July 20, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



105 



Dr. Pritchett divided his paper into three 

 parts. 



1. What is the purpose of the Service? 

 The principal purpose he says is to make 

 complete surveys and charts of the coasts 

 of the United States. Added to this is the 

 work of geodesy and the magnetic observa- 

 tions on land and sea. 



2. Is it properly organized to carry out 

 this purpose? 



In the original organization the work was 

 mostly in the hands of the army and navy. 

 There has, however, been a complete change 

 in this and with July 1, 1900, the Survey 

 becomes entirely civilian. Within the last 

 three years there has been a reorganization 

 with the idea of developing a clear line of 

 responsibility from the head of the service 

 to each employee and with the further pur- 

 pose of dividing the work so as to secure a 

 more direct supervision of it. 



3. What lines of work should it follow to 

 accomplish the purpose in view? 



The work has been planned as follows : 

 First, a re-survey of parts of the mainland 

 of the United States coasts and surveys of 

 the coasts of Porto Eico, Hawaii, the Philip- 

 pines, and Alaska. Second, the completion 

 of an arc extending along the ninety-eighth 

 meridian from the Eio Grande to the Cana- 

 dian border, and the completion of the pre- 

 cise level net for the United States. Third, 

 a general magnetic survey of the country 

 and the waters adjacent. 



Another paper of great interest and im- 

 portance was Dr. G. A. Miller's 'Eeport on 

 Groups of an Infinite Order. ' The theory of 

 gi'oups in mathematics is of recent develop- 

 ment but has assumed a place of fundamen- 

 tal importance. It is to reports from those 

 who have made a special study of groups 

 that we must look for an adequate survej^ 

 of the subject as it stands to-day. Section 

 A is especially fortunate in having had 

 three reports which are supplementary to 

 each other, at the last three meetings ; the 



first of these reports was given at the Bos- 

 ton meeting by Dr. G. A. Miller and was on 

 ' The Modern Group Theory' ; the second, 

 ' Eeport on the recent Progress in the Theory 

 of Linear Groups' was given by Professor 

 L. E. Dickson at Columbus, and the third 

 is the one whose title is given above. 



The following is the list of papers read 

 before Section A: 



' Miss Catherine Wolf Bruce,' by Miss Mary Proc- 

 tor. 



' Eeport on the Work of the Columbia College Ob- 

 servatory,' by J. K. Rees. 



' Variations of Latitude,' by G. A. Hill. 



' The Functions, Organization and Future Work of 

 the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey,' by H. 

 S. Pritchett. 



' The Precise Level Net of the United States and a 

 New Levelling Instrument,' by J. F. Hayford. 



' New Light on Ancient Eclipses, ' by J. N. Stock- 

 well. 



' The Case Almncantor,' by C. S. Howe. 



' Standards of (faint) Stellar Magnitudes,'* by E. 

 C. Pickering. 



' Variations of Brightness of Stars in m 3,'* byS. J. 

 Bailey. 



' On the Spectroscopic Determination of Motion in 

 the Line of Sight,' by W. W. Campbell. 



' The Velocity of Meteors from the New Haven Ob- 

 servations,'* by W. L. Elkin. 



' Parallax of Stars with Large Proper Motions,'* by 

 F. L. Chase. 



'On the Prediction of Occultations,'* by G. W. 

 Hough. 



' The Comparative Accuracy of the Transit Circle 

 and the Vertical Circle,' by G. A. Hill. 



' The Propagation of the Tide Wave, ' by T. J. J. 

 See. 



' The Dimensions and Density of Neptune,' by T. 

 J. J. See. 



' Photometric Observations of Eros,' by H. M. Park- 

 hurst. 



' Secular Variations of the Motions of the Planets,' 

 by J. N. Stockwell. 



' A New Method of Finding the La Place CoefiS- 

 oients in the Theory of Planetary Perturbations,' by 

 J. N. Stockwell. 



' On a Method of photographing the entire Corona, 

 employed at Newberry, S. C, for the total Solar 

 Eclipse, May 28, 1900,' by W. G. Levison. 



' Some Eemarkable Properties of Eecurring Deci- 

 mals,' by Edgar Frisby. 



* Astronomical and Astrophysical Society paper. 



