May 19, 1887] 



NATURE 



55 



who shall obtain from their Governments instruments 

 constructed according to the decisions adopted by the 

 Congress shall take part in the work and be members of 

 the Commission." 



(2) " The Executive Commission shall meet once a 

 year in one of the cities named beforehand where one of 

 the Observatories is situated. Those members who can- 

 not take part in this reunion shall forward their remarks 

 upon the principal questions to be discussed, of which 

 the President of the Commission shall give notice one or 

 two months beforehand." 



(3) " Between these annual meetings, the President 

 should keep himself in communication with the members, 

 and receive or give advice on all matters touching the 

 preparation or execution of the work and the progress 

 already effected." 



(4) " The division of the heavens between the different 

 Observatories, and all questions not settled by the Con- 

 gress, must be fully studied in advance, so that they may 

 be decided in a definite way, at least in two years' time, 

 at a meeting in 1889, by which period many instruments 

 will be ready to begin work." 



On the occasion of the Universal Exhibition, Paris 

 will probably be the city most convenient for this second 

 meeting. 



(5) "While the map is in progress, each Director who 

 takes part in the work shall send to the Permanent Com- 

 mittee one or two months before each meeting, stating 

 the work done, together with any remarks which he may 

 consider necessary." 



(6) " The proces'verbaux of these annual meetings, and 

 the resolution of all work done, shall be published regu- 

 larly, and sent to each Observatory." 



The President, M. Struve, asked if M. Knobel would 

 withdraw his resolution in favour of that of Admiral 

 Mouchez. Finally, after some discussion, part of M. 

 Knobel's resolution was carried, all except that portion 

 relating to the constitution of the Bureau. 



It was next determined that the number of members of 

 the Permanent Committee, beyond those Directors of 

 Observatories who have declared their readiness to join at 

 once, should be eleven. The members elected were 

 Christie, Dun(?r, Gill, Paul Henry, Janssen, Loewy, 

 Pickering, Struve, Tacchini, Vogel, Weiss. 



The following resolution was next carried, proposed by 

 M. Auwers : — 



" The Congress resolves that it is desirable to appoint 

 a Sub-Committee occupying itself with the application of 

 photography to astronomy, other than the construction of 

 the map, showing the importance of all these applications 

 and the relations which it is important to establish 

 between these different kinds of work. This Committee 

 should place itself in relation with the Permanent Com- 

 mittee. The Congress desires that MM. Common and 

 Janssen be charged to carry out this resolution." 



The thanks of the Congress to the French Govern- 

 ment, Admiral Mouchez, and the President, M. Struve, 

 brought the Congress to a close. 



The first meeting of the Permanent Committee was 

 held on April 26, M. Struve in the chair; M. Tr^pied 

 was requested to act as Secretary. Much time was spent 

 in discussing whether a Bureau or Sub- Committee should 

 be appointed, although the relation of this Bureau or 

 Sub-Committee to the Permanent Bureau appointed at 

 the last meeting of the Congress does not come out very 

 clearly. Admiral Mouchez stated that the Bureau to be 

 elected at the present meeting was rather an Executive 

 Committee than a deliberative one. This was generally 

 agreed to. The composition of the Bureau was then 

 fixed at one President, five Members, and three Secret- 

 aries, and the members elected were as follow :— Presi- 



dent : Admiral Mouchez ; Members : Messrs. Struve, 

 Christie, Tacchini, Dun^r, and Janssen ; Secretaries : 

 Gill, Vogel, and Lcewy. M, Vogel then suggested that 

 his colleagues on the Permanent Committee should pre- 

 sent to the Bureau before July i next any propositions 

 they might have, concerning experiments to be under- 

 taken, and other preparatory work. He suggested also 

 that the Bureau should be allowed to confide directly to 

 men of science, possessing special knowledge, some of 

 the researches which the International Congress has left 

 to the Permanent Committee the responsibity of under- 

 taking and directing. 



After discussion of all the documents thus received, 

 a definite plan of preparatory work might be elabor- 

 ated and distributed among the different Observatories. 

 Admiral Mouchez then stated that the Academy of 

 Sciences would bear all the expenses of printing con- 

 nected with the work, and it was also agreed that all 

 documents should be sent in French. The Astronomer- 

 Royal was requested to undertake experiments with 

 curved plates. M. Struve promised in a month's time 

 to forward suggestions relating to the methods of pro- 

 ceeding to be adopted by the Bureau. It was further 

 decided that all memoirs and communications should be 

 addressed to the President, and distributed by him and 

 the Secretaries residing in Paris. 



The last question discussed was the probable number 

 of Observatories. Mr. Gill remarked that the small number 

 of Observatories in the southern hemisphere were almost 

 all situated in the same latitude, and he suggested that if 

 France would establish a new Observatory in the Island 

 of Reunion or New Caledonia, probably the Government 

 of New Zealand might establish another in that colony. 

 The general opinion was that the Island of Reunion would 

 be better than New Caledonia as a station, and that the 

 Observatory in New Zealand should be built in latitude 

 about 48' S. The following resolution was unanimously 

 adopted : — 



" The Permanent Committee of the International 

 Astronomical Conference met together for the construc- 

 tion of a photographic chart of the heavens, and finding 

 that the number of Observatories in the southern hemi- 

 sphere was insufficient for the good and prompt execution 

 of the work, expressed a desire that two new Observatories 

 might be erected, at least as a temporary measure, one in 

 New Zealand, the other in the Island of Reunion." 



The President was charged with the duty of trans- 

 mitting this resolution to the English and French Govern- 

 ments. 



Finally, we come to the Bureau of the Permanent Com- 

 mittee, which held its first sitting on April 27, M. Struve 

 being President. 



Mr. Gill announced that Sir James Anderson, Director 

 of the Eastern Telegraph Company, has provisionally 

 authorized the exchange of free telegrams between the 

 Cape and Paris. Thanks were unanimously voted to Sir 

 James Anderson for this offer. All members of the 

 Committee were requested to reply within a month to 

 any question addressed to them, and six was made a 

 quorum. Mr. Gill volunteered to draw up complete 

 instructions regarding all photographic operations. 

 The assistants appointed to conduct the photographic 

 work in the Observatories now taking up photography 

 for the first time are to be trained in Observatories where 

 photographic work is already carried on. 



The institution of a series of test objects was then 

 agreed to, and Messrs. Gill, Vogel, and Henry, were 

 requested to draw up a list. On the proposal of Admiral 

 Mouchez, the following distribution of the experimental 

 work was agreed to : — 



(i) Systems of cross-wires. — M. Vogel. 

 (2) Photographic magnitudes. — Messrs. Struve and 

 Pickering. 



