October 20, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



521 



F. King, director of tlie Dominion Observatory, 

 whose remarks were prefaced by the reading of an 

 official welcome in behalf of the Canadian govern- 

 ment, communicated by the Deputy Minister of 

 the Interior, W. W. Cory, C.M.G. 



Five sessions of the society were devoted to the 

 reading and discussion of papers, to the reports of 

 committees and to routine business. In addition 

 the society's program was amplified by an oppor- 

 tunity extended the visiting members to examine 

 the work and the equipment of the Dominion 

 Observatory. Following this inspection a resolu- 

 tion was unanimously adopted as follows: 



Besolved, That the Astronomical and Astrophys- 

 ieal Society of America, assembled at the Dominion 

 Observatory for its twelfth annual meeting, has 

 examined in detail the work of the observatory, 

 and expresses its very favorable opinion of the 

 character of the investigations carried on in all of 

 its departments. This is particularly the case 

 with the determinations of radial velocity, from 

 which unusually valuable results have been ob- 

 tained by means of a telescope of comparatively 

 small size. In view of the pressing need for such 

 data, the society hopes that a more powerful tele- 

 scope may soon be provided, and one in keeping 

 with the standing now attained by the national 

 observatory of Canada. 



Aside from the purely astronomical program of 

 the meeting several most enjoyable social features 

 were arranged for the members and friends pres- 

 ent, whose appreciation was expressed in an unani- 

 mous resolution of thanks to Dr. King and his 

 staff. 



The list of members in attendance is as fol- 

 lows: Miss Bigelow, Miss Cannon, Miss Furness, 

 Miss Palmer, Miss Swartz, Miss "Whiting, Messrs. 

 Apple, Bailey, Chant, Curtiss, C. L. Doolittle, 

 Douglass, Eichelberger, Frisby, Harper, Jordan, 

 W. F. King, Littell, Manson, Marsh, McDiarmid, 

 J. A. Miller, Motherwell, Peters, Plaskett, Eussell, 

 Sehlesinger, Slocum, Stebbins, E. M. Stewart, 

 Tatlock, Tucker and A. B. Turner. In addition 

 several friends of the society were in attendance. 



The following eighteen persons were elected to 

 membership: Mr. C. A. Bigger, Dominion Observa- 

 tory, Ottawa, Canada; Mr. Leon Campbell, Har- 

 vard Surcursal, Arequipa, Peru; Dr. E. A. Fath, 

 Mount Wilson Solar Observatory, Pasadena, Cal. ; 

 Mr. Alexander Sarkis Galajikian, Cornell Univer- 

 sity, Ithaca, N. Y. ; Mr. Curvin H. Gingrich, Good- 

 sell Observatory, Northfield, Minnesota; Mr. Will- 

 iam Pratt Graham, 1205 Harrison St., Syracuse, 

 N. Y.; Professor Thomas F. Holgate, North- 



western University, Evanston, 111. ; Mr. Louis 

 Allen Hopkins, Ann Arbor, Mich. ; Dr. Otto Klotz, 

 437 Alberta St., Ottawa, Canada; Mr. Carl Otto 

 Lampland, Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Ari- 

 zona; Eev. D. B. Marsh, Springville, Ontario, 

 Canada; Mr. Kichard John McDiarmid, Dominion 

 Observatory, Ottawa, Canada; Mr. E. M. Mother- 

 well, Dominion Observatory, Ottawa, Canada; Miss 

 Margaretta Palmer, Yale Observatory, New Haven, 

 Conn. ; Mr. Harry B. Eumrill, Berwyn, Pa. ; Mr. 

 E. M. Stewart, Dominion Observatory, Ottawa, 

 Canada; Miss Psyche Eebecca Sutton, 813 Market 

 Street, Logansport, Indiana; Mr. Warren J. Vin- 

 ton, The Wellington, Detroit, Mich. 



A committee on cooperation in the teaching of 

 astronomy was appointed with membership as fol- 

 lows: Professors C. L. Doolittle (chairman), 

 Sarah F. Whiting, C. A. Chant and J. A. Miller. 



The following ofiieers were selected during the 

 meeting : 



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

 E. B. Frost; Second Vice-president, W. W. Camp- 

 bell; Secretary (for three years), W. J. Hussey; 

 Treasurer, C. L. Doolittle; Councilors (for two 

 years), W. S. Eichelberger, J. S. Plaskett; Editor 

 for the meeting, E. H. Curtiss. The terms of 

 office of W. J. Humphreys and F. Sehlesinger as 

 councilors did not expire at this meeting. 



The next annual meeting of the society will be 

 held at the Allegheny Observatory, Pittsburgh, in 

 August, 1912. The society will also meet at Wash- 

 ington in December, 1911, in connection with 

 Section A of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. 



Papers (thirty in number) and reports read at 

 the various sessions of the Ottawa meeting are 

 given below in abstract. 



Photographic Determination of the First Point in 

 Aries: E. C. Pickering. (Eead in connection 

 with the symposium on Photographic Astrom- 

 etry.) 



Absolute positions of the stars can probably be 

 obtained by photography, with errors no greater 

 than those of visual determinations, if a telescope 

 can be made to remain in a fixed position during 

 twenty-four hours. The most favorable conditions 

 would probably be attained by mounting the tele- 

 scope underground, pointing south at an altitude 

 nearly equal to that of the sun. Azimuth observa- 

 tions with meridian circles indicate, in some cases, 

 that an entire hill has a progressive motion. This 

 is obviously improbable in a level plain. Great 

 pains must be taken to connect the objective 



