xiv OBITUARY NOTICES OF MEMBERS DECEASED. 



Besides the activities which have been briefly outlined in what 

 precedes, Professor Newcomb was more or less directly connected 

 with a large number of scientific undertakings, particularly with 

 many astronomical enterprises of importance in which this country 

 was concerned. He was secretary of the Transit of Venus Commis- 

 sion in 1874 and 1882, and was in charge of a party in 1882 for 

 observing the transit at the Cape of Good Hope. This event at- 

 tracted much attention at the time and there seems to have been no 

 difficulty in obtaining from Congress appropriations aggregating 

 $375,000 for the purpose. Yet a small sum of perhaps $5,000 for 

 preparing the results for publication has never been forthcoming. 

 The work has consequently never been published and there is little 

 prospect that it ever will be. 



Professor Newcomb also took part in several eclipse expeditions, 

 one of which, that of i860, has already been mentioned. He was, 

 to a great extent, responsible for the planning and installing of the 

 large telescope at the Washington Observatory, at that time the 

 largest refracting telescope in the world. The details of location, 

 construction and equipment of the Lick Observatory were settled, 

 for the most part, by his advice in cooperation with Professor 

 Holden, its first director. 



Professor Newcomb was appointed professor of mathematics 

 and astronomy at the Johns Hopkins University in 1884, as suc- 

 cessor to Professor Sylvester. His duties as teacher closed in 1894. 

 In 1900 he was made professor emeritus. He was editor of the 

 American Journal of Mathematics from 1884 to 1894, and during 

 1899 to 1900. 



Professor Newcomb was president of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science in 1876 and 1877, of the Astronom- 

 ical and Astrophysical Society of America from its beginning in 

 1899 until 1905, of the American ^Mathematical Society, the Society 

 for Psychic Research, and chairman of a great number of scientific 

 assemblages and congresses, the most important of which was per- 

 haps the International Congress of Arts and Sciences, held at St. 

 Louis in 1906 in connection with the exposition, the complete success 

 of which was due more than anything else to his world-wide repu- 



