Observatory Circulars.

The unsatisfactory and meagre facilities, which the authorities of the Harvard College Observatory have had in the past for the publication of the results of their work, and the need of some means of making a more prompt announcement has induced them to issue a series of circulars, as required, which shall contain matters of interest and information such as discoveries made at the observatory, the results of the recent observations, new plans of work and gifts or bequests. It is not proposed to give these circulars a wide distribution, but rather to use them as a means of bringing new facts to the attention of editors of astronomical and other periodicals and thus secure the immediate publication of such portions as would be of interest to the readers of these periodicals.

The first circular has already been issued and announces that from an examination of the Draper Memorial photographs, taken at the Arequipa station of the observatory, it has been discovered that a new star appeared in the constellation Carina in the spring of 1895.

A description of the photographs taken at various times, which contain the star is given and an examination of all the photographs of the region containing this star, sixty-two plates in all, taken between May 17,1889, and Mar. 5, 1895, shows that no trace of the star is visible, although on some of them stars as faint as the fourteenth magnitude are clearly seen. On nine plates, taken between April 8, and July 1, 1895, the star appears and its photographic brightness diminishes during that time from the eighth to the eleventh magnitude.