Makch 31, 1S99.] 



SCIENCE. 



Alb 



will not recieve proper attention. To these 

 the institution should be devoted. 



2. Such an institution should have in view re- 

 search work primarily. The training of special- 

 ists should not be ignored. The lines of astro- 

 nomical research which should receive special, if 

 not exclusive, attention by such an institution 

 should lie within the scope of what is recognized 

 by astronomers as astronomy of precision, 

 though I would not exclude from the realm of 

 precise astronomy some lines of astro-physical 

 research. 



3. Most emphatically it does not. Routine 

 work, such as the rating and testing of chronom- 

 eters and operating a time system, etc., should 

 be no part of the work of a National Astronom- 

 ical Observatory. The organization of the ob- 

 servatory should not be such as to hinder the 

 most efficient service of its oflBcers nor to curb or 

 discourage the ingenuity of subordinates. Indi- 

 vidual initiative should be given freest play. 

 The machine system of Sir George B. Airy, more 

 in vogue elsewhere than in the NevV Naval Ob- 

 servatory however, and so enthusiastically be- 

 friended by directors of observatories, should 

 have no place in its organization, or operation. 

 It should not be a one-man institution in the 

 sense that most institutions of this sort have 

 been which have been called into existence 

 among us in these latter days and have too 

 frequently been made to play the part of ma- 

 chines to lift their directors into notoriety. In 

 a single word, the organization of the institu- 

 tion should be democratic and not autocratic. 



G. W. Myers. 

 University of Illinois. 



To THE Editor of Science : I will briefly 

 answer your questions even though I do not 

 feel suitably prepared to offer unanswerable 

 proofs or cite dates, events, etc. 



1. I feel that it is imperative that the gov- 

 ernment of the United States should support a 

 National Astronomical Observatory, not neces- 

 sarily at Washington. 



2. Only through the work of that Observatorj^ 

 the usual tables of coordinates and other data 

 can be efficiently and officially produced to 

 serve the purposes of navigation, etc. 



3. The Naval Observatory does not fulfill all 



the conditions that it should, so as to bring to 

 American science an amount of credit propor- 

 tional to what is done in other branches of the 

 government. The National Observatory should 

 make investigations of all kinds with reference 

 to astronomy, geodesy, meteorology and also 

 in astro-physics. It should largely extend its 

 list of apparent places and also add to the 

 American Bphemeris a larger list of mean 

 places for the better determination of latitudes 

 throughout the country. 



4. I can see no reason why the National Ob- 

 servatory should not engage in every branch of 

 astronomy in which other observatories are at 

 work. The only trouble lies in the administra- 

 tion of the National Observatory. I do not 

 know how things are there at present ; but our 

 Observatory used to be a source of pride and 

 usefulness to American scientists ; and since it 

 has been placed under the control of line offi- 

 cers it has done very little remarkable work, 

 and several of its best men have gone else- 

 where. It seems that military life leads even 

 the best of men to do routine perfunctory work, 

 and when the line officers look down upon the 

 Naval Observatory professors as subordinates 

 or inferior beings there are a large number of 

 considerations which tend to diminish the am- 

 bition which is the result of industrious zest in 

 scientific work. 



I cannot see why the United States govern- 

 ment could not have in this astronomical ob- 

 servatory great men adequately paid, in a per- 

 fectly defined high social position, and with 

 sufficient appropriations to be engaged in useful 

 research. The nature of the case demands the 

 existence of several observatories, propei'ly lo- 

 cated geographically within our vast domain, 

 which now extends around the earth. 



e. a. fuertes. 



Cornell U,niveesity. 



To THE Editor of Science : In answer to 

 the questions you have laid before me I may say : 



1. In my opinion there can be but little 

 doubt as to the desirability of a National Astro- 

 nomical Observatory, supported by the govern- 

 ment of the United States. Our geographical 

 position on a meridian one quarter way or more 

 around the globe from those of the great Euro- 



