TRUMAN HENRY SAFFORD. <555 



obtained employment at Harvard College Observatory, where he con- 

 tinued for nearly twelve years. He married Elizabeth M. Bradbury, of 

 Cambridge, in March, I860, ''on six hundred dollars a year," as he 

 once told the writer of this notice; for astronomy has never been a prom- 

 ising road to riches for young Americans insufficiently endowed with the 

 practical turn of mind generally regarded as characteristic of their coun- 

 trymen. He was elected Fellow of the Academy, Nov. 13, 1861. 



Safford's position at Cambridge, if not pecuniarily advantageous, 

 offered him in some other respects greater advantages than, perhaps, he 

 could secure in later life; for lie had here comparatively few hindrances 

 to the undisturbed development of his scientific abilities. Accordingly, 

 the results of his work soon began to make him widely and favorably 

 known in astronomical circles. One of the most generally interesting of 

 these investigations related to the orbital movement of Sirius. Many 

 years before, the observed want of uniformity in the proper motion of 

 this star had led astronomers to the belief that it formed one of a system 

 of bodies revolving about a common centre of gravity ; its companion, or 

 companions, as the case might be, being too faint to he visible, at least 

 with the existing instrumental means. Still more recently, the character 

 of the supposed revolution of Sirius had been discussed by means of its 

 right ascensions, as observed at different times. Safford now undertook 

 a similar discussion of its observed declinations, and after combining the 

 result of this work with that previously found, on the supposition that 

 only one disturbing body occasioned the observed effects, was able to 

 indicate its direction from Sirius at the time, in excellent agreement with 

 the actual place of the companion discovered almost simultaneously by 

 the younger Alvau Clark. 



A catalogue of the declinations of five hundred and thirty-two stars, 

 intended for use in the government survey of the lake region, was pre- 

 pared by Safford during his connection with Harvard College Observa- 

 tory, and probably marks the beginning of the geodetic work which 

 occupied a large part of his time iu later years. 



In 18G3 he received the formal title of Assistant Observer; and two 

 years later, upon the death of Professor G. P. Bond, he was placed in 

 charge of the Observatory. At this time, he completed and prepared for 

 publication Professor Bond's researches on the nebula of Orion, which 

 appeared as Volume V. of the Observatory Annals. Volume IV. of the 

 same series is also the work of Safford. The first part, dealing with the 

 preparation of a list of fundamental stars for transit observations, was 

 published in 1863. By means of these fundamental stars, the right as- 



