Letters from various British and international observatories on filling vacancies, explanation of the mechanism and construction of time balls at Copenhagen and Edinburgh, the establishment of an observatory at Quebec, and the purchase of chronometers for the Lisbon Observatory. The correspondents include Admiral Radstock, B.A. Gould, J. Glaisher, J. Challis, C.P. Smyth, M.J. Johnson, J.F.W. Herschel and C. Frodsham. There are reports on the Brussels Observatory, 1852-1853, by L.A. Quetelet; reports on the Liverpool Observatory, 1855-1857; papers on the Toulouse and Trevandrum Observatories, the latter by J.A. Broun, with two engravings of the Trevandrum Observatory and Augustier Point from 'The Journal of Archaeology, Science and Art'; and a piece on American astronomy from 'The Albany Daily Statesman'.