DECEMBER 1, 1899.] 
been forwarded to the several members of the Society 
at least one month before the meeting at which it is 
proposed to be voted upon. 
2. It shall be the duty of the secretary to forward 
such notices of a proposed amendment to this consti- 
tution, when so requested in writing by ten members 
of the Society. 
BY-LAWS. 
1.—Election of Members. 
Any person deemed capable of preparing an accept- 
able paper upon some subject of astronomy, astro- 
physics, or related branch of physics, may be elected 
by the Council to membership in the Society upon 
nomination by two or more members of the Society. 
At least once in each year the Council shall consider 
all such nominations and may request the opinion of 
persons not members of the Council with reference to 
the qualifications of the nominees. Blanks for such 
nominations to membership shall be furnished by the 
secretary. 
2.—Election of Officers. 
The Council shall provide for holding upon the day 
preceding the last day of each annual meeting a nom- 
inating ballot at which each member of the Society 
may deposit his ballot for each officer to be elected 
for the ensuing year. Members not in attendance at 
such annual meeting may send to the secretary their 
ballots enclosed in a sealed envelope bearing the sig- 
nature of the voter. The vice-presidents, or in their 
absence, tellers appointed by the chair, shall canvass 
the ballots thus cast, and shall prepare and present to 
the Society a list showing the three persons who have 
received the largest number of votes for each office to 
be filled. In case of a plurality of names receiving 
the same number of votes in third place, all the 
vames in such plurality shall be included in the list. 
. Upon the last day of each annual meeting written 
ballots shall be cast by the individual members of the 
Society for filling each office about to become vacant, 
of which only those shall be counted which are cast 
for persons nominated in the lists prepared as above 
directed for the office in question or for some higher 
office. 
The nominee receiving the greatest number of votes 
for any office shall be thereby elected and shall be 
notified of such election in writing, by the’ secretary, 
within ten days thereafter. It shall be the duty of 
each person thus notified to file with the secretary 
his written acceptance of such office, and if such ac- 
ceptance is not filed within sixty days after notifica- 
tion the Council by resolution may declare such office 
vacant and may elect any member of the Society to 
fill it until the close of the next annual meeting. 
SCIENCE. 
787 
3.— Treasurer. 
The treasurer of the Society shall keep accounts 
showing all receipts and expenditures of moneys be- 
longing to the Society, and showing also the in- 
debtedness to the Society of each member thereof, on 
account of unpaid assessments. These accounts shall 
be submitted at each annual meeting to an auditing 
committee, of not less than three members, to be ap- 
pointed by the Council. The secretary shall be ex- 
officio a member of this committee. 
4.—Secretary. 
The secretary shall be the purchasing officer of the 
Society and the treasurer shall be the disbursing 
officer, but the total amount expended by the seore- 
tary and treasurer without previous authority from 
the Council shall not exceed the sum of fifty dollars 
in any year. 
5.—Unpaid Assessments. 
The treasurer shall report to the Council at each 
annual meeting a list of all members indebted to the 
Society on account of unpaid assessments. 
6.— Order of Business. 
The following order of business is prescribed for 
meetings of the Council : 
a. Call to order by the chair. 
b. Reading of minutes of last meeting. 
c. Announcements by the chair. 
d. Announcements by the secretary. 
e. Announcements or reports by other officers. 
f. Unfinished business. 
g. New business. 
h. Miscellaneous. 
i. Adjournment. 
The conference was attended by about 
fifty representatives of astronomy and phys- 
ics. Professor Harkness presided over the 
sessions. 
The following are abstracts of the papers 
presented, prepared as stated above : 
8. J. Brown: Position of the Polar Axis and 
the Flattening of Neptune from the changes 
in orbit of its Satellite. 
The large changes which had been ob- 
served in the longitude of the node and the 
inclination of the orbit plane of Neptune’s 
satellite referred to the earth’s equator 
were explained by Tisserand on the as- 
