656 TRUMAN HENRY SAFFORD. 



censions of five hundred and five stars were determined by observations 

 in the years 1862 to 1865 ; the second part of the volume, containing the 

 result of tliis work, appeared in 1878. 



In 1866 Safford was appointed director of the Dearborn Observatory 

 at Chicago, which had recently been provided with the large refracting 

 telescope, by means of which, while still in its maker's hands, the com- 

 panion of Sirius had been discovered. This position, with which was 

 connected a professorship of astronomy in the University, seemed to offer 

 the fairest prospect of permanent and congenial employment to its occu- 

 pant ; but the disastrous fire which destroyed so large a part of Chicago 

 in 1871 deprived the Observatory of the financial support upon which its 

 activity depended. Professor Safford, accordingly, now found it neces- 

 sary to maintain his family by geodetic work connected with the govern- 

 ment surveys. He had undertaken the observation of one of the zones 

 of stars distributed among various observatories under the general system 

 arranged by the Astronomische Gesellschaft ; but this, and other pieces 

 of work begun at Chicago, were now necessarily laid aside. 



In 1876, however, Professor Safford was restored to his favorite pur- 

 suits by appointment to the chair of astronomy at Williams College. In 

 this position, teaching required much of his time, and of course largely 

 impeded his attention to scientific investigation ; he also acted as libra- 

 rian of the College, and was at times engaged in other business con- 

 nected with its administration. It is not probable that he felt the work 

 of instruction to be a burden ; on the contrary, he took great interest 

 in the subject of pedagogy, which he studied theoretically as well as 

 practically. Notwithstanding all hindrances to the pursuit of strictly 

 astronomical research, he accomplished much in that direction during 

 the years spent at Williamstown, devoting himself largely, as before, to 

 the subject of accuracy in the determinations of the positions of fixed 

 stars. One of the principal results of this work was the publication 

 (in the Proceedings of this Academy, Volume XIX.) of a catalogue of 

 the mean right ascensions of one hundred and thirty-three stars near the 

 north pole ; but many other articles in scientific periodicals, particularly 

 the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, attest Professor 

 Safford's perseverance and success in scientific work during his later 

 years. 



He died June 13, 1901, at Newark, New Jersey, where he was resid- 

 ing at the time with one of his sons. A stroke of paralysis, three years 

 previously, had put an end to his activity in science. His widow, with 

 four sons and a daughter, survives him. 



Arthur Searle. 



