724 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 436. 



that a system of standard stars has been 

 selected and measured, including some of 

 the faintest stars visible in the largest tele- 

 scopes. In this work, telescopes of 40, 36, 

 26, 15 and 12 inches aperture, including 

 the two largest telescopes in the world, are 

 working together. 



It is also our policy to carry on work 

 in whatever way the greatest scientific re- 

 turn can be secured, whether at Cambridge 

 or elsewhere. A fund of $70,000, of which 

 $10,000 is now available, has been given 

 for this purpose. It may be claimed that 

 it will be difficult to maintain permanently 

 a policy of complete unselfishness, by which 

 astronomers in other countries may be 

 aided whenever they can do a given work 

 better than we can. The answer to this 

 is that no body of trustees is better quali- 

 fied to enforce such a policy than the 

 president and fellows of Harvard College. 

 Apart from the broad views they have 

 always maintained, it is obvious that they 

 could never afford, with the great interests 

 they have at stake, to fail to carry out the 

 wishes of any donor. 



In 1886 a pamphlet, entitled ' A Plan for 

 the Extension of Astronomical Eesearch,' 

 was published by the writer. As a result, 

 in 1890 the sum of six thousand dollars 

 was given by Miss C. W. Br.uce, to try the 

 plan for one year, and, out of eighty-six 

 applications, it was distributed as follows: 



3. Professor W. W. Payne, Director of the Carle- 

 ton College Observatory. Illustrations of the 

 Sidereal Messenger. 



6. Professor Simon Neweomb, Superintendent of 

 the American Nautical Almanac. Discussion of 

 contact observations of Venus during its transits 

 in 1874 and 1882. 



16. Dr. J. Plassmann, Warendorf. For print- 

 ing observations of meteors and variable stars. 



23. Professor H. Bruns, Treasurer of the As- 

 tronomisehe Gesellschaft. To the Astronomische 

 Gesellschaft for the preparation of tables according 

 to Gyldgn's method for computing the elements of 

 the asteroids. 



27. Professor J. J. Astrand, Director of the Ob- 

 servatory, Bergen, Norway. Tables for solving 

 Kepler's Problem. 



29. Professor J. C. Adams, Director of the Cam- 

 bridge Observatory, England. Spectroscope for 

 the 27-inch telescope of the Cambridge Observa- 

 tory. 



36. Professor A. Hirsch, Secretary of the Inter- 

 national Geodetic Association. To send an expedi- 

 tion to the Sandwich Islands to study the annual 

 variation, if any, in latitude. 



40. H. H. Turner, Esq., Assistant in Greenwich 

 Observatory. Preparing tables for computing star 

 corrections. 



45. Professor Edward S. Holden, Director of the 

 Lick Observatory. Reduction of meridian ob- 

 servations of Struve stars. 



46. Professor Lewis Swift, Director of the 

 Warner Observatory. Photographic apparatus for 

 15-ineh telescope. 



54. Professor Norman Pogson, Director of 

 Madras Observatory. Publication of old observa- 

 tions of variable stars, planets and asteroids. 



57. Dr. Ludwig Struve, Astronomer at Dorpat 

 Observatory. Reduction of observations of oceul- 

 tations during the lunar eclipse of January 28, 

 1888, collected by the Pulkowa Observatory. 



60. Dr. David Gill, Director of the Observatory 

 of the Cape of Good Hope. (1) Reduction of 

 heliometer observations of asteroids. (2) Ap- 

 paratus for engraving star charts of the Southern 

 Durchmusterung. 



78. Professor A. Safarik, Prague. Photometer 

 for measuring variable stars. 



79. Professor Henry A. Rowland, Johns Hop- 

 kins University. Identification of metals in the 

 solar spectrum. 



These examples show how high a grade 

 of application might be expected, and, of 

 course, if successfully carried out, the 

 quality of the work would continually im- 

 prove. 



The following outline of a plan will show 

 how a sum of fifty to one hundred thou- 

 sand dollars annually could be advanta- 

 geously expended for astronomy by this ob- 

 servatory. A board of advisers, consisting 

 of several of the leading astronomers of the 

 country, would be appointed, who would 

 meet once a year, or at first oftener, to 

 consider how the available income could 



