SIMON NEWCOMB. 
139 
In May, 1896, when this work was practically finished, a 
conference of the Superintendents of the National Ephe- 
merides of the world was held in Paris, for the purpose of 
agreeing upon and adopting a uniform system of astro- 
nomical constants. Professor Newcomb was the leading spirit 
of this gathering. He was requested by the conference to 
prepare a catalogue of fundamental stars for use with the 
constants adopted. This catalogue was prepared and is pub- 
lished in Vol. VIII of the Astronomical Papers, and together 
with tables of the sun and planets and the constants adopted 
by the Paris Conference, is now used by all the National 
Ephemerides and by the astronomers of the whole world. 
Many decades must pass before the advance of astronomy 
will require that this work be superseded by new investiga- 
tions. 
It would seem at first sight that work of such great and 
fundamental importance should he more carefully fostered 
by the great governments of the world, and not left so much 
to the initiative of individuals. Astronomy, the oldest of the 
sciences, has been by far the most intimately connected with 
the intellectual as well as with the material progress of the 
human race. No civilization has, I think, ever developed 
without its system of astronomy. When Cortes conquered 
Mexico, the Aztec Calendar was superior to the Julian Calen- 
dar, then in use in Europe. 
But governments are engrossed in attempting to minister 
to the more material and apparently more urgent needs of 
men. The progress of theoretical astronomy has always been 
dependent on the individual astronomer, sometimes with and 
oftener without governmental aid. In the main it has been 
the exceptional man who has produced unusual results in 
this field. But in the present state of scientific progress, in 
its growing complexity, both are needed in conjunction, and 
the resources of the government should be expended under 
the ablest possible direction. 
This fortunate combination existed in the case of Professor 
Newcomb and the Nautical Almanac Office, and as regards 
practical achievements his place in history is secure as the 
