156 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION 



[From Professor A. Behpolsky, Imperial Observatory, Pulkova, Russia.^ 



[Translation.] 



March ii, 1903. 



The project of constructing several astrophysical observatories in 

 the United States is of very great importance. Investigations of the 

 sun are precisely those which require study by modern methods. 

 At the present time, since the discovery which you have made with 

 the spectroheliograph, the study of the solar surface with instru- 

 ments of sufficient size promises to reconstruct current ideas regard- 

 ing the constitution of the sun. The glory of accomplishing this 

 will belong to the United States if the construction of special observa- 

 tories is provided for. 



It will perhaps be possible to find a mountain more advantageous 

 than Mount Whitney for investigations of the solar radiation. I 

 believe that the station can be established only at a distance of 300 

 meters below the summit. The plan for the investigations on the 

 constitution and radial motion of stars also requires instruments 

 more powerful than those which are employed at the present time. 

 Everyone desires to undertake such work, but no country can realize 

 this desire, since nowhere are sufficient funds available for scientific 

 researches. It is only in the United States that private fortunes are 

 devoted to science. 



But, as you are well aware, successful investigators are quite as 

 necessary as instruments. I believe that as many scientific investi- 

 gators as the newly established observatories will need may also be 

 found in America. 



\From Professor Cleveland Abbe, U.S. Weather Bureau, Washington^ 



April 3, 1903. 

 Your letter of March 25, as Secretary of the Commission relative 

 to the establishment of a large astrophysical observatory, interests 

 me very much. The practical question as to the location and main- 

 tenance demands first consideration. There is no doubt that an 

 observ^atory at the highest practicable point, working in cooperation 

 with one lower down, will eventually add much to our knowledge 

 of the solar and the terrestrial atmospheres. I consider Mount 

 Whitney the most desirable summit station ; a station at its base is 

 necessary both for supplies and for special work on absorption. 

 Another station in nearly the same meridian but farther south can 



