444 RECORDS 



SECTION OF ASTRONOMY, PHYSICS AND 

 CHEMISTRY. 



February, 5, 1900. 



Section met at 8:35 P. M., Professor M. I. Pupin presiding. 



The minutes of the last meeting of Section were read and ap- 

 proved. 



The following program was then offered : 



J. K. Rees, Report on November Meteors. (Read by Dr. 

 S. A. Mitchell.) 



J. K. Rees, The Variation of Latitude and the Con- 

 stant OF THE Aberration of Light, as Determined from 

 Six and One-half Years Observations made at the Colum- 

 bia University Latitude Observatory. (Read by Professor 

 H. Jacoby.) 



Geo. N. Bauer, The Parallax of // Cassiopele and the 

 Positions of 56 Neighboring Stars, as Deduced from the 

 Rutherfurd Photographic Measures. 



Summary of Papers. 



Professor Rees, in the first paper, stated that arrangements were 

 made by the Columbia University Observatory to observe and 

 photograph the meteors during the week of November 12—18, 

 1899. At West Point Dr. S. A. Mitchell, assisted by Messrs. 

 Bauer and Jenkins, was provided with a Rowland concave grat- 

 ing and two cameras. No photographs however were obtained. 

 At Bayport, L. I., Mr. C. A. Post placed his observatory and 

 his services at the disposal of the Columbia Observatory staff. 

 Six cameras and two telescopes were in use. On one plate in 

 a camera provided with a Goerz lens, a photograph taken on 

 November 15th, between 16 h. 9 m. 30 sec. and 16 h. 40 m. 44 

 sec. when pointed near Procyon, 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, with the result as shown in the following table : 



