624 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 277. 



The plates foi- the April number of Rhodora, 

 Journal of the New England Botanical Club, 

 were destroyed in the recent fire at the Heintze- 

 mann press-rooms in Boston. The appearance 

 of the April and May issues of Rhodora will 

 necessarily be somewhat delayed. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 

 SECTION OF ASTRONOMY AND PHYSICS. 



A MEETING of the Section was held on Mon- 

 day evening, February 5th. Professor J. K. 

 Rees presented a report on November meteors. 

 Arrangements were made by the Columbia 

 University observatory to observe and photo- 

 graph the meteors during the week of Novem- 

 ber 12 to 18, 1899. At West Point, Dr. S. A. 

 Mitchell, assisted by Messrs. Bauer and Jenkins, 

 was provided with a Rowland concave grating 

 and two cameras. No photographs however 

 were obtained. At Bayport, L. I., Mr. C. A. 

 Post had placed his observatory and his ser- 

 vices at the disposal of the Columbia observa- 

 tory staff. Six cameras and two telescopes 

 were made use of. On one plate in a camera 

 provided with a Goerz lens, a photograph taken 

 on November 16th, between 16 h. 9 m. 30 sec, 

 and 16 h. 40 m. 44 sec, when pointed near Proc- 

 yon, showed a meteor trail. Dr. Elkins of the 

 Yale observatory will measure this plate. 



A number of students and others watched for 

 the meteors for the purpose of counting them, at 

 West Point, New York, and Bayport. At West 

 Point, in about four hours on November 15th, 

 17 meteors were seen of which 12 were Leonids. 

 In New York on the same evening, three observ- 

 ers counted 68 in about 5 hours. Two other 

 observers counted 36 in 2 J hours. At Bayport, 

 two observers counted 39 in about 3J hours. 



Professor Rees, observing casually while at- 

 tending to the photographic apparatus at Bay- 

 port, observed a first magnitude Leonid at 15 h. 

 29 m., on November 15th, between the two 

 lowest stars in the handle of the Dipper. At 

 15 h. 39 m., he observed another first magnitude 

 Leonid under Sirius. At 17 h. 15.5 m. a fine 

 Leonid trail, lasting 3 seconds, was seen over 

 Procyon. At 17 h. 30 m. a very bright Geminid 

 was seen 20° south of Regulus. 



Professor Rees also presented a paper on the 

 variation of latitude, and the constant of abei'- 

 ration of light, as determined from six and one- 

 half year's observations made at the Columbia 

 University latitude observatory. Observations 

 of latitude were made at the new site of Co- 

 lumbia University from April 24, 1893, to the 

 present time, and will be continued until May 

 1, 1900. The observers were Professors Reea 

 and Jacoby, and Dr. H. S. Davis. A zenith 

 telescope made by WaunscafF of Berlin, was 

 employed throughout. Its aperture is 80 mm., 

 and its focal length is one meter. Four groups of 

 stars were used, having mean right ascensions 

 of about 6 h. , 14 h. , 18 h. , and 22 h. respectively. 

 Each group contained seven stars. Up to the 

 present time, 6518 pairs have been observed on 

 758 nights. From the observations, a curve 

 was drawn showing the latitude. This was 

 compared with the curve required by Dr. S. C. 

 Chandler's formula {Ast. Jour., No. 446). From 

 1896, the observed epochs of maxima and min- 

 ima seem to follow the computed in time. 



These observations give for the constant of 

 aberration of light the value 



20". 464 ± Q". 006. 



Mr. George H. Bauer read a paper on the 

 parallax of /* Cassiopeiffi and the positions of 

 56 neighboring stars, as deduced from the 

 Rutherfurd photographic measures. This star 

 has a large proper notion, and measurements 

 of its parallax have been made by various meth- 

 ods and observers. The present determination 

 is based on 28 Rutherfurd photographic plates, 

 and the method of position angle was used in 

 measuring them, as Professor Jacoby has al- 

 ready made a reduction using the method of 

 distance. Eleven independent determinations 

 were made giving a value of 



0" .238±0'' .014. 



Professor Jacoby found by the method of dis- 

 tance 0'^ .275 ±0" .024. These results agree 

 even better than might have been expected. 

 In forming the catalogue of 56 stars about /' Cas- 

 siopeise, the usual corrections for refraction, 

 precession, nutation, aberration, proper motion, 

 etc. , were applied. Since the co-ordinates were 

 measured in distance and position angle, these 

 were then converted into difference of right 



