294 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 505. 



after careful consideration. The gift of a 

 large telescope, to a university unprepared 

 to receive it, is often -worse than useless. 

 Not only can no work of much value be 

 done with it, without a large annual ex- 

 penditure, but the existence of large tele- 

 scopes which are idle discourages other 

 donors who see that there is no return for 

 the great outlay. For teaching purposes, 

 a telescope of eight to twelve inches aper- 

 ture and a three-inch transit instrument 

 are large enough. The best work in ob- 

 servation can never be done except when 

 the atmospheric conditions are excellent, 

 and this would seldom occur near a uni- 

 versity or large city. On the other hand, 

 a fruitful field is open in the application 

 of photography to a very large reflectoi;, 

 but the best possible location, preferably 

 in the southern hemisphere, as in South 

 Africa, should be chosen. Such an instru- 

 ment would be of little value unless means 

 were provided for keeping it at work, and 

 for discussing and publishing the results 

 obtained. 



There is one class of astronomical insti- 

 tution, a computing bureau, which might 

 be established to great advantage at a large 

 university, where work of the kind pro- 

 posed was already in successful operation. 

 At one institution the work undertaken 

 might be the measurement and reduction 

 of photographic plates^ and at another the 

 computation of orbits of comets and aster- 

 oids. An astronomer particularly success- 

 ful in photographing the stars might find 

 on his plates the trail of an asteroid of 

 great interest, like Eros. Such an observa- 

 tion would be of no value unless he meas- 

 ured its position and, after taking addi- 

 tional photographs, determined its orbit. 

 This he would do to great disadvantage 

 compared with those who devote their en- 

 tire time to siTch work, and could easily 

 procure additional assistants as required. 



4. Publication.— The cost of publishing 



many important investigations is too great 

 to be provided for by existing periodicals. 

 Means ought to be supplied so that no 

 really good work should fail to reach the 

 public for this reason. Provision should 

 also be made for lengthy memoirs, the cost 

 of which is sometimes very great, since 

 they include extensive tables or require 

 elaborate illustration. The work of de- 

 ceased astronomers, when of sufficient 

 value, should also be promptly completed, 

 reduced and published. Probably the As- 

 tronomisches Gesellsehaft and the Royal 

 Astronomical Society would expend money 

 to great advantage in this way. 



5. Aid to Working Astronomers.— There 

 is no way in which a more prompt and 

 effective return can be obtained for a mod- 

 erate outlay than by grants to astronomers 

 qualified to expend them. The replies to 

 the Circular of 1903, described below, and 

 also to the Bruce Circular of 1890, show 

 this very clearly. The number of good ap- 

 plications from German astronomers is 

 particularly large. The sum of $10,000 

 would permit from ten to twenty valuable 

 researches to be undertaken at once. Many 

 of the ablest astronomers in Europe, and in 

 this country, are obliged to devote nearly 

 all of their strength and energy to teaching. 

 In many cases, their interest is so great 

 that they would gladly give miich of their 

 own time to researches of the greatest im- 

 portance if, by a grant of a few hundred 

 dollars, they could obtain the needed in- 

 struments, or employ assistants or com- 

 puters. A donor could thus obtain, at a 

 trifling expense, the services of some of the 

 most eminent astronomers in the world, in 

 expending his gifts. Care should be taken 

 to make the restrictions as light as possible. 

 A man of genius, in many cases, can not 

 work at all, except in his own way, and 

 at his own time. 



6. Aid to Existing Observatories. — Sev- 

 eral of our large observatories have now 



