475 
of Edmburgh, Session 1874 - 75 . 
was founded, with Quetelet as director; and in 1833 were begun 
the valuable series of astronomical, meteorological, and other phy- 
sical observations for which this observatory is so favourably known. 
Of the work done by this observatory, special mention may be made 
of the catalogue, begun in 1857, of stars which seem to have ap- 
preciable motion ; and the systematic observation and publication, 
from 1836, of the occurrence of meteors and shooting-stars, — records 
which proved to be of so great value thirty years later when the 
true character of these bodies was satisfactorily established. The 
meteorological observations have been particularly full and valuable, 
and they have been exhaustively discussed by Quetelet in his “ La 
meteorologie de la Belgique comparee a celle du globe,” published in 
1867, — a treatise which must yet be regarded as the fullest and best 
account of the meteorology of any single locality on the globe. 
Stations at Liege, Ghent, and other places in Belgium, were also 
established by him in 1835. 
He was elected Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Sciences 
and Belles-Lettres in 1834, and to bis influence was chiefly due 
the section on the Fine Arts which was added to the Academy in 
1845. To this section Quetelet made extensive and original con- 
tributions, particularly in his researches regarding the proportions 
of the human body, the results of which are published in his 
“ Athropometrie.” In matters referring to the higher education of 
the people, the census, and several other national questions, the 
Belgian Government availed itself repeatedly of his great knowledge 
and experience. 
He was made President of the Central Commission of Statistics 
at its establishment in 1841, and continued President till his death. 
His first paper on Statistics was published in 1826; in 1835 ap- 
peared his “ Physique Sociale,” and ten years later his “ Lettres sur 
la theorie des Probability appliquees aux sciences, morales, et poli- 
tiques.” He originated the idea of convening an International 
Congress of Statistics, and the first Congress was held at Brussels 
in 1853. 
The many-sidedness and fertility of Quetelet's genius may be 
seen from the list of his scientific memoirs, enumerated in the 
Royal Society’s Catalogue, amounting at the close of 1863 to 220. 
It is in the field of statistics that Quetelet appears as a great d is- 
