May 8, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



723 



or two million dollars, if given to Harvard 

 for astronomical purposes, could be best 

 expended, and to see if the advantages 

 would not prove so great as to induce some 

 lover of science to make this gift. The 

 great sums expended on astronomy in the 

 past have developed elaborate systems of 

 work and expensive instruments, such as 

 have not been furnished in any other sci- 

 ence, and have given astronomers a train- 

 ing in carrying on work on a scale not 

 attempted in the other sciences. This, 

 however, renders it necessary to expend 

 large sums in order to attain better results 

 than are now secured, and to make a real 

 advance. It should be pointed out that 

 it is as important to prevent gifts under 

 improper restrictions, as to secure those 

 that can be wisely expended. In the first 

 case, not only is no useful result attained, 

 but other donors are discouraged by see- 

 ing money thus wasted. It is also a matter 

 of the greatest importance that the donors 

 should see and appreciate the results at- 

 tained, so that they may in this way receive 

 a partial return for their enlightened gen- 

 erosity. 



The policy of this observatory has been 

 to secure and retain the interest of donors, 

 and, when beginning on a small scale, to 

 obtain results that justified extension. 

 Thus, in 1882, an appropriation of $500 

 was secured from the Rumf ord fund, for in- 

 vestigations in astronomical photography. 

 With this a camera of two and a half 

 inches aperture was purchased, and stellar 

 photographs taken, which led to an appro- 

 priation of $3,000 from the Bache fund. 

 An eight-inch photographic telescope was 

 procured, and with this thirty thousand 

 8 X 10 photographs have been taken. 

 After being used on the northern stars in 

 Cambridge, this instrument was sent to 

 Arequipa, Peru, where it is now used 

 throughout every clear night. The results 



proved of such value that Mrs. Henry 

 Draper gave a second eight-inch doublet, 

 to replace the Bache telescope in Cam- 

 bridge. Thirty thousand photographs 

 have been taken with this instrument also. 

 Again the results were used to secure a 

 still larger instrument, and, in 1889, Miss 

 C. W. Bruce gave $50,000 for the con- 

 struction of a twenty-four-inch photo- 

 graphic doublet, the most powerful instru- 

 ment of the kind in the world. This in- 

 strument is also in successful use at Are- 

 quipa. As the photographs increased 

 rapidly in number, the room for their 

 storage and examination proved wholly in- 

 sufficient. Again the friends of the ob- 

 servatory came forward and provided it 

 with an adequate fire-proof building for 

 their accommodation. Finally, this last 

 year a grant from the Carnegie' Institution 

 has given us the means of beginning a sys- 

 tematic study of these plates, and thus 

 extracting a few of the vast multitude of 

 facts accumulated on them. 



The three principal sources of income of 

 the observatory, the Paine fund, the Boy- 

 den fund and the Henry Draper memorial, 

 were all received after arguments had been 

 presented showing the results obtained on 

 a small scale. Fortunately no restriction 

 was attached to either of these gifts that 

 would interfere with its usefulness, and the 

 income of the observatory can be expended 

 in almost any way that will secure the 

 greatest scientific return. 



Another policy of the observatory has 

 been one of cooperation, the last example 

 being in determining the brightness pf a 

 system of standards of magnitudes for very 

 faint stars. By the help of an appropria- 

 tion of $500 from the Rumfor.d fund, 

 suitable photometers have been devised 

 and constructed, and the directors of the 

 Yerkes, Lick and MeCormick observatories 

 have courteously cooperated with us, so 



