436 
under the date of February 25th, in regard to 
the new star as follows: ‘‘ This brilliant object 
attracted my attention at eleven o’clock on the 
evening of February 22d, before the receipt of 
the announcement of its discovery by Dr. An- 
derson. It was at that time to my eye brighter 
than a standard first magnitude star, and showed 
a distinct yellowish color, recalling to my mind 
the shade of Nova Aurigz. It was cloudy here 
on the 23d, and the spectrum was first examined, 
between clouds, on the 24th, from 6" 30™ to 
10° 30" E.S.T. The observations were made 
with a McClean direct-vision star spectroscope 
attached to the nine-inch refractor of the Dart- 
mouth Observatory. The general appearance 
of the visual spectrum was quite similar to that 
of Nova Aurigz, with the bright components 
of the doubled lines on the less refrangible 
side (toward red). The dark components ap- 
peared relatively more intense, however, than 
in case of Nova Aurigz, probably in great 
part a result of the superior brightness of the 
present star. The dark band on the more re- 
frangible side of C was especially broad, much 
more so than in Campbell’s drawing of the 
visual spectrum of Nova Aurigz. Although 
the spectroscope employed does not permit mi- 
crometer settings to be made, the identification 
would seem to be sufficiently exact of the hy- 
drogen lines Ha and H£, the sodium lines at D, 
the magnesium group 6 (in whole or part), and 
probably the strong line at 15016—all these be- 
ing represented by dark and bright components. 
Numerous other lines were seen which can not 
yet be identified. Singularly enough, the he- 
lium line D, was very faint or absent (the iden- 
tification of the sodium lines being assumed). 
This was also the case with Nova Aurigz.”’ 
THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN UNIVER- 
SITIES. * 
I HAVE the honor to report upon the second 
annual meeting of the Association of American 
Universities, which I attended by your designa- 
tion as the representative of Columbia Univer- 
sity. 
The meeting was held at Chicago, February 
* Report of Professor Nicholas Murray Butler, dele- 
gate from Columbia University to President Low. 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Vou. XIII. No. 324. 
26-28, 1901. The opening session was held at 
Chicago University, and the subsequent sessions 
at the Fine Arts Building on Michigan Avenue. 
Each of the fourteen institutions represented in 
the Association was represented by one or more 
delegates. Hach session was well attended by 
the delegates, and the discussions were practi- 
cal and earnest. Newspaper reporters and the 
general public were excluded from the sessions, 
which, therefore, took on the very helpful form 
of a conference or a committee meeting. At 
the close of each session the Secretary gave out 
to the press such information as he thought 
proper. 
The three topics chiefly discussed were: (1) 
inter-university migration of graduate stu- 
dents; (2) fellowship ; and, (8) the examina- 
tion for the degree of doctor of philosophy. 
Upon each of these topics a short report was 
presented by a delegate designated in advance 
for the purpose. Each discussion brought out 
the details of the practice of the several insti- 
tutions in regard to each of the matters con- 
sidered, and while the Association refrained 
from passing resolutions, certain conclusions 
were arrived at by what was substantially 
unanimous consent. 
It was held in regard to the first topic that 
it is wise to promote by all possible means the 
inter-university migration of graduate students, 
to the end that they may come under the guid- 
ance of teachers of varying points of view, and 
so may receive the broadest possible introduc- 
tion to their chosen field of study. The only 
limitation suggested upon this migration was 
that circumstances being what they are, it 
might be unprofitable to the student for it to 
continue after he had made some progress upon 
his dissertation. é 
As regards the question of fellowships, it was 
held by a majority of those who spoke, that the 
provision for university fellows in this country 
is already too large, and that there is danger of 
stimulating unduly a number of men to go for- 
ward to investigation and research who have 
not the highest and best qualifications for such 
work. The opinion was expressed that it 
would be advisable to make some of the fel- 
lowships distinctly research fellowships, to be 
awarded only to students who had already 
