SKETCH OF FRIED RICH W. A. ARGELANDER. 555 



Argelander was less versed in the deeper theories of astronomy 

 than in practical work. Hence those of his lectures that had a 

 practical bearing were most interesting, and so searching was he 

 that, whenever he found hearers, he aroused their earnest interest. 

 He was fond of personal intercourse with his students, and would 

 often walk with them, conversing on various subjects, questions 

 of the day, etc. He would go into detailed and most entertaining 

 discussions, for which his lectures afforded neither time nor a 

 suitable public, and he could then consider the value of conjec- 

 tural hypotheses to which he was no friend. The transparency 

 of his character, the goodness of his heart, and his open, manly 

 bearing will never be forgotten by his friends. 



His active life was not wanting in distinctions. He wore 

 orders conferred by Russia, Prussia, Sweden, and Baden. Numer- 

 ous learned societies and academies made him an active, corre- 

 sponding, or honorary member; those of St. Petersburg in 182G, 

 of Berlin in 1836, of London (not more distinctly named) in 1846, 

 of Stockholm in the same year, of Paris and Vienna in 1851, of 

 Berlin in 1855, of Breslau in 1856, the Royal Astronomical Society 

 of London in 1832, the Societas Fennica at Helsingfors in 1845, 

 and the National Academy of the United States in 1864. He 

 received the Demidoff prize of the St. Petersburg Academy while 

 residing at Helsingfors, and the golden medal of the Royal Astro- 

 nomical Society in 1863. The jubilee of his receiving the doctor's 

 degree was made the occasion of a grand celebration in 1872. He 

 was almost from its foundation a member of the official board of 

 the Astronomische Gesellschaft, and presided at the meetings in 

 Bonn and Leipsic. 



Many positions were offered to him, but he preferred to remain 

 at Bonn, while he always preserved an affectionate recollection of 

 Finland. He devoted himself faithfully to the interests of the 

 observatory, but was not fond of participating in affairs of admin- 

 istration, and was disinclined to public life. He was a welcome 

 guest at the social gatherings of scientific societies. 



Accepting, provisionally, D'Omalius d'Halley's estimate of the population of 

 the earth, 1,195,450,000, M. H. R. Verneau calculates that forty-two per cent of 

 the number are of the white race, forty-four per cent of the yellow race, eleven 

 per cent are negroes, two per cent of the mixed Oceanic races, and one per cent 

 Indians. By local distribution, the whites occupy twenty-two per cent of the 

 habitable surface of the globe, the yellow races twenty-eight per cent, the negroes 

 eighteen per cent, the Oceanians three per cent, and the American Indians twenty 

 per cent. Hence, as distributed, there are found, on equal areas inhabited by them, 

 one Indian, nineteen negroes, twenty-one Oceanians, fifty of the yellow races, and 

 sixty-one whites. In point of religion, 400,000,000 of the earth's inhabitants are 

 Christian adherents of various sects. 



