, 1876-05-12
ASTRONOMICAL.


Report of the Directors of tic Chicago So
cfety-Eleet1on of Officers.
The regular annual meeting OF the Chicago AS
Economical Society vas held at the Academy Of
Sciences last evening the Hon. J. l. Scammon in
the chair, and Prof. Elias Colbert Secretary.
The first business in order was the presentation
OF tho Directors report for the past year, which
VAS IS follows: ..
DIRECTORS REPORT.
In accordance WitEthe provisions Of the Consti
tuition Of the Chicago Astronomical Society, your
Directors herewith present their first annual re-
port since the reorganization of the Society
SING the ass anp5al 1a meen t, te 1 Directors have
viz, the quarterly meetings falling due in oc-
tober and January-only six members were pres
Quorum. Only for Of tic Life Directors, Iess7s.
Stone, Wicker, Tells, and Holden, have at-
tended either OF the quarterly meetings. Your Di
rectors submit II yew Of this difficulty in secur-
Ing full attendance, that it is desirable to amend
the rule, and thg ask the Society to provide that
fiyc members Of ihe Board OF Directors shall be
Ing which shall have beea duly called under the
rules. Provfdtd, however, that in no case shall
any action Of LIE Board be valid unless it receive
Board .............---
has been unl.r the immediate care OF your Secre-
tary during the past year, and he has given to it
most Of the fine he could spare from his journalis
tic duties. The new dome was theoretically FIN
ished, and he equatorial telescope rcitted in June
every ever Tussday W and Thursday evening, in 'fi Inc
weather tor the purpose ot enabling subscribers to
the fund to use the telescope; They have not
zyd esa sa de:ta IF s opsq1 sM es
tended dten, but the great majority Of the mem
bers have not once visited the Observatory during
the req. Your Directors would have preferred to
know tlat all the new members had seen for them
selves the work accomplished by the expenditure Of
the money they contributed, and that all the old
meubers had been equally satisfied that the re1a-
tiousimpedinentt to the use ofth instrument which
wcre encountered in former year5 do not now e1-
ist They hope that the members will visit the OBJ
scr-atory more nImerously In future, with such
members OF their families as arc old enough to
appreciate the privilege OF looking through the
iIEtrument Your Directors haFe not e@ncousaeed @ ",
rot take pccuniary interest in the work OF the
Society.
than when It was frst built. and the telescope is
better fitted for work than then. The new dome
is = grand success, and seyeral Improvements in
br one OF the makers OF the Instrument. Those
improvements have been made by the Secretary,
and some others dictated By his own Judgment
much Of the work being done by him. with little
cost to the Society, except for the material used.
lie has also with considerable personal labor, pnt
into good working order the auallcr or transit tel.
escope, which had been neglected so mrch that it
could not be used except IN the time or twi-
light In recognition OF the value of his services,
DIRECTORS, at the regular quarterly meeting in Jan
uary last, to recommend that Mr. Colbert be de-
clafed & Life Director Of the Chicago Ast1onoua-
The scientific work done with the cquatorial tel
the saq o II sas
t1rius the 10th OF June, and the occultatlon OF
the Pieiades By the Moon the 3rd Of February.
The weather vas too cloudy to permit an observa-
tion Of the solar eclipse, March 25; but prcpara"
uons had been madc for doing So
TINE SIGNALS.
Ever sincc the 1et of November, 1875, an auto-
matic report OF trnc time has been furnished by
to t6e Chicago board Of Trade, the Michigan Cen
tra1 Railroad, Giles Bros. 4 Co, n. 1fatson s Co.,
Hamilton. Rowe s Co., ;. +. T. shurly& c.,
te1egraphic service is performed by the Western
Electric Manufacturing Company under contract
with this Society WHICH is il e. fo1es for qH i've ye2rs
the Society receives COMPENSATION sufficient to pay
the current cxpenses Of the Observatory, incndins
insurance Tour Directors hope to sec TIC number 11
ALSO cali attention to the fact that the Society WIS
furnishing time to the city ut the date Of the great
fire, and that such servise may be resumed when
ENDOWMENT.
The Income above referred to as sufficient to pay
the current expenses of the Observatory is not
equal to more than thut and those present current
expenses do not include the snlary OF nm astrono-
mer as Director. 1t is highly important that Di-
rector be obtained speedly so that 1ne Uoservators
in common with tho other obscrvatories OF the
world. Our telescope was the largest and best re-
tractor in existence when proushf here ten yeara
leading the great majority Of the telescopes with
which 60 many Important astronomical discoveries
idle much longer, and must remain Idle til enough
money is secured to pay the salary Of Director
Neither should it be cxpcrimented with ~ parties
Tie Endowment Committee, appointed q year
ago, has not accomplished much as yet i has,
however, partially made arransenenfs TOT thor
ough canvass OF the city, and your Directors re-
spectfu1y request that each member Of the Society
will lend helping hand. There ia scarcely one
but could induce some Other person 70 1eeems GO t
During the past year the following gentlemen
3. Hitchcock, Mark Skinner, J. n Seymour, Il.
n. Fuller, Horace White, Charles Counselman; G
" GoleheuF I Bonsld 3D. J. ~ 4; Van Van 9sae1 T,isa
The two last named have become members by sign
ing endowment notes, which eecute the, payment
ofs25 per Jear each. Il G ReT, alrcady = 1,em= sa=
aun,ually, pu1, ali ar and l. n Mbbard has become sub
1s q S5 @ e55psna 5sa5 xe III liz ' psose
The te1ns Of three OF the DIRECTORS have expired,
and their places should be filed by the Society at
FoFsgshe, s Tisss Nobelt Walren. aad Hendeison
Mr. Forsythc has attended ~ q the meSlaEs a. Of
the Board OF Directors during tue Term o1 olace.-
Mr. Warren attended all the meetings that were
held during the time he was in the city.
During the year the Society has lost three mem,
bers By dcath-Prot Lapham, Of milwaukee,, and
George ". Gage, and Col. Samuel Stone, Of Chi
cago. Col Stone was a Life Director.
There are now about 165 life members o. the
Society, including tho life Directors.
Tho Library Of the Society contains abont 4S5
bound volumes, 150 volumes bound IL paper; 5o 5so
pamphleta, and 50 manuscripts: TotAl l,25u
documents and books The report Of the Treas
urer shows balance On hand Of Sa7G 7S, OF which
$3.50 is invested and bearing interest
Your Directors have secured Insurance from loss
bY fire On the property Of the Astronomical So
rety, 1t cost Of sl60. 81, for the twelve months
Tie report and ita recommendations were unani.
mous1y adopted. s----
MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS
THE election OF th.re Directors for term Of
three years, to take the PLACE Of retiring 2c2heFs,
resulted Us follows: John Forsythe, Robert Mar.
rem, and L. C. Nanney.
nriate resolutions in regard to the deceased Mem
hers mentioned in the report OF the Directors
The Secretary was instructed to prepare . pam.
Met setting forth the history. aims and objects OF
the Society for general distribution.
After some discussion in reference to tssutng
ccrtiEcates of membership, the Society adjourned
- A MEEING%oF THE DIRECTORS
for the election Of officers Of the Society fos 10