EULOGY ON QUETELET. 177 



new iustitiitiou, and ou the IGth of December, 1845, was established The 

 Royal Academy of Science, Letters, and Fine Arts of Brussels. The first com- 

 /nunicatiou made b^' (^uetelet to the new estabhshmeut was u[)uri the 

 historj- of art iu Belgium; the mauuers and customs of the people at 

 different ages; their habitations, ornaments, furniture, the instruments 

 they used to supply the needs of life, &c. He recommended the forma- 

 tion of an ethnological museum to assist in the study of various types 

 of the human race as well as of their habits, and iu ISIT, through his 

 instrumentality, was formed the Museum of Antiquities of Belgium. 



In 1853 Quetelet was appointed president of the maritime conference 

 held at Brussels on the suggestions of Lieutenant (afterward Captain) 

 Maury. Its purpose was to establish a system of uniform observations 

 at sea. 



The regular astronomical observations of the Brussels Observatory 

 commenced iu 183G, although the small corps of the establishment, and 

 the attention given to meteorological observations, did not permit of a 

 great field of work. The observations nmde from 1837 to 1839 furnish 

 iu the Annals of the Observatory a catalogue of GGG stars. From 1848 

 these observations were carried on with renewed ardor; but all the 

 regularity Quetelet desired could not be secured until 1857. From this 

 year a great work has been continued up to the present day. We refer 

 to the catalogue of 10,000 stars, still in preparation, but which will soon 

 be published, completing the monument raised to astronomical science 

 by Adolphe Quetelet, and his son M. Earnest Quetelet, who during 

 nearly- eighteen years has shared the work of the observatory, and whose 

 labors have not been interrupted by his father's death. 



Adolphe Quetelet contributed greatly to the progress of the study of 

 shooting-stars, about the nature of which little was then known. His 

 attention was first turned to them in 1819, when he wrote his thesis upon 

 the orign of aerolites, and a few years later, he gave, iu the first number 

 of the Correspondance, a method for determining the height of a meteor 

 from two observations in different places. In 182G simultaneous obser- 

 vations were organized by his efibrts at Brussels, Gaud, and Liege. He 

 then abandoned the subject, and did not take it up again uutil ten years 

 later, when he resumed his observations, and continued them for the 

 rest of his life. He first called attention to the periodicity of the star- 

 showers of the 10th of August, and stimulated astronomers of his own and 

 other countries to make numerous observations, which, taken together, 

 have prepared the way for the remarkable theories now formed as to 

 the character of these interesting meteors. We are indebted to him for 

 very valuable catalogues of their appearances, and also for conscientious 

 and precise researches on their frequency and on the several peculiari- 

 ties they i)reseut. 



The direction of the establishment confided to his care did not hindei 



him from devoting himself to studies of another order, which show the 



variety of his powei^s and the habitual industry of his life. We refer 



to the statistical works, which obtained for him a high place in the world 



12 s 



