OF ARTS AND SCIENCES : SEPTEMBER 9, 1862. 35 



Chapter VL, Section 4, M'hich now stands, — "All moneys which 

 there shall not be pi-esent occasion to expend, shall be invested by the 

 Treasurer, on such securities as the Academy shall direct," — to 

 read: 



All moneys which there shall not he present occasion to expend shall 

 he invested hy the Treasurer, under the direction of the Finance Com- 

 mittee, on such securities as the Academy shall direct. 



Amendments were severally moved by Professor Peirce, Dr. 

 B. A. Gould, and Professor Eliot. And the proposed Statutes 

 and Standing Votes, with the proposed amendments, were re- 

 committed to the same Committee, to be presented for final 

 consideration at the next Statute Meeting. 



Mr. T. H. SafFord communicated a paper entitled, — 



A Catalogue of Standard Stars : Polar and Clock Stars, for 



the Reduction of Observations in Right Ascension, with a 



Discussion of the Positions. 



In computing the instrumental corrections for a transit-instrument, 

 it is often useful to have a catalogue of stars near the pole, of some 

 extent. The positions of these stars must be known with much ac- 

 curacy beforehand for the current reductions ; and the further deter- 

 mination of their positions may be advantageously made one object of 

 the observations. 



Such is the process employed at the Observatory of Harvard Col- 

 lege. The twenty-five stars within 10° of the pole, of which the dis- 

 cussion is given in this Memoir, are to be determined there ; the obser- 

 , vations are partially made, in fact, and the positions here given serve 

 for the daily reductions, to be afterwards corrected where necessary. 

 These stars are so arranged as to give means of determining instru- 

 mental corrections at every hour in the night, and often of detecting 

 changes which would otherwise be recognized with difficulty. 



The risht-ascensions of the clock-stars of the Nautical Almanac are 

 also discussed in the Memoir, but with less detail. There may be 

 systematic differences between the different available catalogues which 

 require further investigation. The thirty-six stars whose places with 

 those of a and 8 Ursae Minoris are given in Wolfer's Tabulce Reduc- 

 tionum are not rediscussed, but the right-ascensions there given are 

 referred to 1855.0. These places depend upon a great many obser- 



