ARTHUR SEARLE. 509 



him. The electric telegraph, anaesthetic surgery, the discovery of 

 the planet Neptune in 1846, all appealed to his mind. Nor was he less 

 gifted in other respects. His avidity for knowledge gave him even 

 then the reputation of being a " walking dictionary." As a schoolboy, 

 mathematics could be easily acquired while feeding his rabbits, and at 

 college he found that he had already performed the chemical experi- 

 ments which were being taught from a text-book without any provision 

 for laboratory practice by the students. All branches of knowledge 

 inside or outside the college curriculum interested him intensely, and 

 he studied them all eagerly and thoughtfully. His first article was 

 published in the Harvard Magazine, while he was still a student. It 

 was on the plurality of worlds, and seemed prophetic of his future 

 career, as he had no thought at the time of making astronomy a pro- 

 fession. 



It was twelve years after graduation that Searle found his calling. 

 The intervening time was a course in the university of life. Ill health 

 led him to engage in farming for a time. Teaching, statistical work, 

 and experience in a broker's office, all were tried. He also joined in a 

 project to raise sheep in California, but the scheme after a brief trial 

 was abandoned. Before returning home from California, he filled 

 temporarily the place of an absent professor at Santa Clara. 



In 1868, his brother George, who had been employed at the Harvard 

 Observatory, resigned to study for the Catholic priesthood, and Arthur 

 was asked to take his place. This he did, little thinking that at last 

 he had found a permanent place with congenial occupation. The 

 following year he was appointed Assistant, to be promoted to Assistant 

 Professor in 1883, and Phillips Professor of Astronomy in 1887. In 

 1912 he became Phillips Professor Emeritus. Besides his Observatory 

 work he also conducted astronomical courses at Radcliffe College from 

 1891 to 1912. He was married in 1873 to Emma Wesselhoeft, daugh- 

 ter of Dr. Robert Wesselhoeft of Boston. Mi's. Searle died in 1914. 

 Two daughters survive their parents. 



His earliest work at the Harvard Observatory was as a computer 

 and observer. In the latter capacity he made observations of stars, 

 double stars, nebulae, satellites of the planets, asteroids, and comets. 

 These observations are contained in the Annals of Harvard College 

 Observatory, Volumes 11, 13, 14, and 33; also in the Proceedings of 

 this Academy, Volume 16. In 1889 he published in the Annals of 



