REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON OBSERVATORIES 21 



II. Proposed Observatory in the Southern Hemisphere. 



In inviting the attention of the Trustees to the project for an 

 observing station in the southern hemisphere, we are not proposing 

 a mere generality. We propose certain definite things to be accom- 

 plished. 



This undertaking essays the humbler task of producing the facts 

 of observation by means of which future hypotheses must be tested 

 and upon which theories must be founded, rather than the more 

 brilliant role of attempting some great scientific generalization ; 

 yet it does not altogether lack the attractiveness which belongs to 

 great discoveries, since it is intended to prepare a road by which 

 discoveries can be reached. In any future division of honors it 

 cannot fail to win its share. In fact, it is the more sure of this 

 because theories often fail and are replaced by more perfect deduc- 

 tions ; but the observations always remain, partakers in final suc- 

 cess. The feasibility of the works here proposed is undoubted. 

 Their value can be safely predicted. This value will be enduring, 

 not temporary. 



But this project does not propose to build for posterity alone. It 

 promises to lead to generalizations of immediate importance, and if 

 the valuable deductions to which it may be fairly expected to con- 

 tribute at once should fall short of expectation, it could only be a 

 question of a few years before these could be realized. 



The enterprise herein proposed offers a peculiar attraction in the 

 powerful alliances of which it would form a part. It would form 

 one of the converging lines which must result in producing what 

 will prove to be the characteristic advance of astronomy in this 

 century. 



It will be natural first to consider the nature of the general prob- 

 lem in astronomy to the solution of which the establishment of the 

 proposed observing station in the southern hemisphere may be ex- 

 pected to contribute. 



Problem of the Sidereal System. 



The mere appearance of the starry sky at night cannot fail to im- 

 press the reflecting mind with the thought that this vast aggregation 

 of stars must contain within itself the evidence of organic arrange- 

 ment. A more attentive examination, even without a telescope, 

 while it reveals a general uniformity in the distribution of the stars 



