The Astronomical Observatory.

The forty - ninth annual report of the director of the Harvard Astronomical Observatory for eleven months ending September 30, 1894, has just been published. The most important events of the year have been the practical trial of the Bruce telescope and the successful operation for several months of the Boyden meteorological station on the summit of the Misti, at a height of 19,200 feet. Unfortunately, early in September the shelter containing the instruments was found to have been broken into and a number of the instruments carried off. Apparently the robbery was committed by two Indians. The property stolen would of course be of no use to the thieves and its intrinsic value would be a small part of the actual loss. The work at this station was conducted with great labor, a mule path had been built to the summit and the entire expenditure had been large. It will be a serious loss to science if it proves impossible to maintain the station.

Attention is again drawn in the report to the importance of Harvard's availing herself of the admirable atmospheric conditions at Arequipa. A telescope of the largest size would not only have most favorable opportunities for work, but a field unexplored with such an instrument in the southern sky. Much could be done with a smaller instrument, and at a moderate expense.

The library of the Observatory has been increased since the time of the last report by the addition of 218 volumes and 529 pamphlets. The total numbers of volumes and pamphlets on October 1, 1894, were 7710 and 9989 respectively. As the station at Arequipa, Peru, will be maintained permanently, it is desirable, owing to its remoteness, that it should have a library of its own. Copies of astronomical and meteorological works sent there direct or through the Observatory, will be gratefully received and will prove of much value.

Since the time of the last report a line of horse cars has been established on Concord Avenue, which forms the southern boundary of the grounds of the Observatory. The passage of these cars has no material effect upon the observations made here, but it is feared that the introduction of electric cars, which has been proposed, would be more detrimental.

The electric lights, which seriously interfere with the observation of faint objects, prove an advantage in one way. They render visible faint clouds, which are carefully looked for every few minutes when the meridian photometer is in use. As the lights are below the clouds instead of above them, the latter become conspicuous even when too faint to be seen in the moonlight.