562 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 641 



tage if they keep themselves personally in 

 touch with the most recent developments of 

 astronomical research. Third, the presen- 

 tation of papers. While hitherto this has 

 been the principal function of this and 

 other societies it is not necessarily the most 

 valuable. General discussions are more in- 

 teresting and instructive than long tech- 

 nical papers. It may, therefore, be wise 

 to follow the example of some of the engi- 

 neering societies, and print abstracts of 

 papers for distribution some days before 

 the meeting. A brief statement is made 

 by the author of each paper, and the great- 

 er portion of the time is devoted to dis- 

 cussion. The ideal conditions for meetings 

 of the society would seem to be— a large 

 hotel where all M'ould eat and sleep under 

 the same roof, and where the meetings 

 could be held in the same building. 



On the afternoon of December 28, a gen- 

 eral discussion took place regarding neg- 

 lected fields of work in astronomy, in which 

 a large number of members took part, and 

 the views expressed were varied and inter- 

 esting. The president, in opening the dis- 

 cussion, cited a number of examples of 

 fields of work, which seemed to him impor- 

 tant but neglected. For example, in the 

 astronomy of position, the formation of a 

 standard catalogue of stars uniformly dis- 

 tributed, having similar spectra, and of 

 nearly the same magnitude. Many trouble- 

 some sources of error, like those due to 

 magnitude and color, would thus be elim- 

 inated. The variation in latitude should 

 be studied at a series of southern stations 

 like those now in operation in the northern 

 hemisphere. The systematic search for 

 double stars of the ninth magnitude and 

 brighter, undertaken at the Lick Observa- 

 tory, should be extended to the south pole. 

 Photometric measures of faint stars, of 

 comparison stars for faint variables, of the 

 components of clusters, and of nebulae are 



much needed. It is not known whether the 

 spectra of nine tenths of the nebulae are 

 gaseous or continuous. A wide field is 

 opened in the study of the spectra of bright 

 variables when faint, and of faint variables 

 when bright, of the distribution of faint 

 spectra and of the components of clusters. 

 The election resulted as follows: 



President — Edward C. Pickering. 

 First Vice-president — George E. Hale. 

 Second Vice-president — William W. Campbell. 

 Secretary — George C. Comstock. 

 Treasurer- — C. L. Doolittle. 

 Councilors for 1&07-9 — Ormond Stone and W. 

 S. Eiehelberger. 



The council designated Harold Jacoby to 

 act as editor for 1907-8. 



We give below a list of papers presented 

 at the society 's sessions, together with brief 

 abstracts furnished by the authors. Some 

 of these have been slightly condensed by 

 the editor. 



PAPERS PRESENTED 



Distribution of Double Stars in the Zone 

 + 56° to + 90° : R. G. Aitken. 

 The survey of the sky undertaken at th& 

 Lick Observatory to secure data for a sta- 

 tistical study of the number and distribu- 

 tion of double stars is well advanced, but 

 the only large zone completely examined 

 is the one from -{-56° declination to the 

 north pole. This region was divided into 

 eight smaller zones, four of which were ex- 

 amined by Professor Hussey and four by 

 the present writer. By counts of the stars 

 on the charts, it appeal's that 12,299 stars 

 9.0 or brighter were examined in the region 

 + 60° to +90°. Of these, 294 were 

 known double stars and 259 more were 

 found to be double, a total of 553 pairs, 

 all under 5" except seven bright stars, 

 giving a ratio of one doiible star to every 

 22^ stars to 9.0 magnitude. 



Tabulated by hours of right ascension 

 and by zones 4° wide, it is found that the- 



