The sun., 1880-08-08

| ist Mt Harvard, from the really surprising
amount OF work now performed by its in
structors in almost every field Of discovery
| and thought.
In the province OF eruditlon, scholarship.
and the higher forms Of literary criticism,
we have to thank inen engaged in the work
OF teaching at Harvard for some achieve
ments that reflect credit upon our country.
Prof. W. w. GOODWIN, for instance, besides
writing several articles Oh Attic law and
| Athenian antiquities for the new edition of
, LIDDELL and ScoTrs Lexicon. has been re-
Gently preparing new edition of his Greek
| grammar, q text book. by the way, which
has been reprinted in England, and which,
like the same authors Moods and Tenses,"
is not little priced at Oxford. AS ON ac-
compartment to GooDwIN's grammar, Prof.
j. W. WHITE is thoroughly revising the
First Greek Lessons" and, with a view to
promote the ability to read Greek readily at
sight, he is also compiling word book
based on CURTIuss Etymology. So, too.
| Prof. LANE in order to furnish men lifting
| for college with appliances adjusted to the
progress OF comparative philology, is prepar-
| ing Latin grammar which will be based on
new and scientific principles. In the Divn-
ity School, Prof. ABBOT is member of the
| American committee which assists the Eng
| lish Commission for revising the translation
Of the Bible. and lie has lately published a
series of articles on the Authorship of the
Fourth Gospel" Again, Prof. GREENoUGH
| is at work on an edition of Virgil, and Mr..
ALLEN is engaged upon a book of Latin
| Composition" In the department Of mod
ern languages, Prof. Cook is editing and
preparing articles for II French and English
lexicon, to be published by HACHErTE Il Co.,
| Paris, and Mr.. SHELDON has recently COM
| pleted German grammar. work, how
ever, to which we shall most eagerly look
| forward, in view OF the authors remarkable
| acquaintance with early English literature,
| is one that is employing the leisure OF Prof.
| CHILDS, book OF English and Scotch
| ballads with their derivations and varia-
tions. We observe further that Prof. Bowen
| is on the point of bringing out new edition
| of his political economy, and that Prof.
JAMES, whose writings in the current re-
views and philosophical journals have at
tracted much attention. has undertaken a
work on psychology for the series OF Amer
lean science text books. We may add that
Prof NORTON, the head of the fine arts de-
partment, will publish in a few months
book entitled Historical Studies of Church
Building In the Middle Ages" At the time
OF Mr. HITcHcoCK's visit the professor OF
music. Mr. PAINE, was writing the Spring
Symphony" which has since been produced
in Cambridge and Boston. Among the best
known works that this gentleman has found
time, amid the exacting duties of his post,
to compose Of late years. are his oratorio,
"St. Peter" the overture to "As You Like
It," brought out by THOMAS, the "Centen-
NAL Hymn" and symphony in C minor.
If now we turn to the field of pure and ap-
| piled science, we encounter still more sub
stantial vouchers of independent research.
| The labors Of Prof. BENJAMIN PIERCE are
too various to be catalogued, but we are told
| that in addition to his mathematical, phys
| ical, and astronomical Investigations, he has
entered the arena OF philosophy in his re-
cent lectures on the connection between re-
ligion and science. He is also the author OF
| eight Propositions in Cosmical Physics
set forth in the last publication OF the Amer
lean Academy Of Arts and sciences, some of
which are distinctly at variance with re-
ceived opinions. His son. Prof. j. NJ PEIRcK,
has lately published a set OF mathematical
tables, in which the part relating to "hv-
periodic functions is entirely original
Other work in this department is repre-
sented by Prof. BYERLY's Differential CAL
culus," and Mr.. WHEELER's Elementary
! Plane and Spherical Trigonometry." At
the observatory the great equatorial of fif-
teen inches aperture, and the meridian
| circle. whose telescope has an aper-
ture OF eight inches, have been kept
| actively i'll use for the last three
| years. The former instrument is devoted
almost wholly to photometric work, the
problem being to determine the brightness
OF all the heavenly bodies, SO that all may
be compared with a single standard.
series of measurements OF all the planetary
nebule has also been undertaken. This
work, with the great equatorial, has necessi-
tated the invention, by Prof. PICKERING and
his assistants, Of number of new photo
metric instruments. On the other hand,
Prof ROGERS has, for nearly eight years,
been employed in one Of the largest astro-
nomcal enterprises ever projected in this
country, namely, the observation (now, we
are told, Completed with the meridian
circle of the zone of eight thousand stars,
lying between fifty and fifty-five degrees
north this undertaking being the share of
this observatory in the determination OF the
position OF the stars of the northern hemi-
sphere. At present the Cambridge astrono-
mers are busted in measuring the light of
all the stars visible to the naked eye in the
latitude OF their station.
Mr.. HITCHCOCK tells us good deal about
the chemical researches prosecuted in the
laboratories Of Prof. Cook and his col
leagues. 1t appears than since the "Or-
ganic Laboratory" was established five
| years ago, Prois, HILL and JACKSON have
published twenty-five papers giving the re-
suits of their work, and have discovered one
hundred new compounds. In botany Prof.
GRAY s devoting as much leisure as he can
command to the completion OF his great
work on the Flora of North America" in
which he is assisted by Mr.. WATSON, who is
now engaged in classifying the flora Of Cali
| fornia. DR.. GRAYs contributions to the
AnoInrn,y nf Arto nd a.