22 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Donobue Comet Medal. One such medal is awarded to every discoverer 

 of a new comet. The other is the Bruce Gold Medal, and is looked upon 

 as one of the most important medals that can be awarded to an astron- 

 omer. It is awarded "for distinguished services to astronomy." The 

 medal itself is a beautiful work of art, and is valuable both intrinsically 

 and for what it symbolizes. The great value that astronomers attribute 

 to this medal can be appreciated better when the manner of making the 

 award is understood. The process is as follows : The directors of six 

 observatories (Harvard, Yerkes, Lick, Berlin, Paris, and Greenwich) 

 are each requested to nominate three men worthy to receive the medal 

 in any given year. After these nominations are in it is usually found 

 that six or seven names are presented to the directors of the Society 

 from which then their choice for the medal must be made. If an award 

 is made, therefore, it is to some one nominated by one or more (usually 

 more) of the directors of six of the leading observatories of the world. 

 There can be no doubt then that the recipient is justly entitled to this 

 medal "for distinguished services to astronomy." That it is most 

 highly prized by its recipients I quote from a typical letter of accept- 

 ance of the medal. The medallist writes, " I regard this distinction as 

 the highest an astronomer can receive. . . ." 



The results of the investigations at the Lick Observatory are issued 

 in the Bulletins of the Lick Observatory for short articles, and in the 

 Publications of the Lick Observatory (Volume XII. just issued) for 

 the more extended work. Eesults from the Berkeley astronomical de- 

 partment are also issued in the Bulletins of the Lick Observatory, and 

 one volume (VII.) of the Publications of the Lick Observatory is de- 

 voted to its investigations. 



The Contributions from the Solar Observatory, Mount Wilson, Cali- 

 fornia, issued by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, give to the 

 world the jesults of the investigations carried on at the observatory on 

 Mount Wilson and in the laboratories in Pasadena. 



The Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific I have 

 already mentioned. The list of astronomical publications on the Pacific 

 coast is made complete, I think, when I mention finally the Publication 

 of the Astronomical Society of Pomona College, an interesting quarterly 

 popular magazine issued by the astronomical students of Pomona 

 College. 



In preparing this account of astronomy on the Pacific coast I have 

 drawn freely from "A Brief Account of the Lick Observatory" (fourth 

 edition), and from the annual reports of the director of the Mount 

 Wilson Solar Observatory, In conclusion I wish to express my thanks 

 to the directors of these two observatories for their kindness in provid- 

 ing the illustrations. 



