602 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 433. 



times during the last three years. The 

 immediate cause of his death was Bright 's 

 disease, which fastened itself upon him 

 during the last few months of his life. 



The following biographical memorandum 

 prepared by Professor Harkness' own 

 hand gives an accurate statement in a con- 

 densed form of the facts of his education 

 and his career. This statement is all the 

 more interesting because the writer indi- 

 cates clearly the discoveries and achieve- 

 ments which he deemed notable and im- 

 portant. A. N. Skinner. 



BIOGEAPHICAL MEMORANDUM. 



Harkness (William), son of Rev. Dr. 

 James and Jane (Weild) Harkness, born 

 at Ecclefechan, Scotland, December 17, 

 1837; height, 5 feet 10.0 inches; average 

 weight, 185 pounds ; circumference of head, 

 23.0 inches ; cephalic index, 0.733. Entered 

 Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., in 1854, 

 but owing to the removal of his parents 

 to Rochester, N. T., became a student in 

 Rochester University in 1856, and gradu- 

 ated with the degree of A.B. in 1858. 

 From Rochester he also received the degree 

 of A.M. in 1861, and LL.D. in 1874. From 

 Lafayette he received the honorary degree 

 of A.M. in 1865. Studied medicine in New 

 York, and received the degree of M.D in 

 1862. Was reporter in the New York 

 Legislature for the Albany Atlas and Argus 

 in 1858, and in the Pennsylvania Senate 

 for the Harrisburg Daily Telegraph in 

 1860. Appointed from New York as aid 

 at the United States Naval Observatory 

 August 1, 1862. Served as surgeon at the 

 second battle of Bull Bun, August 30, 1862. 

 Commissioned professor of mathematics in 

 the Navy with the relative rank of lieuten- 

 ant-commander, August 24, 1863, and 

 served at the Naval Observatory until 

 October 4, 1865. Served with the Army 

 during Early's attack on Washington, July 



11-12, 1864. Served on the United States 

 monitor Monadnock from October 17, 1865, 

 to June 28, 1866, making exhaustive obser- 

 vations on the behavior of her compasses 

 under the influence of the heavy iron armor 

 of the ship, and also completely determining 

 the terrestrial magnetic declination, inclina- 

 tion and horizontal force at all the prin- 

 cipal ports visited during the cruise, which 

 extended from Philadelphia to San Fran- 

 cisco, via the Straits of Magellan and the 

 western passages on the coast of Patagonia. 

 This was the most elaborate discussion of 

 the behavior of compasses on armored ships 

 which had been made up to that time, and 

 all the magnetic work of the cruise was 

 published by the Smithsonian Institution 

 in 1871, forming a large quarto volume of 

 225 pages. During this cruise the Monad- 

 nock was present at the bombardment of 

 Valparaiso by the Spanish fleet, March 31, 

 1866, and also at the bombardment of 

 Callao by the same fleet on May 2, 1866. 

 From San Francisco Professor Harkness 

 traveled across the continent to Omaha, 

 partly by military transportation and 

 partly by stage-coach, the Pacific railroad 

 not having been built at that time. Upon 

 returning to Washington he was attached 

 to the Hydrographic Office from October 

 14, 1866, until October 1, 1867, and to the 

 Naval Observatory from October 1, 1867, 

 until May 30, 1874. Observed the total 

 solar eclipse of August 7, 1869, at Dea 

 Moines, Iowa, and there discovered the now 

 famous coronal line E 1474. Observed the 

 total solar eclipse of December 22, 1870, at 

 Syracuse, Sicily, and before returning to 

 the United States visited nearly all the 

 principal European observatories, includ- 

 ing Greenwich and Pulkowa. November 

 13, 1871, was appointed one of the original 

 members of the United States Transit of 

 Venus Commission, to arrange for observ- 

 ing the transits of Venus in 1874 and 1882. 



