SIMON NEWCOMB. 
147 
of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac Office, 
of which he was long the distinguished head. 
As already indicated, the particular problems to which 
Professor Newcomb addressed himself forced him to make 
many investigations in closely allied fields of astronomical 
research. One of the most important of these, by reason of 
the fundamental role it plays in all astronomical work, is 
the preparation of catalogues, or ephemerides, giving precise 
positions of the so-called fixed stars. Indeed, it should be 
said that he was one of the first to introduce order into the 
various publications giving stellar positions, the principal 
of these publications being the British Ephemeris and Nauti- 
cal Almanac, the American Ephemeris and Nautical Alma- 
nac, the Connaissance des Temps, and the Berliner Astro- 
nomisehes Jahrbuch. A half century ago these publications 
were based on differing data and gave, accordingly, different 
results for the use of the astronomer and the navigator. In 
seeking to bring order out of this astronomical chaos Pro- 
fessor Newcomb performed a signal service to the world of 
astronomy and pointed the way to the great advances that 
will be made in the near future. The labor involved in 
collecting the data, in discussing the observations, in deriv- 
ing trustworthy results, and in preparing the requisite tables 
for their use is such as few individuals are qualified to 
undertake. 
While all these investigations to which reference has been 
made were going on, Professor Newcomb found time to 
publish numerous important contributions in almost every 
other field of astronomical investigation, and also to make 
many excursions into the various fields of pure mathe- 
matics, political economy, statistics, and even into what 
would appear to most minds to be for him the remote field of 
fiction. 
This uncommon versatility helps to illustrate a very note- 
worthy characteristic in Professor Newcomb, namely, what 
may be called the plasticity of his mental makeup. His 
was one of those minds, none too common, which appear to 
continue to grow throughout the lives of their possessors. 
During the past twenty years I have had frequent occasion 
