The Astronomical Expedition to Peru.

A little more than a year ago, the second expedition from Harvard was sent to make astronomical observations in South America. The first was under the direction of Mr. S. I. Bailey and was very successful. Prof. William H. Pickering was in charge of the second and, with a number of assistants, he left Cambridge in December, 1890. A site about three-miles northwest of Arequipa in Peru was selected and a station established. It is over 8000 feet above the sea level and is especially fortunate in the remarkable steadiness of the air and the clearness of the sky. The Bashe telescope was mounted and during the year, 1224 photographs have been taken. The thirteen-inch equatorial - which is the largest refracting telescope in the southern hemisphere - was also mounted and, although as yet no photographs have been taken with it, the expectation is that great results in that line, will eventually be attained. A stone residence has been built for the observers, at considerable expense. The expedition has been received very kindly by the people there and Mr. Mac Cord, superintendent of the Mollendo Railway, offered them the use of his home during the erection of the stone-house. Through the assistance of the American Minister of Bolivia, Mr. Anderson, an expedition of much archaeological interest, was made to Tiahuanuco and the sacred islands of the Incas on Lake Titicaca. A trip was also made to the summit of El Misti, a nearly extinct volcano, some nineteen thousand feet in height.