DORPAT AND POULKOVA. 379 



tlie relations of tlie observatory, and to realize tlie ideal clearly conceived by tlie 

 i'ather fifty years previously. It was proper that the son should complete tbe 

 iinnK)rtal work of the father, but it is satisfactory to know that before the death 

 of the latter he had already in 18G4, on the occasion of the celebration of the 

 twenty-fifth anniversary of the inauguration of the ol)servatory, received the con- 

 gratulations of asseml)led astronomers, statesmen, and friends, upon the successful 

 completitm of his life-labor, and the auspicious entrance of the observatory upon 

 its new career. 



The period from 1857 to August 26-14, 18G2, marked as it was by the ill- 

 ness of Struve and the succession of his son, maj^' be considered as a period of 

 transition which was terminated on the latter date by the imperial approval of 

 the new " Statutes of the Kicholas Central Observatory." 



These statutes recognize the observatory as having become a scientific astro- 

 nomical institution of permanent practical importance to the interests of the 

 state ; and, therefore, the Academy of Sciences, to which bod}' it had hitherto 

 been directly subject, is now, to a great extent, released from the responsibility 

 of its maintenance and activity. In order to avoid the danger lest the extra- 

 neous geographic and geodetic operations should interfere with the progress of 

 scientific investigation, the working force was further increased by placing at 

 the disposal of the director four positions additional to those created in 1857, 

 thus increasing the scientific corps to thirteen persons, and a regulation requiring 

 from each paid astronomer, except the director, three hours daily of computation 

 on the reduction of current work assures us that the long desired Poulkova obser- 

 vations will hereafter be rapidly reduced and published. 



The necessity for promptness in business matters was of itself sufficient to 

 demand the newly introduced and direct responsibility of the director of the 

 observatory to the minister of jniblic instruction, thus avoiding the frequent 

 delays incident to the previous relations with the Academy of Sciences. But 

 this most radical and beneficial change was accompanied by the equally wise 

 interposition of a " committee," reminding one of the " board of vi.sitors" of 

 Greenwich, which should annually report to the minister the condition of the 

 observatory affairs, and whose recommendation or approving vote, by reason of 

 the high authority of the individuals composing this body, "would, at anytime, 

 authorize the observatory to expect governmental support in its undertaking." 

 The fifth article of the new laws defining the membership of this committee reads 

 in part as follows : 



Section 5. The committee will be composed of persons who belong to those departments on 

 which the labors of the observatory have a direct bearing. It consists of the president of the 

 Academy of Sciences, as chairman; the president of the Imperial Geographical Society; 

 the director of the Military Topographical IJureau ; the chief of the Nicholas Academy of 

 the General Staff; the president of the honorable Naval Board; the director of the Hydro- 

 graphical Department ; the permanent secretary of the Academy of Sciences ; and of four 

 persons who will be annually chosen by the Academy from among their active or honorary 

 or corresponding members, &c. 



On the occasion of the May visitation of this committee to Poulkova it 

 receives the annual report of the director. It is by the organization and active 

 co-operation of this committee, which is indeed nearly equivalent to a " board 

 of commissioners," that the Central Observatory may expect to steadily advance 

 in prosperity. In it are represented not oidy the scientific Academy, but those 

 departments of the government which, having an interest in the observatory, 

 have also a common duty toward it. 



As to the scientific members of the obseiTatory corps, we must notice that 

 the election of the director by the Academy of Sciences and his confirma- 

 tion by special imperial assent, the nomination of the four senior astronomers 

 by the director and their confirmation by the Academy, the nomination of tlie 

 adjuncts bv the director and their confirmation by the minister of public instruc- 

 tion, all combine to give high political authority, to secure acknowledged scieu- 



