Abstract
THE PROVINCIAL OBSERVATORIES OF FRANCE.—We. have before us the “Rapport adresse par le comité consultatif des observatoires astronomique de province, à M. le Ministre de l'Instruction Publique,” signed by M. Lœwy, as reporter. In the year 1880 a great impulse appears to have been given to what is termed the reform of French astronomy, a considerable grant having been obtained by the Minister of Public Instruction, which allowed of most material improvement in the equip ment of the several observatories of the provinces. Stress is aid upon the reorganisation of the observatory at Algiers, which is placed under the direction of M. Trepied, and the Committee urge that special attention should be given to the proper equipment of an establishment which has the advantage of so exceptional a climate. The observatory at Marseilles is still under the direction of M. Stephan, who has done such excellent work For many years past, and MM. Borrelly and Coggia were the assistant-astronomers in 1880: a revision of the star-catalogue formed by Rümker at Hamburg is in progress at Marseilles. At Toulouse, M. Baillaud is the director; he proposes to devote special attention to the observation of the variable stars. In 1880 a regular course of observations of the solar spots was maintained, and it is mentioned that during the nights August 9-13 three observers counted upwards of 1200 meteors of the Perseus shower. At the observatory of Bordeaux, M. Rayet is director; an equatorially-mounted refractor of 14-inches aperture has been ordered from Merz of Munich, and a second of 8-inches aperture is also to be provided. Two observers were engaged in 1880 upon a revision of the charts of Chacornac. The observatory at Lyons includes four stations, three of them devoted to meteorology: the astronomical station is at Saint-Genis-Laval, where M. André is director, and the principal instrument in process of construction in 1880 was a meridian-circle of 6-inches aperture by Eichens. The State-subvention to these observatories is 81,000 francs, and further funds are provided by the cities of Bordeaux, Marseilles, and Toulouse for their respective establishments.
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 25, 126 (1881). https://doi.org/10.1038/025126d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/025126d0