Price $1.00Per Year £be inniversit^ of CbicaooFOUNDED BY JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER Single Copies5 CentsUniversity RecordPUBLISHED BY AUTHORITYCHICAGOGbe TUniveieity of Gbtcaao ©teesVOL II, NO. 30. PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY AT 3:00 P.M. OCTOBER 22, 1897.Entered in the post office Chicago, Illinois, as second-class matter.II.III.IV. CONTENTS.The Importance of Astrophysical Kesearch andthe Relation of Astrophysics to other PhysicalSciences. By Professor James E. Keeler, Sc.D. 239-246The Dedication of the Yerkes AstronomicalObservatory, Williams Bay, Wis. - - - 246-250Current Events 250The Calendar - ....... - - 250The Importance of Astrophysical Research and the Relation of Astrophysics to other Physical Sciences.*BY PROFESSOR JAMES E. KEELER, SC.D.Director of the Allegheny Obseruatory.The domains of the physical sciences are not, like thepolitical divisions represented on the map, capable ofbeing defined by boundary lines traced with mathematical precision. They pass into one another by imperceptible gradations, the unity of nature opposingitself to rigid systems of classification. Thus thereoften exists between two allied sciences a broadground, belonging to each, yet exclusively the propertyof neither, which may be so extensive and fertile as tojustify the development of a new science for its specialcultivation. And such a science not only subservesthe purpose for which it was created, but it has thefurther special importance that, by promoting an?Address delivered at the dedicatory exercises of the YerkesAstronomical Observatory, Williams Bay, Wis., Thursday,October 21, 1897. exchange of knowledge between its previously established neighbors, by investigating the cause ofdisagreements between them, by comparing theirmethods, and possibly by detecting errors in theirresults, it tends to bring them into more perfect coordination.Such is the nature of the science which ProfessorLangley has called the new astronomy, and which isalso, and perhaps more generally, known as astrophysics. Its high development has in fact been sorecent that its name is found in only our latest dictionaries. It is closely allied on the one hand toastronomy, of which it may properly be classed as abranch, and on the other hand to chemistry andphysics; but it assumes wide privileges, and it is readyto draw material which it can use with profit fromany source, however distant. It seeks to ascertain thenature of the heavenly bodies, rather than their position or motions in space — what they are, rather thanwhere they are ; and for my own convenience I shalluse the terms astrophysics and astronomy to denotethe sciences of which these aims are respectivelycharacteristic. Yet here again the line of demarka-tion cannot be sharply drawn, since the measurementsof celestial motions that cannot be dealt with by themethods of the older astronomy is one of the mostimportant tasks of the astrophysicist. That which isperhaps most characteristic of astrophysics is thespecial prominence which it gives to the study ofradiation. The complex nature of white light, in par-238 UNIVERSITY BECOEBReligious.Mr. Andrew McLeish, Vice President of the Boardof Trustees, will deliver the Vesper Address* Sunday,October 17, at 4:00 p.m., Kent Theater.All members and friends of the University areinvited to attend.The Tenth Educational Conference of High Schoolsand Academies.The Tenth Educational Conference of the HighSchools and Academies affiliated and codperating withthe University of Chicago will be held on Friday andSaturday, October 15 and 16, 1897, in accordance withthe plan which makes the third Friday and Saturdayin October the permanent dates for the autumn conference. Programmes of the exercises may be obtainedat the Examiner's office.Today, Friday, at 8:00 p.m. in the Chapel, President R. G. Boone, of the Michigan State NormalSchool, will deliver an address on " Advanced Studiesfor Normal School Graduates — Where, and What ?"On Saturday morning there will be a session in theChapel at 10: 30, when Mr. E. R. Boyer, of the HydePark High School, Miss Katherine Reynolds, of theWest Aurora High School, and Director E. O. Sisson,of the Bradley Polytechnic Institute, will discusscertain phases of secondary school work. In the afternoon there will be the usual departmental conferenceson chemistry, biology, history, mathematics, Latinand Greek, French, German, English, physiographyand geology, and astronomy. At noon on Saturdaythere will be an informal reception and lunch inHaskell Oriental Museum.The Calendar.OCTOBER 16-22, 1897.Friday, October 15,Chapel-Assembly; Graduate Schools. — Chapel, CobbLecture Hall, 10: 30 a.m.Executive session of Deans of Affiliated Schoolswith Board of Affiliations, Faculty Room, 3: 00 p. m.The Mathematical Club meets in Ryerson PhysicalLaboratory, Room 36, 4: 00 p.m.Associate Professor Maschke will read on •* Symmetric andAlternating Linear Groups in 3 and 4 Variables."Notes: " On Cantor " I, by Professor Bolza ;An Interesting- Bit of Fallacious Eeasoning, by Mr.J. W. Wickenden.Tenth Conference of High Schools and Academiesaffiliated and cooperating with the University ofChicago begins, Chapel, Cobb Lecture Hall, 8: 00 p.m.(see p. 238).Saturday, October 16.Administrative Board of University Affiliations meetswith the Deans of affiliated and cooperating institutions, 9:00 a.m.General Educational Conference of affiliated and cooperating High Schools and Academies, Capel, CobbHall, 10:30 a.m. (see p. 238).Departmental Conferences, 2:00 p.m. (see p. 238). Sunday, October 17.Vesper Service. Address by Mr. Andrew McLeish,Vice President of the Board of Trustees, KentTheater, 4:00 p.m.Union meeting of the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A.,Haskell Oriental Museum, Assembly Room, 7: 00 p.m.Monday, October 18.Chapel-Assembly; Junior Colleges. — Chapel, CobbLecture Hall, 10:30 a.m. (required of Junior CollegeStudents).Dedicatory exercises of Yerkes Observatory begins,2:30 p.m. (seep. 235).Public Lecture by Professor Lester F. Ward, LectureRoom, Walker Museum, 4: 30 p.m. (see p. 237).Tuesday, October 19.Chapel-Assembly; Senior Colleges. — Chapel, CobbLecture Hall, 10:30 a.m. (required of Senior CollegeStudents).Junior Division Lectures, 10:30 a.m. (see p. 237).Conferences at the Yerkes Observatory (see p. 235).Public Lecture by Professor Lester F. Ward, LectureRoom, Walker Museum, 4:30 pjm. (see p. 237).University Chorus, Kent Theater, 7:15 p.m. 4Semitic Club meets in Haskell Oriental Museum,Room 21, 7:30 p.m.President Harper will give a report of the XI. International Congress of Orientalists, held in Paris, September 5-12.English Club meets in Lecture Room, Cobb LectureHall, 8:00 p.m.Dr. Triggs on: *' The Characteristics of Democratic Art."Wednesday, October 20.Conferences at the Yerkes Observatory (see p. 236).Public Lecture by Professor Lester F. Ward, LectureRoom, Walker Museum, 4:30 p.m. (see p. 237).Prayer Meeting of the Y. M. C. A., Lecture Room*Cobb Lecture Hall, 7: 00 p.m.Thursday, October 21.Dedication of the Yerkes Astronomical Observatory,(see p. 236). A Holiday.The Libraries will be open as usual.Zoological Club meets in the Large Lecture Roomof the Zoological Building, 4:00 p.m.Mr. A. L. Treadwell will give a review of some RecentLiterature on Cytogeny.Mr. E. J. Holnies will read a paper on " The SecondaryMesoderm in Mollusks."" Geneva" Meeting of Y. W. C. A., Haskell AssemblyRoom, 10:30 a.m.All young women are earnestly invited to attend.Public Lecture by Professor Lester F. Ward, LectureRoom, Walker Museum, 4:30 p.m. (see p. 237).Friday, October 22.Chapel-Assembly; Graduate Schools. — Chapel, CobbLecture Hall, 10:30 a.m.Lecture on " Aspects of Modern Astronomy" by Professor Simon Newcomb, Kent Theater, 3:00 p.m.Public Lecture by Professor Lester F. Ward, LectureRoom, Walker Museum, 4:30 p.m. (see p. 237).