University of Virginia Library

SCHOOL OF PRACTICAL ASTRONOMY.

Professor Stone.

General Astronomy.—First Year.—The aim of this course is to give
such a knowledge of the facts, principles, and methods of Astronomy as every
well educated person should possess. The preparation required is a good
working knowledge of Arithmetic, Algebra through Quadratics, Plane and Solid
Synthetic Geometry, and Plane Trigonometry through the Solution of Triangles.
The class pursuing this course meets three times a week.

Text-Book.—Young's General Astronomy.

Second Year.—This course is adapted to the wants of students who desire
to pursue the subject beyond the limits of the course just mentioned, including
those who expect to teach, and those who intend to follow a more advanced
special course. The class pursuing this course meets three times a week.

Post-Graduate Course.—The work in this course includes three lectures
and a seminar each week, in addition to practical work in the observatory.
The subjects embraced are as follows:

Practical Astronomy, including a systematic training in making and
reducing astronomical observations; theory and use of the instruments of a
fixed observatory; methods of reducing observations; construction of star catalogues.

Text-Books.—Chauvenet's Spherical and Practical Astronomy; various memoirs and
volumes of observations in the Observatory Library.

Celestial Mechanics, with practice in numerical computations; general
laws of equilibrium and motion; formation and integration of the differential
equations of motion of a system of bodies subject to the laws of gravity.

Text-Books.—Tisserand's Traité de Mécanique Céleste; Poincaré's Les Méthodes
Nouvelles de la Mécanique Céleste.

Only the first year's course in General Astronomy is required of candidates
for the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Candidates for the degree of Master of
Arts selecting Astronomy as a part of their advanced work are required to complete
both courses in General Astronomy. Candidates for the degree of Doctor
of Philosophy selecting Astronomy as a part of their post-graduate work
must also be graduated in the M. A. course. When Astronomy is selected as
the principal subject, the graduate course extends through two years. A prescribed
course in this School, to be agreed upon in a conference of the Professors
interested, will be considered as the equivalent of the Graduate Course
in either Mathematics or Natural Philosophy for graduates in the M. A. courses
of these schools.

The Astronomical Observatory is situated upon an elevation known
as Mount Jefferson, which furnishes an unobstructed horizon. The principal
building is a rotunda, forty-five feet in diameter, and contains the great Clark
refractor of twenty-six inches aperture. The building and instrument are the
gift of Leander J. McCormick, Esq., of Chicago. The computing rooms are
adjoining, and contain clock, chronograph, etc., and a working library. In a
smaller building are a three-inch Fauth transit and a four-inch Kahler equatorial.