'4 7- 



'iVA TV RE 



[Mai;cii 19, I'^cS 



iregions accessible by means of the vessels of the depart- 

 ment. 



The work of the department of meridian astrometry 

 ■during the year was mainly devoted to preparations for 

 its larger enterprise of a comprehensive catalogue giving 

 accurate positions of all stars from the brightest to the 

 seventh magnitude, inclusive. Amongst these preparations 



is a preliminary catalogue, embracing the precise positions 

 for upwards of 6000 stars, which has been brought to 

 substantial completion during the year. This will not only 

 be of great service to the department, but it will be of 

 signal aid also to astronomical science in general. Pre- 

 parations for the establishment of a temporary observatory 

 in the southern hemisphere are likewise approaching com- 

 pletion. An exhaustive study of the 

 meridian instrument to be used at this 

 observatory has been made, so that its 

 constants and peculiarities may be well 

 known before observations with it are 

 begun. 



In conformity with the provision 

 made by the board of trustees at its 

 last meeting for the establishment of 

 a laboratory to be devoted especially 

 to an extension of the physical and 

 chemical investigations in nutrition 

 carried on hitherto under the direction 

 of Profs. Atwater and Benedict, steps 

 were taken early in the year to select 

 a suitable site and to prepare tentative 

 plans for the building. Since e.\peri- 

 ments on men in an abnormal as well 

 as in a normal condition of nutriment 

 are contemplated, one of the first re- 

 quirements of a site was proximity to 

 hospitals whence pathological cases 

 may be furnished. It was decided to 

 establish the proposed laboratory in 

 the city of Boston, near the power- 

 house of the Harvard Medical School. 



The work of the solar observatory 

 is still largely in the preparatory 

 stage, and is thus as much a work of 



engineering as of astronomy. The novelties of construc- 

 tion, equipment, and programme of research for the 

 observatory, along with the initial difliculties presented 

 by a mountain site, conspire to make the undertaking a 

 formidable one. 



The optical parts of the 60-inch reflecting telescope have 

 'been made ready for mounting, but owing to the labour 



NO. 2003, VOL. 77] 



strikes at San Francisco the completion of the dome for 

 the telescope may delay its erection until the spring of 

 1908. The novel tower telescopic apparatus, part of 

 which is above and part below the ground-level, has 

 been substantially completed. This consists essentially of 

 a vertical telescope with a 12-inch objective and 60 feet 

 focal length in combination with a Littrovv grating spectro- 

 graph of 30 feet focal length, thus 

 fuinishing a powerful component in 

 the battery of instruments for direct 

 observations of the sun. 



Preparations for grinding, figuring, 

 and testing the lOo-inch reflector, the 

 construction of which was rendered 

 possible by the gift of Mr. J.D. 

 Hooker, have likewise gone forward. 

 A fire-proof building for this work has 

 been constructed, and the necessary 

 grinding machine is Hearing comple- 

 tion. In the meantime it is expected 

 that the Plate Glass Company of St. 

 (lobain. France, will soon have the 

 large disc for this reflector ready for 

 shipment, since it was successfully 

 cast on .August 28 last. In the rough, 

 ihis disc will weigh about 45 tons. 



.Simultaneously with these varied 

 works of construction, daily photo- 

 hrliographic and spectroheliographic 

 ■liservations have been made by aid 

 >l the Snow telescope. Daily studies 

 of the sun and sun-spot spectra have 

 supplemented these observations, and 

 lu them have been added pyrhclio- 

 metric and solar magnetic measure- 

 ments, along with numerous labora- 

 tory investigations bearing directly on 

 '^"^*'' "" the physical properties of the sun. 



The year for the department of 

 terrestrial magnetism has been one of varied activities, 

 and one specially fruitful in the quantity and quality o^ the 

 results attained. The operations have embraced magnetic 

 surveys of the North Pacific Ocean ; surveys on land in 

 Alaska, Bermuda Islands, Canada, Central America, 

 China, Mexico, and South Pacific Islands. 



The list of publications issued during the year shows 



Vertical CcElostat 



Telescope, M < 



that thirty-eight volumes were published, with an aggre- 

 gate of 3428 quarto pages and 6284 octavo pages re- 

 spectively. Moreover, there are now in the press twenty- 

 three volumes. The total cost of completed publications 

 issued during the five years ending with that under review 

 reaches 33,897!. As regards the general aspects of thi.- 

 suljject, there are indications of over-production in the lin-r 



