The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-04

beneath it until within the last fifty or
sixty years, as, in the first centuries Of
settlements existence, all its forces are
necessarily bestowed on pressing require
ments.
To few of these observatories that see
Orion to the north, and inverted, IN the
clear summer midnights of December the
following short sketches will be confined,
as in other respects, also, they stand some
what apart from their northern colla5ora-
teurs.
On The western heights overlooking the
bay of Rio Janeiro is an observatory that
may be said to date from 1850, as II that
year observations were taken for deter
mining the latitude and longitude of the
city by the Portuguese Jesuits, who then
occupied the extensive building on the
summit OF the hill known to the natives as
Moro do CASTILLO. From this high vantage
ground observations OF value were taken
from time to time and in 1916 the terrace
of the old monastery was selected as the
site of new observatory.
With 6-inch equatorial, a meridian
circle and 4-inch telescope, measures were
taken chiefly for the guidance of the
Brazilian navigator, and a nautical
almanac was published with regularity.
NJ. Liais Of the Observatory of Paris
having visited Brazil during the total
eclipse of 1858 won the esteem of the
Emperor Dom fedro the Second and re-
turned to dwell there permanently in
1860. In that year he discovered a double
comet or a pair travelling in the same
orbit which was a novel sight at that
time, though the researches of DR..
Barnard of the Lick Observatory have
since proved that such Implications are not
infrequent.
In the following year comet with a
faint ethereal tail of more than $4,000, 600
~ in laT1u th
sky, and the Franco Brazilian astronomer
made calculations of its orbit, which led
him to believe that our earth was actually
brushed by this marvellous luminosity.
The collision, if such occurred, was neither
felt nor seen. Shortly afterward the
Observatory of Rio Janeiro was committed
to his charge and several new instruments,
including a 10-inch equatorial, were added
to its equipment.
Astro-physical studies were also pro-
vided for the new outfit. ana no branch Of
celestial research was neglected. NJ. Cruls
succeeded Liais as director, and it was
through him that European observatories
first heard of the comet of 1882. The work
designed by the Astro- Photographic Con-
gress of 1887 has been successfully carried
on at Rio Janeiro in recent years. The
unsettled state of the country has been
prejudicial to the interests of science, but
still a new observatory has been procured,
and it is to be hoped that in the near
future the lannon's Opening roar will be
less prominent than the silent tube that
diffuses light and knowledge.
One of the most important observatories
south of the equator, though not one OF
the earliest, is in the city of Cordova, in
the Argentine Republic. Situated in the
semi-tropical cline of south latitude 81 deg.
% min, and equi-distant from the cyclonic
disturbance of the Atlantic coast and the
subterranean upheavals of the Pacific side,
this region, to which rain is unknown dur
ing six months in the year, seemed in 1870
to DR.. Gould of Boston the choicest of ali
spots for southern star-gazing. Under its
transparent skies, star-gazing in the high
est sense has been carried on with much
assiduity.
Though several catalogues of the stars
spangling the newly found armament had
been commenced, they remained incom-