caused by a reckless issue of bonds and Treasury warrants, the permanent debt of the State has not been increased.

With regard to the payment of the State debt the board say:

In regard to the settlement of the mass of the debt of the State, the board, after the most thorough consideration that they have been competent to give to the subject, are of the opinion that no final action should be taken at this time. It admits of a mathematical demonstration that the State is not in a condition to pay the interest on the nominal outstanding debt; and no creditor, as far as the board is advised, entertains any opinion different from that which is here expressed. As to what offer they will finally make is unknown even to themselves, from the want of due deliberation, and such consultation as could result in any concerted and definite offer. It is known that the legality of many of the bonds of the State admits of grave question; and bonds of the classes affected by this consideration have fallen on the market, and are now selling at prices far below the other bonds which labor under no such imputation.

The board has felt itself precluded from expressing any decided opinion on the subject of the valid ity of these bonds. The constitution contemplates the payment of the just debts of the State, but fails to provide any tribunal to decide what debts are just and what are not; nor has it prescribed any criterion by which these two classes of debts may be distinguished.

Cases may be conceived in which bonds would be so wholly destitute of all legality and merit as to amount to no more than waste-paper. Other cases may be conceived where bonds might be technically invalid, and where the State would still be bound in justice and fair dealing to pay to the holders of such bonds the equivalent of any benefit actually purchased by the State with them. In any event, the State must always be the final arbiter in the matter; and as no inferior tribunal can decide in the premises, the duty of making any final adjudication must devolve on the Legislature as the supreme power of the State.

As the subject must then come before a body that cannot claim to be wholly impartial, we would recommend such an investigation as should fitly stand in the place of a judicial inquiry, so that no one could say that he had been condemned unheard, in defiance of the principles of natural justice. We are convinced that by proceeding with circumspection, and giving to the holders of the bonds of the State an opportunity of perceiving the whole situation, in all its details of calamity and hardship; by evincing a frank, fair, and manly purpose in every step, the public debt can be more satisfactorily settled for the people of the State, and the honor of the State more perfectly sustained, than by any hasty expedient which might suggest that the State precluded inquiry because it might be productive of unfavorable results in some moral point of view.

An efficient law for common schools has been in force in the State for a short time; its operation is such as to give the friends of the system strong hopes of its success. The only

embarrassment met with arises from the finan cial condition of the State. Full reports have been received from all the counties but fifteen. There is an Industrial University supported by the State, and intended for the direct benefit of the colored population, which promises to accomplish its object. A proposition is also made to connect with St. John's College a Normal School and a Geological Department.

The Blind Institute is established on a solid foundation, and in successful operation. The appropriation required is $7,000. A Deaf-Mute Institute is also in operation, with every promise of future permanency. An appropriation of $50,000 was made for the erection of an asylum for the insane; the ground has been obtained, and plans of the building proposed. There are about two hundred insane persons in the State. A new building has been erected for the State penitentiary, which with the old one furnishes 406 cells for prisoners. The number of prisoners is about 385. An act of the Legislature allows to every convict two days for every month that he has, during his confinement, conducted himself in an exemplary manner.

The total number of enlisted men enrolled in the militia is 13,057, and the estimated total of effective militia in the State is estimated at 93,000 men.

On the subject of immigration, the recentlyinaugurated Governor Miller says:

Perhaps our one greatest need is that of capital and labor, to bring out the great and undeveloped resources of the State. With a mild and healthy climate, a soil of fertility unsurpassed, and capable of producing grains, grasses, fruits, vegetables, and textile growths in almost endless variety; with forests of timber, adapted to purposes of manufacture, such as have no parallel in any other State on the Atlantic slope; with ample mines of coal, lead, iron, and other valuable metals; with a greater length of navigable streams than any other State in the Union; with railroads traversing her territory from east to west and from north to south; with water-power in great abundance, and with absolute peace and tranquillity within her borders, Arkansas offers to the immigrant inducements such as are afforded by no other portion of the West. Every means within the resources of the State should be employed to set before the world our true condition. Let the country know, as we know, that the immigrant, from whatever realm of Europe, from whatever section of our own land, he may come, will meet, here, a cordial welcome, and will be protected in every right of person, of opinion, and of property. The diffusion of reliable information upon these subjects by our highest official authorities cannot fail to be one of the very best methods of bringing our State into notice, and demands the patronage and support of the representatives of the people.

ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. The subject of the reform and reorganization of the Army was referred by the act of July 24, 1876, to a commission consisting of two members from each House of Congress, the Secretary of War, and two officers of the Army. This commission met on the 11th of August, and subsequently collected for transmission to Congress a large mass of valuable statistics and opinions bearing upon the questions before it. At the close of the year the Chief of Engineers submitted estimates as follows:

Fortifications and other works of defense..
River and harbor improvements..
Buildings and grounds in and around Washington
Washington Aqueduct....
Surveys....

Total........

$2,228,000

18.220,100

229,050

349,500

882,000

16,408,650

"I submit this," said Secretary Cameron, "without further comment than to remark that this is not an estimate' in the sense of the estimates asked for other purposes; it is not approved nor disapproved, but it is forwarded in response to various acts of Congress calling for surveys and estimates for improvement at various localities."

For all purposes except those above named, the estimates for 1877-'78 amount to $37,583,555. The appropriations for 1876-'77 were $30,610,351; for 1875-'76, $31,325,822; and 1874-75, $30,915,265. The increase in the present estimates over the appropriations for the current year is made up as follows:

The public works are the new building for the War, State, and Navy Departments, the Rock Island Hospital, and the hospital and other works at West Point, all of which are in course of construction. The increase in miscellaneous estimates is made up of $350,000 for refunding to States the expenses incurred in raising volunteers; $98,000 for furnishing artificial limbs under existing laws; $50,000 for the Signal Service; $77,850 for printing and binding; and the remainder, $88,358, for various minor objects. The increase asked for the military service is made up of $1,385,000 for armament of fortifications, manufacture of small-arms, and the purchase of a site for a powder-depot, and nearly $3,000,000 for quartermasters' and subsistence supplies. "The appropriations for the current year," says the Secretary, "furnish no criterion of what is required for the support of the Department. It is probable that a deficiency will be necessary in order to meet the expenses during the latter months of the year, although no efforts will be spared to avoid it."

The report of the Inspector-General shows that the desertions have decreased from about 30 per cent. of the entire force in 1871 to about 7 per cent. in 1876. That officer recommends that Congress pass a law making desertion a felony cognizable by the ordinary courts of the country invested with jurisdiction over criminal cases.

Nearly 30,000 claims of loyal citizens, amounting to $8.000,000, are pending in the Quartermaster-General's office, under the act of July 4, 1864. It is stated that the only difference between this class of claims and those before the Southern Claims Commission is in the residence of the claimants, the QuartermasterGeneral investigating those in Northern States and the Southern Claims Commission those in States proclaimed as in insurrection against the United States.

There are now seventy-eight national cemeteries, which were maintained during the past

year at a cost of $146,960. The number of interments June 30, 1876, was 310,356, of which 164,655 were of unknown persons. The work of erecting head-stones over the graves has been completed at fifty-seven of the cemeteries, and 92,046 known and 87,242 unknown graves have been marked. There are about 17,000 graves of Union soldiers who fell during the war and were buried by the War Department in various public and private incorporated cemeteries not known as national military cemeteries.

The health of the Army during the year has been good, and the mortality from disease (8 per 1,000 of mean strength) unusually small. The number of deaths from wounds has been exceptionally large (15 per 1,000).

The Signal-Service organization comprises 145 stations, from which telegraphic reports of observations are received in addition to the reports from the Dominion of Canada. From these reports tri-daily forecasts or "probabilities" are made in the Central Office, and furnished to the press throughout the country. Of these probabilities 88 per cent. are verified. Cautionary signals, of which 77 per cent. have been justified, are displayed when necessary by day and night at forty-eight of the principal ports of the sea and lake coasts. Farmers' bulletins, containing much information valuable to agriculturists, are posted daily in several thousand post-offices. River reports, giving the depth of certain rivers at certain points, are published daily.

The small force of effective troops in the Army has been actively employed during the past year. Their employment has been mainly directed to two objects: First, to compel the Sioux Indians to acknowledge the authority of the Government; and, second, to preserve order at the South. To be prepared for any disturbance that might arise during the excitement of the presidential election, LieutenantGeneral Sheridan was instructed to concentrate a sufficient number of troops in New Orleans under Brigadier-General Augur, commanding the Department of the Gulf; and Major-General Hancock was directed to detach a sufficient number of companies from the garrisons on the sea-coast and send them to South Carolina for duty, under the orders of Colonel Ruger, who had lately been assigned to the command of the Department of the South, and ordered to make his headquarters temporarily at Columbia.

In the early part of the year W. W. Belknap was charged with official corruption, and resigned his position as Secretary of War. He was succeeded by Judge Alonzo B. Taft, of Ohio, who after a short term of service in the War Department was made Attorney-General; and in May J. Donald Cameron, of Pennsylvania, son of Senator Simon Cameron, became Secretary of War.

In the early part of the year military operations were begun against the hostile Sioux

Indians in Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. These, to the number of about 3,000, under Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and other chiefs, had made war on the friendly Indians, and had refused to settle upon a reservation. In March an unsatisfactory expedition was made by General Crook toward Powder River. General Sheridan now ordered three columns to move simultaneously to a common centre, where the Indians were supposed to be, from Montana, from Dakota, and from the Platte. The two former were under command of General Terry, and the latter under General Crook. General Crook started from Fort Fetterman, May 29th, with about 1,000 men. This expedition marched to a point on Goose Creek, which is the head of Tongue River, a tributary of the Yellowstone. On June 17th General Crook was attacked by the Indians on the Rosebud, also a tributary of the Yellowstone. The Indians left 13 dead warriors on the field; General Crook's loss was nine dead and 21 wounded. Meantime, Colonel John Gibbons, with about 450 men, had marched from Fort Ellis, in Montana, down the valley of the Yellowstone, to meet General Terry, who was ascending the same valley. General Terry, with the Seventh Cavalry, under its lieutenant-colonel, Custer, containing about 600 men and horses, and about 400 infantry, had started from Fort Abraham Lincoln on the 17th of May, and reached the Yellowstone, at the mouth of Powder River, June 9th, where he established a supply-camp. Resuming his march along the south bank, he reached the mouth of the Rosebud on the 21st. Near this point he came in communication with Colonel Gibbons, whose command was left at the mouth of the Big Horn, and determined in person to continue to the same place, but to detach the Seventh Cavalry by a circuit to the Upper Rosebud (a tributary of the Big Horn), where all his command, embracing that of Colonel Gibbons, was to meet on a day appointed.

On the 22d General Custer started, with his whole regiment and a strong detachment of scouts and guides, from the mouth of the Rosebud. Proceeding up that river about twenty miles, he struck a heavy Indian trail, which he followed to the Little Big Horn River. Here be found a village of almost unlimited extent, and at once attacked it with that portion of his command which was immediately at hand. Major Reno, with three companies, was sent into the valley of the stream at the point where the trail struck it. General Custer, with five companies, attempted to enter about three miles lower down. Reno forded the river, but was completely overwhelmed by the Indians, and was forced to recross. In a short time he was joined on the bluffs by Captain Benteen with three companies, and by Captain McDougall with one company. Soon after, this united force was nearly surrounded by Indians. The fighting continued from about half-past two o'clock of the 25th till six o'clock of the

26th. General Terry's command arrived on the morning of the 27th, and the Indians withdrew from the valley, taking with them their village.

Of the movements of General Custer, and the five companies under his immediate command, scarcely anything is known. He was killed, and his entire command was obliterated. The remaining seven companies of the Seventh Cavalry were saved by the brave and prudent conduct of Major Reno, and the timely arrival of General Terry. The loss was 12 officers, 247 enlisted men, five civilians, and three Indian scouts killed, and two officers and 51 men wounded. The Indian force was estimated at from 2,500 to 3,000 warriors.

General Terry, after burying the dead and caring for the wounded, regained his position at the mouth of the Big Horn, and called for reënforcements. General Crook also awaited reënforcements at his camp on Goose Creek, and the hostile Indians meantime remained between them, near the base of the Big Horn Mountains. These commands, having been reenforced, effected a junction, August 10th, on the Rosebud, at a point 35 miles above its mouth. The march was now begun in pursuit of the retreating Indians. The followers of Sitting Bull seemed to have retreated north, near or beyond the Yellowstone, and those of Crazy Horse to the south, near Slim Butte and Owl Creek, in the direction of the Black Hills.

In October Colonel Miles received hostages, on the Yellowstone, opposite the mouth of Cabin Creek, for the surrender of about 2,000 Indians.

In his annual report, Lieutenant-General Sheridan says:

The surrender of the Indians from the Missouri River agencies to Colonel Miles, on the 27th of October, numbering, in men, women, and children, at least 2,000, and the escape of Sitting Bull with his small band to the north, leave now out and hostile only the northern Cheyennes and the band of Crazy Horse and his allies from the Red Cloud agency, and it is against these Indians that General Crook is now operating; and when these are killed, captured, I think all future trouble with them, as it is intended or surrendered, the Sioux war will be at an end, and to put most of them on foot, and a Sioux on foot is a Sioux warrior no longer.. I recommend that the whole Sioux nation be established on the Missouri River, between Standing Rock and Fort Randall. They can be cheaply fed there, and can be sufficiently isolated to be controlled. To take so many wild Indians to the Indian Territory would be a difficult undertaking at this time, and would, in my opinion, be attended with the worst results to those now there, as well as to the Sioux. They should go gradually, from time to time, and when the Indians there are ready to receive them.

In April, 1876, the headquarters of the Army were transferred from St. Louis to Washington. During the year the number of grand military divisions was reduced from four to three, viz., Missouri, Atlantic, and Pacific. The aggregate force of the army is 28,571, including 2,151 officers and 26,420 enlisted men.

8. Mr. Trouvelot has observed spots at least within 10° of the north-pole of the sun.

9. The flocculent objects sometimes seen projected upon the umbra and penumbra of spots are the remaining portion of the granulations composing the chromosphere, more or less dissolved by the forces emanating from the interior of the photosphere.

Temperature of the Sun's Surface.-It is well known that eminent authorities have differed very widely in their estimates of the intensity of solar heat. The calculations of Sir John Herschel and Father Secchi give about 10,000,000° as the temperature at the surface; while other physicists, by applying the law of Dulong and Pettit, obtain a degree of heat not greatly superior to that of a blast-furnace. Prof. Langley, of the Allegheny Observatory, who has for several years been devoting special attention to solar physics, read a paper on this subject at the October meeting of the National Academy of Sciences. These recent researches leave little room to doubt the approximate correctness of Herschel's estimate.

The Sun's Atmosphere.-A memoir on the atmospheres of the sun and planets was recently communicated to the American Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia, by Mr. David Trowbridge, of Waterburg, N. Y. Assuming the temperature of the sun's surface to be 9,800,000° Fahr., and that a given volume of the solar atmosphere at 32° becomes doubled at 522°, the analysis of Mr. Trowbridge leads to the conclusion that at the height of about 2,500 miles above the sun's surface its atmosphere has decreased in density to onehalf of what it is at the surface; at a little more than 5,000 miles, to one-fourth, and so on for greater heights. Assuming further that the density of the solar atmosphere at the surface is 855,000,000,000 times what it is at the outer limit, the height of the atmosphere is found to be 121,000 miles, or more than onefourth of the sun's radius. This ratio is less than that which actually exists in the earth's atmosphere. If we now suppose the masses of the terrestrial and solar atmospheres to have the same ratio as the masses of the earth and the sun, the density of the solar atmosphere at the sun's surface will be only of the density of the earth's atmosphere at the earth's surface. The resistance offered to motion in such an atmosphere is much less than it would be in one of low temperature. Were the heat of the sun's surface reduced to 32°, the height of the atmosphere under the conditions above supposed would be only five miles, and at the height of 665 feet the density would be reduced one-half. The pressure on a square inch of surface would be 5 tons, and the density at the surface would be 740 times as great as at the surface of the earth-in other words, about equal to the density of water.

The Late Sun-spot Minimum.-The observations of Prof. R. Wolf, Director of the Zürich Observatory, indicate a minimum of solar spots about the end of the year 1875. The last preceding minimum occurred in 1867, and the

maximum in 1870. The mean period, according to Dr. Wolf, is 11.11 years. The last epoch of least disturbance took place, therefore, nearly two years before the predicted time.

Probable Existence of an Intra-Mercurial Planet. It is well known that dark circular spots have been seen at widely-distant intervals passing rapidly across the solar disk. These phenomena have been regarded by some astronomers as transits of an unknown interior planet. The fact, on the other hand, that no such body has been seen during total eclipses of the sun, is claimed by others as presumptive evidence that the so-called transits have been due to some other cause. But this negative testimony is by no means conclusive. When it is remembered, moreover, that an unexplained motion of Mercury's perihelion has been referred by Leverrier to the disturbing influence either of a planet or a zone of minute asteroids within Mercury's orbit, the question is certainly still open to discussion.

The theory that this outstanding disturbance of Mercury's motion is due, at least in part, to an interior planet, has been recently revived by the distinguished Director of the Paris Observatory. The attention of astronomers was called to the subject by the announcement that on the afternoon of April 4, 1876, Herr Weber, of Peckeloh, had seen a small round sun-spot, which had disappeared before the following morning. It was found, however, that the observers at Madrid and Greenwich had witnessed the same appearance, and that their observations proved it to have been a true sun-spot, not a planet. But Leverrier, who had thus been led to undertake a

discussion of the subject, found sufficient evidence in former observations to render the existence of the planet highly probable. The spots seen at the five following dates are regarded by the French astronomer as transits of the same body:

"Decuppis.

"Sidebotham.

"Lescarbault.

2,

66 66

26, 19,

"Lummis.

1802, October 10, observed by Fritsch.. 1839, 1849, March 12, 1859, 1862, These dates are approximately satisfied by a period of 334 0h. 32m. 24s, corresponding to a mean distance of 0.201. It is remarked, however, by a writer in Nature (November 2, 1876), that a period of 27 23h. 8m. 10s. not only represents the observations selected by Leverrier, but also that of Stark, October 9, 1819, one of the most definite on record. The question is one of much interest, and as another transit may not occur for several years, diligent search will be made for the body along its calculated path. If a planet of the size indicated by the supposed transits really exist, it ought certainly to be visible off the sun's disk.

New Minor Planets.-The number of known asteroids at the close of 1875 was 157. Eleven