DECEMBER 31, 1897. ] 
plies on pages 36 and 37, to understand the 
whole matter, without alluding to ‘grievances 
half a century old.’ W.C. Bond became, in 
1838, ‘astronomical observer’ without salary 
except the rent of a dwelling house, and with- 
out definite relations to the younger ‘ Perkins 
professor.’ Peirce, perhaps, expected rather 
too early from the new establishment results 
which could be ‘passed over to the computer.’ 
G. P. Bond, B. A. (Harvard), 1845, was a dili- 
gent student of astronomy in all its branches, 
and soon showed himself capable of improving 
the methods of computation, as is shown by his 
early papers, especially ‘Some Applications of 
the Method of Mechanical Quadratures ’—a 
paper which anticipated an important method 
of Encke’s, and which affords ideas not yet 
completely worked out. One of the few papers 
which he contributed to the Astronomical Jour- 
nal is entitled ‘On the Orbit of Wilmot’s Comet,’ 
and employs methods of his own which deserve 
study. 
When W. C. Bond passed away in 1859, at 
the age of 70, his son had long been the chief 
assistant in the Observatory, and succeeded 
quite naturally to his father’s place, but Peirce 
had been himself a candidate, and circumstan- 
ces had brought about an estrangement between 
him and Bond, but the latter seems to have done 
his best to renew pleasant relations. 
Other matters, easily traced, are involved in 
the reasons why these relations were not re- 
newed. Professor Holden alludes to the cir- 
cumstance that George Bond was not selected 
as an original member of the National Academy 
_of Sciences as a matter requiring explanation. 
But this concerns the history of American 
science in general, and not merely the few per- 
sons who may have made up the list submitted 
to Congress. It is not best to imply here that 
the omission was more unfair than similar trans- 
actions are often liable to be. 
At the time, 1863, when the National Acad- 
emy was founded, Bond had been four years 
Director of Harvard College Observatory, and 
had shown in that capacity ample knowledge 
of mathematics and astronomy to fill the posi- 
tion completely. He had gathered around 
him a corps of hard working assistants, 
among them Asaph Hall. The meagre 
SCIENCE. 
999 
salaries which the College could pay were 
rendered still more inadequate by the war 
then prevailing, and the corps of astronomers 
was diminished by the call for soldiers. One 
able and enthusiastic observer, Sidney Coolidge, 
fell in the battle of Chickamauga. The remain- 
der of the assistants were compelled, with 
one exception, to seek occupation elsewhere. 
Bond himself struggled on heroically, although 
stricken with a mortal disease, and finally 
passed away at his post in 1865, before the close 
of the war, after completing the great work on 
Donati’s Comet of 1858, the first work of an 
American astronomer to be rewarded with the 
gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 
The vindication of the wisdom of his appoint- 
ment as Director, was complete, but he never 
received the medal which reached America a 
short time after his death. 
Professor Holden’s book has been put together 
from G. P. Bond’s diaries and correspondence, 
and with the zealous cooperation of his family, 
Mrs. Richard Bond and his daughters. The au- 
thor’s work is, on the whole, well and judiciously 
done ; some trifling defects are apparently due to 
unfavorable circumstances; such, for instance, 
are the want of a subject index; the Index of 
Proper Names is very defective ; the spelling of 
German names like Brinnow and Rumker is 
not correct, and the use of capitals to indicate 
names of persons is a technical practice not ap- 
proved in general literature. While the book 
is not a complete history of astronomy in Amer- 
ica from 1840 to 1865, it affords precious materials 
for such a history, and should be read by all who 
desire to follow out that period of our science, 
and at the same time to become acquainted with 
two of its most prominent and faithful workers 
in the traditional as well as in the newer astron- 
omy. G. P. Bond’s experiments in astronom- 
ical photography were of very great importance 
and, in fact, were prior even to Rutherfurd’s. 
TRUMAN HENRY SAFFORD. 
WILLIAMS COLLEGE. 
Handbuch der Klimatologie. You Dr. JuLius 
Hann. Stuttgart, Germany, J. Engelhorn. 
1897. Second edition. 3 vols. 36 Marks. 
If I were asked to mention the greatest 
authority on matters pertaining to climate and 
