Februaet 9, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



135 



You may recall the ancient days of Rome 

 when the people annually gathered to pay 

 an offering of oil and wine, of milk and 

 violets to the spirits of their ancestors, from 

 the study of whose examples they gained 

 for themselves and inculcated in others a 

 respect for the virtuous past. So we say 

 our aves to the great past out of which we 

 and all our guiding principles in individ- 

 ual life, in the community, in the state, 

 have come. 



Our broader vision which must be the 

 bloom of our intense specialization is like 

 the dream of the patriarch who, resting his 

 head on a pillow of stone, saw a ladder 

 reaching from this earth to heaven and 

 beheld the angels of God ascending and 

 descending on it. 



John M. Clarke 



State Museum, 

 Albany, N. Y. 



THE COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED 



ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF THE 



AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 



REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON 



ASTRONOMY 



The science of astronomy differs in a 

 marked manner from, many other departments 

 of hmnan knowledge. Owing to the large sums 

 of money which have been given to it, ex- 

 tensive organizations have been effected, thus 

 enabling astronomers to undertake the great 

 routine investigations which at present are 

 regarded as the most important objects of 

 astronomical research. No one will doubt that 

 in this, as in every other science, the advance 

 depends largely on individual genius and ini- 

 tiative. The invention of new methods has, 

 however, now been so far accomplished that 

 many astronomers are able to devote their 

 time to applying these methods to large num- 

 bers of individual stars. Investigations which 

 require years of continuous effort, and an ex- 

 penditure of many thousands of dollars may 

 thus be undertaken and successfully com- 

 pleted. The application of the methods of 



scientific management has effected the same 

 saving as in industrial processes. An excel- 

 lent example of this is the determination of 

 the accurate positions of one hundred thou- 

 sand northern stars. This work, begun half 

 a century ago, was divided among a dozen 

 observatories, and was probably the most im- 

 portant astronomical research undertaken up 

 to that time. One zone occupied an observer 

 and corps of assistants for twenty years. The 

 salaries alone exceeded one hundred thousand 

 dollars. By the aid of photography this work 

 is now being repeated with double the accu- 

 racy, and at less than a tenth of the cost. In 

 another investigation, a saving of one minute 

 in the reduction of an observation wiU reduce 

 the time of its preparation by two years of 

 the work of one assistant. 



The greatest need of astronomy appears to 

 be a large fund whose income could be used 

 in the following ways: 



1. Eeestablishing the friendly international 

 relations of astronomers of three years ago by 

 assisting large astronomical projects directly 

 or indirectly. Such projects can often be 

 carried out far better and more economically 

 by dividing the work between two or more ob- 

 servatories. The Gape Photographic Durch- 

 musterung is a striking example of the ex- 

 cellent results of such cooperation. 



2. Furnishing assistants to astronomers who 

 would thus be relieved of laborious routine 

 observations and computations. An excellent 

 illustration of this was the article in Science, 

 Vol. 41, 83, giving the replies of twelve leading 

 astronomers regarding their greatest need. In 

 almost every case it was one or more assistants. 



3. Aiding observatories south of the equator 

 in such a way as to render our knowledge of 

 the southern stars more nearly equal to that 

 of the northern stars. At present, many times 

 as many observations are made of northern, 

 as of southern, stars. 



4. Providing means whereby preliminary in- 

 vestigations, sufficient to decide upon the best 

 and most efficient methods of carrying on 

 large projects, can in all cases be undertaken 

 before these projects themselves are entered 

 upon. 



