136 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION 



not otherwise provided for. This seems to me to be urgently needed, 

 and the work could be completed in a limited number of years. 



5 and 6. I quite agree as to the importance of these. 



7, I presume, may be considered later. 



In the matter of location, I would submit that New Zealand and 

 Tasmania should be carefully considered. An observatory estab- 

 lished in New Zealand would have a good chance of being taken up 

 by the government, as in the case of Cordoba, after its specific pieces 

 of work were completed, and it would undoubtedly give a great 

 stimulus to astronomy in the colony. 



\^From Professor /. C. Kapteyni, Director of the Astronomical Labora- 

 tory, Groniiigcn, Holland. '\ 



Vries (near Groningen), August ji, iqoj. 



In answer to the valued invitation of your Committee, I will 

 unreservedly state my view^s, though they may seem somewhat 

 radical on some points. 



For evident reasons there cannot be the slightest doubt that a 

 southern astronomical observatory can do much more for the pro- 

 motion of astronom}^ than a northern one. 



The works falling in the first line for cultivation at such an ob- 

 servatory I consider to be: 



1. Determination of stellar parallax. 



2. Fundamental determination of right ascension and declination. 



3. Determination of radial velocities of the fixed stars. 



There are, most certainl}^ several other works which urgently 

 call for execution, but I think the three works mentioned must take 

 precedence of all the others. Moreover the chances of these other 

 works being undertaken elsewhere on a more or less sufiicient scale 

 seem to be somewhat better. So, for instance, the extension of the 

 astrographic catalogue from declination — 32° to — 90° in your 

 " confidential statement." 



At the Cape the positions of the reference stars for the ' ' Carte du 

 Ciel " have been determined by the meridian circle. This being so, 

 the positions which will be obtained by the measurement of the 

 plates (as soon as the)' shall have been reduced to right ascension 

 and declination) will make the want of an extension of the astro- 

 graphic catalogue little felt for that zone. 



It seems but reasonable to hope that the existing southern observ- 

 atories (Cape, Melbourne, Cordoba) will cooperate to furnish the 



