REPORTS OF COMMITTEES.

SECOND REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS OF STELLAR

MAGNITUDES.

THE first report of this Committee (Proc. Amer. Assoc. XXX, p. 1) included a plan for the determination of standards for stars fainter than the tenth magnitude. Twenty-four bright equatorial stars were chosen and the standards were to be selected from the regions following them from two to six minutes of time and not differing in declination from the leading stars by more than five minutes of arc. The observations described below have been made at the Harvard College Observatory unless otherwise stated. The light of each of the leading stars has been determined on from seven to eighteen nights with the meridian photometer. Charts have been constructed of all the stars visible with the fifteen inch telescope, in all but three of the regions from which the standards are to be selected. Most of these charts have been submitted to a careful scrutiny with the fifteen inch telescope of the Washburn Observatory. An important test of the completeness of the charts is thus afforded.

In the following table three successive columns give the names of the twenty-four leading stars and their approximate right ascensions and declinations for 1880. The next two columns give the number of nights on which they were observed with the meridian photometer, and the resulting magnitude. The details of these measures and a comparison with various other determinations of their light will be found in the Harv. Observ. Annals, Vol. XIV. The last columns give the number of stars in each of the charts, and the corresponding number of stars contained in the same portions of the Durchmusterung.

Stars suitable for standards must next be selected by the help of the charts. The light of these stars should then be measured in as many different ways as possible. The Committee will be much indebted for aid that may be rendered them in this portion of their work. The early publication of the charts now becomes a matter of importance, as it would permit their immediate use for various purposes.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON INDEXING CHEMICAL LITERATURE.

THE Committee on Indexing Chemical Literature appointed in 1882 respectfully presents the following report of progress.

We have the pleasure to announce that since our last Report the following Indexes have been published by their authors, the arrangement of material being uniform with that of those previously issued. Ozone, second index, by Prof. Albert R. Leeds.

Peroxide of Hydrogen, second index, by Prof. A. R. Leeds.
Speed of Chemical Reactions, by Prof. R. B. Warder.

Starch Sugar, by Dr. E. J. Hallock.

Besides these a valuable contribution to chemical bibliography has been independently published on a somewhat different plan, by Professor Albert B. Prescott and Mr. J. W. Baird. The full titles of the above will be found at the close of this Report.

Two hundred and fifty copies of our Report for 1883 have been sent to chemists throughout the United States, the Smithsonian Institution having kindly attended to the distribution by mail without expense to the Committee. This led to correspondence with several chemists who regarded the scheme of coöperative indexing favorably, and resulted in several offers of assistance.

Professor Wm. Ripley Nichols offers an Index to the Literature of Carbon monoxide.

Professor L. P. Kinnicutt offers an Index to the Literature of Meteorites.

Dr. Henry Leffmann reports progress on his Index to the Literature of Arsenic.

Professor C. E. Monroe does likewise with reference to an Index to the Literature of Explosives.

Professor A. B. Prescott and Mr. J. T. Craig offer an Index to the Literature of Phosphorus.

Dr. H. Carrington Bolton has in preparation a second index to the Literature of Uranium.

An offer was also received of an Index to an element already on the list of those published, but was withdrawn as soon as the author had his attention called to the existing publication. This circumstance shows forcibly the advantage of coöperation through this Committee.

We are pleased to announce that in consequence of our representations the Smithsonian Institution has consented to publish Indexes to Chemical Literature which shall be endorsed by this Committee. The Smithsonian places a limit to the number of pages which will be printed per annum, but the limit is a generous

one.

By thus securing the assistance of the Smithsonian Institution, chemists are assured of a reliable and authoritative channel of publication, together with a wide circulation, and the plan of coöperative indexing will undoubtedly receive a great stimulus.

Finally, to extend more widely acquaintance with the existing Indexes, we append a complete list of those printed. A limited number of those published by the New York Academy of Sciences can be had by addressing the Chairman of the Publication Committee of the Academy, Prof. D. S. Martin, 236 West 4th Street, New York City.

Respectfully submitted,

H. CARRINGTON BOLTON, Chairman.
IRA REMSEN.

F. W. CLARKE.

ALBERT R. LEEDS.

ALEXIS A. JULIEN.

Sept. 4, 1884.

LIST OF INDEXES TO CHEMICAL LITERATURE.

Uranium, Index to the Literature of. By H. Carrington Bolton. Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, Vol. IX, February, 1870. 15 pp. 8vo.

Manganese, Index to the Literature of; 1596-1874. By H. Carrington Bolton. Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History, New York, Vol. XI, November, 1875. 44 pp. 8vo.

Titanium, Index to the Literature of; 1783-1876. By Edw. J. Hallock. Annals of the N. Y. Academy of Sciences, Vol. I, Nos. 2 & 3, 1877. 22 pp. 8vo.

Vanadium, Index to the Literature of. By G. Jewett Rockwell. Annals of the N. Y. Academy of Sciences, Vol. I, No. 5, 1877. 13 pp. 8vo.