436 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 428. 



'fHli D. 0. MILhS ASTRONOMICAL 

 EXPEDITION. 



The D. 0. Mills Astronomical Expedition 

 from the Lick Observatory, University of Cali- 

 fornia, sailed from San rrancisco on Feb- 

 ruary 28, to Valparaiso, Chili. The pvirpose 

 of the expedition is to measure spectroscop- 

 ically the line-of-sight velocities of the naked- 

 eye stars in the Southern Hemisphere which 

 are not visible at Mt. Hamilton. The observ- 

 ing station will be in the vicinity of Santiago, 

 either on one of the low hills in the suburbs 

 of the city, or along the line of the railway 

 running from Santiago to Valparaiso. The 

 apparatus consists principally of a 37-i-inch 

 reflecting telescope, Cassegrain form, to which 

 is attached a powerful three-prism spectro- 

 graph. The instruments will be covered with 

 a modern 30-foot steel dome. The expedition 

 is in charge of Acting Astronomer William H. 

 Wright, and he will be assisted by Mr. H. K. 

 Palmer. Professor Wright has been a mem- 

 ber of the Lick Observatory staff for the past 

 six years, engaged in line-of-sight determina- 

 tions with the Mills Spectrograph attached to 

 the 36-inch equatorial. Mr. Palmer was for 

 four years a fellow in the Lick Observatory. 

 The government of Chili has taken note of the 

 coming of the expedition, by admitting all 

 the effects duty free, and by volunteering to 

 further the purposes of the expedition in 

 every possible way. 



AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION EX- 

 CURSION TO CALIFORNIA. 

 The American Ornithol6gists' Union at its 

 last session appointed a committee to consider 

 the question of a spring meeting in Cali- 

 fornia. The committee announces that it 

 finds that the railroads are not only willing 

 to grant very favorable rates, but that most 

 satisfactory arrangements may be made with 

 respect to stop-over privileges. In order that 

 those who go may see as much as possible it 

 is planned to make various stops in New Mex- 

 ico, Arizona and southern California, includ- 

 ing one at the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. 

 It is planned to charter special Pullman cars 

 for the 'outward journey so that the party may 

 travel comfortably and as a unit, and to spend 



about ten days between Chicago and San 

 Francisco. The plan is to leave Chicago May 

 3, to reach San Francisco on or about May 

 13, and to hold the special meeting May 15- 

 16 in conjunction with the California mem- 

 bers of the American Ornithologists' Union 

 and the members of the Cooper Ornithological 

 Club. The cost of the round trip is a single 

 fare from the starting point to Chicago plus 

 $50, and the tickets are good to July 15. 

 Members of the union may invite friends in- 

 terested in science to take part in the excur- 

 sion. The committee consists of C. Hart 

 Merriam, chairman; T. S. Palmer, and John 

 H. Sage, secretary of the union, to whom 

 communications should be addressed at Port- 

 land, Conn. 9 



MINUTE IN REFERENCE TO THE DEATH OF 

 PROFESSOR WILLIAM HARKNE8S, U.S.N. 



At a meeting of the staff of the Naval Ob- 

 servatory and Nautical Almanac Office, held 

 March 2, 1903, Captain C. M. Chester, Super- 

 intendent of the Naval Observatory, read the 

 sad announcement of the death of Professor 

 William Harkness, U.S.N., at Jersey City, 

 N. J., at 3:37 p.m., February 28, 1903. 

 Through a committee appointed at this meet- 

 ing, the staff of the Naval Observatory and 

 Nautical Almanac Office expresses its deep 

 regret at the death of their colleague, and 

 extends its heartfelt sympathy to his relatives 

 in their bereavement. 



Throughout all his connection with the Ob- 

 servatory, for 37 years previous to his retire- 

 ment in 1899, a conscientious faithfulness 

 even to the minutest details characterized the 

 performance of all his duties. This ad- 

 herence to duty was so rigidly carried out by 

 him that he rarely gave himself the occasional 

 relaxation so necessary to the recuperation of 

 wearied energies, which might have added 

 years of usefulness to his life. 



The fruits of his laborious life as aid, pro- 

 fessor of mathematics, U. S. Navy astronom- 

 ical director of the observatory and director 

 of the Nautical Almanac Office, are shown 

 by voluminous scientific papers, whose publi- 

 cation has not been limited to the volumes 



