ASTRONOMY — HAI,l5. 63 



factorily solved. A decision on this subject was necessarily long delayed, 

 in the hope that a project for the construction of a railway to the summit, 

 by the owners of the Mount Wilson Hotel, might permit us to avoid the 

 serious expenditure which the widening of the trail must involve. A 

 survey of the proposed railway was undertaken during the winter, but it 

 did not become clear until June that the hope that the railway might be 

 constructed within a reasonable time must be definitely abandoned. The 

 conclusion that it would be necessary to proceed independently has been 

 fully confirmed, as nothing appears to have been done on the railway 

 project since last spring. During President Woodward's visit to the 

 Solar Observatory in June it was decided, on his recommendation, to 

 employ Mr. Godfrey Sykes, of the Department of Botanical Research, as 

 superintendent of the work of widening the "New Trail," which we had 

 formerly used for "packing" with animals and for the operation of the 

 small carriage on which our heavy machinery and instruments had been 

 taken to the summit of the mountain. As stated elsewhere, the widening 

 of the trail has proceeded rapidly under Mr. Sykes's direction, and is now 

 nearly half completed. It is hoped that the road may be practically 

 finished before the rainy season seriously interferes with the work. 



The work of investigation during the year has been done with the aid 

 of the Snow telescope, equipped with the large spectrohelograph and the 

 Littrow spectrograph mentioned in the last annual report, and in the 

 laboratory, which was finished and equipped early in the winter. Through 

 the friendly cooperation of the University of Chicago, and of Prof. E. B. 

 Frost, director of the Yerkes Observatory, the Solar Observatory was 

 permitted to continue its use of the Snow telescope. Later the possibility 

 of purchasing the instrument presented itself, and received the full ap- 

 proval of Miss Snow and of the university authorities. In announcing 

 the purchase of the Snow telescope and its accessory apparatus from the 

 Yerkes Observatory, at the original cost of construction, I wish to put on 

 record the thanks of the Solar Observatory to Miss Snow and to Pro- 

 fessor Frost, and to the acting president and trustees of the University 

 of Chicago, for their courteous consideration of the matter, and for their 

 acquiescence in the view that the transfer of the instrument would result 

 advantageously, on account of the excellent atmospheric conditions at 

 Mount Wilson and the facilities provided there for the adequate use of 

 the telescope. 



The 5-foot spectroheliograph, constructed in our instrument shop, has 

 exceeded our expectations. During a considerable part of the rainy sea- 

 son, when the observations were necessarily much interrupted, it was 

 employed for experimental purposes, which were completed in time to 

 permit routine work to be undertaken on the return of good weather 



