In his introduction to the General Catalogue Boss reports on the outlook for positional astronomy at the end of the nineteenth century with these words:

Towards the end of the nineteenth century it became increasingly and discouragingly apparent that the outlook for positional astronomy was sorry indeed unless new developents were forthcoming. An immense amount of raw material had been produced, with no apparent market.

As you all know, the considerations which are expressed in these words led Boss, father and son, to the derivation of the famous Preliminary General Catalogue and later on the General Catalogue.