University Organizations.

There will be an exhibition of lantern slides in Boylston 9 at 7.30 tonight. Either a set of views along the route of the Great Northern Railroad or a selected set of World's Fair slides will be shown. The public are cordially invited.

Philosophical Club.The Philosophical Club held its first meeting of the year last evening and elected the following officers: President, R. E. Gregg '94; vice-president, S. E. Johnson '95; secretary and treasurer, A. L. Cross '95.

Freshman Debating Club.The Harvard Freshman Debating Club held its third meeting last evening, the question being, "Resolved, that the American people is degenerating." The principal disputants were: H. Bancroft, R. Dutton and C. J. Liebmann for the affirmative, and B. R. Robinson, J. F. Wood, and W. H. Rand for the negative. The debate was decided in favor of the negative. C. Grilk and C. E. Bower acted as judges. The meeting was very well attended and there were many disputes from the floor.

Cycling Association.The first run of the Harvard Cycling Association will be held this afternoon, starting from the Gymnasium at 4 p. m. About eight miles will be covered at a moderate pace. No scorching will be countenanced. The Back Bay Fens will be visited, the return run being made via Coolidge's Corner and Allston. All persons interested in road riding are cordially invited.

Class Championship Football.The class championship football games will commence on Tuesday next by the sophomores playing the freshman eleven. The seniors will play the juniors on Wednesday, and the winners will play on Saturday.

Tennis Tournament.Yesterday afternoon J. H. Chase and J. B. Read beat R. C. Thomas and P. N. Booth, 6-8, 6-1, 6-2. The finals in the doubles will be played this afternoon at 2.30 o'clock, J. H. Chase and J. B. Read vs. G. L. Wrenn and A. S. Pier.

Attack on the Observatory in Peru.Rumors have been circulated to the effect that the Harvard Observatory in Peru has been attacked and that injury has been done to the valuable instruments. Professor Pickering entertains strong hopes that these rumors are ill-founded, and that they will prove to have been started by the raid on the station situated at El Misti.

Harvard, he explains, has two stations. One is at Arequipa, eight thousand feet above the sea; the other at El Misti, nearly twenty thousand feet above the sea. In the lower station are all the valuable instruments and the headquarters of Professor Bailey, who is in charge of the astronomical work. In the upper station recording instruments of far less cost are placed, and these are visited once in each ten days by one of Professor Bailey's assistants. At such an elevation, no human being could remain and live; but the results, already obtained under the necessary conditions, have been very valuable.

Professor Pickering has a letter from Professor Bailey dated September twenty-sixth which contains the statement that this upper station had been broken into, and that some of the instruments had been taken away. Such an attack must have been made by marauding Indians and, since the instruments would be valueless to them, it seems a piece of wanton mischief.

The instruments which were stolen were purchased for a comparatively small sum but their value was greatly enhanced by the difficulty of transportation to Peru, and to the high mountain summit.

The raid has of course caused annoyance, both because of the loss of the instruments and because of the fear that similar raids will be made and thus compel the abandonment of the station. As it is the highest meteorological station in the world, such abandonment would be a heavy disaster.

On the other hand, an attack on this station is of course not nearly so serious as one upon the main station at Arequipa. An attack there would mean not only that priceless instruments were in danger but that even the lives of Professor Bailey and his assistants were not safe.

Telegraphic communication is so costly as to be practically excluded. News by mail takes a month to come from Peru to Cambridge, so that it will probably be some weeks before it is definitely known whether the main station itself has been disturbed. As the whole of Peru is in an unsettled condition, being in the hands of insurrectionists, the assurance will be welcome that nothing more serious has happened than the raid on El Misti.