(RECAP) Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1832, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. ENCOURAGED by the reception which the American Almanac has hitherto met with, the Conductors present the Fourth Volume to the public, with the hope that the work will be regarded as entitled to a continuance of the public favor. The usual labor and care have been again bestowed by Mr. Paine upon the astronomical department, although the ensuing year is less distinguished for interesting celestial phenomena than the two or three that have immediately preceded it. Under the head of Meteorological Information, many remarkable facts are brought together, from the most authentic sources, relative to the fall of colored rain and snow, showers of dust and of soft substances both dry and gelatinous, and meteoric stones. A brief account is also given of some of the most remarkable optical phenomena of the atmosphere, as mirage, halos, and parhelia or false suns. This first part of the Almanac concludes with instructions, from the best authority, relative to the form, size, position, &c. of lightning rods. The Second Part contains the requisite information relating to the Executive and Legislative Government and the Judiciary of the United States; the Acts of Congress in relation to Patents, Copy-rights, the Relief of Insolvent Debtors to the United States, and of the Surviving Officers and Soldiers of the Revolution; and statistical information respecting commerce, population, literature, religion, and other matters. In the notices of the Individual States, objects of Internal Improvement, as Canals and Rail-roads, matters which have engrossed much of the public notice and enterprise within a few years past, have received particular attention. Much valuable information will be found in the part of the work appropriated to the notice of Foreign Countries, although a considerable portion of the materials prepared for this department have been omitted for want of room. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland has received especial attention; and as the measure of Parliamentary Reform which has, for the last two years, greatly agitated that country, is justly regarded as one of the most important eras in the political history of the empire, it has been deemed proper to present a pretty full view of the former and present state of the Parliamentary Representation. To their correspondents in the different states who have been so good as to afford assistance for improving the work, the Conductors return their grateful acknowledgments, and respectfully solicit a continuance of their favors. In the next number, it is designed to give a more full account than heretofore, of the literary and scientific institutions of the country, and the means and condition of education in the different states; and on these topics, particularly, information is desired. The preparation of every number of this work is attended with much labor and expense, for which but a very inadequate remuneration has hitherto been received. The Conductors have the impression that it is a work of utility; they are not aware that the circulation of it operates unfavorably to the interests of any one; and they hope that, so long as they may conduct it, they shall continue to find a friendly disposition to aid them in rendering it useful. THE CONDUCTORS. Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 21, 1832. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE ASTRONOMI CAL DEPARTMENT. THE year 1833 is less distinguished than either of the two preceding years, for phenomena worthy the attention of our astronomers, since in the course of it, neither the Sun, nor any planet or principal star, will be eclipsed, in the United States; but the three eclipses of the Moon will undoubtedly be viewed with interest by the public generally, since the whole of that which happens on the morning of the 6th of January will be visible to us, and a large part of those which take place in the evening of the 1st of July, and the 26th of December. In the last case, the Moon will, when rising, be seen totally immersed in the shadow of the Earth throughout a very large portion of the country. The importance of occultations of the fixed stars for the determination of terrestrial longitude is well known; a computation of those for Charleston and Boston, as to stars that are not of less than the sixth magnitude, will be found in the Almanac, by the assistance of which the time of Immersion or Emersion at any other place not very remote, may be determined with sufficient precision to prepare for observation. Occultations of stars of less than the sixth magnitude have not been computed, on account of the exceeding difficulty of observing them satisfactorily with any other than the largest and most powerful telescopes; those conjunctions of the Moon, however, with these stars, which may prove to be occultations in this country, are marked in the Calendar pages with an asterisk, instead of the usual symbol of conjunction. The catalogue of the Eclipses of Jupiter's satellites contains those only which may be visible in some part of the United States. The eclipses before the planet comes into conjunction with the Sun (on the 1st of April), will happen on the east side; then, until the opposition (on the 23d of October), on the west; and afterwards again on the east: between the 1st of April and 23d of October, the Immersions only, of the first and second satellites, will be visible, and during the remainder of the year, the Emersions only; but both the Immersion and Emersion in the case of the two other satellites can sometimes be seen. The eclipses take place farthest from the body of Jupiter when in quadrature, and nearest when in opposition or conjunction; but for some weeks before and after he is in either of the latter positions the eclipses cannot be observed, the planet and satellites being rendered invisible by the superior light of the Sun. As these eclipses appear to take place at the same moment of absolute time in every part of the Earth where they are visible, to determine the time, at which any one in the catalogue will happen in any place in the United States, it is necessary merely to subtract the estimated longitude of that place from the time of Immersion or Emersion at Green wich. Those who are in possession of a good telescope will doubtless notice with attention the appearance of Saturn between the 30th of April and 10th a* of June, during which interval his rings will be invisible; the cause of their disappearance at that time is mentioned in a note at the bottom of the 15th page. In the table of Latitude and Longitude of some of the principal places in the United States (page 21, &c.), will be found the latitude of several, as determined by the editor, by recent observations made by himself; also the longitude of a few, deduced by him from observations made by others, on the annular eclipse, of February 1831, or as ascertained by comparison of the place in question, by chronometers, with the Capitol at Washington, the University of Virginia, Philadelphia, or Boston, the distance of which from the meridian of Greenwich is supposed to be correctly known. The longitude of the Capitol is the mean of the results, deduced from the observations on the annular eclipses of 1791, 1811, and 1831, and has recently been confirmed by the editor, by comparing it by chronometers with the University of Virginia and the city of Philadelphia. The unfortunate adoption, in the construction of several maps of this country, of the longitude of the Capitol (5h. 7′ 42′′), reported by an individual acting under authority of a Resolve of Congress, has caused an error of 63 minutes of a degree therein. Since this table went to press, the position of several places in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, has been determined by the editor, the publication of which must be deferred until another year. In the arrangement of the Calendar pages there is but little alteration from that in the Almanac for 1832. The beginning and end of twilight, and the rising and setting of the Sun and Moon, are given for five places in the United States, situated in different latitudes; the Almanac is thus adapted to the inhabitants of every part of the country, as these particulars depend simply on the latitude, and are wholly independent of the longitude. The column headed Boston, &c. will answer for all places north of latitude 41° 32', that is, British Continental North America, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Michigan; all but the southern extremity of New York and Rhode Island; the northern half of Connecticut, the northern third of Pennsylvania, the Connecticut Reserve in Ohio, and the northern extremities of Illinois and Indiana. The column headed New York, &c. is intended for places situated be tween latitude 41° 32′ and 39° 48′, that is, the southern extremities of New York and Rhode Island, all but the northern third of Pennsylvania, all but the southern extremity of New Jersey, the central parts of Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, and the northern third of Missouri. The column headed Washington, &c. may be used between latitude 39° 48′ and 35° 52′, that is, throughout Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, the District of Columbia, and Kentucky, the northern half of Tennessee, the southern extremity of New Jersey, the southern third of Ohio and Indiana, the southern half of Illinois, all but the northern third of Missouri, and the northern third of North Carolina and Arkansas. The column headed Charleston, &c. is suited to places between latitude 35° 52′ and 31° 24', that is, South Carolina, all but the southern extremities of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, all but the northern third of North Carolina and Arkansas; the southern half of Tennessee; the northern half of Louisiana. The column headed New Orleans, &c. is adapted to places south of latitude 31° 24', that is, all Florida and Texas, the southern half of Louisiana, and the southern extremities of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. The setting of the Moon is given from new moon to full, and the rising from full moon to new; the letters M. A. m. a., to be found in these col umns and in other parts of the Almanac, are used to denote Morning and Afternoon. |