444 ASTROPHYSICS 



climate, spending his whole time in observing or taking photographs; 

 another in the midst of civilization, enjoying all the advantages of 

 intercourse with other scientific men, but with no telescope worth 

 using, and dependent for his material on the observations made by 

 others. Some division of labor in this way is doubtless advantageous, 

 but we must beware lest the division become too sharply pronounced. 

 Will it be possible to prevent its undue growth by some alternation 

 of duties? Can the hermit observer and the university professor 

 take turn and turn about to the common benefit? The proposal is 

 perhaps a little revolutionary, and has the obvious disadvantages of 

 inconvenience and expense at the epochs of change; but I do not 

 think it should be set aside on these grounds. 



I must admit, however, that I am not ready with a panacea. It 

 has been chiefly my object to draw attention to some modern tend- 

 encies in astronomical work, hoping that the remedies may be 

 evolved from a general consideration of them. Such questions of 

 the relationship of the worker to his work are even harder to solve 

 than those we meet with in the w y ork itself. But there is at least this 

 excuse for noticing them on an occasion like the present, that they 

 are, to some extent, common to all departments of knowledge, and 

 our difficulties may come to the notice of others who have had oc- 

 casion to consider them in other connections and may be able to help 

 us. Or, again, we may take the more flattering view that the human 

 problems of astronomy to-day may be those of some other science 

 to-morrow; for astronomy is one of the oldest of the sciences, and 

 has already passed through many stages through which others must 

 pass. In any case, we must deal with these problems in the sight of all 

 men; and of all the consequences entailed by our lately acquired 

 opportunities, none are more interesting and none can be more im- 

 portant to us than those affecting the astronomer himself. 



