar radiation and also the separate coefficients for the purely luminous rays. Some observations made by Provenzali at Rome with the lucimeter are here published for the first time. Numerous papers relative especially to the diathermancy of the atmosphere have been published in France principal- ly by Crova. Wielenmann's important memoir of 1872, on the tempera- ture of the atmosphere as deduced from purely geometrical and physical relations, and in which he successfully repro- duced the observed hourly temperatures for stations over the whole globe, has now been followed by an almost equal- ly successful deductive treatment of the subject of evapora- tion and atmospheric moisture. A translation by Freeman of Fourier's "Analytical Theory of Heat" has been pub- lished by the Cambridge Press. Dr. Stilling, in studying the cold period of May, 1876, in Pussia, shows that it depended on the formation of baro- metrical minima, which passed from the Baltic to Southern Europe. Careful observations and study of the temperature and humidity of the air at different altitudes have been made at Upsala by Professor Hamberg. By means of thermometers attached to high stationary posts, Hamberg has studied the influence of altitude per se, while by means of small mova- ble posts he has investigated the influence of the nature of the surface soil. Some of his results are briefly as follows : During clear weather, and at least from two hours before sunrise to two hours before sunset, the temperature of the air is lower than that of the earth on which it rests. The fall in temperature preceding sunset is greater near the earth than at greater heights. The latent heat evolved during the formation of dew arrests the fall in the tempera- ture, but not to the extent that some suppose. After the dew is deposited, the temperature may sink even to below the freezing-point ; but as soon as the dew changes to hoar- PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. 71 frost, the temperature of surrounding air rises to 32 Fahr., and even above, while higher up the strata of air continue to be even below 32. The isothermal surfaces near the earth during the night are not always horizontal or parallel. Hellmann, in a memoir on the variability of the tempera- ture in Northern Germany, gives many comparisons of local interest, especially relative to the influence of the Baltic and North Sea. In an important memoir on the annual temperature pe- riod, Kascona first deals with the theoretical formula?, and then applies them to observations at Modena,Bologna,Milan, and Geneva. He shows that the radiation of heat at night from the earth is proportional to the solar radiation re- ceived during the day. Among the many very interesting results of his investigation, he gives formulae representing the annual changes in the daily maximum and minimum temperatures, and shows that the mean of these two formu- lae represents the mean annual temperature. WINDS AND CURRENTS. Anything that draws the attention of observers to the im- portance of observing the actual heights and movements of the clouds is to be welcomed, and we note, therefore, the little work of A. Ringwood, of Australia, in which he gives some methods, but by no means exhausts the subject. The methods that have been proposed and used are now so nu- merous and various that any one who will may easily make these important measurements. Among these is one pro- posed by the author in 1873, but not yet published : it con- sists essentially in throwing a beam of light vertically, or at any determined angle, by means of the reflectors used in public illuminations ; an observation from a neighboring sta- tion of the spot of light on the under surface of the clouds gives their altitude; so that both by day and night the ele- vations may be determined. The formula?, etc., for use in applying the photographic camera to this purpose during the daytime were communicated by the author in 1871. Captain Miejahr gives in the Hansa a series of articles on clouds and winds of the coasts of China and Japan, which will be found to be eminently instructive. The importance of systematic observations on the move- 72 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. mcnts of the clouds continues to be frequently urged. Cle- ment Ley calls for as many co-operators as possible in this work, and Broun has carefully discussed his own most exact observations. Hildebrandsson has published, with numerous charts, a new edition of his studies into the movements of the upper currents of the atmosphere. None of these works, however, seem to be comparable in extent and importance with the magnificent series of maps that have now for seven years been published thrice a day by the Army Signal Office. These maps and the accompanying bulletins show the direc- tion of the winds, the lower clouds, and the upper clouds ; and as early as May, 1872, the author announced the law that the upper clouds moved towards a point to the right of the direction of the lower clouds, and subsequently that the low- er clouds also moved to the right of the surface winds. He also stated that the prevalent mistaken idea that the upper currents were all from the west, or that a steady west cur- rent prevailed at great altitudes, arose from studying only cirrus clouds, which were, at least in the United States, gen- erally found on the west sides of centres of high pressure (see Bulletin Phil. Soc, Washington, 1871). The exact incli- nation of direction of lower cloud movement to the winds was first determined by Redfield in 1833-39, as about 7. In the previous year Redfield had estimated at 45 or less the angle between the winds and the radius drawn to the storm-centre. Buys-Ballot has published an extended discussion of the relation between the theory and observation relative to the connection between barometric pressure and the wind. To a certain extent this is an examination into the truth of the law known as Buys-Ballot's law, and published by him in 1857. This law has been so often modified by others as to have quite lost the simplicity of the wording of the author, who originally announced it thus: "When at two stations in Holland the deviations from normal pressures are un- equal, the wind will, within twenty-four hours, be found to blow at right angles to, or within 30 on either side of, the line joining these." According to his present investiga- tions, Buys-Ballot finds that the east and northeast winds set in less promptly than the west winds; and with regard to the gradients, he finds that these winds need a steeper PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. 73 gradient than the south and west winds in order to acquire the same velocity. The law ordinarily called Buys-Ballot's was first demonstrated in 1853 by J. W. Coffin, and was ex- pressed substantially as follows : The winds are inclined at an angle of 65 to the direction of the lowest pressure. C. de Seul contributes to meteorology, as his magister dis- sertation, the results of most laborious toil, viz., the monthly, seasonal, and annual wind-roses for six stations in Southern Norway, and for the six climatic elements, viz., pressure, temperature, absolute and relative humidity, cloudiness, and wind-force. The scientific value of the work is highly spo- ken of by Moh n. In Brault's " Circulation Amospherique de l'Atlantique Nord" a work of great labor, and apparently a worthy con- tinuation of those studies that were begun by Maury, and to which Buys-Ballot, Buchan, Hoffnieyer, Brito de Capello, Cor- nelissen, and Scott have of late years made so many contribu- tions Brault has taken an important step in that he has un- dertaken to classify his 200,000 observations of the wind ac- cording to the force as well as according to the direction. Besides the excellent charts and the ninety pages giving in detail the data on which the charts are based, the author gives an interesting sketch of the actual state of the works in nautical meteorology that were begun in 18G9 under the administration of Admiral De Genouilly, whence it appears that from the journals kept by French vessels the French Hydrographic Office has compiled a large number of charts and tables, which will, it is hoped, soon be published. A glowing tribute is paid by him to the importance of such simultaneous observations as the Signal Service is now re- ceiving from all seas and lands. Brault's charts give not only the relative frequency of winds from each point of the compass, but also the probability of strong and light winds and calms, and furthermore the probable changes or order of succession of the successive winds ; they are thus pecul- iarly adapted to the needs of the mariner, and are undoubt- edly an improvement upon the charts that have hitherto been published at Washington, London, and Utrecht. The position and phenomena of the equatorial calm-belt have been studied by Miihry with the help of the charts of the London Meteorological Office. He finds that the lowest D 74 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. pressure agrees with the belt of highest temperature. The diurnal barometric period is well marked, and is, he thinks, evidently of telluric, not local origin. The trade-winds are, he thinks, evidently not the cause of the equatorial ocean currents, because the latter increase as the former diminish near the equator. The region of heaviest and most frequent rain is permanently about 5 north of the equator. Two papers have been published in the Austrian meteor- ological journal by Guldberg and Mohn, in which the au- thors have rehearsed some of the views presented by them a year ago in their "Etudes." They deduce the angle of deviation of the winds from the line of steepest gradient as dependent on the geographical latitude and the coefficient of friction, and give in tabular form its value for different values of these fundamental quantities. Their method of de- termining the coefficient of friction and other resistances for each station is worthy of general application ; in the cases computed by them for stations in England a very considera- ble difference is found for southwest and northeast winds. The observed wind velocities on sea agree closely with the theoretical, but those on land fall far below. The velocity at an altitude of 100 meters is but one per cent, greater than that at the surface of the ground, and for the determination of the coefficient of friction it is best to use only the relative directions of the wind and isobars. Dr. Carl Benomi, in "Der Einfluss der Axendrehung der Erde" (Petevmann, Mittheil., 1877), gives a short reference to the history of this problem, and then takes a backward step in maintaining that east and west winds are not influenced by the earth's rotation. His essay is mostly confined to a con- sideration of the winds of aspiration and propulsion as de- fined by Miihry. Benoni commits the singular mistake of attributing to Dove that law which was known to Laplace, but was enunciated by Poisson,1837; Foucault,1851 ; Benet, 1851 ; Babinet, 1854; Ferrel, 1854 and 1859 ; and by numer- ous authors since then, according to all whom, in our north- ern hemisphere, a body moving in any direction whatever de- flects or tends to deflect to the right. This law is based on the principle of the conservation of areas, and differs essential- ly from the principle first enunciated by Had ley, and adopted by Taylor, Herschel, Dove, Colding, Maury, Peslin, Benomi, PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. 75 and others, according to whom bodies moving on the paral- lels do not deviate to the east or west. This fundamental theorem in the dynamics of the atmosphere was abundantly elucidated in the discussion that was from 1S51 to 1860 fully reported in the Paris Comptes Rendus. The more general law known as Poisson's in France, and in America as Fer- rel's, was applied to the winds of the globe by Babinet, 1854, and simultaneously by Ferrel, whose complete memoir marks an important epoch in the development of meteoro- logical science. A very complete review of the literature of this subject, so far as it relates to Baer's Law, is given by Benomi and Schmidt in the Vienna Geog. Mitth. It is said that M. Finger, in a memoir on the mathemat- ical theory of the motions of the atmosphere, has demon- strated among other things that the pressure is increased by easterly winds and diminished by westerly winds. This latter scientist has enriched meteorology with a mem- oir, which is substantially a second edition of his famous pa- per of 1859, on the motions of the winds on the surface of the earth. This latter paper was too little known among Euro- pean meteorologists until reviewed by Hann, a year ago, in the Zeitschrift of the Austrian Meteorological Society. The present writer, however, in 1865, and especially in 1869, had drawn the attention of certain individuals to this important memoir, and in 1871 quoted it quite freely in the pamphlet of "Suggestions on the Use of Weather Maps" (published by the Army Signal Office, 1st edition, May, 1871) ; while, in the meantime, Professor Everett, in his translation of Deschanel's Philosophy, had spoken of it in terms of highest praise. In fact, the fundamental problems of deductive meteorology were, for the first time, solved satisfactorily in this first edition. Professor Ferrel has simply revised his work in the light of the great mass of accurate data that have with- in twenty years been accumulated by the meteorological writers. The most important new features of the work consist in, (1) the formula for variation of pressure with al- titude when the air is in motion ; (2) the expression for the gradient of inclination of any current of water or air in a section at right angles to its course; (3) a table of mean temperatures over the whole earth, deduced by combining the best modern authorities; tables for January, July, and VG ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. the year arc given, and the latter is condensed into a mean for each parallel of latitude, whence is deduced the folio w- ino- formula in centigrade degrees: *=$.50-1.75 cos. 0-20.95 cos. 20-1.00 cos. 30-2.GG cos. 40 (where 9 is the the north polar distance) ; whence, by integration, there results the mean temperature of the surface of the southern hemisphere, 4-10.05; and of the northern, 15.30; and for the whole earth, 15.07, a re- sult ao-reeinc: closely with Forbes and Von Waltershausen. (4) In a similar manner new charts of isobars, based on the newest data collected by RikatchefF, Hann, Buchan, etc., have been compiled by Ferrel, which, together with charts of the annual inequality, are all upon a polar projection. (5) The general circulation of the atmosphere is deduced by reasoning based on the charts and the mechanical prin- ciples previously deduced. PRESSURE AND ISOBARS. The normal distribution of atmospheric pressure in Eu- rope has been further elucidated in an important memoir by Buys-Ballot, published in the JVederlcmds Jaarbooek. Buchan's paper on the diurnal barometric periods, in which he showed the decided influence of the relative distribution of land and water, has not yet been followed by the prom- ised second part. And the conclusion formerly deduced by the present writer still seems to be inevitable i. by Colonel Artamanow, of the Russian service. The steadily increasing interest in exact geographical knowledge is attested by the increasing membership of the older geographical societies, and the establishment of new ones at Copenhagen, Antwerp, Brussels, Marseilles, and Bremen. In Germany the Imperial Railroad Commission has pub- lished a chart of the most extensive net-work of railroads in the world ; and a complete physico-statistical atlas of Ger- many has been edited by Messrs. R. Andre and O. Peschel. A complete catalogue of dwelling-places in the kingdom of Bavaria, and a new topographical map of Baden, deserve mention. The project of draining the southern part of the Zuyder- GEOGRAPHY. 197 Zee has been submitted by the government of the kingdom of Holland to the States-General. Count Bela-Szechenyi's "History of Neusidler" Lake gives a curious account of the rise and fall of its waters, with the reasons for the phenomena, and interesting discoveries from the stone acre in the lake. In 1854 the waters of the lake, which lies in the western part of Hungary, near the Austrian frontier, began gradually to sink, until in 1868 there was not left so much as a marshy spot in its bed; but since 1869, they have been slowly returning, until in 1876 the surface of the lake has resumed its normal appearance. The second division of "La France" has been completed in the admirable work of Elisee Reclus, "Nouvelle Geo- graphic Universelle." PALESTINE. The scientific survey of Western Palestine, under the charge of Lieutenant Kitchiner, R.E., has been completed. This laborious undertaking has been pursued, in spite of many difficulties, for more than five years, and it now only remains to work out the map of Palestine, which will con- sist of twenty-six sheets, on the scale of one inch to the mile. A report on the " Line of Levels from the Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee," by Lieutenant Kitchiner, has been read before the Royal Geographical Society. The levels extended over about thirty-six miles, and the result of the work showed the depression of the Sea of Gali- lee to be 682.5 feet below the Mediterranean, being 40 or 50 feet greater than had been generally supposed. The depres- sion of the Dead Sea was found to be 1292 feet, and that of the deepest part of the valley of the Jordan 1300 feet below the Mediterranean. There seems no doubt that the whole of the enormous quantity of water brought down by the Jordan to the Dead Sea is carried off by evaporation. A German association for the exploration of Palestine lias been lately formed by scientific men, in different parts of the empire and in Switzerland, the headquarters of which will be at Baedeker's in Leipzig. 198 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. ASIA. Under the auspices and direction of the Russian Geograph- ical Society, various journeys and explorations have been carried on in Siberia and in Central Asia. A most important work has been the carrying of a line of levels along the Siberian road from Ekaterinburg to Irkutsk, a distance of 2236 miles, by which the exact heights of nu- merous important meteorological stations have been estab- lished. AVith the aid of the knowledge thus derived, it will no longer be impossible to trace isobaric curves over this region. The determining of the precise differences of longitude by electric time-signals along the line of telegraph extending from Moscow to Vladivostock, now completed, is a work of immense importance, upon the results of which the geo- graphical positions of points in Japan and China will here- after depend. Under the direction of the Siberian branch of the Russian Geographical Society, a careful exploration of Lake Baikal and the surrounding country has been carried on. Besides the regular bulletin of the society, containing a great amount of valuable material, the other publications of travels and ex- plorations by members of the society afford abundant testi- mony to the zeal and ability which are constantly adding to the geographical knowledge of Russian territory. The geographical results of Colonel Przewalski's expedi- tion into Chinese Tartary, during the past year, are a survey from Kuldja for eight hundred miles into the interior of the country, seven determinations of latitudes and longitudes, many hypsometric measurements, and large botanical and zoological collections. He arrived at Lob Nor, as stated in the Record of last year, on February 11, travelling by the way of the valley of the Lower Tarim. The height of the valley above the sea is about 2000 feet, and its topography is quite different from that represented on the maps, the survey and the astronomical determination of latitudes and longitudes giving quite a new aspect to the country. He found the country on the banks of the Tarim and about Lob Nor very thinly settled the people speaking GEOGRAPHY. 199 almost the same lan^ua^e as in Eastern Turkestan. He found Lake Lob Nor to be an enormous marsh, surrounded and partly overgrown by thick bushes. About one hundred and twenty miles south of Lob Nor, Colonel Przewalski encountered a range of mountains more than 11,000 feet in height, called the Altyn-Tag, and appear- ing to be the spurs of a more important range. The expedition started for Thibet in August last. With great difficulty and danger, Captain Kurapatkin, another Russian explorer, has completed a journey in Kash- garia (between July, 1876, and April, 1877), the details of which have been communicated to the Paris Geographical Society. M. Potanin is engaged, under the auspices of the Russian Government and the Russian Geographical Society, in a sur- vey of Northwestern Mongolia, a work which was intended to last two years, dating from the summer of 1876. As, however, some trouble was experienced from Chinese au- thorities, he did not begin his task till April, 1877. The reports of the Russian military expedition to the Alai and Pamir plateaux, by Colonel Kostenko, add very materially to the knowledge of the mountain chains of Cen- tral Asia, differing, however, essentially from the accounts recently published by Captain Trotter, R.E. Colonel Stubendorff is preparing a map of the expedition; Usbel Pass, 14,400 feet above the sea, being the highest point indicated. A treatise by M. Musscheketow on the volcanoes of Cen- tral Asia is of very general interest. Since his discovery of burning coal-layers in the basin of the Hi, he has been con- vinced that the volcanoes indicated by Humboldt in that and neighboring regions are simply such burning coal dis- tricts. Although referring to the recent action of some extinct volcanoes, he altogether doubts the existence of true volca- noes in Central Asia, and adduces a large mass of evidence in support of this position. While in command of a detachment of Cossacks protect- ing a caravan, sent by Russian merchants, Captain Pevtsow made observations which afforded the following results: A survey of the route, 560 miles long, from the Zaisan Lake to 200 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. the Chinese town Gu-chen, latitude 43 50' N., longitude 90 14' E., with maps of the towns, astronomical determinations of the positions of seven points, magnetic observations, baro- metric measurement of heights, a complete geographical ex- ploration along the route, a collection of about one thousand species of plants and a large zoological collection. The first volume of Baron von Richthofen's extensive work on China has been published. This volume of 760 pages treats principally of the geography of Central Asia and China proper, entering thoroughly into the formation of the surface, and other features of physical geography. The work, when completed, will be accompanied by an atlas of forty-four maps, constructed by the author, chiefly from Chinese sources. Mr. James Morrison has commenced the publication in the Geographical Magazine of a large amount of geographical information regarding the almost unknown island of For- CD CD mosa the results of journeys there during the past year. AFRICA. The most important as well as the most interesting event relating to African geography during the past year has been the exploration of the Lualaba River by Mr. II. M. Stanley, and his demonstration of its identity with the Congo. It is too soon to give any exact account of his discoveries, but his journey may be summarized in a few words, as fol- lows : At the close of last year's JRecord, Stanley, with his party, was at Nyangwe, lying about four hundred miles west of Lake Tanganyika, and hitherto the western limit of exploration. Leaving there November 5, 1870 (after an ex- ploration of Lake Tanganyika, with its creeks and inlets, oc- cupying fifty-one days), they started to the westward ; but, unable to make headway through the thick forests, crossed the Lualaba and continued their journey along the left bank. The tribes of savage cannibals offered a most determined opposition to their passage, both by land and water; and in the midst of their desperate struggle with the negroes, after having taken to their canoes to drift down the river, they came to a* series of five cataracts, not far apart, south and north of the equator. With great hardship and Buffering, the boats were draped through the forest for thirteen CD CD CD GEOGRAPHY. 201 miles around these cataracts. Besides these falls, numerous rapids and lesser falls were met with, in passing which, as well as in battles with the natives, many of Stanley's follow- ers lost their lives. Mr. Stanley reports that in 2 N". latitude the river Lu- alaba changes its previous northerly course to northwest, then to west, then to southwest a broad stream from two to ten miles wide, and studded with numerous islands. In all, the expedition was obliged to fight thirty-two des- perate battles in forcing its way down the Lualaba, although some friendly tribes were met with. As the river approach- es the Atlantic it is known as the Kwango and the Zaire. It has an uninterrupted course of over fourteen hundred miles through the great basin lying between 9 and 26 of E. lon- gitude, and has many magnificent affluents, especially on the southern side. Between this great basin and the Atlan- tic Ocean is a broad belt of mountains, after passing which the river descends by about thirty falls and furious rapids, then forming the stream heretofore known as the Cons;o. On the 10th of August, 1877, the party, diminished and exhausted, reached Embomma, on the Congo, a short dis- tance from the mouth ; and shortly afterwards arrived at the Portuguese settlement of St. Paul de Loando. Mr. Stanley's discoveries are discussed by Dr. Petermann in the Mittheilungen for December, 1877. The English missionary stations on lakes Tanganyika and Ukerewe afford most valuable starting-points and bases of operation for scientific travellers, as has been proved by the experience of Lieutenant Young at Livingstonia, the station on Lake Nyassa. Parties from these stations are penetrat- ing the country in various directions, and making scientific observations. The new Geographical Society of Lisbon has awakened great interest in Portugal regarding her African colonies, too long given up to an ignorant and unworthy class of half-breeds, who have prevented any real progress and have fostered an illegal slave-trade. The government has lately made a large appropriation towards a scientific exploration and survey of the region between Angola and Mozambique, to investigate the connections between the river systems of the Con o*o and Zambesi. 12 202 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. A railroad is to be built from Loando to Ambaca, and from Delagoa Bay to the Transvaal Republic. The International Commission for the Exploration and Civilization of Central Africa, set on foot by the King of Bel- gium, has established national committees in Belgium, Ger- many, Austria, Holland, Spain, Italy, France, Russia, Switzer- land, and Portugal. The pioneers of this society, consisting of two Belgian officers, Captains Crespel and Cambier, and a naturalist, Dr. Maes, sailed on the lSth of October for Port Natal, whence they will make their way to Lake Tanganyika, where measures will be taken to ascertain whether it be pos- sible to found a station on the shores of the lake, or, leaving a depot there, the station be fixed at Nyangwe and Man* yuema. The place to be decided upon is to be used as a basis for further exploration, and agriculture will be carried on to make the expedition self-supporting. The society is amply provided with funds, and proposes to set on foot two large expeditions to penetrate from Loando and Zanzibar at the same time. There is every prospect that this united effort will succeed in solving some of the problems connect- ed with the geography of Central Africa. The Italian committee for the exploration of Africa held its first session at Turin in June, when it was decided to co- operate vigorously with the International Society. For the present the energies of the Italian committee will be devoted to the maintenance of a supply station at Shoa, regarding this as one of the most favorable stations from which to send out expeditions for the exploration of the interior. In the proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society for June 11, 1877, is an account, by Bishop Crowther, of jour- neys up the Niger River between 1841 and 1871, and notes on the neighboring countries. The delta of the river, he states, is enormously large, extending along a coast line of 120 miles, with a breadth of 150 miles in some places. As the Church Missionary Society has resolved to send out a small steamer drawing only three feet, most interest- ing and valuable results may be expected from further ex- ploration. Bishop Crowther's intimate acquaintance with the numer- ous tribes inhabiting this region (no less than thirteen sepa- rate tribes, speaking as many languages, being met in a jour- GEOGRAPHY. 203 ney of seven hundred miles) makes bis accounts of them un- usually valuable. At a recent meeting of the Berlin Geographical Society a report of Dr. Von Bary was read regarding his investigation of the Tuareg region of the Western Sahara. His researches lead him to the belief that there is but little, if any, reason to believe that the Sahara Desert is the bed of an ancient sea. The recent annexation by Great Britain of the South Afri- can territory known hitherto as the Transvaal Republic has drawn attention to the geography of that immensely valu- able region, and has shown how very much remains to be done to perfect a knowledge of it. In the Geographical Mag- azine for February, 1877, as well as in the Mittheilimgen, are excellent maps showing recent explorations. Considerable attention has been attracted to Dr. E. Holub's travels in South Africa, and particularly to his exploration of the middle course of the Zambesi. During the past sum- mer he has communicated to a newspaper called the Dia- mond Field (printed at Kimberley, in West Griqua Land) detailed accounts of his observations in that region. He entirely confirms the statements of Cameron and Young re- garding the active participation of Portuguese merchants in the slave-trade of the interior. Under the personal superintendence of Colonel Gordon, R.E., assisted by Lieutenants Watson and Chippendall, R.E., and by M. Gessi, a thorough survey of the Nile has been made, commencing at Khartoum and ending at a point about forty miles from the north end of the Victoria Nyanza, a distance of 1500 miles. From these surveys two maps have been prepared, on a scale of thirty-five miles to the inch. M. Gessi has circumnavigated the Albert Lake, and finds it to be one hundred and forty-one miles from northeast to southwest, and from forty to sixty miles wide. He has proved beyond a doubt that the Nile descends from the Victoria Nyanza, enters the Albert Lake, and flows from it, at a point fourteen miles farther north, to Dufli, thus setting at rest the question of the direct connection of the great river with these two lakes. 204 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. AUSTRALIA. Surveys have been made on the Stevenson River, in the south, and on the Daly River, in the north, the valley of the latter being deseribed as a rich and grassy district. A north- western expedition, under Mr. W. O. Hodgkinson, starting from Queensland, has explored the country from the Flinders and Concurry rivers to the frontiers of South Australia, fol- lowing the course of theDiamantina River, and finding great areas of good pasture-land, with beautiful lakes, bounded on the west by a sandstone range named the Cairns Mountains. The Herbert River flows for a short distance through South Australia, but afterwards unites with one of the sources of the great Mulligan River flowing through Queensland. The expedition returned in October, 1876, to the lalls of the Leichhardt. An extension of Mr. Hodgkinson's work has been planned. The expedition was to start about the end of September from near the head-waters of the Gregory River, which emp- ties into the Gulf of Carpentaria, pushing eastward to Ten- nant Creek, and along the telegraph line to the waters of the Daly ; thence eastward to the Nicholson River, in this way twice crossing the broad strip of unknown land between the transcontinental telegraph line and the Gregory River. The end in view in all these surveys is, in addition to the acquiring of exact knowledge of the geography, the discov- ery of new pasture-lands. Mr. Alexander Forrest crossed the Hampton Plains, in West Australia, last year, hoping to find pasture-land, but his investigations established the fact that the interior of West Australia is all desert. The Katharine River was explored in 1876 by Mr. G. R. McMinn, Chief Geographer of the Northern Territory. Mr. McMinn is convinced of the identity of the Daly and Kath- arine rivers. To the southwest of the Katharine River worthless low- land plains were found covered with a growth of scrub and spinifex. Mr. E. Giles's report of his return trip across West Austra- lia last year, with a carefully executed map of his route, has been published by the government as a parliamentary paper. GEOGRAPHY. 205 NEW GUINEA. In a recent number of the Zeitschrift of the Berlin Geo- graphical Society is an interesting paper by Captain Von Schleinitz on the geographical observations in New Guinea, in New Britannia and Solomons Archipelago, made by the Prussian expedition in the Gazelle. The exploration of New Guinea is going steadily forward, and the Australian colonists are discussing its annexation. Signor d'Albertis, whose first exploration of the Fly River was so successful, has made a second visit to that river, and by means of it has penetrated to the centre of the island, reach- ing a point in 5 30' south latitude, 141 30' east longitude. He reports that the whole country is flat and marshy, the land nowhere rising more than two hundred and twenty-five feet. The natives resemble those of the eastern part of the island in appearance, manners, customs, etc, but differ wide- ly from the blacks of the northwest. Bananas, taro, and to- bacco are cultivated to a certain extent. The vicinity of Port Moresby is described as a well-watered and fertile country. In M. Cora's Cosmos are published the reports of M. Mi- klucho-Maklay and of Signor d'Albertis regarding their re- cent explorations. In the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society is an account by the Rev. S. Macfarlane of a journey made by him along the southern coast of New Guinea in March, 1877. Two fine harbors were discovered, and several good anchor- ages alono* the coast. The natives were friendlv and nu- merous. Mr. Macfarlane found many errors in the published charts. During the last summer the Dutch expedition for the ex- ploration of Sumatra has traversed the island from west to east, and explored a large tract of country lying to the north of Padang. It is understood that this expedition is preliminary to set- tlement and occupation on a large scale, the annexation of this great island to the Dutch East India possessions having for some time been urgently pressed upon the authorities at Batavia. GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. By SAMUEL H. SCUDDER, Cambridge, Mass. The most important explorations of the year 1877 were the government surveys of the unsettled parts of the national domain. The oldest of these, the Geological and Geograph- ical Survey of the Territories, under Dr. Hayden, completed its -field work in Colorado in 1876; so that this new state, although perhaps the most diversified in our Union, enters upon life under the most propitious circumstances, its whole territory better mapped than perhaps any older state. In 1877 the survey passed northward into Wyoming and Idaho, taking in a tract of countrv between 107 and 112 W. Ions;., extending from the Pacific Railway northward to the Yellow- stone Park an area of about 30,000 square miles. This field of operations, a preliminary survey of which was made in 1872, may be more easily conceived by stating that its south- ern border is equal to the distance from Boston to Philadel- phia or Montreal. A geodetic party carried the primary trian ovulation over this entire region, measuring two base- lines one near Rawlins, the other near Bear Lake locating prominent peaks at intervals of from twenty to thirty miles, building upon them stone monuments for future recognition, and travelling at least five hundred miles. Thirty stations were occupied and eleven more used as primary points, and an average of eight angles were measured at each station occu- pied. At the close of the season, the triangulation was con- nected near Ogden with that of the Fortieth Parallel Survey. This region was also divided into three sections, each of which was covered by a distinct party, fully equipped for topographical and geological work: two of these divided be- tween them the southern portion, including all the less di- versified desert region ; while the third took the elevated district in the northwest, in the immediate vicinity of the Yellowstone Park. GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 207 The southeast, or Sweetwater division, as it was called, embraced an area of nearly 11,000 square miles, extending northward to 41 45' K lat,, and westward to 109 30' W. long. In working this area, one hundred and seventy-one principal topographical stations were occupied, besides twen- ty or more subsidiary stations; eighty or more stone monu- ments were erected. While many of these stations, owing to the extremely desolate and irreclaimable character of the country surveyed, will probably never be used as initial points for detailed surveys, there still remain many others, which will be of great value as starting-points for isolated pieces of rectilinear work, where fertile valleys and oases in the desert country are rapidly coming into demand by set- tlers. The most important of these fertile valleys lie in the mountainous region to the north, in the upper waters of trib- utaries of the Platte and Yellowstone ; and into this district a rectilinear survey was pushed by measuring a guide-meridian from the railway north, and the establishment of base-lines within the region itself. The sniide-nieridian had to be meas- CD CD ured over seventy-five miles of desert country, where water was extremely scarce. Owing to threatened danger from hostile Indians, who were known to be in the vicinity of the Big Horn Mountains, the party was obliged to leave in the northeast about eight hundred square miles of unexplored territory. The southwest, or Green River division, was a rectangle of similar size to the last, but the surveying party extended its work a little beyond its western limits, so that 12,000 to 13,000 square miles were surveyed. This area contains a greater extent of hilly country, but none so elevated as that in the northern portion of the Sweetwater district; and in it nearly three hundred and fifty stations and locations were made, more than fifty of which were marked with stone monuments. The party found the Green River basin a broad, flat, almost unbroken expanse, covered mainly with sage-brush and scat- tered bunch-2;rass, but the bottom lands well grassed and CD * CD wooded. In the broken country to the west, the more ele- vated portions were heavily timbered, the hilly parts grass- covered, and the valleys filled with good soil, easily irri- gable. The Teton division to the north extended to the borders 208 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. of the Yellowstone Park, between 109 and 112 W. long., covering an area of 13,500 square miles, mostly drained by the branches of the Shoshone, or Snake River, a tributary of the Columbia. This was familiar ground to the chief of the party, since he had already partially surveyed the region in 1872. In its western portion the party made thirty topo- graphical stations in an area of about 10,000 square miles. Considerable timber was found, with a fair average of arable and grass land, and streams never dry. The eastern and northern portion is far more rugged and inaccessible than any other part of the country covered by this year's survey. It finds its culmination in the snow-covered Teton and Wind River Mountains, in the latter of which the highest eleva- tion is Fremont's Peak, 13,700 feet high. A comparison of Fremont's account with the observations of the party shows, however, that he did not ascend this highest peak (now bearing his name), but a lower summit, whose altitude he estimated to be 13,570 feet. In one sense, Fremont's Peak may be considered the centre of the continent, since from its summit may be seen in close proximity the head-waters of streams which feed the Columbia, the Colorado, and the Mis- souri. While engaged in the exploration of this district, the party received notice from the military commander at Camp Brown, through Indian scouts, to leave the country, on ac- count of the danger from hostile Indians. Nearly a month of valuable time was thus lost, abridgringr somewhat the re- suits of the season's work. Notwithstanding the various difficulties encountered, the party surveyed an area of about 0000 square miles of the most rugged mountain country in the northwest, and made over one hundred barometrical ob- servations. Throughout his district, Mr. Bechler personally observed 7340 horizontal and 5700 vertical angles; and as they were repeated backward and forward, and checked by good barometric readings, they must give satisfactory re- sults concerning the altitude of that extremely mountainous country. Each of these three topographical parties was accompanied by a geologist. In the desert region careful notes were taken of the grazing facilities, timber, and irrigability of the coun- try. It was estimated that in the least favored region that to the east only five eighths was desert land, one fourth be- GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 209 ing mountainous, and therefore more or less timbered, and one eighth valuable land. At one point beds of coal of great extent were found. The limitless expanse of bunch- grass land affords, in some otherwise desert country, grazing to enormous herds of cattle. Some parts of the country are not so desolate. In the western portion of the Green River district, the valley of the Bear River, which doubles so curi- ously upon itself near the famous soda-springs of Idaho, al- ready supports a thriving population. Along its banks and in the neighboring region are fine acres of farming land, grass-covered hills, broad and fertile valleys. Throughout the region, the party noticed that the season was much colder than that experienced at the same altitudes in Colorado. In the mountainous regions to the north, especially along the western flanks of the Wind River range, remains were no- ticed of huge ancient glaciers ; and, considering the enor- mous amount of snow and ice that was observed at the begin- ning of August, the geologists deemed that the discovery of still existing glaciers in that range would not be surprising. Moraines covering many square miles, often a thousand feet in thickness, extend downward through narrow valleys, now containing rushing streams ; and, from all appearances, cessa- tion of glacial activity must have occurred within a compar- atively recent time, for scarcely any vegetation has sprung up on the light glacial soil, and the morainal deposits them- selves bear every mark of freshness. In the comparatively level country lying wholly within the Territory of Wyoming, stretching from the Wind River and Sweetwater Mountains to the Uintas, and throusrh the middle of which the Pacific Railroad winds its way, the ge- ologists found little besides nearly horizontal Tertiary strata, such as occur along the line of the railway. The mountains west of Green River are composed mainly of Carboniferous limestones, but are flanked on either side by hills of Jurassic and Cretaceous age, with Tertiary beds resting on the tilted edges of the older rocks. Still farther west, the Bear River Mountains in Utah are composed of Silurian and Carbonifer- ous rocks limestones and quartzites. To the north of the abrupt bend in Bear River the lower grounds are covered with basalt flows, evidently originating from numerous cra- ters still remaining in the vicinity. This outflow accounts 210 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. also for the abrupt bend of the Bear River, since at this point a basalt plain is the only divide between it and the Portneuf, which flows into the Snake, a tributary of the Co- lumbia; into which also the Bear once emptied, but now, reversing its course, flows into Great Salt Lake. To the north of this region and of the great basin of the Upper Green, or Colorado River, the geology as w T ell as the topography is more complicated, the country being ex- ceedingly broken, and volcanic and eroding agencies hav- ing been active, botli in long-past and more recent times; but the studies of Messrs. St. John and Endlich, to whom these districts were assigned, have solved many perplexing points, and their evidence will probably determine the re- lations of the principal stratigraphical phenomena to the main mountain chains, and enable us to form decided opin- ions concerning the geological age of the mountains them- selves. In addition to these parties covering definite districts, a fifth, under Dr. White, who has succeeded the late Mr. Meek as paleontologist to the survey, was assigned a special duty viz., to endeavor to correlate the scattered stratigraphical observations which have been made by different parties on either side of the Rocky Mountain chain and of the Uintas. With his party he therefore travelled in such directions as would enable him to examine the geological formations in their succession, so as to determine as far as possible the questions which have arisen concerning the limits of each, its correlation with the others, and to define its paleonto- logical characteristics. Such a work must precede any ra- tional classification of the different formations. He first traversed in various directions the plains at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado between Cheyenne and Denver; he next crossed the mountains by way of Boulder Pass, the Middle and Egeria Parks, to the head-waters of the Yampa, and passed a short way down that stream. Crossing: the divide between this river and the White, he followed the latter nearly to Utah, then turned northward and crossed the Green River at the southern base of the Uintas, making many detours on the way; skirted the whole length of the Uinta Mountains westward, turned them by twice crossing the Wahsatch Mountains, and then followed GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 211 their northern side back to Rawlins, on the Union Pacific Railroad. By this survey he has been able, as he believes, to show the identity of the lignitic series of strata east of the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado, with the Fort Union group of the Upper Missouri River, and with the great Laramie group of the Green River basin. The relative age of these beds has been a matter of long dispute among geologists, but the in- vestigations of this year have proved their complete equiva- lence by the discovery not merely of one or two doubtful species common to the strata at any one point, but by an identical molluscan fauna ranging through the whole series in each of these regions. He also finds the plains of demar- cation between any of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic groups, from the Dakota or Lower Cretaceous to the Bridger or Higher Tertiary, inclusive, to be either indefinable or very obscure ; showing that, whatever abrupt changes may have taken place elsewhere during that period, sedimentation was here probably continuous. While each of the groups of either series possesses its own peculiar paleontologic.il char- acteristics, it is also true that certain species pass beyond the recognized boundaries of each within the series. While this ends our account of the regular exploring par- ties attached to the survey, it does not complete its activi- ties. Under its auspices several parties have been making special investigations in the field. To gain a general con- ception of the vegetation of the Rocky Mountain region, and of its relations to that of the rest of North America, Sir Joseph Hooker and Dr. Asa Gray examined many parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California, travelling in all some 9000 miles. The results of their studies will ap- pear in detail through the publications of the survey; but they are already able to state that the vegetation of the mid- dle latitudes of North America resolves itself into three prin- cipal meridional floras, far more diverse than those presented by any similar meridians in the Old World being, in fact, so far as the trees, shrubs, and many genera of herbaceous plants are concerned, absolutely distinct. Each of them is subdivisible into three. The first region comprises the At- lantic slope and Mississippi valley, and is subdivisible into an Atlantic, a Mississippi, and an interposed mountain, or 212 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. Appalachian region, with a temperate and snbalpine flora. The second embraces the Pacific slope, and is subdivisible into a very humid, cool, forest-clad Coast range ; the great, hot, drier California valley, formed by the San Joachin and the Sacramento, flowing (the one north, the other south) into the bay of San Francisco ; and the Sierra Nevada, with a temperate, subalpine, and alpine flora. The vegetation of the third, or Rocky Mountain region, comprising all the country lying between the two districts already mentioned, is sub- divisible into a prairie flora, found principally along the east- ern flanks of the Rocky Mountains proper ; a desert or saline flora, covering the greater part of Nevada, Utah, and Ari- zona; and a Rocky Mountain proper flora, temperate, sub- alpine, and alpine. The Appalachians and the Rocky Moun- tains, therefore, severally divide the floras of their respective districts into separate east and west sections ; while in the California district, a hot and dry valley effects a similar re- sult by intervening between two parallel ranges of moun- tains. The difference between the Atlantic and Pacific floras is specifically and to a great extent generically absolute, not a pine, oak, maple, elm, plane, or birch of Eastern Amer- ica extending to Western, and genera of thirty to fifty spe- cies being confined to each. The Rocky Mountain region, again, though abundantly distinct from both, has a few el- ements of the Eastern region, and still more of the Western. Under the auspices of the same survey, Professor Joseph Leidy, of Philadelphia, made a careful examination of the country about Fort Bridger, Wy., and of the Salt Lake ba- sin, to study in life the fresh-water rhizopods of that region, in preparation of a work for the survey upon the subject; and Messrs. S. II. Scudder and F. C. Bowditch, of Cambridge and Boston, travelled through much of Colorado and Wy- oming, and a corner of Utah, making collections of recent insects; but especially in search of fossil insects, which were known to occur at various distant points in the Rocky Moun- tain region. Travelling most of the time, they made their longest halts at Green River, Wy., and at Florissant, near Manitou, Col., in both of which places fossil insects are abun- dant in the Tertiary beds. In the former locality, however, most of them proved so imperfect and indistinct as to be nearly useless for study; but at the latter they found a de- GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 213 posit, probably of Miocene age, astonishingly rich in insect remains, many of them beautifully preserved. During the past year about 20,000 insects have been exhumed from this single locality; and scarcely an impression has been made upon the quarries, although perhaps more labor will hereaf- ter be required in working them. In company with Profess- or Lakes, of Golden, they made as careful a survey of the basin in which they occur as their short stay permitted, and estimate the insect -bearing shales to have an extent fifty times as great as the richest localities known in Europe. The geographical and geological survey of the Rocky Mountain region under Major Powell, to which, from its departmental connection with Dr. Hayden's survey, atten- tion is next invited, confined its operations the past season almost entirely to the central portion of Eastern Utah, an area containing about 16,000 square miles, embraced be- tween 38 and 4030'N. lat. and between 109 30' and 112 W. long. Nearly the whole of this region is drained by the Green River and its affluents, before it unites with the Grand to form the Colorado, and is one of the most arid, inhospita- ble, and inaccessible in the country. It is an elevated plateau, cut by a labyrinth of canons and narrow gorges, and covered in many parts by hills of naked sand and clays. The west- ern portion, however, includes broad valleys, abrupt ranges of mountains, and one plateau of considerable extent, having an average elevation of 8000 feet. The valleys, which con- tain large areas of excellent land, run north and south, sepa- rated by three ranges of mountains, rising in their highest peaks to from 10,000 to 12,000 feet, and are drained by streams flowing westerly into Utah Lake. With Pleasant City, a little town about one hundred and twenty-five miles south of Salt Lake City, as a base of sup- plies, three parties were organized one for geodetical and two for topographical-work. The triangulation was extend- ed over the entire area selected. The work rests upon base- lines established in former years near Kanab and Gunnison, Utah, and was connected on the east with the triangulation points established by Hayden's Survey, and on the north with those of the Fortieth Parallel Survev under Mr. King: On account of the rumored hostility of the Utes in a portion of the district (rumors which proved groundless), the trian- 214 ANNUAL HECOKD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. gulating party was united for a portion of the time with one of the topographical parties for mutual support. This party took the eastern portion of the field, which is separated from the western at not far from 110 30' W. long., and includes that part of Utali above 38 N. lat. which lies east of the Green and Colorado rivers in all about 10,000 square miles. The party carried the secondary triangulation over this district, with stations averaging ten miles apart ; made a connected plane-table map of the whole, and complement- ed the work with orographic sketches. The second topographical party, occupying the western portion, Avas assigned an area more mountainous than that to the east, embracing about 0000 square miles : in this it oc- cupied topographical stations at average distances of about ten miles, and measured all the angles of nearly every trian- gle in the secondary extension; and, like the first party, made sketches and a plane-table map of the entire area. Besides this purely topographical work, mercurial barome- ters were carried by each field party ; and observations were made to connect every camp with the base-station at Mount Pleasant, where observations were taken four times a day, and also hourly during eight days in each month. All the geodetic points and topographical stations were also con- nected by barometric observations, either with the camps, the base-station, or both ; and the altitudes of all located points were observed by the measurement of vertical angles. This hypsometric work is deemed by the director of the survey to be of the greatest importance in the classification of lands, and in determining the best methods of utilizing the waters of streams for irrigation. On account of its prac- tical utility to the agricultural industries of the country, Major Powell suggests the establishment of a hypsometric base-line from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean, from which lateral lines could be run to the base-stations used for each season. The methods of levelling by which were deter- mined the elevations of points along the Pacific Railway (now used as a general base) were not of sufficient refinement for ] resent needs. The work requires great care and thorough discussion, and should be undertaken by the Interoceanic Geodetic Connection of the Coast Survey. New tables also should be made, based upon series of observations in GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 215 the Kocky Mountain region itself, at stations connected by careful levelling, both with each other and a determined base. Those now in use are founded on observations at somewhat distant points in Switzerland, under climatic con- ditions greatly different from those obtaining in the Kocky Mountains. Such a series of observations, however, would need to extend over long periods to attain the desired re- sult. Besides the three parties mentioned, separate geological investigations were carried on in other parts of Utah by Mr. Gilbert and by a party under Captain Dutton. The classi- fication of lands occupied much of their attention. Mr. Gil- bert traversed that portion of the drainage basin of Great Salt Lake which lies in Utah : it includes within its limits the most valuable land of the territorv, as well as some of the most sterile, where the possibility of agriculture depends on the possibility of irrigation. By measuring the volumes of the streams, an attempt was made to ascertain the agri- cultural capabilities of the river valleys. Some of the smaller ones proved inadequate to serve the lands, otherwise arable, through which they run. East of the lake more than twelve per cent, of the district is reclaimable ; while west of it only a fourth of one per cent, is of value for farming. It is also estimated that about two and one third per cent, of the whole territory of Utah can be redeemed by the utilization of the streams, but without the construction of reservoirs ; and that one third part of the irrigable lands of the Salt Lake basin is now under cultivation. An investigation was also made of the climate of the dis- trict, as recorded in the rise and fall of Great Salt Lake. Until recently, no systematic record of its fluctuations has been kept ; but from inquiry among the settlers it appears that the water is now much higher than formerly. From 1847 to 1850 it was low; then for five years it rose at about the rate of one foot per annum, afterwards fell to its original level (in 1861-62), and then continued to rise until 1868, when it reached its present height ten feet above that first observed which, with slight fluctuations, it has maintained ever since. Since the area of the lake is much greater with this increased altitude, and the loss by evaporation corre- spondingly increased, the inflowing water must be one tenth 21 G ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. part greater than formerly. Should it fall to its former level, it is plain that the possibilities of irrigation would be dimin- ished. It further appears by the studies of this geologist that the system of upward and downward movements by which the mountain ranges of the valleys of Utah and Nevada were produced have continued down to the present time. Evi- dences of recent movements have been discovered on the lines of ancient faults. The old shore -lines of Great Salt Lake, indicated by bench-marks upon the surrounding moun- tains, are no longer level, but have been elevated or depress- ed with the displacement of the mountain masses. Differences of nearly one hundred feet are found in the immediate vicin- ity of the lake, where the ancient shore-lines lie a thousand feet above their present level ; but the barometer indicates that the discrepancy is greater at more remote points. The geological party under Captain Dutton explored the plateaux drained by the Sevier River and its tributaries in Southern Utah, making a special study of the distribution of the eruptive rocks, and the methods and results of atmos- pheric degradation. Particular attention w r as also given by all parties to the extent of the forests, and the fact elicited that the area where standing timber is actuallv found is very much smaller than the areas where the conditions are such that timber should be growing spontaneously that is, the timber area is but a small fraction of the timber re- gion. Since the destruction of forests by fire greatly ex- ceeds their removal for economic purposes, the best method of preventing these fires is an important problem. In addition to these various labors, the survey has been collecting with great care and pains most valuable ethno- graphic material, particular attention being paid to vital statistics, the discovery of linguistic affinities, the progress made by the Indians towards civilization, and the causes and remedies for the inevitable conflict that arises from the spread of civilization over a region previously inhabited by savages. It is believed that the publications of the survey in this direction will have a peculiar value. Passing now to the geographical survey west of the one hundredth meridian, carried on by the corps of engineers un- der the immediate charge of Lieutenant Wheeler, we find that GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 217 the expedition of 1877 entered the field early in May, with a force aggregating forty men, divided into three sections. Six main and four minor parties traversed and gathered map- material in portions of Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, California, and Oregon. A special feature of the expedition has been the elabora- tion of the over- and under-ground survey of the Washoe mining region, containing the well-known Comstock lode. The contour of the entire district has been completed, and will be delineated on a scale of one inch to five hundred feet; while the profiles at distances of one hundred feet, showing the position of vein-matter, ore-bearing bodies, and adjacent country rock, have been well advanced. The position and extent of the drifts have been determined at most levels, and an extended longitudinal section of the entire vein is nearly completed. In this labor the mining superintendents and local engineers have greatly assisted Mr. J. A. Church, M.E., in charge of the work, by contributions from their store of detailed maps, which show the underground openings of all the prominent mines. This special survey, when terminated, will furnish a complete analysis of all branches of silver-min- ing as conducted at this peculiarly interesting mining centre, typical of its kind, and will supplement the admirable work in this same district made a few years ago by Mr. Clarence Kino-. Data were also gathered for constructing a detailed topo- graphical map of the Lake Tahoe region, in the Sierra Neva- da, on a scale of an inch to a mile. The other field parties were engaged in surveys necessary for obtaining material for a topographical map, on a scale of one inch to eight miles, of the entire western mountain interior. The area covered by the examinations of the geologist, Mr. A. K. Conkling, extended in the Sierra Nevada from San An- dreas and Placerville on the west, to the Como Mountains on the east. This region was found to be composed of igne- ous and metamorphic rocks, to the almost complete exclu- sion of sedimentary rocks. The most common forms are diorite, basalt, hornblende, porphyry, feldspathic porphyry, and volcanic breccia. Many Tertiary Unionida?, and also bird-tracks, were found at the quarry near Carson. Signs of glacial phenomena were noticed in many localities, be- lt 218 ANNUAL KECOKD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. sides evidences of several distinct glacier systems. No very high peaks occur in this region, the loftiest being only about 11,500 feet. There are many canons of great depth that of the middle fork of American River measuring 3000 feet. Upon the western slope of the Sierras there is much mineral wealth, and the greater portion of this ore-bearing belt is referred by Air. Conkling to the Archean period. Some valu- able deposits also occur along the eastern slope. During this as in previous years, zoological work has been prosecuted to the fullest extent practicable. Air. II. W. Hen- shaw was attached as naturalist to the party whose area of survey extended from Carson, New, northward along the eastern slope of the Sierras, into the northern portion of Or- egon. This region is exceptional in the number of large and small lakes found within its limits, affording an opportunity for studying the habits of western water-birds; and a large series of skins and e^s was gathered. The avifauna of this portion of the eastern slope was found to correspond very closely with that of the region southward. Various collections were also made in several branches of natural history the fishes, grasshoppers, and butterflies receiving special attention. The accumulation of data and material in the various branches of the survey during this year is in excess of the amounts obtained in any one of the former years. An area of about 30,000 square miles was surveyed, admitting of representation, says Lieutenant Wheeler, upon a scale of one inch to two miles. Three base-lines were measured ; the number of main and secondary triangulation stations oc- cupied, and points established latitudinally by cross-sights and the three-point method, was approximately 4000. The altitude of a large number of stations on mountain - peaks and at other prominent points was determined barometrical- ly. More than 12,000 miles were meandered along roads and streams. Extended observations were made to ascertain close- ly the amount of arable, grazing, timber, mineral, and arid areas surveyed ; and these examinations will hereafter form one of the adjuncts of the topographical survey proper. The parties disbanded at Ogden, Utah ; Carson, Nev. ; Fort Gar- land, Col., and Fort Union, N. Mex., between November 25 and December 10, at the close of an extended field GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 219 season of from five and a half to six months' continuous labor. A few draughtsmen at the Washington office have been constantly employed in completing* the final maps; and a temporary field-office has been established at Ogden, Utah, where preliminary reductions will be made ; and from this point parties organizing can start in the early spring. Of the total area west of the one hundredth meridian maps are in progress, covering approximately 350,000 square miles, or about one fourth of the entire region. In all the divisions of the Department of War we find a system of reports based on the fiscal, and not on the calen- dar year; and as our information, apart from Lieutenant Wheeler's survey, is mainly dependent upon reports pre- pared to cover the year's work from July, 1876, to July, 1877, our account of other work by the Engineers must to some degree correspond to the same period. In the military department of Dakota, some attention has been given by the chief- engineer to topographical work in the field, and the collection of geographical and geological information: this was particularly the case in the expedition against the hostile Sioux in the summer of 1876. This ex- pedition moved westward from Fort Abraham Lincoln, on the Missouri, to the Yellowstone and Big Horn rivers; and, returning, went to the relief of Major Reno after the discom- fiture of General Custer. In the department of the Platte, reconnoissances have been made following half a dozen routes through unoccupied or partially occupied country, principally centring upon Fort Fetterman, Wy., on the north fork of the Platte, and in all ao-oreo-atino* five hundred to six hundred miles. The lono-i- tilde of Fort Fetterman was determined by telegraphic time- signals exchanged with Detroit : and meteorological obser- vations have been taken during several months at Forts Fet- terman and Laramie. From the military department of Missouri a survey was undertaken of the sources of the Red River of Texas. The route of the party lay from Fort Elliott, in Northern Texas, directly across the numerous forks of the upper waters of Red River and back again. A stadia-line was run the whole distance the meridian determined, when practicable, at each 220 ANNUAL RECOBD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. camp by .1 portable transit; and from the line so established the azimuth of the course was taken by the theodolite and preserved by back-sights on the march. Sketches, geolog- ical notes, and