December 16, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



845 



matter has been referred by the Interna- 

 tional Geodetic Association to the directors 

 of the two observatories, and a definite re- 

 sult will, doubtless, soon be made known. 



The variation of the latitude seems to be 

 at present an absorbing question before the 

 Association, and there results from action 

 taken at the Stuttgart meeting the follow- 

 ing status : 



Six stations will be established during the 

 summer of 1899 on the parallel of latitude 

 39° 8'. These will be distributed in longi- 

 tude as follows : one each in Japan, Tur- 

 kestan and Italy, and three in the United 

 States. The American ones will be located 

 at Gaithersburg, Md.; Cincinnati, O., and 

 Ukiah, Cal. This gives a preponderance of 

 weight to the determination of the coordi- 

 nate Y (X passing through Greenwich), 

 but a station in Portugal, which may pos- 

 sibly be secured later, would essentially in- 

 crease the accuracy of X. Tschardjui, in 

 Eussia, and Ukiah, in California, are nearly 

 opposite, and Mizusawa, in Japan, is in the 

 only remaining unoccupied quadrant. The 

 scheme proposed is, therefore, a favorable 

 one for the study of the motion of the pole. 

 No one knows as yet how long it will be 

 desirable to continue the observations. The 

 period now provided for is five years, but it 

 is proposed to buy the land upon which the 

 observatories will be located, or lease it for 

 one hundred years. Il3 is evident that at 

 least twenty-one years would be desirable, 

 because during the seven years of observa- 

 tions already made the pole has returned 

 nearly to its mean position, and three of 

 these cycles should be completed before any 

 definite idea can be had as to its mean 

 path. The cost of the entire work will be 

 about $10,000 annually. The visual method 

 is to be followed regularly without, how- 

 ever, excluding the possibility of employ- 

 ing later the photographic one, which has 

 already given excellent results. Twelve 

 groups of stars, each comprising eight pairs, 



will be selected. Six pairs in each group 

 are destined for the latitude determinations 

 proper, while the two remaining pairs, hav- 

 ing great zenith distances (about 60°), will, 

 it is hoped, throw light on the question 

 of refraction. The observing period for 

 each night is four hours, and will vary from 

 7 p. m. to 3 a. m., depending on the situa- 

 tion of the group. The instrumental outfit 

 will consist of a zenith telescope and astro- 

 nomical clock for each station, except that 

 of Japan. Here a chronometer will be sub- 

 stituted for the clock, on account of the 

 frequency of earthquakes. 



Although the object of the general con- 

 ference was scientific discussion, a faithful 

 historian cannot ignore the social and hu- 

 manitarian side of the function. From 

 our entrance into the beautiful capital of 

 Wurttemberg until the time of our depar- 

 ture we were the recipients of the most cor- 

 dial hospitality. The first session was de- 

 voted to addresses of welcome on the part 

 of the government officials, and replies 

 thereto by the officers of the Association. 

 Cards of admission to the museums and 

 public buildings were furnished, excursions 

 to the fine old castles of the suburbs were 

 given (always including a sumptuous lunch 

 during the day at the expense of the gov- 

 ernment) , and a final gala banquet marked 

 the close of the convention. The official 

 means of communication before the confer- 

 ence was either French or German. English, 

 Spanish and Italian were sometimes heard 

 during recess, but not during debate. The 

 Japanese, Russians and Swedes spoke Ger- 

 man ; the Italians and Spanish, French ; the 

 Swiss, both. One delegate, in a moment of 

 absent-mindedness, voted in his native 

 tongue. The novelty of the proceeding 

 seemed attractive, and forthwith each rep- 

 resentative did likewise. This gave in- 

 creased momentary interest to the balloting, 

 which culminated in gi-eat hilarity when, 

 the President, a distinguished Frenchman, 



