May 8, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



725 



be best expended in order to receive the 

 greatest scientific return. 



This board would consist partly of the 

 directors of observatories who could ex- 

 pend portions of the income themselves, 

 and partly of older astronomers who, hav- 

 ing retired from active work, could decide 

 without prejudice hoAV the income could 

 be expended to the best advantage by 

 others. They would have authority to add 

 temporarily to their number, astronomers 

 who might be invited to participate in any 

 special work, and who could thus take part 

 in their discussions on equal terms. All 

 expenses of this board would be paid from 

 the income, and except for clerk hire these 

 would be almost the only executive ex- 

 penses. A circular letter would be sent to 

 all astronomers, inviting application for 

 aid and suggestions for methods of expend- 

 ing the income. If possible, close relations 

 would be established with the trustees of 

 all the research funds which could be used 

 for astronomical purposes, to increase effi- 

 ciency and avoid duplication of work. The 

 most important diaty of the board of ad- 

 visers would be to consider each year what 

 departments of astronomy were being neg- 

 lected, and to secure the needed observa- 

 tions, or, if necessary undertake them them- 

 selves, or see that they were made at Har- 

 vard. As every astronomer is inclined to 

 undertake the work which attracts him 

 most, especially interesting investigations 

 are likely to be duplicated unnecessarily, 

 while laborious or iinattractive investiga- 

 tions are neglected. This is particularly 

 objectionable, since in astronomy, a science 

 of observation and not of experiment, an 

 opportunity once missed can in many cases 

 never be recovered. As an example of 

 needless duplication, fifty observatories 

 agreed to observe the planet Eros during 

 its opposition in 1900, but so far as known 

 only two or three have made the reductions 



needed to render their observations of any 

 value. When a plan was decided on it 

 would be discussed by the entire board, 

 and it is obvious that their combined ex- 

 perience would render serious mistakes less 

 probable than when all depends on the 

 judgment of a single individual, as is now 

 the case. They could find the best man 

 for a given research, and give him the best 

 possible facilities for carrying it on. They 

 could undertake larger and more difficult 

 researches than a single observatory could 

 attempt. It would be the power of many, 

 instead of one, and of large, instead of re- 

 stricted, resources. The opportunity of- 

 fered to such a board of advisers, having 

 control of the principal instruments of the 

 country and a large sum of money avail- 

 able to set at work any particular corps of 

 astronomers, ought to secure results far be- 

 yond those attainable at any existing ob- 

 servatory. All the advantages of a trust 

 would be secured, with none of its objec- 

 tions. No one could object to a trust in 

 wheat, for example, if its only object was- 

 to increase the quality and quantity of th& 

 crop, and to furnish it to consumers at the 

 lowest rates, also to aid those not members 

 of the trust in every possible way. In the 

 present case, these conditions would be 

 enforced by a body of men entirely un- 

 prejudiced, the corporation of Harvard 

 College. It is universally admitted that in 

 the industrial arts there is a great advan- 

 tage in cooperation, and in carrying on 

 work on a very large scale. The same re- 

 marks apply to scientific investigation, with 

 the added advantage that the supply and 

 demand are indefinitely great, so that the 

 market can never be glutted. 



Apart from the advantages to astronomy 

 of such a plan as is here outlined, it is be- 

 lieved that it would serve as a valuable ex- 

 ample to the other sciences, and the moral 

 effect of promoting uniformity of purpose, 



