748 A MKMOIIl OF ELIAS LOOMIS. 



Shortly after the publication of this memoir, Professor Lover! iig pub- 

 lished his extensive catalof^ue of auroras. A further discussion of the 

 periodicity of the anroias was undertaken by Professor Loomis and 

 published in 1873. In this he made use of all the auroras reconlcd in 

 Professor Loverinc's catalojjue. They confirmed his previous conclu- 

 sions, otdy slight modilications being recpiired by the new facts pre- 

 sented, .and by their more systematic collation. 



In these papers, as in most of his pai)ers upon other subjects. Profes- 

 sor Loomis was ever intent upou answering the questions : What are 

 the laws of nature? What do the jdienomena teach us? To estaolish 

 laws which had been already formulated by others, but which still 

 needed contirination, was to him equally important with the formulation 

 and proof of laws entirely new. 



Let us now turn to another important line of Professor Loomis's 

 work — astronomy. As I have said, he was early interested in the 

 shooting stars. In October, 1834, he read a paper before the Connect- 

 icut Academy of Arts and Sciences upon this subject, probably in sub- 

 stance that which was shortly afterward published in the American 

 J ovrnal of Science. The published paper is principally a restatement 

 of the observations made in Germany in 18123, by Brandes in concert 

 with his pupils for determining the paths of the stars through the atmos- 

 phere, together with methods of computation. From the results of 

 Brandes's observations, however, he deduces an argument for the cos- 

 mic character of the shooting stars. One month after reading this 

 paper to the Connecticut Academy lu^ engaired in similar concerted 

 ol)servation8 with Professor Twining, who w;is then residing near West 

 Point, New York. These were only moderately successful, but they 

 were the first observations of the kind undertaken in America. 



During the senior year of his college course there arrived at New 

 Haven the 5 iiu;h telescope, given to the college oy Mr. Sheldon Clark, 

 constructed by Dolland. This instrument was much larger than any 

 telescope then in the country. It was temporarily i>laced in the Athe- 

 neum tower, where it was mounted on castors and wheeled to the win- 

 dows for use. This temporary abode it occupied however for over 30 

 years. In spite of its nnserable location it was, in the decade follow- 

 ing its installment, a ])ower in the develoi)mentof the study of astron- 

 ouiy in the college. The lives and works of Barnard, and Loomis, antl 

 Mason, and IIerrick,and Lyman, and Chauvenet, and Hubbard, ami of 

 other graduates of the college prove this. What rich returns for Mr. 

 Sheldon Clark's $1,-500 investment ! 



In 183.1, the return of Halley's comet had been predicted, and its ap- 

 pearance was eagerly expected by astrononuM's and the public; Pro- 

 fiessor Olmsted and Tutor Loomis tirst in this country caught sight of 

 the stranger, and throughout its course they noted its physical appear- 

 ances. With such means as he had at cornmand. Mi'. Loomis observed 

 the body's place, and computed from his obsei vations the orbit. 



