34 REPURT OF THJE SECRETARY. 



Professor Pickering's reply the following circular was published a?ij 

 distributed to all our astronomical correspondents : 



" Smithsonian Institution, 

 " Washington, D. C, January 10, 1883. 

 "Arrangements having been completed with the director of the Har- 

 vard College Observatory for conducting the system of telegraphic an- 

 nouncements of astronomical discoveries, which was established by this 

 Institution in 1873, you are hereby informed that from and after this 

 date the American, center of reception and distribution of such an- 

 nouncements will be ' The Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, 

 Mass.,' to which address all astronomical telegrams should in future 

 be sent. It is hoped and believed that this transfer of a highly impor- 

 tant service will prove beneficial to the interests of astronomical science." 



Thus the work of receiving and distributing transatlantic announce- 

 ments of astronomical discoveries, established and faithfully conducted 

 by this Institution for the past ten years, has been committed to other, and 

 we feel assured worthy, hands. It is believed that astronomical inter- 

 ests will be benefited by the transfer ; and while retiring from its future 

 charge, we shall always be ready to co-operate as far as practicable in 

 this important field "for the diffusion of knowledge.' 1 



This notice will properly close with a copy of the circular prepared 

 by Processor Pickering (dated February 14, 1883) on assumiug the 

 charge : 



11 Circular relative to the collection and distribution of astronomical in 

 telligence. — The arrangements described in this circular have been mad< 

 in order to render the transmission of astronomical intelligence inort 

 speedy and accurate. 



"An association of about fifty European observatories has receutb 

 beeu formed, with its headquarters at the Eoyal Observatory, Kiel 

 Germany, directed by Professor Krueger, who has taken charge of tin 

 business" of the association. Connections by cable have been established 

 witlwSouth America, South Africa, and Australia, and the Harvard 

 College Observatory has been requested to co-operate with it in the 

 United States, by receiving and distributing in this country the tele 

 graphic information sent from Kiel, and by forwarding to Kiel by tele- 

 graph any similar information of importance collected from American 

 astronomers. By the courtesy of Professor Baird, Secretary of tin. 

 Smithsonian Institution, the function hitherto performed by the Insti- 

 tution, of collecting and transmitting announcements of discovery, has 

 been transferred to the Harvard College Observatory. 



" In accepting this transfer it is right that a public acknowledgment 

 should be made of the service rendered to science by the Smithsonian 

 Institution in undertaking the labor from which it now retires. For 

 many years its action has relieved a want generally recognized, although 

 not otherwise provided for; while, as soon as astronomers were prepared 

 to assume the task, the Smithsonian Institution courteously offered to 

 facilitate the change which has just been made. 



"The members of the European association above mentioned have 

 agreed to contribute a fixed annual sum for the payment of its expenses, 

 in return for which they are to receive from Kiel the dispatches which 

 may be received at that place. 



" In the absence of any similar action on the part of American astrou- 



