SHORT PAPERS 



PBOFESSOK R. G.AITKEN, of Lick Observatory, read a paper before this Section 

 "On Double Stars," particularly describing the work in progress at the Lick 

 Observatory, and making some suggestions as to the lines of future investigations 

 that promise the largest returns for time and labor invested. 



REAR-ADMIRAL C. M. CHESTER, U. S. N., of the United States Naval Observa- 

 tory, read a paper upon the work of the Naval Observatory at Tutuila, Samoa, 

 particularly outlining the work assigned to this Observatory in 1896 by the di- 

 rectors of the nautical almanacs of the United States, Great Britain, France, and 

 Germany in the observation of stars to the south of the equator. 



PROFESSOR A. O. LETJSCHNER, of the University of California, read a paper " On 

 the General Applicability of the Short Method of Determining'Orbits from Three 

 Observations." 



PROFESSOR F. R. MOUI/TON, of the University of Chicago, presented a paper 

 on " The R61e of Celestial Mechanics in Astronomy." This paper was divided and 

 discussed under five separate heads, as follows: 



(1) The Science of Astronomy. 



(2) Constituency of Theories. 



(3) Indirect Tests of Theories. 



(4) Direct Tests by Predictions. 



(5) Results Inaccessible to Direct Observation. 



(6) Secular Consequences of Minute Influences. 



(7) Whence and Whither. 



SUPERINTENDENT O. H. TITTMAN, of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, read a 

 paper "On the Accuracy Attained in Geodetic Astronomy." The object of the 

 paper was to state some of the results of an inquiry into the present methods of 

 Geodetic Astronomy, the term being here used to include the astronomic obser- 

 vations made for one or more of four purposes: to determine the figure and size 

 of the earth, to fix astronomically certain points on a chart or map in advance of 

 continuous surveys, to fix points in a political boundary, or to determine the 

 variation of latitude. 



PROFESSOR ERNEST W. BROWN, of Haverford College, contributed a paper 

 " On the Completion of the Solution of the Main Problem in the New Lunar 

 Theory," in which were given briefly some ideas of the methods used and results 

 obtained during the special study of the subject of the last twelve years. 



