SCIENCE 



Friday, September 17, 1909 

 coNTEyrs 



Professor Simon XexDcomb as an Astronomer : 

 De. G. W. Hill 353 



Simon A'ciccomJi; G. C. C 357 



The Annual Report of the United States Com- 

 missioner of Education for 1908: Pbofessob 

 Edwaed C. Elliott 358 



The Huseum Exhibitions in Connection with 

 the Hudson-Fulton Celebration: Db. Geoege 

 F. Kusz 359 



Scientific Sotes and News 362 



University and Educational News 364 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



Genera without Species: Db. J. A. A ttf v 

 The Hypothesis of " Presence and Absence " 

 in Mendelian Inheritance : Pbofessob W. E. 

 RlTTEB 365 



Scientific Books: — 

 Papers from the Tortugas Laboratory: Pbo- 

 fessob J. S. KlNGSLEY. Collins cm the 

 Green Algw of North America: De. Bbad- 

 LEY M. Davis. Hayes's Handbook for Field 

 Geologists : Pbofessob Alfbed C. La>t: .... 368 



Scientific Journal 372 



Historical Graphics: Pbofessob Cabl Baeis 372 



Special Articles: — 



The Occurrence of the Littoral Barnacle 

 Chthamalus Stellatus {Poli) at Woods 

 Hole, Mass.: Db. F. B. Sumneb 373 



The Seventh International Congress of Ap- 

 plied Chemistry: Pbofessob Chables Bas- 

 KEBVILLE 374 



M.SS. inUniied for publication and books, etc., intended for 

 review should be sent to the Editor of Science, Garrison-ou- 

 Hudson, N. Y. 



PROFESSOR SIMON NEWCOMB AS AN 

 ASTRONOMER 



Professor Newcomb has narrated at 

 considerable length the personal incidents 

 of his scientific career in his book "The 

 Reminiscences of an Astronomer," and to 

 that source the reader desirous of knowing 

 them may be referred. Here it is intended 

 to note only the scope and characteristics 

 of his more important contributions to 

 astronomy. While Professor Newcomb 

 wished always to be accounted a mathema- 

 tician, his work seems motived by its pos- 

 sible application to astronomy, and no very 

 weighty contribution from his pen has 

 accrued to pure mathematics. 



While still an assistant in the office of the 

 American Ephemeris, then at Cambridge, 

 Mass., Professor Newcomb began his career 

 as an astronomer by discussing the question 

 of the origin of the minor planets. In- 

 duced by a too great confidence in the law 

 of Bode as to the relations of the mean dis- 

 tances of the major planets, Olbers had 

 ventured to put forward the hj^pothesis 

 that the minor planets were the fragments 

 resulting from the disruption of a single 

 major planet. This hypothesis necessi- 

 tated the condition that the orbits of the 

 minor planets at some past epoch must have 

 had a point in common. By computing the 

 secular variations of the elements of the 

 minor planets, Profes.sor Newcomb showed 

 that at no time could this condition have 

 been fulfilled. Thus there was no reason 

 for entertaining the theory of Olbers. 



After Professor Newcomb 's appointment 

 to a professorship of mathematics in the 

 U. S. Navy and his removal to Washington, 

 he was much engaged with the instruments 



