REPORT OP COMMITTEE ON OBSERVATORIES II 7 



south pole is, in my ej^es, the one most important for the future of 

 astronomy. This assumes in advance, however, that the work 

 designated by you as No. i, for the brighter stars, should precede. 

 Therefore, I entertain no doubt that proposition No. i should have 

 the preference over all the other tasks. 



{^From Director Kust7ier, of the Royal Observatory, Bonn.l 



[Translation.] 



Bonn, /u/y 27, igoj. 



I have read your letter of July 8 and the enclosed program of 

 the Committee of the Carnegie Institution with the greatest inter- 

 est, and I hasten to express to you my full and unqualified acqui- 

 escence in the propositions therein contained. 



The situation is so clear and simple that, in my view, only one 

 answer is possible to the question, " How can astronomy be pro- 

 moted to the best advantage ? ' ' namely, through the establishment 

 of an observatory equipped with the best instruments in the most 

 favorable location in the southern hemisphere. The present neglect 

 of the southern sky is felt in the most troublesome manner in all 

 astronomical problems, and many series of observations that have 

 been secured in the northern sky with great care and at great ex- 

 pense cannot be fully employed for the benefit of science because 

 they pertain to only a part of the sphere. The most important con- 

 clusions can be reached only after these have been equally extended 

 over the southern sky, and then only will the finest fruits- of astro- 

 nomical investigation begin to ripen. 



I can but join in approval of the list of works, arranged in a pre- 

 liminary way according to their importance, which is proposed for 

 this Southern Observatory. This list might easily be further in- 

 creased, but practically, at the outset, it may have to be curtailed. 



I hold point i [meridian observation of stars down to the seventh 

 magnitude] as the most important and — because closely related to 

 it — point 4 [observation of all stars down to the ninth magnitude, 

 southward from — 32°] . The prompt continuation to the south pole 

 of the great undertaking of the Astronomische Gesellschaft, which 

 has already been extended down to — 23° or — 32° is an uncondi- 

 tional necessity. This last quarter of the sky must soon be worked 

 out, if we are not to lose a considerable part of what has been ac- 

 complished in the three quarters already completed. 



In the continuation of this plan of the Astronomische Gesellschaft 



