ADVISORY committe;^ on astronomy 99 



ditions of atmosphere, elevation, latitude, or instrumental equip- 

 ment. We believe that under no circumstances should there be any 

 interference with present activities. For all work not requiring 

 new and special conditions we think that progress can be most ad- 

 vantageously realized in cooperation with existing institutions, 

 according to the policy already foreshadowed in the preliminaries 

 of the organization of the Institution. Furthermore, we desire to 

 reiterate our view, expressed in the general report and elsewhere, 

 that it is not worth while to give serious attention to plans of in- 

 vestigation for which there is not a good prospect that the services 

 for direction and superintendence of a competent and experienced 

 investigator can be found. 



Inasmuch as we have conjectured that it might be possible for the 

 Institution to undertake the establishment of a southern observatory 

 on a modest scale at least, we present our views upon this subject 

 in somewhat greater detail. Following this Professor Langley pre- 

 sents his views regarding an observing station for solar investiga- 

 tions.* 



An Observing Station in the Southern Hemisphere. 



Observatio7is Needed in the Southern H etnisphere . — In reviewing 

 the needs of astronomy, those which arise from the insufficiency of 

 astronomical observations which have been made at observatories 

 south of the equator are found to be very striking indeed. 



This deficiency on the part of the southern hemisphere extends 

 to nearly all classes of observations of precision. It is especially 

 marked as to the more precise researches in astrophysics. 



Owing to the prospective absorption for many years of many of 

 the leading southern observatories in carrying on the astrophoto- 

 graphic survey, there is little prospect that the disparity of southern 

 observations will soon find a remedy on the part of these observa- 

 tories. 



Meanwhile many lines of investigations must seriously suffer for 

 the want of needed observations upon objects in the far southern 

 sky. 



We proceed to enumerate some of the most pressing needs for 

 work in the southern hemisphere at the present time : 



( I ) A recent investigation has shown that the total value of all 

 meridian observations made in the one-fourth of the sky nearest the 



* These views are in the accompan3diig sub-appendix on a Solar Observatory, 

 page 104. 



