4. SOLAR ECLIPSE OF MAY, 1845. Micrometric Measurements during the Solar Eclipse of May 5th, 1845. Corrected for Refraction. Cambridge Observatory, Lat. 42° 22′ 49′′, Long. 4h 44m. 32". d. b. m. 8. True Diff. of Dec. May 5 17 00 43.0 14 51.8+48.4 15 40.2 Diff. of Dec. of the sun's north limb { and the south cusp. and the north cusp. 66 4 57.5 16 05.340.2 16 45,5 "NOTE. The sky was clear, but the sun's limb was very tremulous. The refraction corrections are somewhat uncertain, the sun being but one degree above the horizon at the commencement of the series. The observations were made by William C. Bond with the 46-inch equatorial telescope (aperture 22 inches), and Troughton's spiderline position micrometer. "The time of ending of the eclipse, expressed in mean solar time for the meridian of this Observatory, as observed by Hon. William Mitchell, with an achromatic telescope, by Tully, of 31-inch aperture and 45 inches focus, was 5d. 17h. 18m. 02.2*.. "As observed by W. C. Bond, with a refractor by Troughton and Simms, of 23-inch aperture and 46 inches focus, it was 5d. 17h. 18. 04.3. "As observed by George P. Bond, with a refractor by Lerebours, having a rock-crystal object-glass of 3 inches aperture and 4 feet focus, it was 5d. 17h. 18m. 04.2*. 5. SOLAR ECLIPSE OF APRIL, 1846. Micrometric Measurements during the Eclipse of April 24th, 1846. Corrected for Refraction and for the Sun's Motion in the Intervals of Transit. Cambridge Observatory, Lat. 42° 22′ 49′′, Long. 4h. 44m. 32". "The times of the beginning and ending of this eclipse were noticed by four observers. The beginning, d. h. m. 24 23 14 17.2 by W. C. Bond, with a 5-foot refractor. End, d h. m. 20.7 “G. P. Bond, with a 46-inch refractor. 26.8" R. T. Paine, with a reflector of 4-inch aperture. 35.2" Prof. Peirce, with a 20-inch Var. Transit. 25 01 52 23.0 by Prof. Peirce, with the same instrument as before." 14.6" W. C. Bond, 12.4" George P. Bond, 66 66 66 66 66 Professor Peirce also communicated, from Mr. William Cranch Bond, Director of the Cambridge Observatory, the following NOTES ON METEORS. "1845. August 10th. Watched for the 'meteoric shower' of this period; but no meteors whatever were seen. The moon shone quite brightly, while the sky was about half covered with cirro-stratus cloud. 66 August 11th. A brilliant meteor was seen from the Sears Tower, in broad daylight, at 6h 05m. Altitude, 25° 30′. Azimuth south, 75° east. It described an arc of about seven degrees in one second of time. The color was white, appearing to increase in brilliancy; the form irregular, the estimated diameter less than five minutes. The sky was nearly clear in the direction where the meteor was seen, the sun shining dimly at the time through cirrus cloud. The intensity of the light of this meteor was such as to render it a more conspicuous object than the moon at full would have been. The same meteor was probably seen in Essex, Connecticut, and in the vicinity of Cincinnati, Ohio; but the accounts are not sufficiently precise to enable us to determine its course and distance. “August 25th. A meteor was seen from the vicinity of the College buildings, at about eight o'clock. It appeared of one half the diameter of the moon. By a comparison of the different accounts, its altitude, when first seen, seems to have been about 45°, azimuth south 10° west, and it crossed the meridian in a path inclined fifty degrees to the horizon; its course being towards the southeast, through an arc of ten or twenty degrees. The colors were red and blue. This same body was also seen from New Haven, Connecticut; and, from a comparison of the New Haven and Cambridge apparent positions, it appears that the distance of the meteor, when first seen, was about one hundred and fifty miles from our station, and its height above the earth one hundred miles. It passed over Newport, Rhode Island, Taunton and Quincy, Massachusetts, descending to the earth near Boston Bay. Meteors of large size have been of frequent occurrence in different parts of the world during the months of August and September of this year. "1846. Telescopic meteors have frequently passed the field of view of the comet-seeker during this season, sometimes as many as five or six on a single night. From their comparative velocities, these would seem to be more distant than those visible to the naked eye. “July 20th. At 9h 55m a meteor was seen from the Observatory, in brightness equal to Venus; its course from 77 Cygni to near a Cassiopea; its color preceding was a dark red, inclining to purple; the following, a yellowish white. The position was well determined by two observers; but we have no other observations of it for comparison. "Several attempts have been made to ascertain the amount of parallax of the smaller shooting-stars, but the evenings selected for the purpose have proved unfavorable. In some instances, however, the results seem to indicate a closer proximity than has usually been assigned to these objects. 66 August 10th. Evening cloudy, with rain. August 11th. This evening, shooting stars were abundant, averaging about one in a minute, in a space occupying one quarter of the heavens. The head of Perseus was the principal radiating point. At 10h 10m a meteor, brighter than Venus, passed from a Cassiopeæ, through the square of Pegasus, to about 80 Pegasi. The colors were blue preceding, followed by red and white; it had a cometary tail of dense white light." Mr. Emerson, in behalf of a committee appointed at a former meeting to consider the subjects of "the relation between the Chinese language, and the languages of Northwestern Europe,” and “of Phonotypy and Phonography," remarked, that the committee were not prepared to offer any formal statement on the first-named topic, further than to recommend that Mr. S. P. Andrews, who had been present at nearly all the meetings of the committee, be invited to present his views in a memoir, to be laid before the Academy. Upon the subject of Phonotypy, Mr. Emerson made the following report. "Few subjects can present stronger claims to the attention of all persons interested in the advancement and perfection of the arts of writ ing and printing, than Phonotypy and Phonography.* Phonotypy has for its object a reform in the existing modes of representing language by printed types. Phonography has the higher object of bringing into use a mode of representing sounds by written characters, which shall be more scientific, more exact, more easily acquired, and four or five times more rapid, than any now in general use. "The necessity of a reform in the received mode of representing the sounds of our language has occurred to very many persons,† at different times, within the last two or three hundred years. Indeed, this necessity must have been apparent to every philosophical observer who has attentively considered the extreme inadequacy of the small and very imperfect Phoenician alphabet, however modified by Greek and Roman usage, when adopted to express the sounds of a language derived from so many sources, and having so broad a compass and so * Phonotypy is the art of printing, Phonography of writing, according to sound. + Sir John Cheke, appointed professor of Greek at Cambridge by Henry the Eighth, in 1540, and knighted by Edward the Sixth, in 1551, made some attempts to improve the orthography of the language. One of his devices was the one so often proposed, of expressing long vowel-sounds by double vowels. His friend and associate in the reform of the pronunciation of Greek, Sir Thomas Smith, also proposed a reform in the orthography of English. Both these were among the most learned men of their times. Many others have appeared, from Mulcaster, in 1582, to Rich, of Troy, New Hampshire, in 1844. |