the earth's axis of rotation varied a little from time to time was
verified by Chandler. The result of this is a slight change in the
latitude of all places on the earth's surface, which admits of
being determined by precise observations. The National Geodetic
Association has established four observatories on the same
parallel of latitude--one at Gaithersburg, Maryland, another on
the Pacific coast, a third in Japan, and a fourth in Italy--to
study these variations by continuous observations from night to
night. This work is now going forward on a well-devised plan.

A fact which will appeal to our readers on this side of the
Atlantic is the success of American astronomers. Sixty years ago
it could not be said that there was a well-known observatory on
the American continent. The cultivation of astronomy was confined
to a professor here and there, who seldom had anything better than
a little telescope with which he showed the heavenly bodies to his
students. But during the past thirty years all this has been
changed. The total quantity of published research is still less
among us than on the continent of Europe, but the number of men
who have reached the highest success among us may be judged by one
fact. The Royal Astronomical Society of England awards an annual
medal to the English or foreign astronomer deemed most worthy of
it. The number of these medals awarded to Americans within twenty-
five years is about equal to the number awarded to the astronomers
of all other nations foreign to the English. That this
preponderance is not growing less is shown by the award of medals
to Americans in three consecutive years--1904, 1905, and 1906.
The recipients were Hale, Boss, and Campbell. Of the fifty foreign
associates chosen by this society for their eminence in
astronomical research, no less than eighteen--more than one-third