278 OBSERVATORY AT CORDOBA, ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



brought into position with sufSeient nicety to yield results which, if not 

 ]^rtect, will be at least very serviceable. Meanwhile, I resolved to 

 avail myself of the opportunities at my disposal for i^rocuriug a new 

 object glass like the former, and sent the order to Mr. Eitz. But here, 

 too, the Argentine government was ready with its support, and not only 

 volauteeretl to assume the cost of the new lens, but expressed its desire 

 to provide the services of the photographer. This new lens arrived in 

 Cordoba many months ago, and although the person originally engaged 

 accomplished but little, and proved in the end unworthy, my plan 

 is by no means abandoned. The experience and knowledge already 

 acquired cannot fail to render essential service in the new attempt, and 

 the results of the Uranometry and the Zone-observations have enabled 

 me to complete and correct the list of southern clusters well adapted 

 for photographic determination. Meanwhile, the stellar photographs 

 alreadj^ secured, although by no means what I had hoped, and very 

 disproportionate in number to the expense and sacrifices which they 

 entailed, certainly possess a high scientific value. Repeated observations 

 of the principal stars of each group have been made with the meridian- 

 circle, for the purposes of fixing the scale of measurement, and of controll- 

 ing the reductions ] and I entertain the confident hope that the relative 

 positions of more than a dozen important southern clusters have thus 

 been secured in a form which is both very accurate, and as valuable for 

 future generations as for the present. 



I have spoken of the liberality of the Argentine government. In 

 both its executive and legislative departments there are continual illus- 

 trations of the strong desire of the cultivated men of the nation to foster 

 the intellectual development and the scientific reputation of the country 

 by every means in their power. I have mentioned the readiness of the 

 government to aid an astronooiical expedition at the very time when all 

 the nation's energies and resources were taxed to the utmost by the 

 struggle with the Paraguayan despot, Lopez, one of the most sanguinary 

 and ruthless tyrants in all history. At the time of my arrival in Buenos 

 Ayres this monster had been overthrown by the allied forces of Brazil 

 and La Plata, but internal rebellion, probably in part a consequence of 

 that struggle, still remained, and pressed heavily upon the almost ex- 

 hausted nation. Still there was not only ready support for the observa- 

 tory, but additional provision was made for its maintenance. Thus it 

 has been from the beginning to the present time, and the fact of such 

 readiness in a young nation to bear its part in scientific investigation 

 speaks for itself. Another illustration is afforded by the recently estab- 

 lished meteorological office. ^ 



The climatic relations of the vast territory of the Argentine nation 

 were a sealed book. Throughout the immense tract from the tropics to 

 the Straits of Magellan, and from the Atlantic to the Andes, the mete- 

 orological characteristics of the country were almost unknown. Only- 

 two or three small series of partial observations had ever been published, 



