586 



NATURE 



{Oct. 1 6, 1879 



the assembly in the name of the Prussian Government, 

 and said that he hoped the new arrangements at the 

 Royal Observatory in Berlin, and the newly- finished 

 Astro-Physical Observatory at Potsdam would be objects 

 worthy of the attention of foreign astronomers. 



The President, after having thanked the Minister for 

 Public Instruction, gave a summary of the number of 

 Fellows of the Society. At Stockholm the Society had 

 258 Fellows ; nine of these died, one left the Society, and 

 thirty-five new Members were provisionally admitted by 

 the Council, the number of Fellows being therefore at 

 present 283. It is well understood that by the bye-laws 

 of the Society there are no Associates or Honorary 

 Members. Prof. Kriiger then read an historical account, 

 composed by the Council, of those transactions which 

 induced Herr Strove, Director of the Imperial Observa- 

 tory at Pulkowa, to resign, last year, the office of presi- 

 dent. Then the Reports on the business during 1877-79 

 were read. 



The treasurer (Herr Auerbach) not being able to be pre- 

 sent at the meeting, Prof. Bruhns read his report on the 

 expenses and the income of the Society. Besides the 

 stock of the various publications, the Vierteljahrsschrift 

 and some astronomical instruments, the Society has 

 invested about 40,000 marks. 



The librarian (Prof. Bruhns) gave a summary of books 

 received, and stated that a catalogue of all the books had 

 been prepared, and that it was passing through the press. 



The secretary (Prof. Winnecke) reported on the publi- 

 cations. There have been printed and distributed to the 

 Fellows since the Stockholm meeting, nine Hefte of the 

 Vierteljahrsschrifi, viz., vol. xii. Heft 4, vol. xiii. and 

 vol. xiv. Hefte 1-3 ; he mentioned that it had been tried to 

 add to the biographical notices on deceased astronomers 

 their portraits in photography. Of the quarto publications 

 there had just appeared : — 



No. xiv. — " Fundamental-Catalog fiir die Zonen- 

 beobachtungen am nordlichen Himmel. Herausge- 

 geben im Auftrage der Zonencommission der Astron. 

 Gesellschaft von A. Auwers." 



No. XV. — E. Hartwig, " Untersuchungen iiber die 

 Durchmesser der Planeten Venus und Mars nach 

 Heliometermessungen auf der provisorischen Universi- 

 tatstemwarte zu Strassburg, mit Hinzuziehung der 

 anderweitigen vorhandenen Mikrometerbeobachtungen." 



The " Ephemeriden der Fundamentalsterne fiir die 

 Zonenbeobachtungen " for the year 1880, published by 

 the Redaction of the Berliner Jahrbuch, in co-operation 

 with the Society, has just been issued. Further, two 

 small volumes have been printed for private circulation, 

 ihe one containing the Minutes of the Council Meetings, 

 the other giving extracts of the Transactions of the 

 Council by letter. 



The reading of the reports was interrupted by Prof. 

 Forster inviting the members to visit, in the afternoon, 

 the Royal Observatory. He gave a lucid exposition of 

 the arrangements of the newly reconstructed observing 

 rooms. He had had in view to get the temperature in 

 the meridian room as far as possible identical with the 

 outer one. There was constructed a new cupola for an 

 •equatorial of 8 feet, and a revolving roof for a new transit, 

 to be used in different azimuths. 



For the next day Prof. Forster proposed to visit 

 Potsdam. There the just finished Astro-Physical Ob- 

 servatory should be inspected, and in the evening there 

 would be a soir)!e given by the Government at Glienicke. 

 Prof Bruhns then read the report on the progress of 

 cometary astronomy ; in connection with it Prof Gyldin 

 made some remarks on the computations by Dr. I3ack- 

 lund, of Pulkowa, of the absolute perturbations of Encke's 

 comet by his new method. 



There were proposed as places for the next meet- 

 ing in 1881, Strassburg (Winnecke), Graz (Friesach), 

 Brussels (Gyldfen) ; the election took place on the day 



following. Prof. Winnecke then gave, in support of his 

 invitation to Strassburg, a detailed account of the new 

 observatory now nearly finished there, and illustrated it 

 with many drawings, representing the buildings, and 

 explaining the manner of constructing the domes and 

 laying the foundation for the pillars. There had to be 

 provided observing rooms for the equatorial (object-glass 

 i8 Paris inches), an orbit-sweeper (6 inches), the Repsold 

 meridian-circle (6 inches), the altazimuth (5 inches), the 

 Cauxoix-transit (5 inches), and different smaller instru- 

 ments. There were a great many peculiarities differing 

 from existing observatories, and Prof. Winnecke was 

 very anxious to know if these innovations would turn out 

 to be improvements. 



Dr. Hasselberg (Pulkowa) spoke of the light emitted by 

 gases induced by electricity and low temperature. 



Dr. Drechsler (Dresden) reported on the collections of 

 the Mathematical Saloon at Dresden, and distributed 

 copies of a catalogue of them. 



Prof. Safifarik (Prague) spoke on his observations on the 

 colour of stars, principally on those of a Ursae maj., the 

 colour of which is said to be considerably and periodically 

 variable. His own results do not confirm at all the 

 supposed variability. This matter was then discussed 

 between Herren Oudemans, Saffarik, and Winnecke. 



Prof. Forster laid before the meeting (i) a volume, just 

 published, in German, containing the observations of Dr. 

 V. Konkoly at O'Gyalla ; (2) different drawings of nebula 

 from Herr Tempel at Arcetri ; (3) an account by Dr. v. 

 Konkoly of the new observatory, established in Hungary, 

 at Kalocsa, by the Archbishop of Haynald. The director 

 of this new observatory is Dr. Braun, well known by his 

 attempts to register automatically the transits of stars. 



September 6. — Prof. Auwers (Berlin) read the report 

 on the principal undertaking of the Society, to fix by 

 exact observation the places of all the stars down to the 

 9th magnitude, contained in Argelander's " Durch- 

 musterung des nordlichen Himmels," the number of 

 which is about 200,000. The observatories either busily 

 engaged or having finished the part allotted to them in 

 this work are: Nicolajew (Russia), Albany (U.S.A.), 

 Leipzig (Germany), Lund (Sweden), Berlin (Germany), 

 Leyden (Holland), Bonn (Germany), Helsingfors (Fin 

 land), Dorpat (Russia), Christiania (Norway), Kasan 

 (Russia). The printing of some parts of the Catalogue 

 will probably commence very soon, and it is to be hoped 

 the grand work will be finished in a few years. 



As the place for the next meeting (1881) the votes were 

 nearly unanimous for Strassburg. 



Prof Gyld^n (Stockholm) expounded a new theory of 

 the variability of stars, trying to reduce the problem to 

 mechanical principles and expounding his views of over- 

 coming the mathematical difficulties. 



Dr. Schroder (Hamburg) gave an account of his 

 proceedings in practical optics, aided by theoretical 

 researches. As the hour of leaving for Potsdam was 

 near, he delayed the exhibition of some specimens of his 

 skill to Monday. 



September 8. — According to the new elections made at 

 the beginning of this meeting, the Council of the Society 

 is composed, for the period 1879-81, as follows: — 

 President, Prof. Kriiger (Gotha) ; Vice-Presidents : Prof. 

 Auwers (Berlin), Prof. Gyldfen (Slockholm), Prof, van 

 de Sande Bakhuyzen (Leyden); Secretaries: Professors 

 Schonfeld (Bonn), Winnecke (Strassburg); Librarian, 

 Prof. Bruhns (Leipzig) ; Treasurer, Director Auerbach 

 (Leipzig). 



Prof. Tietjen (Berlin) read the report on the small 

 planets, followed by a discussion between Herren Bruhns, 

 Forster, and Oudemans. 



Director Palisa (Pola) moved :— " To invite the Council 

 of the Society to consider the means of arranging a better 

 and more economical organisation of the present system 

 of telegraphic announcement of new astronomicjil dis- 



