BULLETIN 
OF THE 
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 
22p MEETING. Marcu 24, 1886. 
The Chairman, Mr. G. W. H1u1, presided. 
Present, fourteen members and one invited guest. 
Election of officers of the section for the year 1886 was conducted 
by ballot, and resulted in the choice of Mr. W. B. Taytor as chair- 
man and Mr. Marcus BAKER as secretary. 
Mr. Henry FAarRQuHaAr made a communication on 
A COMPARISON OF THE BOSS AND AUWERS DECLINATION 
STANDARDS, 
in which the systematic difference between the standard of Dr. 
Auwers’ “ Fundamental-Catalog” and the “ Normal System of Prof. 
Boss was considered as a function of declination, and shown to be 
almost completely explained by the supposition of a tube-flexure 
inadequately allowed for, in the observations on which one or other 
standard depends. 
[A paper covering the same ground was afterward read by Mr. 
FarquuHar before the American Association for the Advancement 
of Science, and an abstract of it will appear in the proceedings of 
that body for the Buffalo meeting, 1886. ] . 
The paper was briefly discussed by Messrs. Hany, Hiuu, and 
Woopwarp. 
Mr. R. 8. Woopwarp then read a paper entitled 
ON THE POSITION AND SHAPE OF THE GEOID AS DEPENDENT ON 
LOCAL MASSES. 
[This will be published as a Bulletin of the United States Geo- 
logical Survey.] 
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