26 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION 



way. Recently a share in the Astrographic Chart was undertaken 

 there, but Director Loewy informs us that this work has not been 

 prosecuted there, and he expresses the hope that the Carnegie Insti- 

 tution may supply the vacancy. A strong national observatory was 

 organized at Cordoba, in the Argentine Republic, in 1870, under the 

 direction of Dr. B. A. Gould. This ranked among the leading ob- 

 servatories of the world for many years ; but the financial disasters 

 of Argentina have had a depressing effect upon that observatory-, 

 which, though it still continues its valuable work with perseverance 

 and effect, is certainly in no position to undertake any additional 

 obligations beyond that of a share in the Astrographic Chart and 

 the other works there in progress. 



Summing up, we find this situation : The Royal Observatory at 

 the Cape of Good Hope will doubtless continue in its functions as 

 an observatory of high rank, with the duty of doing for the southern 

 hemisphere what Greenwich does for the northern as the primary 

 object of its establishment. There planetary and stellar observa- 

 tions will be made, together with the obser\-ations that are required 

 in the interest of government surveys. Over and above this we may 

 fairly expect strong contributions from that observatory in a variety 

 of fields. The remaining observatories of the southern hemisphere, 

 with one exception, will be absorbed for at least 10 or 15 years in 

 their work upon the Astrographic Chart, and, so far as can now be 

 foreseen, will not be in a position to undertake much else of an im- 

 portant character. The one exception mentioned is the observatory 

 at Arequipa. This observatory has been occupied in photometric 

 and photographic researches of a nature similar to those carried on 

 at Harvard College Observatory, of which it is a branch. These 

 researches are of great interest and value, but they are outside the 

 scope of the program here proposed. 



Why Observations Are Needed in the Southern Sky. 



It is desirable to consider more particularly, though briefly, why 

 it is that the observation of objects in the far southern sky is so 

 peculiarly desirable in connection with cosmical problems. If the 

 problem were merely to ascertain whether the stars are in motion 

 at all, or whether their motions vary with apparent brightness, or 

 whether the distances of the stars are measurable in any case, these 

 questions could be, as they have been, settled by observations on 

 objects in the northern sky ; but when we reach a point where 



