404 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. V., No. 119. 



total number of different stars in this catalogue is 

 less than in the other; but that of the observations 

 is greater, since each star has been observed many 

 times, as well as with greater precision. This cata- 

 logue, too, is at last finished, and in the hands of the 

 printer; and thus it is that I am once more at home 

 with you, my cherished friends. 



I am hopeful that the data now collected may 

 throw some additional light upon the great problem 

 of the distribution of the stars in space. Yet, even 

 should these prove insufficient, there is reason to 

 believe that the new labors already begun by my 

 successor, Dr. Thome, who has been connected with 

 the observatory from the very first, will provide 

 whatever additional information may be needful for 

 the purpose. Among the other researches which 

 have gone on while the preparation of the zone cata- 

 logue dragged its slow length along, has been a study 

 of the meteorology of the country. The absolute 

 lack of information on the subject had forced itself 

 unpleasantly upon my notice when endeavoring to 

 select the most suitable place for the observatory; 

 and, as it would have been disgraceful for any scien- 

 tific inquirer to reside in the country without trying 

 to supply the want in some degree, I succeeded in en- 

 listing the aid of various educated men and women 

 in different parts of the country and adjacent ones. 

 The government and congress acceded to ray rec- 

 ommendation that a modest sum should be annually 

 appropriated for the purchase of barometers, ther- 

 mometers, rain-gauges, etc., to be lent to volunteer 

 observers, and for arranging, computing, and publish- 

 ing the results. In this way was organized, in 1872, 

 the Argentine meteorological office, which has estab- 

 lished no Jess than fifty-two stations, scattered from 

 the Andes to the Atlantic, and from Bolivia to Terra 

 del Fuego. At the end of the year 1884 there were 

 already twenty-three points at which the observa- 

 tions had been continuously made, three times a day, 

 for at least four years, and sixteen others at which 

 they had already been continued for more than two 

 years. These have provided the necessary data for 

 constructing the isothermal lines with tolerable pre- 

 cision for all of South America, from the torrid zone 

 to Cape Horn. Some little has also been accom- 

 plished in determining local constants of terrestrial 

 magnetism; and our determinations of geographical 

 position have nearly kept pace with the extension of 

 the telegraph-wires. The beats of the Cordoba clock 

 have been heard, and automatically recorded, amid the 

 plash both of Atlantic and Pacific waves. And the 

 series of longitude determinations made by the U. S. 

 navy expeditions between Buenos Aires and Europe 

 on the one side under Capt. Green, and between the 

 United States and Valparaiso under Capt. Davis on 

 the other, give, when combined with the two South- 

 American measurements, values for the longitude of 

 Cordoba which differ only by one-sixth of a second; 

 this being the total amount of the aggregate errors 

 of the several determinations in a series which, pass- 

 ing through Brazil, the Cape Verde Islands, Madeira, 

 Portugal, England, Ireland, Newfoundland, the Unit- 

 ed States, Central America, and down the coasts of 



Ecuador, Peru, and Chile, completes the full circuit 

 at Cordoba again. 



But I will not descant upon collateral matters, nor 

 convert this gathering of friends into an astronomi- 

 cal lecture-room. There are but two points more 

 that I wish to mention. One is, that I cherish a hope 

 that our sojourn at Cordoba may hereafter be con- 

 sidered as marking an epoch in a new method of 

 astronomical observation, namely, the photographic. 

 The inception and introduction of this method be- 

 longs to our countryman, Mr. Kutherfurd; and it was 

 only through his friendly aid in several ways that I 

 was enabled to give it a larger scope, in spite of many 

 obstacles. Now, I can report that every important 

 cluster of stars in the southern hemisphere has been 

 repeatedly photographed at Cordoba, with a precision 

 of definition in the stellar images which permits ac- 

 curate microscopic measurement; that these meas- 

 urements are now actively going on; and that the 

 Argentine government has undertaken to provide the 

 means for their continuance under my supervision. 

 It may be that I over-estimate the importance of this 

 new method ; but I confess that my expectations are 

 very high. Another year ought to show us whether 

 they are exaggerated or not. 



The other point is, that a very large share of the 

 merit which you so liberally attribute to me belongs 

 to the faithful staff of fellow-workers with whose 

 assistance I have been singularly favored. This un- 

 selfish devotion to the great undertakings in which 

 they took part, their loyalty, trustworthiness, and 

 ability, have, in the great majority of cases, been be- 

 yond all praise. Happily, their faithful and inestima- 

 ble services to science are placed on durable record ; 

 and yet unborn astronomers will know, at least in 

 part, how great have been their deserts. The senior 

 of them, Dr. John M. Thome, whose services began 

 in 1870, before we started southward, is now director 

 of the observatory, where he has begun a new and im- 

 portant work, which will do honor to him and to the 

 institution. Another, Mr. Walter G. Davis, who has 

 labored most earnestly and efficiently for eight years 

 and a half, is now director of the meteorological 

 office, which is assuming large proportions, and 

 under which he is now organizing a meteorological 

 station of the highest class. One noble young man, 

 Mr. Stevens, was summoned, without an instant's 

 warning, to a higher reward than earth could give, 

 leaving no memories behind him other than of affec- 

 tion, admiration, and respect. It was a sore loss for 

 us, and for the bereaved parents in New Hampshire, 

 to whom he was their only earthly stay and staff. 

 Had he lived, his friends and country would have 

 had abundant cause for pride in him. As it is, the 

 number of those who love and honor his memory 

 may perhaps be smaller, but their pride and admi- 

 ration are no less than had they seen the full harvest 

 instead of the rich promise only. Mr. Bachmann, a 

 native of Austria, who labored with us for more than 

 ten years, is now at the head of the Argentine naval 

 academy in Buenos Aires, with more than three 

 hundred pupils, and an elegant little observatory, 

 where he finds repose from administrative cares in 



