It was not at first intended to include photography, on account of uncertainties which were supposed to be inseparable from photographic measurements-but, though all doubt in their correctness has not been removed, yet, this having been done to some extent, through the labours of Mr. Asaph Hall and Mr. De la Rue, and as other nations had resolved to make use of the photographic method, at last it was determined that we should not neglect it, and so an additional 5,000l. was asked for and granted for this purpose, and the construction of five photo-heliographs was ordered of Mr. Dallmeyer, similar to that employed at the Wilna Observatory.

The object-glasses will be of about 4-in. diameter, giving focal images of the sun about in. in diameter. The focal image will be amplified to about 4-in. diameter on the photographic plate, and in applying the enlarging lens, Mr. Dallmeyer is confident that he can entirely destroy the spherical aberration. The camera telescopes will be mounted on equatorial stands, with latitude adjustment of 80° range, and they will be furnished with driving clocks.

Mr. De la Rue will superintend the organisation of the photographic department, and supervise the construction of the instruments.

The three stations best suited for photographic observations are Rodriguez, Kerguelen's Island, and Auckland. It is not yet settled whether the heliographs provided for the two other stations might not be better placed elsewhere.

A NIGHT IN THE EAST.

From A Month's Sojourn on Mount Olivet; by Mrs. Finn, in The Scattered Nation, September, 1871.

Still, how enjoyable was the weather, up here in the mountain air! What could be more delightful than the fresh, dewy mornings, all fragrant with herbs and wild thyme. The still, clear heat by day; the afternoons, when the shadows began to lengthen; the moonlit nights, of surpassing brilliancy, when all the city and the marble courts of the Temple, with airy columns and dusky cypresses, slept in loveliness, unmarred by ought that could disturb eye or ear.

The dark, starry nights were equally enchanting. The evening star that month was Jupiter; after watching him, and finding out his satellites, with help of the telescope, I sought out each bright star with the glass. Presently, having got within range, a planet of tawny hue, how delighted was I at being able to distinguish the ring of Saturn-the separation between it and the planet, fine as a hair, yet perfectly visible. Another night, or rather morning, while it was yet quite dark I was awoke by a light streaming in upon my face through the little window that looked eastward, over the shoulders of Olivet. The light came from Venus; there the morning star, gleaming in unearthly beauty, like a small, full moon, over the mountain. By her light alone we could see each other distinctly, and I was able to read the hour upon a small watch.

Long before daylight we were up on the roof-terrace, watching the glories of the firmament. In Jerusalem, the Milky Way has none of the hazy indistinctness which it has here, but spans the sky from side to side, a complete and lustrous bow of stars.

Nothing broke the circle of our horizon. Much as if we had been at sea, or on some wide plain, could we here, from the mountain tops, see

the wide expanse of heaven, and watch the constellations from their rising to their setting, in all their liquid and dazzling effulgency which had met the eye of King David long centuries before, and caused him to exclaim, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handy work. Day by day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge." Sirius resplendent in the south over the Judean hills, Orion dipping towards the Mediterranean Sea, the Great Bear, the Pole Star, all the familiar constellations, marching onwards in majestic silence. There was to us no thought of sleep, or need of further rest that morning; the whole mind was too fully occupied with the magnificent spectacle, and with the multitude of overpowering thoughts. Here were the stars as Abraham had seen them, when commanded to try and number them. Here were those ordinances of heaven spoken of by the prophet, "If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever." These stars had silently looked down, as at this moment, upon all the momentous events which had taken place in this Land of Promise, from the night when Abraham looked at them, even until now. They had shone upon prophets, priests, kings, and apostles,-upon the Saviour Himself. They had been set forth as the emblems of the righteous, who shall shine as the stars of the heaven, in various yet in perfect glory. Here, beaming from Olivet over Jerus alem, was also the emblem of Him who is "the Bright and Morning Star" How pure and soothing was the light from this harbinger of day! There was no wind, the stillness was perfect.

Just before the first glimpse of dawn, this was broken by voices from the minarets in the city. Then came the primitive call to prayer, used in Oriental churches, by striking a wooden plank with a hammer. Thus attention was recalled to time present; the convent bell soon followed; then came pulsations of light, revealing battlements and mountain tops; then daylight, cool and grey; then a thousand lovely tints, upon the landscape and on the fleecy dew clouds. The shadows fled away, and there appeared the sun-rising, with its magical effects of rosy transparency flung over the city in an instant of time. Just after that fol lowed the bell of Christ Church, ringing the hour for Hebrew morning prayers, and the working day was begun.

Another morning, anxious to see the sun rise over the Moab mountains, we went early, at day dawing, to the eastern brow of Olivet, and thence looked down upon the desolate waste of hill and valley descending to the Jordan plain, lying lonely and sad in the morning light.

There was abundance of dew on all the plants at our feet; the air, clear and cold, was full of their fragrance. The dew was so heavy, that it actually moistened the limestone which peeps out here and there on the top of Olivet, and made it so damp and soft, that I was able, with finger and thumb, to break away the topmost layers, and carry off some specimens, in which fossil shells were embedded.

Far graver and more solemn than sunrise over Jerusalem, was the spectacle of sunrise over the Dead Sea waters, and the empty table-lands of Moab; yet there was exquisite beauty in the soft, lavender-grey tint of the whole landscape, relieved by a rosy cloud or two near the sun at his rising.

SIR JOHN HERSCHEL.-The following inscription, in brass upon a black marble slab, has been placed over the tomb of the late Sir John Herschel, in the north aisle of the Nave of Westminster Abbey.

Johannes Herschel

Gulielmi Herschel
Natu opere fama
Filius unicus
"Calis exploratis"

Hic prope Newtonum
Requiescit

Generatio et generatio
Mirabilia Dei narrabunt.

PSALM CXLV. 4, 5.

VIXIT LXXIX. ANNOS,
OBIIT UNDECIMO DIE MAII,
A.D. MDCCCLXXI.

CORRESPONDENCE.

N.B.-We do not hold ourselves answerable for any opinions, expressed by our correspondents.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ASTRONOMICAL REGISTER.

NOTES ON JUPITER.

January 9, 1872.-At 9h. 45m. p.m. the air was still, but very misty. With difficulty two drawings were made. The following points are noteworthy.

1. The zone between bands 2 and 3, which has for years been the brightest portion of the disc, is now, in some parts, the darkest. At the above time this zone was full of dark markings; and, together with the coloured zone immediately to the south, gave a very unusual aspect to the disc.

2. Band No. 2, which has for some years been the darkest and broadest, is now, in some parts, fainter than No 3, and some other bands to the south.

3. There was a very fine band to the south of No. 5.

4. And still further south, and nearer to the pole than I ever noticed a band before, was a very distinct broad band.

January 14, 10h. 20m. p.m.-At this time a drawing was obtained, and also one at II p.m. The first may be thus described :

Band No. 2 was much as usual, broad, but not very dark. Between Nos. 2 and 3 was the new band extending quite across the disc; the space on each side of it was fairly bright.

Under No. 4, and in the centre of the disc, was a large ellipse with several small ones on each side of it.

The central zone has certainly lost some of its colour in some parts. No. 5 was a very fine band, and had its south edge thrown into waves. To the south of No. 5 a fine band which split up into two at the middle point one fork ran on to the west parallel to the other bands, while the other diverged a little northwards.

:

The second sketch shows a series of bright oval spaces under No. 4; but the dark portions, which separate them from one another, are not at right angles to the band, but drift away to the N.E., and some of them seemed to extend quite across the zone in this diagonal direction.

This appearance strongly suggested that in the beautiful drawings of Dawes.

The zone between Nos. 2 and 3 was, at this time, full of grey cloudlike markings.

Mr. E. Crossley's Observatory,

Park Road, Halifax :

Jan. 15, 1872.

JUPITER.

Sir,-My only observations of Jupiter since April 3, 1871, were on the 11th and 13th of the present month when I was truly surprised at the changes in his belts and general appearance. From December, 1869, to the first of the above dates, though he exhibited some variety of feature on different occasions, there was nothing near so striking as the new formations that now appear over his disk. Jupiter's atmosphere, or whatever it is that we see as the face of the planet, appears certainly to be now going through a period of great disturbance, and with a marked progress even since the date of the last of Mr. Gledhill's drawings in your current number. This will be shown by the accompanying rough sketch where some new forms will be seen that up to the above date were not observed by Mr. Gledhill. Of these the most striking is the belt-like streak that descends from the south, crossing the truncated end of 5 at a sharp angle, and reaching down to 4. No. 2 did not seem so dark or so broad as it used to be, and between it and No. 3 was the new imperfect band exactly as described by Mr. Gledhill. The zone between 2 and 3, which formerly appeared to me of a bright greenish color, looks as if it were now about to be filled up and added to the broad dark equatorial zone, as it presents a turbid and mottled appearance on both sides of the new belt, and confuses the previously distinct outlines of 2 and 3. I have not tried to show this in the sketch. The bright zone lying north of 2 seemed to me broader than to Mr. Gledhill. It is probable that the north polar region appeared equally dark to us both, but the opposite area is much darker in Mr. Gledhill's views than I saw it. In fact, in neither of my late observations could I notice without considerable difficulty that it showed any shading whatever, besides some indistinct traces of a belt which I have not sketched.

The great equatorial zone used to appear to me of a rose tint, increasing in depth on each side from the centre where it was very nearly colorless. The centre and southern half of the zone are now equally of a dark shade of red, but the northern half degrades to a slaty hue, which continues across the turbid zone with the new belt between 2 and 3. Jan. 15, 1872. J. BIRMINGHAM.

Sir,-On January 6, 1872, 10h. to Ioh. 45m., the great southern white belt of Jupiter presented a very abnormal appearance. I have constantly observed the planet on all opportunities for the last few years, but have never before seen so fine a display. After several terrific gales ar storms of rain here the atmosphere had settled to a calm, barometer low. The blue depths of the sky very dark. A little unsteadiness at times, but generally definition was exceedingly fine.