nvite a general discussion upon the subject, which has
undoubtedly a great many heads, the best method would be the one just
suggested; that by having a well-defined course much time would be
saved, and there would be a precision in the proceedings, which
undoubtedly is always valuable; that in this way the discussion could
be kept within bounds, but unless there is some proposition pending
before the Conference it is impossible to say whether any discussion
is in order or out of order; that it seemed to him there should be
some well-defined propositions laid before the Conference, and those
propositions could easily be gathered, not only from what has gone
before, not only from the Conference which has been held in Rome, but
from the acts of Congress and the circulars of the Secretary of
State, under which this body has been organized.

The PRESIDENT stated that if these communications from outside parties
were brought before the Conference it would entail a great deal of
labor.

The resolution of the Delegate of the United States, Prof. ABBE, was
then put to the vote, and was negatived.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States, then presented the
following resolution:

"_Resolved_, That the Conference proposes to the Governments
represented the adoption as a standard meridian that of
Greenwich passing through the centre of the transit
instrument at the Observatory of Greenwich."

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France, remarked that the proposed
resolution seemed to him out of order, and that his colleague, Mr.
Janssen, desired to address the Conference on the subject. He went on
to say:

The competence of the Conference can give rise to no long debate among
us. Let us remark, in the first place, that no previous engagement
exists, on the part of the Governments, to adopt the results of our
discussions, and that consequently our decisions cannot be compared to
those of a deliberative congress or an international commission acting
according to definite powers.

We have no definite powers, or rather, we have no executive power,
since our decisions cannot be invoked executively by one Government
towards others.

Does this mean that our decisions will be wholly unauthoritative? An
assembly which numbers so many eminent delegates, and in which there
is so much scientific knowledge, must certainly be regarded with
profound respect by all the Powers of the world. Its powers, however,
must be o