For gun-cotton, on which he has done so much work himself, he said: "So far as smokelessness is concerned, no material can surpass gun-cotton." Explosives for shells, the advances made in the manufacture of high explosives, and their use in torpedoes, were each considered in turn, and then he discussed mine explosions and safety lamps, on which topic he is perhaps the best authority in England. He referred to the improved explosives and, in blasting, to the able and safe portable electric lamps used in mines, and the general abandonment of the unprotected Davy and similar safety lamps. Explosions in ships and mills, and the investigations of their causes with means for their prevention formed the final part of this branch of his address. The development of the petroleum industry in the United States, from the production of 5,000 barrels in 1859 to that of 31,000,000 in 1882, was described. Other petroleum fields were mentioned, and during 1889, he said, "the imports of kerosene into London and the chief ports of the United Kingdom amounted to 1,116,205 barrels of American oil and 771,227 barrels of Russian oil. From petroleum, he passed to the consideration of natural gas and water gas, their application, development, and uses. His closing remarks were on the advantages of technical education and the value of natural history and natural science museums, illustrating the latter by a description of the Imperial Institute, which is to contain the natural science collections made as an imperial memorial of the Queen's Jubilee. Addresses of the Presidents of Sections. A. Mathematics and Physics.-Dr. J. W. L. Glaisher, in his address, confined himself to a few general considerations relating to pure mathematics, by which expression he meant "the abstract sciences that did not rest upon experiment in the ordinary sense of the term, their fundamental principles being derived from observations so simple as to be more or less axiomatic. To that class belonged the theories of magnitude and position, the former including all that relating to quantity, whether discrete or continuous, and the latter including all branches of geometry. The science of continuous magnitude was alone a vast region, containing many beautiful and extensive mathematical theories. Among the more important might be mentioned the theories of double and of multiple periodicity, the treatment of functions of complex variables, the transformation of algebraical expressions (modern algebra), and the higher treatment of algebraical and differential equations as distinguished from their mere solution. It was that kind of scientific exploration which fascinated and rewarded the pure mathematician, and upon which his best work was spent." He made a strong plea for the study of pure mathematics, closing with the hope that the apathy of so many years might lead to a splendid awakening in this country, and that our past neglect of this most beautiful theory might be atoned for in the future by special devotion and appreciation." A paper on the "Spectra of the Metals" was read by Prof. Henry A. Rowland, and A. L. Roch, of Boston, gave a description of an observatory recently erected on Mont Blanc. B. Chemistry. The subject of Prof. Thomas E. Thorpe's address was Priestley. He told of his early life and how, living near a brewery, he became interested in the gases produced during fermentation, from which he made researches leading to "the extraordinary succession of discoveries which earned for him the title of the Father of Pneumatic Chemistry." A recent book on "La Revolution Chimique," by Berthelot, perpetual secretary of the French Academy, claims for Lavoisier the discovery of oxygen, and much of Prof. Thorpe's address was taken up in showing the priority of Priestley's discovery and establishing from Lavoisier's own writings the fact that he admitted Priestley's priority. His conclusion was: "It would be heaping Össa on Pelion to show what Lavoisier's contemporaries thought of his claims. It would be more pleasant to dwell upon his virtues than on his faults; but M. Berthelot's book required a public answer, and in no place could that answer be more fittingly given than in Leeds, which saw the dawn of that work out of which these grand discoveries arose." The report of the committee on the present method of teaching chemistry was presented before the section and produced considerable discussion, in which Sir Henry E. Roscoe took part and said: "The fact that the sum of £700,000 was being appropriated to technical education showed that the legislature was now fully alive to the importance of the spread of technical and scientific education. C. Geology. The president of this section was Prof. A. H. Green, who spoke of the value of geology as an educational instrument. He deplored the fact that too often scientists were prone to assume conclusions from geological evidence when the facts were capable of more than one interpretation. "Inferences based on such incomplete and shaky foundations must necessarily be very largely hypothetical. That such was the character of a great portion of the conclusions of geology, all were ready enough to allow." As to the study of geology: "One way to make a geologist is not to teach him any geology at all to begin with-to send him first into a laboratory, to give him a good long spell at observations and measurements requiring the minutest accuracy, and so saturate his mind with the conception of exactness that nothing shall ever afterward drive it out." The best way to teach geology is by practical experience both in the field and in the laboratory. A scheme was outlined in which during the first year the lectures and book work should deal with physical geology and include laboratory work on minerals with blow-piping. During a second year stratigraphical geology should be taught with practical work in paleontology. A third year should be given to widening and strengthening the knowledge already acquired, while the practical work should extend to the field, where mapping should be taught. Prof. Othniel C. Marsh, of Yale University, gave an account of his discoveries of the gigantic Ceratopsida or horned dinosaurs. D. Biology. The development of animals formed the theme of the remarks upon which Dr. A. Milnes Marshall addressed the section. His own speciaity of embryology was fully discussed. He referred to the imperfection of the geological records, and further said: Natural selection, though consistent with and capable of leading to steady upward progress and improve ment, by no means involved such progress as a necessary consequence." Of degeneration, recognized by Darwin as a possibility, he said that "both Dohm and Lankester suggested that degeneration occurred much more widely than was generally recognized." Embryology was a means, not an end. Their ambition was to explain in what manner and by what stages the present structure of animals had been attained. Toward this embryology afforded most potent aid, and it must not be forgotten that it was through comparative anatomy that its power to help was derived. Anatomy defined the goal, told us of the things that had to be explained; embryology of fered us a means, otherwise denied to us, of attaining it. Comparative anatomy and palæontology must be studied most earnestly by those who would turn the lessons of embryology to best ac count. E. Geography.-Sir R. Lambert Playfair, who spent a quarter of a century as British consulgeneral to Algiers, treated the members of his section to a historico-geographical tour round the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, sketching the succession of events in those regions from the founding of Tyre to the French annexation of Tunis. His address was perhaps the most popular of all, and among his statements were many facts of interest. He said: "The zone of desert called the Sahara was popularly supposed to have been a vast inland sea in very recent times, but the theory was supported by geological facts wrongly interpreted.' The salt does not prove the former existence of an inland sea; it is produced by the concentration of the natural salts washed down by winter rains with which the unevaporated residue of water becomes saturated. The boring of artesian wells seemed to him "to be the true solution of an inland sea." The flooding of the Sahara from the Gulf of Gabes "was as visionary and impracticable as that for introducing the waters of the Atlantic from the west coast of Africa." How civilization had grown along the African coasts until the destruction of Carthage, which he regarded as "a heavy blow to Mediterranean commerce because Rome absorbed wealth and did not produce," and then only revived under the Moors and culminated in the ninth century, and the present revival of advanced civilization under the French rule," were all fully described. Once more this historic sea has become the highway of nations; the persistent energy and genius of two men have revolutionized navigation, opening new and boundless fields for commerce, and it is hardly too much to say that if the Mediterranean is to be restored to its old position of importance, if the struggle for Africa is to result in its regeneration as happened in the New World, if the dark places still remaining in the farther East are to be civilized, it will be in a great measure due to Waghorn and De Lesseps, who developed the overland route and created the Suez Canal. F. Economic Science and Statistics.-"Some Aspects of Competition" was the subject of the address by Prof. Alfred Marshall. Concerning protection, he said that after his visit to America in 1875 he decided that "if an American, I should unhesitatingly vote for free trade. . . . Since that time the advantages of protection in America have steadily diminished and those of free trade VOL. XXX-3 A have increased." For England, he said, "a protective policy would, I believe, be an unmixed and grievous policy." The labor question and kindred topics were fully treated. His last words are: " Every year economic problems become more complex; every year the necessity of studying them from many different points of view and in many different connections becomes more urgent. Every year it is more manifest that we need to have more knowledge and to get it soon in order to escape, on the one hand, from the cruelty and waste of irresponsible competition and the licentious use of wealth and, on the other, from the tyranny and the spiritual death of an iron-bound socialism." Among the papers read was one on "Recent Forms of Industrial Combination," by Prof. Arthur T. Hadley, of Yale University. Also "The Ideal Aim of the Economist," by Mrs. Victoria C. Woodhull Martin. G. Mechanical Science.-Capt. Noble, of the British navy, presided over this section, and his address described the advances made in naval construction since the Crimean War. He said: "Were two vessels of the old type to meet, one armed with her ancient armament, the other with modern guns, it would be vain for the former to attempt to close. She would be annihilated long before she approached sufficiently near to her antagonist to permit her guns to be used with any effect." He then entered into a minute comparison of the strength of the "Victoria" and the "Trafalgar," also comparing the former with the "Victory.' One item indicates the story; the heaviest shot used in the "Victory" was 68 pounds, while in the "Victoria shot weighing 1,800 pounds are used. "Seamanship will, I fear, in future naval battles no longer play the conspicuous part it has done in times past. The weather gauge will belong not to the ablest sailor, but to the best engineer and fastest vessel." H. Anthropology.-Owing to the absence of the president, John Evans, his address was read by Prof. F. W. Rudler. It treated largely of the present condition of the science and of its development during the past twenty years. Of the antiquity of the human race, "the evidence of the existence of the human race has been satisfactorily established for Quarternary times." Data concerning earlier man were reviewed, but the speaker said “that the present verdict as to Tertiary man must be in the form of not proven."" As to the origin and home of the Aryan man, different views prevailed, and any settlement of the question was impossible, although by means of linguistic palæontology and prehistoric archæology advances were being made that in time might solve the problem. He spoke of the "vastly improved means of comparison and study that the ethnologists of to-day possess as compared with those of twenty years ago," and referred to the " ethnological galleries of the British Museum," which he contended would bear comparison with any of those in the other European capitals." After discussing the subject of color blindness and the proposed anthropological survey of the tribes and castes in India, the address was brought to a close with some remarks on the dwarfs found by Stanley in Africa. An elaborate paper giving many details respecting the customs of the tribes of British Columbia 66 was read by Horatio Hale, who is an American by birth and ancestry, although a resident of Canada. 66 66 Popular Features. - Two general lectures were delivered before the association-one on Mimicry," by E. B. Poulton, and the other on "Quartz Fibers and their Applications," by C. Vernon Boys. Also Prof. John Perry gave a lecture on Spinning Tops." Visits were paid during the week to places of interest, including York, Pontefract, Sheffield, Wakefield, Walton, Bridlington, Conisburgh Castle, Farnley Hall, Harewood, and the Ruskin Museum and Meersbrook Park. After the meeting ten excursions were provided for the pleasure of the members. Of these, that to Ripon and Fountains Abbey, and that to Castle Howard and Kirkham Abbey were the most popular. A geological party visited Ingleborough, where they were shown the Great Craven Fault, Malham Cave, and Goodale Scar. The remaining excursions were to Beverley and Selby Abbey; Skipton, Bolton, and Ilkley; Knaresborough, Harrowgate, and Plumpton; Ingleborough; Coxwold Byland, Rievaulx Abbeys, and Helmsley; and York. Next Meeting. At a gathering of the General Committee it was decided to hold the meeting in 1891 at Cardiff, beginning on Aug. 19, and the meeting in 1892 will be held in Edinburgh. Dr. William Huggins, whose scientific reputation has been attained by his studies of the application of the spectroscope to astronomy, was chosen president, and Lord Windsor (Lord-Lieutenant of Glamorganshire), the Marquis of Bute, Lord Rayleigh, Lord Tredegar, Lord Aberdare, Sir J. T. D. Llewellyn, Prof. Michael Forster, and Dr. A. Geikie were elected vice-presidents. The other officers chosen were Prof. A. W. Williamson, general treasurer; Sir Douglas Galton and Vernon Harcourt, general secretaries; and George Griffith, assistant general secretary. The attendance at the meeting was good, though not equal to that of last year. Some 1,775 tickets were sold, and the receipts were £1,776, out of which £1,335 was distributed in 34 grants to scientific men for the purpose of aiding them in various investigations. Australasian. This association came into existence in 1888, and held its first meeting at Sydney in August of that year. According to its rules, it must meet in turn in the capital cities of the various colonies, and the second meeting was held in Melbourne, beginning on Jan. 7, and was continued during the following week. It is the rule to choose the vice-presidents and secretaries from the colony in which the association meets, while the president is selected from elsewhere. The officers of the meeting were: President, Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller. General Secretary, Archibald Liversidge; President of Section A, Astronomy, Mathematics, Physics, and Mechanics, Prof. Threlfall; President of Section B, Chemistry and Mineralogy, Prof. E. H. Rennie; President of Section C, Geology and Paleontology, Prof. Hutton; President of Section D, Biology, Prof. A. P. Thomas; President of Section E, Geography, W. H. Miskin; President of Section F, Economic and Social Science and Statistics, R. M. Johnston; President of Section G, Anthropology, J. Forrest; President of Section H, Sanitary 66 66 Science and Hygiene, Dr. J. Ashburton Thomas; President of Section I, Literature and Fine Arts, J. W. Agnew; President of Section J, Architecture and Engineering, Prof. Warren. The buildings and grounds of the University of Melbourne were placed at the disposal of the association, and the section meetings were held in its halls. An official journal of the proceedings was published each morning, and every member was supplied with a copy of a special hand-book compiled for the occasion and containing the following chapters: "History of Victoria," "Geology of Melbourne," " Aborigines of Victoria," "Zoology, Vertebrata," "Zoology, Invertebrata," Entomology," Botany," "Commerce and Manufactures," and Climate." The Government of Victoria voted £1,000 toward defraying the expenses of the meeting, and the enter tainments provided by the hospitality of citizens were numerous and on a most sumptuous scale." Short afternoon excursions to places of scientific interest were arranged for, and at the close of the meeting longer trips under special leaders were made to the Australian Alps, the Black Spur and Marysville, Gippsland Lakes, Ferntree Gully, Ballarat, and Sandhurst. The roll of membership includes 1,060 names, and 600 members were in attendance. Upward of 150 papers were read before the sections. 66 Presidential Addresses.-Baron von Mueller, who has made a reputation for himself as an explorer in the early history of the colonies and since has achieved special distinction as an authority on the botany of Australia, addressed the association on the past and future of Australasian science. Of the other addresses, that before Section A by Prof. Threlfall was on the present state of electrical knowledge. Prof. Rennie spoke before Section B of the work that had been done in the investigations of the chemistry of native plants and minerals, and made suggestions as to how this work might in future be encouraged and facilitated. The address before Section C by Prof. Hutton was on the oscillations of the earth's surface. Prof. Thomas discussed before Section D the problems awaiting the biologist in Australia and the local desiderata in scientific education. The explorations in Australia and New Guinea and the importance to the colonies of Antarctic exploration as well as the geographical work now in progress in other parts of the colony formed the subject of the address before Section E by W. H. Miskins. The current social and economic problems of the colonies were discussed by R. M. Johnston before Section F. J. Forrest's address before Section G dealt with the present condition of the Australian aboriginal races. Dr. Thomas discussed the sanitary organizations of Victoria and New South Wales and the modes of obtaining and interpreting health statistics before Section I. A review of the literature and art of Australia was the subject of Dr. Agnew's address before Section I. Prof. Warren spoke before Section J on the education of engineers with special reference to the local conditions and requirements. Committee Reports.-The most important of the committee reports was that on the census of the known minerals of the Australian colonies. The portions dealing with New South Wales, Queensland, and New Zealand have been finished, while the parts relating to Victoria and Tasmania are in process of completion. A project for establishing and endowing a central biological station at Port Jackson was started. A report was presented on the Polynesian races and Polynesian bibliography. New special committees were appointed to investigate and report on the subjects of wheat-rust, the manner of laying out towns, the preparation of geological maps, the arrangement of museums, the fertilization of figs, Australian tides, and the present state of knowledge of Australasian paleontology; also a committee was appointed to formulate a scheme for obtaining practical assistance from the various colonial governments in the collection of material for research-chemical, geological, or biological. The next meeting will be held in Christ Church, New Zealand, probably in January, 1891, and Sir James Hector has been elected president and Prof. Hutton, of Canterbury College, secretary. It was also decided to hold the fourth in Hobart, Tasmania, so that the association will not again meet on the mainland for three years. French. The nineteenth annual session of the French Association for the Advancement of Science was held in Limoges during Aug. 7 to 14. The opening address by the president, Alfred Cornu, who is professor at the Polytechnic School in Paris and chief engineer of the Mining Bureau, was on "The Part Played by Physics in the Recent Progress of Science." The association was welcomed by the Mayor of Limoges, after which the general secretary gave a résumé of the work done by science in France during 1889-'90, and then the treasurer made his annual report. President's Address.-Beginning with chemistry, Prof. Cornu pointed out that the introduction and use of the chemical balance by Richter, Wenzel, Dalton, and Lavoisier led to the substitution of the laws of multiple and equivalent proportions and the indestructibility of matter for the hypotheses held by the alchemists. After referring to other instruments, he said: The introduction of the spectroscope into the chemical laboratory for purposes of analysis by Bunsen and Kirchhoff marks an important epoch in the history of chemistry. This instrument has been entirely created by the labors of physicists, the prism of Newton, the telescope of Fraunhofer, and the collimator of Babinet marking stages in its evolution. Bunsen and Kirchhoff demonstrated the power of their method of analysis by the discovery of rubidium and casium; in fact, it is only necessary to observe an unknown line in the spectrum of a substance to estab lish the existence of a new element. Continuing his discussion of other apparatus by means of which great advances have been made in the science of physics, he concluded that portion of his address with: "It appears, therefore, that each time chemistry has borrowed from physics some new method it has entered into a prolific field of investigation, conceptions have been extended and given a more precise meaning, and chemical knowledge advanced in a manner proportional to the power of the adopted methods." Then, turning to the other sciences, he said: The other natural sciences have benefited in the same way. Up to the seventeenth century astrono mers had no means of assisting their vision, and therefore they could only make observations of the movements of the heavenly bodies. In spite, however, of the simplicity of the means of observation, Brahe, and Kepler contained a considerable amount the work of Hipparchus, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Tycho of information with respect to celestial motions, but nothing was known of the constitution of the bodies observed. With the refracting telescope of Galileo and Newton's reflector, astronomy underwent a transformation; the sun was found to have spots and faculæ; the plains, mountains, and craters of the moon phases in the same manner as our satellite; Jupiter's were observed; Venus was shown to go through belts and satellites were seen; and the beauty of Saturn and his rings revealed. With reference to the theory of physics, he said: From an Great advancements have also been made on the Ohm, Gauss, Helmholtz, Thomson, and Maxwell have purely theoretical side. Ampère, Poisson, Fourier, done much to connect electricity with mechanical laws. Again, electro-magnetic and optical phenomena obey the same elementary laws and appear to be two manifestations of the movement of the same medium the ether; thus optical problems may be settled with the equations of electro-magnetism. have already been obtained; the velocity of light, experimental point of view, results full of promise found by optical methods, has also been determined by measures purely electrical, and recently M. Hertz has accomplished experimentally the identification of electrical discharges with light waves. . . . All these facts show that as our knowledge increases the distinctions between different branches of science vanish; the limits which have been traced between them of natural laws; but the efforts of successive generaare shown to be artificial, and only testify to ignorance tions have not been in vain, and we look forward to the time when these limits will be effaced and all the branches of natural philosophy be united in one harmonious whole. The Treasurer's Report.-M. Émile Galant reported the total receipts to be $18,424.60, and the expenditures $14,559.20, while the capital has reached the sum of $167,984.76. Grants amounting to $2,580 were made to scientists engaged in prosecuting original investigations. The treasurer congratulated the association on the happy condition of its finances. Excursions.-Two days of the meeting were especially set apart for excursions. The vicinity of Limoges was thoroughly explored, and the industrial institutions and technical works visited. Besides these, an interesting feature of the meeting was the unveiling of a statue of the great physicist Gay-Lussac, which took place on Aug. 11. Jules Roche, the Minister of Commerce, presided on that occasion, and an address reviewing the life and work of Gay-Lussac was delivered by P. P. Dehérain, one of the vicepresidents of the association. ASTRONOMY, PROGRESS OF, IN 1890. Since the close of the astronomical record for 1889, the labors of astronomers have been attended with more than the usual satisfactory results. Numerous discoveries, some of them highly important, have been made, a synopsis of which will be found in the following pages, covering the year ending with October, 1890. United States Eclipse Expedition.—To observe the total eclipse of the sun on Dec. 22, 1889, the Government equipped an expedition on a scale of magnitude vouchsafed to no previous one undertaken by any Government. But, un fortunately, as has often happened, clouds at the moment of totality thwarted all efforts to increase our scanty knowledge of the sun's immediate surroundings. Secretary Tracy, of the Navy Department, placed the entire management of the affair in the hands of Prof. David P. Todd, Director of the observatory of Amherst College, and several astronomers and scientists made up the personnel of the expedition. The steamship Pensacola " was detailed to transport the party and instruments to the west coast of Africa, 75 miles south of St. Paul de Loanda. The station selected was on a bald bluff 150 yards from the beach. The novel and ingenious manner in which the instruments were mounted and automatically manipulated reflects great credit upon the astronomer in charge. An equatorial stand on a large scale (English style of mounting) was constructed on which were mounted nearly all the instruments. A split polar axis eleven feet long was made of six-inch wrought-iron tubes placed two feet apart and firmly fixed on cast-iron supports. On the polar axis were arranged two mirrors and twenty-three telescopes including a finder or directing telescope of 7 inches aperture with a high-power eye-piece for the correct pointing of all. As the latitude of the station was but 10° south of the equator, the polar axis was nearly horizontal, which greatly enhanced the value of this unique system of mounting. This axis and the instruments were moved by a substantial driving-clock. These plans covered a wide range of work, but were frustrated by a single cloud. Just before the first and after the fourth contacts eighty photographs were taken for the purpose of testing the working of the numerous automatic devices, and between the first and second contacts thirty pictures of the partially eclipsed sun were secured. Lick Observatory Expedition. Through the liberality of Col. Charles F. Crocker, Prof. Edward S. Holden, Director of Lick Observatory, was enabled to send Profs. Burnham and Schaeberle, of his staff, to Cayenne, French Guiana, South America, for the observation of the same eclipse. These gentlemen were there joined by Charles Rockwell, of Tarrytown, N. Y., he using a reflector while they used two refractors. Clouds with rain prevented the first contact from being seen; but when the sun was about two thirds covered by the advancing moon, the sky suddenly cleared. Each of the three observers secured four negatives during the total phase. Of these plates Prof. Holden says, They are successful and of sufficient number." 66 English Eclipse Party.-This expedition located on Isle de Salut, 22 miles northward from Cayenne, but its success was imbittered by the death of Father Perry, its chief, who fell a victim to a prevailing disease, dying the day after the eclipse. The photographs made by him were carried to England, and there developed and found to possess great value regarding the sun's corona. Capt. Abney, who manipulated them, says, "From a cursory examination I should say that the corona close to the limb of the sun is about 200 times brighter than the corona half a diameter away." Meteors. A remarkable meteor, from which issued a shower of stones, passed over the States of Iowa and Minnesota between five and six o'clock P. M., on May 2, 1890. The explosion occurred eleven miles north of Forest City, Iowa, and the fragments were scattered over the county of Winnebago. The largest piece weighed 104 pounds. A stone from this meteor, weighing 66 pounds, fell in the same county, on a farm owned by John Goddovei, but was found by Peter Hugland, who sold it to Prof. Newton H. Winchell The owner of the farm sued for possession of the meteorite, and the lower court decided in the farmer's favor, but the case has been appealed. It is of the stone variety, and analysis shows it to contain silica, iron, aluminum, lime, and magnesium. Another stone-fall took place in Washington County, Kansas, on June 25, 1890, at 12.45 P. M. This also was of the stone class. It fell in Farmington Township, on a farm owned by Lydia V. Kelsey, but rented by J. H. January, who, at the time, as he says, was under a wagon making repairs, but came out at the sound of the approaching meteor; he had hardly gained an erect position when the stone struck the ground a few rods distant, throwing up the earth to a height of 40 feet, and outward a distance of about 25 feet, and imbedded itself to a depth of 4 feet, from which, three hours later, he unearthed it, and, though so short a time had elapsed since its fall, it was cold. A lady, also. who was near, testified to having seen it strike the ground. Either from unequal expansion by heat or by concussion with the hard substratum that arrested its motion, the stone was found to be cracked. It was not a fragment, as is often found, but an entire meteor. Its weight was 148 pounds. If, as is alleged, the noise of its flight was heard before the stone struck the earth, we are confronted with the marvelous statement that a stone may fall from space and yet reach the earth with a velocity less than that of sound, which is an impossibility. From this case also a curious legal question has arisen as to the ownership of aerolites falling on land owned by one person and leased by another, and the decision of the courts will be watched with interest. The origin of the stones falling from the sky, though much discussed, is still regarded as one of the profound mysteries with which astronomy abounds. That there is no connection between aerolitic stones and shooting stars is generally agreed. During the extraordinary star showers of 1799, 1833, 1866, 1867, and 1872, not a stone was known to reach the earth. Shooting stars appear to be of cometary origin, while aërolites seem more likely to be planetoidal. The scientific and secular journals, during the year, have announced the usual number of bright meteors and bolides, but they do not possess sufficient interest to warrant their insertion here. Double Stars. In the "Astronomische Nachrichten," Nos. 2,929, 2,930, for 1889, Mr. Burnham, of Lick Observatory, published a list of 54 double stars discovered with the 36-inch refractor, together with measurements of nearly 50 previously catalogued. Several are new components of well-known pairs (thus making them triple), and they are generally distinguished for their closeness or excessive faintness. In No. 2.956 of the same journal he has given a table of 61 new pairs and measures of 77 others. The grand total of his 16 published lists is 1,154. They were discovered with telescopes of 6, 12, |