The tenth general assembly of the International Astronomical Union was held at Moscow, in the building of Moscow University, from 12 to 20 August 1958. According to the printed list there were 832 delegates and 258 guests. The handling of this large meeting by our Russian hosts was marked by great generosity. The delegates' meals and lodgings, at the newest hotel in Moscow, were paid for by the Soviet Government. Transportation to the meetings was provided, as well as transportation for

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... trips to museums and art institutes. For the general meetings and the formal symposia, a translation service was provided like that at the United Nations, complete with interpreters in booths and small individual radios, with switches for French, English, and Russian, to be hung around the neck. More important than any of these was the cordial hospitality which was shown by all of the Russians with whom the astronomers came in contact-the little clerk at the Lenin Library, who went dashing away to run down a book and came back apologizing for her poor English; the cheerful assistant who handed out books and earphones at the desk as if her life depended on it, and who turned out to be a world authority on the making of artificial diamonds; the kind professor, still showing visitors around his institute two hours after closing time. At no time were the political frictions outside evident in the Assembly proceedings or in the bearing or speech of our hosts. The fundamental framework of the union is a system of 40-odd commissions and subcommissions, whose primary function is to coordinate the work of the observatories. The best example of such coordination is in the field of the national ephemerides. The work of preparing these has been parcelled out all over the world with such effectiveness that there is now relatively little duplication of computing effort, and most of the world accepts identical texts, with minor or major national embellishments. In less well-regulated fields, the commissions serve to promote the standardization of notations and the launching of international programs of cooperation (especially in the fields of positional astronomy), to make possible international comparison of progress. At the tenth assembly, the work of the commissions was somewhat hindered by the trilingual character of the meetings. Meetings International Astronomical Union The tenth general assembly of the International Astronomical Union was held at Moscow, in the building of Moscow University, from 12 to 20 August 1958. According to the printed list there were 832 delegates and 258 guests. The handling of this large meeting by our Russian hosts was marked by great generosity. The delegates' meals and lodgings, at the newest hotel in Moscow, were paid for by the Soviet Government. Transportation to the meetings was provided, as well as transportation for numerous trips to museums and art institutes. For the general meetings and the formal symposia, a translation service was provided like that at the United Nations, complete with interpreters in booths and small individual radios, with switches for French, English, and Russian, to be hung around the neck. More important than any of these was the cordial hospitality which was shown by all of the Russians with whom the astronomers came in contact-the little clerk at the Lenin Library, who went dashing away to run down a book and came back apologizing for her poor English; the cheerful assistant who handed out books and earphones at the desk as if her life depended on it, and who turned out to be a world authority on the making of artificial diamonds; the kind professor, still showing visitors around his institute two hours after closing time. At no time were the political frictions outside evident in the Assembly proceedings or in the bearing or speech of our hosts. The fundamental framework of the union is a system of 40-odd commissions and subcommissions, whose primary function is to coordinate the work of the observatories. The best example of such coordination is in the field of the national ephemerides. The work of preparing these has been parcelled out all over the world with such effectiveness that there is now relatively little duplication of computing effort, and most of the world accepts identical texts, with minor or major national embellishments. In less well-regulated fields, the commissions serve to promote the standardization of notations and the launching of international programs of cooperation (especially in the fields of positional astronomy), to make possible international comparison of progress. At the tenth assembly, the work of the commissions was somewhat hindered by the trilingual character of the meetings. By contrast with the ninth (Dublin) assembly-when most of the commissions adopted English, a few adopted French, and the assembly then proceeded in the 27 MARCH 1959