24 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 340. 



at all times multiply mentally very large 

 numbers, knew oflf-hand the multiplication 

 table to 1,000, and most of the logarithmic 

 tables to three figures. At fourteen he is 

 said to have calculated a cometary orbit, 

 and he graduated from Harvard at eight- 

 een. For some years he was observer at 

 that university under Bond, and for a short 

 time was acting director. In 1865 he took 

 charge of the Chicago Observatory, where 

 he began as his serious work the observa- 

 tion of one of the Astronomische Gesellschaft 

 zones. But his work was cut short and 

 his position lost through the great Chicago 

 fire. He then entered Wheeler's astro- 

 nomical survey in the far West, and worked 

 during several years for the government 

 scientific bureaus of Washington. It was 

 not until 1876 that he finally settled down 

 for life as professor of astronomy in Wil- 

 liams College, Williamstown, Mass. 



Here was done his principal work, which 

 related especially to star positions and star 

 catalogues. He made an elaborate discus- 

 sion of all existing observations of the stars 

 most suitable for determining geographical 

 latitudes in the United States. This re- 

 sulted in a catalogue of 2018 stars, which 

 was published by the Engineer's Depart- 

 ment, U. S. Army. Later, he made a sim- 

 ilar catalogue of 612 stars, and upon it has 

 been based the new boundary between the 

 United States and Mexico. This was pub- 

 lished in the report of the Mexican Bound- 

 ary Commission, Washington, 1898. Saf- 

 ford built at Williamstown a meridian 

 observatory which is a model of its class. 

 In it he installed a Repsold circle, with 

 which he made extensive observations of 

 the close polar stars. He liked these stars 

 .especially, and the unusually lengthy nu- 

 merical calculations connected with them 

 did not frighten him. He needed no ob- 

 serving list, as his memory never failed to 

 give him the instrumental setting for each 

 of his beloved polars in every possible posi- 



tion of his instrument. These polar obser- 

 vations were collected and published by him 

 in the ' Williams College Catalogue of North 

 Polar Stars.' 



But all this work belongs to a class im- 

 portant to pure science, though compara- 

 tively uninteresting to the general public; 

 for Salford possessed especially that kind 

 of devotion which can give generously to 

 science without hope of public notice. 

 More striking, perhaps, was his confident 

 prediction in 1861 of the minute unseen 

 companion of the bright star Sirius. Bas- 

 ing laborious calculations on the tiny ir- 

 regularities in existing observations, he 

 was able to show just where the little comes 

 must be. And there it was found in Janu- 

 ary, 1862, by Alvan Clark, of Cambridgeport, 

 Mass., while he was testing the 18-inch 

 glass now mounted at Evanston, 111. 



Safford was a frequent contributor to as- 

 tronomical and educational publications, 

 and a member of many learned bodies. 

 The Royal Astronomical Society, of Lon- 

 don, honored him with an election as asso- 

 ciate in 1866, when he was but thirty years 

 of age. Great as were his abilities in as- 

 tronomy, he was yet at his best as a 

 teacher. Those who came under his in- 

 fluence at Williamstown can bear witness 

 to this ; his ablest pupils profited most 

 from his stored learning, and some from 

 among them are laboring for astronomy to- 

 day. He was a loving and dearly loved 

 husband and father. To him were granted 

 these priceless blessings : a devoted wife, 

 a united family, a few time- tested friends^ 

 A man of genuine piety, the conflict of 

 science and religion had no terrors for him. 

 He knew that no such conflict exists ; that 

 the foundations of belief rest not upon 

 ponderous tomes of logic, but on simple 

 faith. Such faith he had, as of a little 

 child ; and, like a child asleep, so shall 

 God's acre rest him. 



Hakold Jacoby. 



