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We look forward with pleasurable anticipation to some picture by this gentleman which is really worthy his reputation.

The peculiar province of artistic genius is no where so evident as in those pictures in which but two or three figures are so treated as to tell an entire story, or convey many subjects of thought to the mind. We remember having seen a work of this class at the Louvre, and the wonderful effect it produced on us.

The horrors of the deluge-its immensity, and influence upon those who were not permitted to enter the ark, are explained in the most vivid manner, by means of one family of three or four persons, and a "bit of landscape," the latter occupying about one-eighth part of the work. The father, endeavoring to climb a rock, has caught hold of the branch of a tree, which breaks in his grasp. His wife and children hold him by the limbs, and all seem in momentary danger of falling into the rising waters beneath. It is the last struggle for existence, and its effect is admirably portrayed in the convulsive expression of the different countenances. In Ranney's "Dead Charger," one of the works recently distributed, a good deal of the power to which we have alluded is evinced. How much is expressed by this sketch of the soldier's horse, as he lies deserted on that bleak spot, and the bird of prey hovers over him! Where is the gallant rider; has he, too, fallen in the conflict? Mayhap this charger hath borne him swiftly through many a glorious battle-field--was his especial favorite--dear to him as one of his own kindred; and yet, such is the fate of war-they are separated forever. No more shall the trumpet's shrill, enlivening blast, rouse him from his sleep.

The Flight into Egypt," by G. L. Brown, displays some effects which remind us of the works of the old masters. This is particularly the case as regards the coloring, which recalls that of Claude Lorraine and one of the Poussins. But there is a certain minuteness of touch and finish which interferes with the general effect, and a flatness and hardness in the foliage, that are not by any means likely to elicit approbation. The figures, too, are poor, and the Gothic objects introduced-for instance, the tower and bridge--are, if we mistake not, but ill suited to the subject. The glowing and oriental effect of the sun, however, as it gilds the various objects with its receding light, brings vividly to mind the beautiful lines with which Lamartine commences one of his poems,

"Le roi brilliant du jour se couchant dans sa gloire,
Descend avec lenteur de son char de victoire."

This picture, with all its faults, belongs to a very elevated school of landscape painting. We should not omit to speak of two moonlight Venetian scenes by the same painter, which have been greatly admired. They are, apparently, touched with much boldness, and in one of them, at least, the figures are excellent, but the architectural details are perhaps not quite as accurate as we could have wished. The general effect of both is so good and pleasing, however, that we entertain much hope of this gentleman's future preeminence in the treatment of this class of pictures.

The Cattle Piece, by Mr. F. H. Hinckley, is a very highly finished and pleasing work, in which a number of cows and sheep are variously grouped. The drawing is admirable, and the coloring of a warm and charming description. We do not admire this painter's mode of touching his trees, however, which is entirely too minute and labored. Indeed, the chief defect of this picture, as observable throughout, is the excessive desire it manifests, on the part of the artist, to finish highly. This is a sort of ignis fatuus

which has deluded but too many painters. We have referred to it before, and shall content ourselves with observing, that as the mind is generally satisfied with regarding the general features of natural objects, but seldom looking for detail, so should the painter aim at general character, finishing as highly as he can consistently with that degree of harmony which distinguishes the works of all the great masters.

We have spoken perhaps with severity of several of these pictures, but they are nevertheless productions of considerable merit, and decidedly some of the most important in the exhibition. There are a great many still unmentioned which belong chiefly to the lesser schools of art, requiring, for the most part, little intellectual power; but some of these are distinguished by the peculiar beauties of rich coloring, finished execution, and local interest, which render them valuable and popular. Our intention was to have taken up all the works of American art within our reach, whether in this or other exhibitions, treating first of the above in consequence of the late distribution; but we must content ourselves with having only partially achieved our object.

It would require a survey of all the best works of America to illustrate fully the loftier as well as the humbler phases of the beautiful, whether in nature or in art. We are well aware that the remarks we have presented are somewhat deficient as regards the general harmony we have recommended, and which requires all minor things to subserve and illustrate those primary laws on which nearly all successful works are based; but this must be attributed to the irregular gradations of beauty, and comparatively small number of pictures of the ideal class afforded by the exhibition. In the expression of the random thoughts the above pictures have suggested, however, we have sought to impress upon the reader's mind several very important principles, and we shall leave to some future occasion the completion of the agreeable task we have undertaken, of illustrating, as far as possible, the countless diversities of the poetry and philosophy of the fine arts.

ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS.*

BEFORE noticing the contents of this interesting volume, we propose giving a brief account of the Observatory at Washington. This observatory is the result of an Act of Congress, passed in 1842, for the erection of a "Depot of Charts and Instruments" for the Navy, attached to the Naval Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography. Judge Upshur, then Secretary of the Navy, an able scholar and statesman, gave full effect to the appropriation and to the aim of Congress. He caused information to be obtained, both at home and abroad, for the plan of the building; and instruments were ordered from the most skilful workmen in Europe, of a size and capacity calculated to insure the success and credit of the observatory.

These objects were accomplished by the autumn of 1844, when the duty of putting the observatory into successful operation was happily devolved upon Lieut. Maury, of the Navy, an officer of fine talents and scientific attainments, and whose standing in that profession for which the Nautical Ephemeris is intended, occasioned his detail for this duty to be received

*

Astronomical Observations, made during the year 1845, at the National Observatory, Washington, under the direction of M. F. Maury, M. A., Lt. U. S. Navy, Superintendent. Vol. 1. Published by authority of the Hon. George Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy. Washington: Printed by J. & G. S. Gideon. 1846. Quarto.

with high confidence and satisfaction. No one can feel so fully as the seagoing man how much the success and safety of the navigator depends upon a good Nautical Almanac. This feeling, added to the sea-officer's custom of observing the heavenly bodies, and the habit, also acquired in his profession, of watching diligently by night, makes the discharge of the duties of this nautical observatory, by the officers themselves, as appropriate as it is confessedly economical. This part of the Navy Department has no patronage to dispense, and depends for its popularity upon the extent and accuracy of its performances. The volume now presented to the public gives flattering evidence of what the talent and industry of the navy will accomplish for the benefit of navigation, the cause of science, and the credit of the country. We have tested these observations, made at Washington, by that acknowledged standard, the Greenwich observations, and find that the work of our countrymen bears this high comparison with credit. The Greenwich volume for 1843-the last published-contains 2,600 transit observations, and 3,100 with the mural. The Washington volume has 3,100 with the transit, and 2,000 with the mural. The discrepancies with the latter instrument at each observatory may be thus shown. Of the observations

Green'h vol. Wash. vol.

Whose extremes differ more than 7 min. there are in the 1

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Here is a satisfactory illustration of the capability of the Washington observers the result of their first effort, and showing that their instruments have been used with diligence and great skill. The application of the collimating eye-piece accounts in part for the accuracy of the observations made at the Washington observatory, and has led to the discovery of sources of error in instruments which appear heretofore to have escaped the vigilance of astronomers. Lieut. Maury, in his report to Mr. Bancroft, (under whose administration of this branch of the service the observatory was fostered and protected,) says

“In illustration of the patient diligence and care which the officers have been required to bestow upon their observations, and the pains which they have taken to free their work from every source of error, however small, which it has been possible to provide against, I beg to call your attention to the constant use and manifold applications which have been made of that most exquisite among the implements of practica! astronomy, the collimating eye-piece. The observations abound with evidences of its use; but perhaps they are most striking in the printed observations made with the mural circle. An examination of the seven columns headed⚫ Nadir Point Microscopes,' in the lateral margin of the right-hand page of the mural observations, will show you that it has enabled the observer to detect, with almost unerring accuracy, the slightest changes as to the normal points of his instrument. It would, perhaps, be going not too far, to say that the Nadir Points' there quoted give the chief value, whatever it be, which the observations of this instrument shall be found to possess.

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"The constant use which I have made of it, in the adjustments of the instruments, has revealed an imperfection in our beautiful prime vertical instrument, which otherwise, perhaps, would have been but barely suspected. The telescope is here supported, not between two piers, as a meridian transit instrument is, but is attached to the end of the axis, and rests on the outside of its piers, as per drawing, Plate IV. This axis is a highly polished steel cylinder, 11 inches in circumference.

The distance between its point of support and the telescope, which, however,

does not bear upon the axis with a weight exceeding perhaps fifty pounds, is one inch, yet the collimating eye-piece shows, that with so short a leverage this slight weight is sufficient to produce a sensible flexure in so stout a cylinder of highly wrought steel."

This source of error, which doubtless exists, does not appear to have attracted the attention of the great Struvê, of whose instrument at Dorpat this at Washington is a duplicate.

The discussion of the latitude at the Washington observatory affords some interesting results. By measurement, the prime vertical transit is 45 feet south of the mural circle: by the observations, the first is just 58 feet south of the latter-only thirteen hundredths of a second difference. We know of no observatory where the latitude has been discussed more searchingly, or the result been obtained more nicely than this. The present Astronomer Royal at Greenwich discovered an error of a second and a half in the latitude of that ancient and renowned establishment. At Washington, the two instruments show that they are in different parts of the same building, and greater accuracy than this can scarcely be expected.

The accomplished superintendent of the Washington Observatory recognizing the fact, that the old observatories disagreed among themselves by certain small quantities as to the declination of the fundamental stars, and that, if he attempted to establish his latitude from them, it would be a variable quantity, greater or less according to the authority used, judiciously proceeded, first, to establish his own declinations, and then to deduce his latitude, from data entirely his own. The latitude thus established differs twenty-five hundredths of a second from the latitude derived from the mean of the declinations given by eleven of the most renowned European authorities.

At other observatories, we believe, reducing the observations of the transit instrument is much more tedious than making them-as in favorable weather one observer can take as many observations as several can reduce. But by the application of a graphic process, which seems to be original with the Washington Observatory, the problem is so simplified, that one person can reduce as fast as several can observe. The observing forms, at the end of the volume, seem well calculated to secure accuracy and economy, and to lessen labor.

This naval observatory has commenced a work of great credit and usefulness. It has undertaken to penetrate, with its excellent telescopes, every point of space above the horizon, with the intention of assigning the place and position of every star, single or binary, and of each cluster and nebulæ that shall pass through the field of view. These will be arranged in the form of a catalogue, which it is intended shall embrace every star to the 10th magnitude. We observe, from statements made in the Appendix, that the observations of the present year will afford a list of 12,000 or 15,000 stars-by far the greater number of which are now unknown to the catalogues. In executing this plan, it is proposed to occupy several highly interesting fields, which promise rich harvests in the way of contributions to astronomy. These relate to the color of stars, the form and appearance of clusters, and nebulæ. In this work, the observers are required to assign magnitude and color to every star in the catalogue, by referring to certain other well-known stars as standard guides, whose size and color are already determined. We have well-authenticated instances, that stars, even those of the first magnitude, which now appear as white or red, presented quite a different color to astronomers in former times. Some philosophers maintain, that clusters and nebulæ are the chaotic nuclei of new worlds, or sys

tems of worlds. If so, they are probably undergoing changes, and period after period will present decided marks of condensation. The astronomy of nebulæ is not old enough; or if old enough, has not been sufficiently accurate and extensive to detect any such changes. With a view, however, of doing so, the plan of making accurate drawings of each nebula and cluster at the Washington Observatory is well conceived.

We have been much interested in Mr. Maury's account of the attempts made to obtain a "faultless system of wires" for his telescopes. The skillful instrument-maker attached to the observatory, had put on what appeared to be a "beautiful system of wires." But in damp weather some of these lines always appeared crooked. "A very good instrument-maker in Washington City," and afterwards" an instrument-maker of much repute in Philadelphia," vainly attempted to remedy this defect. Lieut. Maury then tried his own hand, "by no means an experienced one at such work," he admits, but with perfect success. He used threads procured from the cocoon of a spider that weaves in May, in crevices of sheds and out-houses, and which, he says, should be taken from its place whilst the eggs are in it. The web then resembles a small fleece of wool, and the threads are round, and smooth, and strong. We propose to give the account of this ingenious effort, in Lieut. Maury's own language:

"To re-spin these threads, I took a slip of whalebone about a foot long, just light enough to be lifted by a single thread without breaking it. I then made it into a bow, with not quite elasticity enough to break the thread. Its ends were coated with bees-wax, to which a line of proper length from the web was secured by taking a couple of round turns with it, and then confining the ends by pressing them into the wax with the fingers. Thus prepared, the whalebone, with the spider line stretched across it, looks like a bow that is strung. The whole is now held in a basin of water for ten or fifteen seconds, when the line, by the elasticity of the bone, is drawn out to nearly twice its original length. If the elasticity of the bone be not sufficient to draw the line out enough, it may be greatly assisted with the fingers and thumb. Removing the thread from the water, and leaving it a few moments to dry, it appears now exceedingly glossy, round, smooth, and fine.

"It is now placed across the diaphragm, the bow hanging below, freely suspended by the thread. The thread is then placed in the score under a magnifier with an edged tool of soft pine, taking care not to remove the burr made by the cutting tool of the dividing engine. This pine imple ment yields enough to score the wire well down in its notch. The ends of the spider line are now made fast, by pressing down upon them with the wet end of a smooth stick, a small piece of beeswax. The pressures are repeated until the wax is spread out sufficiently thin, when it is protected by a thin coating of gum shellac dissolved in alcohol. The spider lines, thus re-spun and stretched, have remained in all weather as taut as a bar. They are beautiful. Those in the equatorial, which were re-spun and put in, are only 0.45 in thickness. They are straight, smooth, and glossy like the rest. It is said, that if spiders, by any chance, as they sometimes will, find their way to the interior of the telescope, they wi'l cut the wires from the diaphragm, because, as it is suggested, they are not put in 'spider fashion;' but the spiders have complimented the skill with which our wires have been re-spun and put upon the stretch; for, finding their way on one occasion into the equatorial, through the lamp-holder, which had been left uncovered, they proceeded to spin upon the lines I had put in, and actually used them as a part of their own web. A more delicate compliment a spider could not annoy one with, certainly."

The value of this improvement can be properly appreciated only by the practical astronomer. All his measurements are made with spider lines.The diameter of the sun, or a planet, for instance, is measured by placing one spider line on the upper, and another on the lower limb of the object as it passes through the telescope. The optical distance between these two lines is the diameter required. For this purpose, it is not only required

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