616 



SCmNGE. 



[N, S. Vol. IX. No. 226. 



than a few days at a time. The Weather 

 Bureaus at Washiugtou and Lisbon will, of 

 course, do all that they can, but the most 

 that can now be done is to observe the 

 weather in 1899, in the hope of getting some 

 new light on the matter. 



So far as the eclipse is concerned, which 

 ■will certainly take place at the predicted 

 time, it is possible and practicable to make 

 calculations from the data in our American 

 Ephemeris, and to do this within a few days, 

 and in the coming months to make all need- 

 ful preparations of instruments and train- 

 ing of observers, and with abundant spare 

 time left. 



I shall report to our trustees that the 

 main effort to be made then will be towards 

 photographing the eclipse as well and com- 

 pletely at both points as the time, short 

 enough at best, will allow. 



At Norfolk, in Virginia, and Ovilr, in 

 Portugal, the eclipse will be total long 

 enough to be well photographed by instru- 

 ments costing but little more than a hun- 

 dred dollars for each station, instruments 

 which can be made useful in several 

 directions and can be readily placed at 

 either station. The advantage of making 

 the efiort to observe at both places will be, 

 of course, not that of making observations 

 at the same time, but that of following out 

 a uniform set of rules both in America and 

 in Europe. 



These rules can be readily formulated 

 and practiced beforehand with compara- 

 tively little trouble, provided the astron- 

 omers can come to an agreement, which I 

 think will be an easy matter. 



The process of taking the photographs is 

 so easy now that no difficulty will arise 

 from this, and it will also be easy to train 

 intelligent students into the necessary phys- 

 ical manipulations, with the help, at least, 

 of the necessary photographers, who, I pre- 

 sume, will be readily brought to either sta- 

 tion. 



As the object of the present paper is 

 merely to indicate what is to be done, I 

 shall defer to another occasion any further 

 details. In this, as in many other problems 

 of practical astronomy, the main require- 

 ment is mereljr to indicate in common lan- 

 guage the problems to be solved, and it will 

 be sufficient to leave further consideration 

 of the matter to another occasion. 



Truman Henry Saffoed. 



BECEPTION AND EXHIBITION OF THE NEW 

 YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The Annual Reception and Exhibition of 

 the New York Academy of Sciences has 

 come to be one of the most interesting social 

 events of the scientific circles of the citj'. 

 This fine spring weather and a beautifully 

 suitable hall combined with the zeal of the 

 exhibitors to furnish instructive entertain- 

 ment to about three thousand persons. The 

 reception was held, as usual, at the American 

 Museum of Natural History, the first evening 

 being reserved for members, exhibitors and 

 special friends, and some 500 availed them- 

 selves of this opportunity to become better 

 acquainted with their fellow members, and 

 to see and discuss the advances in branches 

 of science other than their own. Indeed, 

 the justification and benefits of these exhi- 

 bitions are to be sought quite as much in 

 their broadening influence upon the point 

 of view of specialists as in their possibili- 

 ties for the layman and amateur. 



The Museum authorities are exemplary 

 in their hospitalitj', and the relations be- 

 tween this gigantic object lesson in science 

 and the Academy are yearly growing more 

 cordial. This year it was possible to hold 

 the reception in the new hall of American 

 Anthropology, west of the entrance on the 

 main floor. Tlie room is finished, but is 

 not yet occupied by cases and permanent 

 fixtures. A more suitable and appropriate 

 location for a scientific reception it would 

 be hard to imagine. 



