Decembee 16, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



887 



nomena at and around the time that Halley's 

 comet was in transit on the sun, in this country 

 and the West Indies. The chief material for this 

 summary is the responses to a circular letter 

 issued by the cliiaf of the Weather Bureau to 

 nearly two hundred of its observers. No magnetic 

 or electric phenomena were noted that could rea- 

 sonably be attributed to the comet. At many 

 places, however, parhelia of unusual brilliancy 

 and general appearance were seen; concerning 

 these Dr. Humphreys concludes that " at present 

 the possibility of the comet's influence in pro- 

 ducing them can not be definitely excluded." 



Report of the Committee on Luminous Meteors: 



CLEVELAND Abbe (chairman). 



The chairman reported that, owing to his re- 

 moval from Baltimore to Mount Weather, he had 

 not been able to construct the apparatus for con- 

 tinuous photographic registration of the paths 

 and times of bright meteors that pass within 45 

 degrees of the zenith. But this he expects to 

 accomplish during the next year. The urgency of 

 this class of work has been materially increased 

 by recent theoretical memoirs on the composition, 

 temperature and motions of the upper atmosphere. 

 The success of such apparatus is assured by the 

 recent work of Stormer, who has succeeded in 

 obtaining a continuous series of instantaneous 

 photographs of any portion of the aurora borealis 

 at two neighboring stations; whence the altitudes 

 are accurately determined just as it is expected 

 to do in studies of meteors. 



Report of the Committee on Comets: George C. 



COMSTOCK (chairman). 



The work of this committee during the year 

 has been concerned with observations of Halley's 

 comet. The best methods of utilizing the present 

 return were discussed by the committee and their 

 conclusions were embodied in a circular letter 

 that was widely distributed. The committee se- 

 cured a grant of $2,200 from the Baehe Fund of 

 the National Academy of Sciences to defray the 

 expenses of temporarily installing a photographic 

 telescope in the Hawaiian Islands. Mr. Ferdinand 

 Ellerman had charge of this expedition, and for 

 this purpose he was courteously granted leave of 

 absence by the Carnegie Institution. The commit- 

 tee is further indebted to the John A. Brashear 

 Ompany and to the Lick Observatory for the loan 

 of the portrait lens and its mounting. Mr. Eller- 

 man succeeded in securing an extremely valuable 

 record of the comet's appearance. He also made 

 careful observations of the sun at the time when 



the comet transitted its disc, with wholly negative 

 results, as was also the case at all other stations. 

 Although the chances of success seemed small, the 

 United States Weather Bureau undertook to se- 

 cure from its observers reports as to any unusual 

 atmospheric phenomena observed during or near 

 the time that the earth was supposed to be pass- 

 ing through the comet's tail. For Dr. Hum- 

 phreys's summary of these reports, as well as 

 Mr. EUerman's account of his activities in Hawaii, 

 see their papers above. 



The bill that is now pending in congress con- 

 templating the appointment of a civilian head 

 to the United States Naval Observatory was the 

 subject of discussion both in the meetings of the 

 council and in the general sessions of the society; 

 as a result it was unanimously 



Resolved: That the Astronomical and Astro- 

 physical Society of America, deeming it essential 

 to the success of an astronomical observatory that 

 it should be under the direction of an eminent 

 astronomer, expresses its appreciation of the ef- 

 forts of the President of the United States to 

 secure at the United States Naval Observatory 

 this condition that has been found so effective in 

 the great national observatories of other countries. 



The officers elected for the ensuing year are: 

 President, E. C. Pickering; First Vice-president, 

 G. C. Comstock; Sec07id Vice-prestdent, W. W. 

 Campbell; Treasurer, C. L. Doolittle; Councilors, 

 W. J. Humphreys and Frank Sehlesinger. 



In response to a cordial invitation from Chief 

 Astronomer King, it was decided to hold the next 

 meeting at the Dominion Observatory in Ottawa, 

 at some time next summer, the exact date to be 

 fixed later by the president and the secretary. 



Immediately after the close of the meeting 

 many of those present started together on a jour- 

 ney across the continent for the purpose of attend- 

 ing the meeting of the Solar Union at Pasadena. 



Frank Schlesinger, 

 Editor for the Eleventh Antiual Meeting 



SOCIETIES A^'D ACADEMIES 



the PHILOSOPHICAI, SOCIETT of WASHINGTON 



The 683d meeting of the society was held on 

 November 5, 1910, President Woodward in the 

 chair. The following paper was read: 

 On Gravity Determination at Sea: Dr. L. A. 

 B.ueb. of the Department of Terrestrial Mag- 

 netism of the Carnegie Institution of Wash- 

 ington. 



