THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



619 



that we have done better in sciences 

 such as astronomy and zoology, having 

 no immediate applications, than in 

 medicine, physics and chemistry, where 

 it might be supposed that the need of 

 their applications and the wealth of the 

 country would have led to researches in 

 pure science. Perhaps the two greatest 

 astronomers of the present generation 

 have been Dr. G. W. Hill and the late 

 Simon Neweomb. Another distin- 

 guished American astronomer, Lewis 

 Boss, director of the Dudley Observa- 

 tory at Albany, has died at the age of 

 sixty-six years. His researches were 

 technical in character, consisting largely 



of rigid determination of stellar posi- 

 tions. The catalogue in which he gives 

 the positions and proper motions of 

 6,188 stais is a model of accurate work, 

 and has led to discoveries of impor- 

 tance, such as the Taurus stream of 

 stars. His work is highly appreciated 

 by astronomers, and was given recogni- 

 tion by his appointment as director of 

 the department of Meridian Astronomy 

 of the Carnegie Institution. Science 

 suffers severely in his death. 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS 



We record with regret the death of 

 Dr. John William Mallett, F.R.S., pro- 



Dk. Lewis Boss. 

 late director of the Dudley Observatory. 



