Notes

Abstract

SOME time ago Lord Crawford offered to present to Scotland his valuable collection of astronomical instruments at Dun Echt, on condition that suitable accommodation should be provided for it, and that it should be managed for the public benefit. The Secretary for Scotland, we are glad to learn, has accepted Lord Crawford's offer; and the Treasury has agreed to provide means for the erection of the necessary buildings. A committee of scientific men is engaged in examining different sites around Edinburgh which seem suitable for the erection of a national Observatory; and, according to the Edinburgh Correspondent of the Times, the choice seems to lie between the Braid Hills and the Blackford Hill, both of which are on the south side of the city. The same writer says that two proposals have been made for utilizing the old Observatory on the Calton Hill—the one that, after the instruments have been repaired, the place should be used as a popular Observatory; the other, that it should be attached to the Heriot-Watt Technical College for class-work in connection with the lectureship on astronomy there.