Apbil 2, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



497 



the rapid progress of astronomy in the next 

 half-century led to a more accurate knowledge 

 of the fundamental astronomical constants and 

 to more refined methods in the reduction of 

 meridian observations, and it also became evi- 

 dent that some of his assumptions respecting 

 Bradley's instrument were erroneous. A new 

 reduction was therefore highly desirable and 

 this was undertaken by Dr. Auwers in 1866. 

 He brought all his skill and special knowledge 

 into play and spared no pains to insure the 

 utmost accuracy in his work. The result of the 

 ten years' labor it involved has been well called 

 a " masterpiece and a model." The Auwers- 

 Bradley catalogue at once became the starting 

 point for all discussions of proper motions — a 

 position it will probably hold for all time. 



His fundamental system of star places, the 

 Auwers-Bradley catalogue, and his other work 

 in related fields, will form Auwer's most en- 

 during monuments, but they are far from 

 comprising the full measure of his activities. 

 Thus, he was chairman of the German Com- 

 mission for the determination of the solar 

 parallax from the transits of Venus in 1874 

 and in 1882. He took the leading part in pre- 

 paring the observing programs, conducted in 

 each year one of the expeditions sent out by the 

 government, and personally directed the ela- 

 borate discussion of all the results — a truly 

 monumental work which fills six large quarto 

 volumes. 



From 1878 to 1912 Auwers held the position 

 of Secretary of the Section for Mathematics 

 and Physics in the Eoyal Prussian Academy of 

 Sciences (Berlin Academy) and his tactful 

 conduct of the manifold duties of this office, 

 together with his unselfish and tireless devo- 

 tion to the interests of the academy were 

 gratefully acknowledged by his colleagues at 

 the meeting of June 25, 1912, when they cele- 

 brated his jubilee — the fiftieth anniversary of 

 his graduation as doctor of philosophy. 



He founded the bureau of the " History of 

 the Sidereal Heavens" (Geschichte des Fix- 

 sternhimmels) whose object it is to collect all 

 of the meridian observations of stars since 

 Bradley's time and to combine them into a 

 single systematic catalogue. He was a mem- 

 ber of the commission charged with the organi- 



zation of the Astrophysical Observatory at 

 Potsdam, and assisted in the supervision of its 

 construction and of its management in its 

 early years. He was also the first president of 

 the International Association of Academies. 



Auwers's commanding position in his chosen 

 science was fully recognized in his own coun- 

 try and throughout the world. His own gov- 

 ernment gave him the title Wirklicher Ge- 

 heimer Ober-Regierungsrat, and at the time of 

 his death he was Kanzler des Ordens pour le 

 merite fiir Wissenschaft und Kiiaste. For 

 more than twenty years before his death he 

 had been a member of the seven leading Na- 

 tional Academies of Science in Europe and 

 America, a distinction in which but two other 

 astronomers of his generation shared — New- 

 comb and Schiaparelli. In 1888, he was 

 awarded the gold medal of the Eoyal Astron- 

 omical Society of London, in 1891, the Watson 

 gold medal of our National Academy, and in 

 1899, the Bruce gold medal of the Astronom- 

 ical Society of the Pacific. His death marks 

 the passing of one of whom Newcomb wrote, 

 nearly twenty years ago, " To-day, Auwers 

 stands at the head of German astronomy. In 

 him is seen the highest type of the scientific 

 investigator of our time." These sentences 

 well express the judgment of all astronomers 

 at the present day. R. G. Aitken 



March 22, 1915 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 A MEETING to commemorate the life and 

 scientific work of the late Charles Sedgwick 

 Minot was held on March 17, in the hall of 

 the Boston Society of Natural History. As 

 president of the society since 1897, Dr. Minot 

 had taken great interest in its welfare and 

 growth, and it was due in large part to his 

 efforts that the society has undertaken the 

 study and exhibition of the natural history of 

 New England as its special field. At the 

 meeting addresses were made by Dr. Henry 

 H. Donaldson, of the Wistar Institute of 

 Anatomy and Biology, and Dr. Charles W. 

 Eliot, of Cambridge. Dr. Donaldson espe- 

 cially dwelt upon Minot's early interest in 

 natural history and his scientific career. Dr. 



