ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



ASTRONOMICAL PROGRESS IN 1902. 35 



vided such questions do not affect the precepts 

 of the respective constitutions of the two coun- 

 tries, and that they can not be solved through 

 direct negotiations. The exception of questions 

 affecting the constitutions of the republics may 

 be made to cover almost any question in which 

 national ambition or animosity finds a cause of 

 war. This is, however, a necessary legal restric- 

 tion of arbitration when adopted by constitu- 

 tional governments, although a similar clause 

 delayed for several years the ratification of the 

 treaty of arbitration between the Argentine Re- 

 public and Italy. The British Government has 

 been particularly interested in the preservation 

 of peace between the Argentine Republic and 

 Chile on account of the amount of British capi- 

 tal staked in both countries. In the Argentine 

 Republic, aside from Government securities, there 

 are nearly 123,000,000 of foreign money in- 

 vested, about 75 per cent, of it English, and in 

 Chile the proportion of British capital is larger. 

 The agreements were approved by the Senates of 

 the two republics without much discussion, but in 

 both Houses of Representatives there was cavil 

 and obstruction, but not enough opposition to 

 prevent their acceptance after a further inter- 

 change of notes in which Chile agreed to the limi- 

 tation of armaments on receiving a distinct as- 

 surance that the Argentine policy was one of 

 absolute neutrality in questions on the Pacific 

 coast. The period for ratification elapsing, it 

 was prolonged by a protocol signed on July 24. 

 On July 31 the Argentine Chamber approved the 

 agreements without modification, and on Aug. 

 12 they passed the Chilean Chamber. 



Besides high taxation, necessitated by the war- 

 like preparations that have been carried on in- 

 termittently for ten years, the failure of civil 

 and criminal justice in Argentina operated to 

 deter enterprise and depress the economic situa- 

 tion. President Roca, in his message to Congress, 

 said that the standard of the judiciary had de- 

 generated through a quarter of a century with- 

 out .any determination being shown on the part 

 of the Legislature to mitigate this crying evil. 

 The system of indirect taxation by which the 

 bulk of the revenue is raised bears most heavily 

 on the poorer classes. Thousands of immigrants 

 have left again when they found how difficult 

 it is to make a living. Land taxation is of the 

 highest description, and a result of this condition 

 is that great blocks of fertile land lie unimproved 

 and uncultivated. A transitory cause of eco- 

 nomic depression in 1902 was the failure of the 

 harvest in 3 great provinces. Notwithstanding 

 the agreement with Chile to restrict armaments, 

 the ^budget called for a national expenditure of 

 $77,000,000, reckoned in gold, besides $25,000,000 

 of provincial expenditures and the municipal 

 charges. The grain harvest in Argentina is al- 

 wavs uncertain. In 1900 the wheat exports were 

 2.000,000 tons, in 1901 only 1,000,000 tons, and in 

 1902 they dropped to 600,000 tons. Minor causes 

 which aggravated the economic crisis were the 

 closure of British ports to Argentine sheep and 

 cattle, overproduction of sugar in Tucuman, and 

 an excessive crop of grapes in Mendoza and San 

 Juan. Quarantine restrictions between the Ar- 

 gentine Republic and Brazil also tended to hinder 

 trade. The revenue fell off until the Govern- 

 ment was confronted with a shortage of $7,500,- 

 000. In framing the budget for 1903 the Gov- 

 ernment made a retrenchment of $16.500,000 on 

 the finance bill for 1902 and reduced taxation by 

 $2,900,000 in gold and $1.500,000 in currency. In 

 order to meet unforeseen expenditure the Na- 

 tional Bank, which owes the Government $50,- 



000,000, placed $5,000,000 of its bonds in the 

 hands of the Government. 

 ARIZONA. (See under UNITED STATES.) 

 ARKANSAS. (See under UNITED STATES.) 

 ASTRONOMICAL PROGRESS IN 19O2. 

 The astronomical discoveries of the past year 

 (from October to October) have in some respects 

 surpassed those of any of its predecessors, char- 

 acterized by great activity, especially in the de- 

 partments of variable stars and spectroscopic 

 binaries. 



In looking over the year's work, one is con- 

 fronted with the fact that, though astronomy is 

 the oldest of the sciences, it is still in the experi- 

 mental stage, and probably will be for centuries. 

 The impressive fact must constantly be borne in 

 mind by the reader that he is standing face to 

 face with numbers, magnitudes, velocities, and 

 distances which no stretch of thought can com- 

 prehend. All countries that possess the means 

 for astronomical research made gratifying prog- 

 ress during the year, and this is emphatically 

 true of the United States. 



Daylight Astronomy. This is exemplified 

 only in observing the Sun, about which astrono- 

 mers know but little. When his disk is observed 

 with a telescope of contracted aperture, the eye 

 protected against his terribly penetrating heat 

 and light by colored glass and other devices, 

 it presents a mosaic of pores, spots, faculae, and 

 corona; and when his disk is completely covered 

 by the Moon during a total eclipse the chromo- 

 sphere, prominences, streamers, and Bailey's 

 beads, all of which bid defiance to investigation. 

 We are no wiser than were the ancients as to the 

 cause of these phenomena. All we know is that 

 he rotates on his axis in about twenty-six days, 

 and has also a motion of translation, but wheth- 

 er tangential or orbital is unknown. This pro- 

 gressive motion was immediately inferred when 

 his rotation was known. This supposition has 

 been confirmed by both telescope and spectro- 

 scope. In our age the direction is toward the 

 constellation Hercules, but the center around 

 which the Sun and planets and satellites are re- 

 volving is unknown. This motion is about fif- 

 teen miles a second sufficient, it would seem, 

 after the lapse of a few centuries to produce a 

 perceptible change in the appearance of stars 

 and constellations. The point toward which we 

 are now moving is called the solar apex. A 

 strenuous effort is being made by several astron- 

 omers, especially at the Lick Observatory, to lo- 

 cate with all attainable exactness the direction 

 of this motion. The D. O. Mills expedition to 

 Chile, South America, with a new reflecting tele- 

 scope and other appliances made especially for 

 the work by John A.Brashear,has arrived at Val- 

 paraiso, and will be located there for three years, 

 to work in conjunction with the astronomers at 

 the Lick Observatory. Before shipment the in- 

 struments were subjected to the most rigid com- 

 parison tests with those left in the observatory. 

 The two parties will work on two different sets 

 of stars, one north, the other south, which latter 

 can not be seen at the Lick Observatory. Spec- 

 troscopic and other observations will be made 

 on several bright stars in both hemispheres dur- 

 ing the three years. As before said, the design 

 of the expedition is to ascertain the exact direc- 

 tion of our celestial highway, including the en- 

 tire solar system and periodic comets, its rate 

 of motion, and, if that is orbital, where the 

 mighty center is. and whether a single Sun or a 

 cluster of Suns, and the periodic time. 



The three most trustworthy determinations of 

 the present solar apex are as follow: New- 



