22 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



The Director of the department has issued, as No. 162 of the publications 

 of the Institution, an additional volume of his series on the jelly-fishes of 

 the world, the title of this volume being "Ctenophores of the Atlantic Coast 

 of North America." Sixteen of his collaborators have presented papers for 

 publication, which will furnish two more volumes of the "Researches from 

 the Tortugas Laboratory." 



After the meridian instrument was brought back from the temporary 



observatory at San Luis, Argentina, to the Dudley Observatory at Albany, 



it was thoroughly reexamined to make certain that it had 



,, Department of miderg-one no change on account of the relatively rough 



Meridian Astrometry. ° ° .,,.,.. . 



handlmg it necessarily received during this journey from 

 Argentina to America. The reexamination was completed about the begin- 

 ning of the present fiscal year and proved conclusively that the instrument 

 had sufifered no damage in any of its parts. Along with this good fortune 

 to the department and to the Dudley Observatory, this instrument thus be- 

 comes noteworthy in the annals of astronomy, for no meridian circle has 

 been so thoroughly proved to retain its stability under such a variety of 

 varying conditions. After the preliminary tests referred to, observations 

 with the instrument were begun on November 13, 191 1, and have continued 

 throughout the year, in accordance with the program explained hitherto in 

 the departmental reports. 



In the meantime special attention has been given to the reduction of the 

 meridian observations made at San Luis, Argentina. The determination of 

 the two coordinates of stars from this work, namely, right ascension and 

 declination, have proceeded simultaneously. The assignment of stellar mag- 

 nitudes, however, must await the photometric determinations which have 

 been made at San Luis since the meridian measurements were completed. 

 Late advices from Mr. Zimmer, who has charge of this photometric work, 

 announce that it will be completed by the end of the present calendar year, 

 and he and his assistant are expected to return early next year. 



The department reports with great regret the death, on November 19, 

 1911, by accidental drowning, of Mr. William Hunt, who served initially as 

 Mr. Zimmer's assistant. Mr. Hunt was a young man of much promise, and 

 his untimely loss was a source of shock to his colleagues and a cause of 

 temporary delay to the photometric work. 



Much attention has been given by the Director of the department and by 

 Mr. Benjamin Boss to studies of stellar motions for which the extensive 

 data accumulated by the department are furnishing evidence. These studies 

 and those made by the Solar Observatory of the Institution, along with cor- 

 responding investigations in many other observatories, indicate that the 

 progress of astronomy in the future is to be no less brilliant than it has been 

 in the past. 



