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GENERAL SUMMARY

OF

SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS
DURING THE YEAR 1875.

MATHEMATICS AND THEORETICAL MECHANICS. ON account of the importance of the cultivation of pure Mathematics among American scientists, we note first that the editor of The Analyst, Professor J. E. Hendricks, of Des Moines, Iowa, states that a number of his subscribers have concluded to discontinue their subscriptions, since the subjects discussed in that mathematical journal are too difficult, and some of his friends advise him to make the contents of The Analyst somewhat more elementary, and to give small premiums to clubs, prizes, etc. He states, however, that the publication was inaugurated, not with the hope of being able to make it popular at present, but for the purpose of affording a medium for the interchange of thought by students and teachers of mathematics. Hence he does not anticipate that any person will subscribe who will not derive from it knowledge to the extent of its cost; and that The Analyst will continue to be a medium for interchange of thought, but will not become to any great extent purely an educational journal. The great good that will result to the progress of mathematical studies in this country by the presence among us of a good mathematical journal is sufficient to justify Mr. Hendricks in his self-imposed labors and expensive undertaking.

American mathematicians have contributed two valuable papers to the theory of the movements of systems of planets, etc. Of these, the first, by Newcomb, on the "General Integrals of Planetary Motion," was published by the Smithsonian Institution; the second, by Hill, on the "Development of the Perturbative Function," is to be found in The Analyst.

The theoretical researches of Le Verrier into the movements

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and general perturbations of the eight principal planets having at length been brought to a conclusion, he has presented an account of them to the French Academy of Sciences, and announces that his tables of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are rapidly approaching completion.

The somewhat startling announcement recently made by Mr. Stockwell, of Ohio, that he had discovered important errors in the mathematical portions of the accepted lunar theories, and which he has undertaken to correct, has, we believe, been negatived by the reply of Schjellerup, of Copenhagen, according to whom the error is apparently on Mr. Stockwell's own side.

Veltmann applies to the general law of movements of three or more bodies the calculus of determinants, and in this way arrives at some interesting formulæ.

ASTRONOMY.

Observers, Observatories, and Instruments.-The publication of the excellent series of astronomical engravings has been concluded by the Observatory at Harvard College. The text is also prepared, and will probably be published immediately on the appointment of Professor Winlock's suc

cessor.

The observatory erected on the grounds of Columbia College, in New York, has been connected with the systems of telegraph lines throughout the city, and will, it is hoped, soon be in a position to systematically furnish standard time to that city.

The great Cassegrainian reflector, of 26 inches' aperture, constructed by Dr. Henry Draper, has been properly mounted in a dome, with every convenience for use, at his father's country-seat at Hastings-on-the-Hudson; but its great powers have not, as yet, on account of bad weather, been fully demonstrated. For the sake of astronomy in America, it is to be hoped that he may be able to wrest from many business cares some time for the prosecution of astronomical physics. In connection with the observations of the transit of Venus, it should be mentioned that the American parties owe a great deal of their success in photographic matters to the friendly counsel of Dr. Draper, who very generously devoted two months' time to the proper outfit of the parties in

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this respect, and who has received in return, from the Transit of Venus Commission, a beautiful gold medal, as an acknowledgment of his gratuitous services.

The observatory erected several years ago by Professor Mayer in connection with Lehigh University, and now for some time unused, has been placed in charge of Mr. C. L. Doolittle.

The directorship of the observatory at Cincinnati, which has been vacant since 1872, has recently been filled by the election of Mr. Ormond Stone.

The hopes expressed in the Annual for 1874, as to the speedy realization of the great project of Mr. James Lick, of California, have been somewhat dampened by the occurrence of a legal controversy which seems an inevitable attendant of every great bequest for the advancement of learning. The original trustees having returned into Mr. Lick's hands the trust confided to them, he appears now, from what we can gather, to have personally interested himself in the execution of his own plan; and it is announced that he has made a formal offer to the trustees of Santa Clara County, in which he proposes to erect his observatory, on the summit of Mount Hamilton, provided the proper authorities will be at the expense of a well-graded carriageroad from the base to the summit.

The rage for large objectives continues as active as ever. It is said that the glass for making one of 30 inches in diameter is now held by Yale College.

The report of the National Observatory of the Argentine Confederation for the year ending November, 1874, has been received, and it appears therefrom that Dr. Gould, the director, has labored with an energy rarely equaled for the consummation of the great works undertaken by him.

For the new observatory at Quito, under the superintendence of Father Menten, a fine telescope has been constructed by Merz. It has a clear aperture of 9 Paris inches, and a focal length of 117 inches.

It is stated that Professor Gonzalez, director of the National Observatory at Bogota, has resigned his position in order to establish a new and private observatory, at an altitude of nine thousand feet, in latitude 41° north.

The new observatory at Oxford has received as its direc

tor the Rev. C. Pritchard, Savilian professor of astronomy at the university.

The observatory at Twickenham, belonging to Mr. Bishop, and for a long time occupied by Mr. Hind, as observer, is shortly to be dismantled, and its instruments presented to the Royal Observatory at Naples.

The astronomical school established at Montsouris, under the authority of the French Bureau of Longitudes, was opened on the 3d of October with six pupils. The period of study is six months.

The new meridian room, intended for the use of the French Bureau of Longitudes, was opened on the 2d of October.

A magnificent astronomical establishment is being erected. at Potsdam for the express purpose of studying the sun.

The French government has taken steps toward the establishment of a physical observatory in the neighborhood of Paris, under the direction of Janssen. The building will probably be located either at Versailles or Montelhuy.

Le Verrier proposes to furnish ordinary standard time by telegraphic communication to all the public clocks of Paris.

The observatory of the University of Moscow, Russia, has published the second volume of its annals, which contains valuable photographs of a series of sixteen drawings of the belts of Jupiter, and of the physical appearance of Coggia's comet. The Melbourne Observatory has published the first "Melbourne General Catalogue of Stars."

Mr. C. W. Pritchett has received an endowment of $30,000 for the observatory of the Pritchett Academy, at Glasgow, Missouri. The observatory possesses one of Alvan Clark's 12-inch equatorials.

The observatory of the Lehigh University, at Bethlehem, Pa., organized by Professor A. M. Mayer, has secured Mr. Doolittle as astronomer. Mr. Doolittle was formerly on the Northwestern Boundary Survey, and hopes to make good use of his present opportunities.

The observatory at Gettysburg, Pa., has been placed in charge of Professor P. H. Bickee."

Mr. Sayce has given some interesting items with reference to the early history of astronomy among the Chaldeans. According to him, astronomy was brought to this people by the Acadians, who, when they came westward from the mount

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