716 
the southern heavens. The northern hemi- 
sphere being the seat of civilization, that 
portion of the sky which could not be seen 
from our latitudes was comparatively neg- 
lected. What had been done in the south- 
ern hemisphere was mostly the occasional 
work of individuals and of one or two per- 
manent observatories. The latter were so 
few in number and so meager in their outfit 
that a splendid field was open to the in- 
quirer. Gould found the patron which he 
desired in the government of the Argen- 
tine Republic, on whose territory he erected 
what must rank in the future as one of 
the memorable astronomical establishments 
of the world. His work affords a most 
striking example of the principle that 
the astronomer is more important than 
his instruments. Not only were the means 
at the command of the Argentine observa- 
tory slender in the extreme when compared 
with those of the favored institutions of 
the north, but, from the very nature of the 
case, the Argentine Republic could not 
supply trained astronomers. The difficul- 
ties thus growing out of the administration 
cannot be overestimated. And yet the six- 
teen great volumes in which the work of the 
institution has been published will rank in 
the future among the classics of astronomy. 
Another wonderful focus of activity, in 
which one hardly knows whether he ought 
most to admire the exhaustless energy or 
the admirable ingenuity which he finds dis- 
played, is the Harvard Observatory. Its 
work has been aided by gifts which have 
no parallel in the liberality that prompted 
them. Yet without energy and skill such 
gifts would have been useless. The activity 
of the establishment includes both hem- 
ispheres. Time would fail to tell how it 
has not only mapped out important regions 
of the heavens from the north to the south 
pole, but analyzed the rays of light which 
come from hundreds of thousands of stars 
by recording their spectra in permanence 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Von. VI. No. 150. 
on photographic plates. The work of the es- 
tablishment is so organized that a new star 
cannot appear in any part of the heavens, 
nor a known star undergo any noteworthy 
change, without immediate detection by 
the photographic eye of one or more little 
telescopes, all seeing and never sleeping po- 
licemen, that scan the heavens unceasingly 
while the astronomer may sleep, and report 
in the morning every case of irregularity 
in the proceedings of the heavenly bodies. 
Yet another example showing what 
great results may be obtained with limited 
means is afforded by the Lick Observatory, 
of California. During the ten years of its 
activity its astronomers have made it 
known the world over by its unequaled 
works and discoveries, too varied and: 
numerous to be even mentioned at the 
moment. 
The astronomical work of which I have 
thus far spoken has been almost entirely 
that done at observatories. I fear that I 
may in this way have strengthened an 
erroneous impression that the seat of im- 
portant astronomical work is necessarily 
connected with an observatory. It must be 
admitted that an institution which has a 
local habitation and a magnificent building 
commands public attention so strongly that 
valuable work done elsewhere may be 
overlooked. A very important part of as- 
tronomical work is done away from tele- 
scopes and meridian circles, and requires 
nothing but a good library for its prosecu- 
tion. One who is devoted to this side of the 
subject may often feel that the public does 
not appreciate his work at its true relative 
value, from the very fact that he has no 
great buildings or fine instruments to show. 
I may, therefore, be allowed to claim as an 
important factor in the American astronomy 
of the last half century an institution of 
which few have heard and which has been 
overlooked because there was nothing about 
it to excite attention. 
