amounting to two and a half tons to the square inch were re- 

 moved, this hot core of material would instantly vaporize and 

 envelop the earth in a hot, perhaps glowing gas. In considering 

 the origin of this extreme heat, it is assumed thai il was primar- 

 ily derived from the heat generated by the condensation oi 

 the original earth nebula, bu1 thai the slow cooling of the mass 

 may be {\\\i' to the presence of radio-act ive substances, whose 

 slow disintegration evolves large stores of heat. 



It has been found thai the wonderful new element radium 

 is always associated with uranium in minerals containing the 

 latter substance, and it is believed to be a produd of the dis- 

 integration of thai metal. There are several other radio-active 

 elements such as thorium, polonium, actinium, and all of thes< 

 are found to pervade many of the rock formal ions, especially 

 granite. This may account to a large extenl for the mainten- 

 ance of present temperatures in the earth's crust. 



"Sonic European Observatories" was the theme for the 

 December meeting. Mr. Baumgardl described the Observa- 

 tories at Athens. Paris. Stockholm, and Pulkowa with an ac- 

 count of the work accomplished at those places. 



Mr. Collins gave an account of the ureal Observatory at 

 Vienna and his warm reception by the Director, Professor Ed- 

 mund Weiss: Of his ascent to the summit of Galileo's Tower 

 in Florence, from which was first seen the four satellites of 

 Jupiter, and of his examination of the little world-renowned 

 telescope in the Specola Natural History Museum at Florence, 

 exhibited to him by the Director. Prof. Constantino Pittei: Of 

 the very pleasant attentions shown him in Rome by Signor 



Elia Millosevich, the Italian Astroi ier Royal, in throwing 



open for his inspection the Observatory, working rooms and 

 offices erected on the dome of St. Ignatius Church, which forms 

 one corner of the large group of structures in which was located 

 the famous Collegio Romano. From this Observatory the 

 Jesuil Priest. Father Secchi, made his discoveries, and here, in 

 his adjoining private apartments on the roof of the church, he 

 died. February 26, 1878, seven years after the Italian govern- 

 ment had driven out the -Jesuil owners, shame and the fear of 

 ridicule from the whole Astronomical world preventing the 

 authorities from dispossessing this learned scientisl of the place 

 hi' had made so famous. 



Pope Deo XIII gave to the German professor, P. Giovanni 

 Hagen, S. •!.. the charge of establishing a new Observatory in 

 the private grounds of the Vatican Palace, and tin- work com 

 menced before Leo's death has progressed steadily under the 

 encouragement and material assistance of Pins X. Here upon 

 the towers of the old walls, which, in ancient days, formed a 

 pari of the defenses around St. Peter's Church and the Vatican, 

 commanding an unobstructed view of the heavens from the 



43 



