October 4, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



421 



astronomy, increasing returns constitute 

 the rule and not the exception, while the 

 methods of securing the maximum effi- 

 ciency by the principles of "scientific 

 management" may be as successful in an 

 observatory as in an industrial establish- 

 ment. 



An illustration of my meaning is pre- 

 sented by the photometric work at Har- 

 vard. In 1879 an instrument was con- 

 structed for measuring the light of the 

 bright stars, with telescopes two inches in 

 diameter. With this, during the next 

 three years, a hundred thousand measures 

 were made of four thousand stars, mainly 

 visible to the naked eye. When people 

 asked me if we had the largest telescope in 

 the world, I would answer, "No, but we 

 have the smallest that is doing useful 

 work." Encouraged by the success at- 

 tained, a second similar instrument was 

 constructed with telescopes of four inches 

 aperture. Since 1882 over a million meas- 

 ures have been made of nearly fifty thou- 

 sand stars. Three times it has been sent 

 to South America to measure the southern 

 stars, and it is now on its way to South 

 Africa, loaned to an English astronomer. 

 To study still fainter stars a twelve-inch 

 telescope has been mounted, and with this 

 since 1892 I have made seven hundred 

 thousand measures of about forty thousand 

 stars. The results fill ten of the quarto 

 volumes of the Annals of the observatory, 

 and furnish a standard scale of magnitude 

 from the first to the twelfth magnitude for 

 stars from the north to the south pole. 



An excellent example of organization is 

 furnished by the work of the International 

 Astronomical Society. The great astron- 

 omer Argelander proposed to determine 

 the exact places of a hundred thousand 

 northern stars. Seventeen observatories 

 took part, including two in America, Har- 

 vard" and Albany. In extending the work 



to the southern stars. Harvard again took 

 a zone. Each zone occupied an observer 

 and a corps of assistants for nearly a quar- 

 ter of a century. The results of both fill 

 half a dozen volumes of the Amials and 

 the cost in salaries alone was about two 

 hundred thousand dollars. 



May we see some of the great problems 

 in astronomy solved at the Allegheny Ob- 

 servatory better than ever before, and the 

 work repeated on star after star until the 

 entire field has been successfully covered. 

 Edward Charles Pickering 



Habvakd' College Obseevatort 



TSE ^RESPONSIBILITIES OF AN 

 OBSEBVATOBY STAFF ^ 



It falls to me in these dedicatory exer- 

 cises to say a few words on behalf of the- 

 observatory staff, into whose keeping these- 

 fine instruments are for the time being- 

 placed. You may be sure that we have- 

 given much thought to deciding how we 

 might best fulfill this trust, and it is nat- 

 ural that the same question should be a 

 prominent one in the minds of all those 

 who are interested in the welfare of this 

 institution. We are doubtless all agreed 

 that our observatory has not been erected 

 for the purpose of enhancing the reputa- 

 tion of any individual or individuals, nor 

 to enhance the reputation of the observa- 

 tory itself, nor of the university of which 

 the observatory is the astronomical depart- 

 ment. These things are much to be de- 

 sired in themselves, and we hope that they 

 may come to pass; but if they do come to 

 pass it must be only incidentally, and noth- 

 ing of this kind must be allowed to obscure 

 the goal toward which we are striving; 

 namely, to add as much as we can to the 

 progress of our science; or, to use the 

 words that were often in the mouth of the 



^ An address delivered at the dedication of the 

 new Allegheny Observatory, August 28, 1912. 



