November 29, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



861 



about five minutes of arc south of the star, but 

 with no evidence of any relationship between 

 the nebulous clouds and the star. 



On September 20 Ritchey at the Yerkes Ob- 

 servatory photographed the same region with a 

 more efiicient instrument and found that the 

 nebulous cloud was very nearly circular, some 

 ten minutes of arc in diameter, but of varying 

 intensity in its different parts with the new star 

 situated near the middle of the nebulosity. 



A. recent photograph, secured by Professor 

 Perrine with the Crossley reflector, recorded the 

 principal features of the nebulous cloud. He 

 compared his photograph with the Yerkes pho- 

 tograph of the same object and made the inter- 

 esting discovery that the brightest portion of 

 the nebula, at least, and perhaps the whole 

 nebula, had moved to the southeast more than 

 one minute of arc in the past six weeks. 



This observation is in every respect unique. 

 Motion on this enormous scale or one fiftieth 

 part of this scale has never been observed for 

 any celestial body outside the solar system, and 

 it is morally certain that the observed phe- 

 nomenon is closely related to the violent dis- 

 turbances which gave birth to the new star. 

 It is perhaps as wonderful and important as 

 any fact yet determined in connection with 

 new stars. 



TEE U. S. NAVAL OBSERVATORY. 



In his annual report to the President, Hon. 

 John D. Long, Secretary of the Navy, indorses 

 the recommendation of the board of visitors to 

 the Naval Observatory, that a civilian astron- 

 omer be placed at the head of that institution. 

 Mr. Long says : 



" Attention is called to the first and very im- 

 portant report of the board of visitors to the 

 Naval Observatory. I earnestly commend its 

 recommendations to careful consideration. This 

 board was created by act of Congress in March 

 last. I believe its visitations will be found 

 valuable in making the observatory efficient and 

 in rank with the best institutions of the land. 

 It appears that no other observatory in the 

 world has the expenditure of so much 

 money, but also that its results are not com- 

 mensurate with those of some other observa- 

 tories the expenditures of which are less. Its 



head should of course be the best astronomer' 

 who has proper administrative qualifications, 

 that can be found in the country. It is espe- 

 cially desirable that he should have continuity 

 of tenure, and the observatory has undoubtedly 

 suffered from frequent changes in its superin- 

 tendents. 



" While the average term of service of super- 

 intendents at Greenwich has been twenty-eight 

 years and at Harvard fifteen, at the Naval 

 Observatory it has been only a little over three. 

 I urgently recommend that the legislation of 

 the last Congress to the effect ' that the superin- 

 tendent of the Naval Observatory shall be, until 

 further legislation by Congress, a line officer of 

 the navy of a rank not below that of captain,' 

 be repealed, and that on the contrary it be 

 enacted that there shall be no limitation upon 

 the field from which the superintendent is to be 

 selected. As well might the above-quoted 

 statute have provided that the Commissioner of 

 Fish and Fisheries should be selected from the 

 Jine of the Marine Corps, or the Director of the 

 Geological Survey from the line of the army. 



" There is no vital relation between the navy 

 and the observatory. It may happen that some 

 naval officer is preeminently qualified for such 

 a place, in which case he would be appointed 

 to it, but the country is entitled to have un- 

 limited range of selection. The present limita- 

 tion, which shuts out the whole body of civilian 

 astronomers and even any astronomer in the 

 navy who does not happen to be in the line, or, 

 if in the line, below the rank of captain, is 

 peculiar. Only a very small proportion of 

 naval officers are not below the rank of captain, 

 and as most of them are required for naval ser- 

 vices — a requirement which is now increasing — 

 the list from which selection can be made is a 

 noticeably small one. It is evident, too, from 

 the wording of the above quotation from the 

 statute, that Congress in passing it had in mind 

 further legislation in this respect." 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 The Council of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science will meet at the 

 Quadrangle Club, adjoining the grounds of the 

 University of Chicago, on the afternoon of 

 Wednesday, January 1. Section H, Anthro- 



