338 



NATURE 



[February i i. 



It is, of course, agreed by everybody that there are 

 mathematical investigations required in astronomy which 

 can be, and have been, brilliantly carried out without the 

 use of astronomical instruments. Looming large among 

 these are tables such as those produced by Leverrier, 

 Newcomb, Hansen, and many others that might be 

 named ; and were there at present among us a man who 

 was distinguishing himself in such investigations, it might, 

 under certain circumstances, be permissible to waste an 

 Observatory by placing him at the head of it. But 

 these are not the present circumstances. As it is, although 

 England and Cambridge have made noble contributors 

 to astronomy in the past, at the present moment there is 

 no such man. The raw material produced by Greenwich 

 is worked up abroad, and reimported for home consump- 

 tion ; while, on the other hand, the number of Observa- 

 tories and Astronomical Chairs in this country is so 

 small, that there are no inducements to an astronomical 

 career, so that astronomy bids fair to be soon an extinct 

 profession. 



This is why we believe that it is essential, to save the 

 situation, that astronomical professorships should be 

 conferred upon astronomers, and that the existing Obser- 

 vatories should be saved from becoming sleepy hollows 

 for mathematicians, however distinguished, who have 

 given no hostages to fortune in the shape of noble 

 astronomical work achieved. 



The recent gift to the University by the late Mr. R. S, 

 Newall even suggests that the present time might be 

 taken advantage of to extend the present Observatory — if 

 by no other means, then by a national subscription — so 

 that it may become an institution as important for the 

 promotion of astronomy as the Cavendish Laboratory, and 

 others which might be named, are for the sister sciences. 



We believe that there would be a general enthusiasm to 

 contribute towards a building which should be a national 

 memorial to Newton and Adams in the University which 

 they have rendered illustrious by their labours ; and if 

 such a consummation could be aided by the suppression 

 or suspension for a time, of one of the existing Chairs, we 

 believe that the Cambridge authorities would have public 

 opinion with them. We do not think that the number of 

 astronomical students is now very great, or that the 

 classes of the Plumian Professor are inordinately large ; 

 probably, therefore, no inconvenience would be caused 

 by such a temporary suspension, while the gain to science 

 and to the University would be permanent. 



Editor. 



THE CA TALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS. 

 Catalogue of Scientific Papers (1874-83). Compiled by 

 the Royal Society of London. Vol. IX. (Cambridge : 

 University Press, 1891.) 



THE Royal Society's " Catalogue of Scientific Papers," 

 of which the ninth volume has just appeared, is the 

 outcome of a movement which dates back nearly forty 

 years. At the Glasgow meeting of the British Association 

 which was held in 1855, a communication from Prof. 

 Henry, of Washington, was read, " containing a proposal 

 for the publication of [a catalogue of] philosophical memoirs 

 scattered throughout the Transactions of Societies in 

 NO. 1 163, VOL. 45] 



Europe and America, with the offer of co-operation on 

 the part of the Smithsonian Institute." This proposal 

 was referred to a Committee consisting of Mr. Cayley, 

 Mr. Grant, and Prof, (now Sir Gabriel) Stokes ; and 

 their report was presented next year at the Cheltenham 

 meeting of the Association. The scheme set forth in this 

 report was that of a catalogue embracing only the mathe- 

 matical and physical sciences, but comprising a subject 

 catalogue as well as a catalogue according to the names 

 of authors. There were to be paid editors, " familiar 

 with the several great branches respectively of the 

 sciences to which the catalogue relates," and the work 

 was to include, besides Transactions and Proceedings of 

 Societies, journals, ephemerides, volumes of observations, 

 and " other collections not coming under any of the pre- 

 ceding heads." 



In this form the scheme came before the Royal Society 

 in March 1857, General Sabine having requested, on the 

 part of the British Association, the co-operation of the 

 Society in the undertaking. The scheme, after the usual 

 amount of discussion in Committees and Councils, at 

 length got upon its feet, walking, however, at first, in a 

 wary and tentative manner. It was narrowed to a 

 manusc7'ipt catalogue, the question of printing being 

 deferred ; it was to be a catalogue of periodical works in 

 the Royal Society's library only (though it may be re- 

 marked, by the way, that that library is particularly rich 

 in scientific serial literature) ; the suggested American 

 co-operation, moreover, was dispensed with, and the 

 work undertaken at the Society's own charge. In one 

 important respect, however, the scheme was greatly 

 widened, for the idea of confining the Catalogue to the 

 mathematical and physical sciences, which had been put 

 forward in the report to the British Association, was 

 thrown overboard, and it was wisely decided " that all 

 the sciences should be comprehended." The tentative 

 restrictions were, of course, finally relaxed. It was re- 

 solved to extend the indexing to works in other libraries 

 not contained in the library of the Royal Society ; and in 

 1864, when the question of printing had to be faced, it 

 was decided to offer the Catalogue to Government for 

 publication. 



The cost to the Society of compiling the material for 

 the first series of the Catalogue was considerable, and 

 many of the most eminent of the Fellows had spent no 

 small amount of time, not only in superintending the 

 progress of the work at home, but in corresponding with 

 Academies abroad, with the view of making the list of 

 serials to be catalogued as complete as might be. It was 

 therefore with some reason that the Lords of the Trea- 

 sury, in resolving to print the Catalogue at the public 

 expense, stated that they had regard " to the importance 

 of the work, with reference to the promotion of scientific 

 knowledge generally, to the high authority of the source 

 from which it comes, and to the labour gratuitously given 

 by members of the Royal Society for its production." 

 The printing of this first series of the Catalogue 

 covering the scientific serials from the year 1800 to 1863, 

 was commenced by the Stationery Office in 1866, seven 

 Fellows of the Royal Society undertaking to read the 

 proof-sheets gratuitously. The sixth and last volume of 

 the series, completing the alphabet, was issued in 1872. 



It is in the nature of such an undertaking that it never 



