Nov. 5, 1885] 



NATURE 



complete work have been drawn out to nearly fifteen ; and you 

 will comprehend what that implies for one who loves the friends 

 of his youth, his kindred, and his country. Yet even here there 

 has been consolation. For, while the work has demanded all 

 that period, it did not absorb the whole time, and opportunity 

 was left for other studies. Among the astronomical ones it has 

 been possible to examine all the stars as bright as the seventh 

 magnitude, up to 10° of north declination, for careful estimates 

 of their respective brilliancy, and to refonn the arrangement 

 and boundaries of the southern constellations. Also to carry 

 out the observations and computations for another stellar cata- 

 logue, more precise than that of the zones, and extending over 

 the whole southern hemisphere. The total number of stars in 

 this catalogue is less than in the other ; but that of the ob- 

 servations is greater, since each star has been observed several 

 times, as well as with greater precision. This catalogue, too, 

 is at last finished and in the hands of the printer, and thus 

 it is that I am once more at home with you, my cherished 

 friends. 



I am hopeful that the data now collected may throw some 

 additional light upon the great problem of the distribution of the 

 stars in space. Yet, even should these prove insufficient, there 

 is reason to believe that the new labours, already begun by my 

 successor, Dr. Thome, who has been connected with the ob- 

 servatory from the veiy first, will provide whatever additional 

 information may be needful for the purpose. Among the other 

 researches which have gone forward, while the preparation of 

 the zone-catalogue dragged its slow length along, has been a 

 study of the meteorology of the country. The absolute lack of 

 information on the subject had forced itself unpleasantly upon 

 my notice when endeavouring to select the most suitable place 

 for the observatory ; and, ps it would have been disgraceful for 

 any scientific inquirer to reside in the country without trying to 

 supply the want in some degree, I succeeded in enlisting the aid 

 of various educated men and women in different parts of the 

 countryandadjacentones. Tne Government and Congress acceded 

 to my recommendation that a modest sum should be annually 

 appropriated for the purchase of barometers, thermometers, 

 rain-gauges, &c. , to be lent to volunteer observer-;, and for 

 arranging, computing, and publishing the results. In this way 

 was organised, in 1S72, the Argentine Meteorological Office, 

 which has established no less than fifty-two stations, scattered 

 from the Andes to the .\tlantic, and from Bolivia to Tierra del 

 Fuego. At the end of the year 1884 there were already twenty- 

 three points at which the observations had been continuously 

 made, three times a day, for at least four years, and sixteen 

 others at which they had already been continued for more than 

 two years. These have provided the necessary data for con- 

 structing the isothermal lines, with tolerable precision, for all of 

 South America from the torrid zone to Cape Horn. Some 

 little has also been accomplished in determining local constants 

 of terrestrial magnetism ; and our determinations of geographical 

 position have nearly kept pace with the extension of the tele- 

 graph wires. The beats of the Cordoba clock have been heard 

 and automatically recorded amid the plash both of Atlantic and 

 Pacific waves. And the series of longitude determinations 

 made by the United Stales naval expeditions, between Buenos 

 Aires and Europe on the one side, under Capt. Green, and 

 between the United States and Valparaiso under Capt. Davis 

 on the other, give, when combined with the two South American 

 measurements, values for the longitude of Cordoba, which differ 

 only by one-sixth of a second — this being the total amount of 

 the aggregate errors of the several determinations in a series 

 which, passing through Brazil, the Cape Verde Islands, 

 Madeira, Portugal, England, Ireland, Newfoundland, the 

 United States, Central America, and down the coasts of 

 Ecuador, Peru, and Chile, completes the full circuit at Cordoba 

 again. 



But I will not descant upon collateral matters, nor convert 

 this gathering of friends into an astronomical lecture-room. 

 There are but two points more that I wish to mention. 



One is, that I cherish a hope that our sojourn at Cordoba may 

 hereafter be considered as marking an epoch in a new method of 

 astronomical observation, namely, the photographic. The in- 

 ception and introduction of this method belongs to our country- 

 man, Mr. Rutherfurd ; and it was only through his friendly aid 

 in several ways that I was enabled to give it a larger scope, in 

 spite of many obstacles. Now I can report that every important 

 cluster of stars in the southern hemisphere has been repeatedly 

 photographed at Cordoba with a precision of definition in the 



stellar images which permits accurate microscopic measurement ; 

 that these measurements are at present actively going on, and 

 that the Argentine Government has undertaken to provide the 

 means for their continuance under my supervision. It may be 

 that I over-estimate the importance of this new method ; but I 

 confess that my expectations are very high. Another year ought 

 to show us whether they are exaggerated or not. 



The other point is, that a very large share of the merit which 

 you so liberally attribute to me belongs to the faithful staff cf 

 fellow workers, with whose assistance I have been singularly 

 favoured. Their unselfish devotion to the great undertakings ir, 

 which they took part, their loyalty, trustworthiness and ability, 

 have, in the great majority of cases, been beyond all praise. 

 Happily, their faithful and inestimable services to science are 

 placed on durable record ; and yet unborn astronomers will know, 

 at least in part, how great have been their deserts. The senior 

 of them. Dr. John M. Thome, whose services began in 1S70, 

 before \^'e started southward, is now director of the Observatory, 

 where he has begun a new and important work, which will do 

 honour to him and to the institution. Another, Mr. Walter G. 

 Davis, who has laboured most earnestly and efficiently for eight 

 and a half years, is now director of the Meteorological Office, 

 which is assuming large proportions, and under which he is now 

 organising at Cordoba a meteorological station of the highest 

 class. One noble young man, Mr. Stevens, was summoned, 

 without an instant's warning, to a higher rewar I than earth could 

 give, leaving no memories behind him other than of affection, 

 admiration, and respect. It was a sore loss for us, and for the 

 bereaved parents in New Hampshire, to whom he was their only 

 earthly stay and staff. Had he lived, his friends and country 

 would have had abundant cause for pride in him. As it is, the 

 number of those who love and honour his memory may perhaps 

 be smaller, but their pride and admiration are no less, than had 

 they seen the full harvest instead of the rich promise only. Mr. 

 Bachmann, a native of Austria, who laboured with us for more 

 than ten years, is now at the head of the Argentine Naval 

 Academy in Buenos Aires, with more than three hundred pupils 

 and an elegant little observatory, where he finds repose from 

 administrative cares, in astronomical work analogous to that to 

 which he gave his energies at Cordoba. He has already under- 

 taken some longitude-determinations and arranged a time-ball, 

 which is probably by this time giving daily signals by which the 

 shipping in the outer roads, twelve miles away, may correct and 

 rate their chronometers. 



I have spoken longer than I intended, but will make no 

 apologies, for I know your friendly indulgence. It only remains 

 to say, for these Argentine scientific institutions, that I believe 

 their success is now assured. They will enter upon new and 

 enlarged fields of usefulness, as indeed they ought, for the world 

 moves. And for myself, that the remembrance of this occasion 

 and of your goodness will be a source of pride to me through 

 life, and to my children afterwards. 



Hardly had the sound of Dr. Gould's voice died away 

 when he was the recipient of a splendid ovation, the 

 guests of the evening seeming to vie with each other in a 

 generous rivalry as to which should outdo the other in 

 rendering honour to the distinguished guest of the 

 evening. 



The chairman, in introducing Dr. Oliver Wendell 

 Holmes, pleasantly referred to him as not a sinall star, 

 but one of the first magnitude. Dr. Holmes received just 

 such a welcome as he is entitled to, and which is always 

 accorded him, and in response thereto read the following 

 poem, which was received with round after round of 

 applause : — 



A Welcome to Dr. Benjamin ApxHORr Gould 



Once more Orion and the sister Seven 



Look on thee from the skies that hailed thy birth- 

 How shall we welcome thee, whose home was Heaven, 

 From thy celestial wanderings back to earth ? 



Science has kept her midnight taper burning 



To greet thy coming with its vestal flame : ^ 



Friendship has murmured, " When art thou returning? 

 "Not yet ! Not yet ! " the answering message came. 



