This would occupy about a tenth part of the
time of the telescope for a year. After making copies, the photographs
would be sent to the astronomer who would perhaps spend ten years in
studying and measuring them. The committee would have funds at their
disposal to furnish him, if necessary, with suitable measuring
instruments, assistants for reducing the results, and means for
publication. They would thus obtain the services of the most skilful
living astronomers, each in his own special line of work, and the latter
would obtain in their own homes material for study, the best that the
world could supply. Undoubtedly, by such a combination if properly
organized, results could be obtained far better than is now possible by
the best individual work, and at a relatively small expense. Many years
of preparation will evidently be needed to carry out such a plan, and to
save time we have taken the first step and have sent a skilful and
experienced observer to South Africa to study its climate and compare it
with the experience he has gained during the last twenty years from a
similar study of the climate of South America and the western portion of
the United States.
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