I employ no assistant." I am happy to say Miss Mitchell receives the same salary for the observations and reckonings of the _Nautical Almanac_ that would be given to a man. In 1856, at the Smithsonian Institute, a paper was read by Professor Foote, on the heat of the sun's rays; after which a paper by Mrs. Foote was read by Professor Henry, giving an account of experiments made by herself on the same subject. Miss Harriet Bouvier (now Mrs. Peterson) has written a very good work on astronomy for schools. Mrs. Somerville, a distinguished astronomer of England, has added much information to the science by her discoveries. "Miss Anne Sheepshanks, sister to the late astronomer, has been elected a fellow of the Astronomical Society." =3. Authors.= Many superior works of fiction have been written by ladies of America, some of which have been translated into the languages of Europe and introduced into those countries. Many of our fair countrywomen have distinguished themselves by their poetical effusions, and quite a number have published their poems in book form. Mrs. Everett Green, author of the "Lives of the Princesses of England," is now employed by the English Government upon state papers. Research into historical data, and the nice, careful arrangement of details, are well fitted to the patience of woman. Several years ago, Queen Victoria granted to Mrs. Gore and Mrs. Jamieson each $1,000 a year as pensions. These are not by any means the only instances of her liberality to literary women. During the year ending January, 1860, she granted pensions to thirteen ladies, either for literary merit of their own or that of some relative. The French Academy awarded to Madame Louisa Collet, in 1851, the prize of $1,000 for poetry; also one to Mlle. Ernestine Druet, a governess in a school at Paris. Mlle. Royer received the prize, a short time ago, from the University of Lausanne, for a philosophical essay. The labor of authors is not rewarded as well as other kinds of intellectual labor of the same extent: for instance, a physician or lawyer, with the same abilities, amount of learning, and application, would derive a greater reward pecuniarily. In the United States an author can retain the profits of his work a certain number of years, being at liberty to make any arrangement with his publisher he sees proper. In France and Russia he possesses the profits arising from the sale of his work during his life, and his heirs receive them during twenty years. The following is an extract from H. C. Carey's article on the Rewards of Authorship: "Mr. Irving stands, I imagine, at the head of living authors for the amount received for his books. The sums paid to the renowned Peter Parley must have been enormously great; but what has been their extent, I have no means of ascertaining. Mr. Mitchell, the geographer, has realized a handsome fortune from his school books. Professor Davies is understood to have received more than $50,000 from the series published by him.