642 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



so largely to the success of the first Scott Antarctic Expedition) ; M. Luizet 

 (Assistant at the Lyons Observatory) ; Gaston Milhaud (Professor of Mathematics 

 at the Sorbonne) ; Prof. E. C. Pickering (Director of the Astronomical University, 

 Harvard) ; W. L. Preece (son of Sir W. Preece) ; Col. Theodore Roosevelt ; 

 J. McGarvie Smith (of N.S.W. who, among his many other activities, produced 

 the anthrax vaccine which has been used successfully on twenty-five million sheep 

 in Australia); Dr. W. G. Smith (Combe Lecturer in general and experimental 

 psychology in the University of Edinburgh) ; Dr. Charles R. Van Hise (of the 

 U.S. Geological Survey) ; Dr. W. Marshall Watts (of Index of Spectra fame). 



We have been requested to announce that owing to the retirement of Mr. Wallace 

 Goold Levison, Dr. Edgar T. Wherry, Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, D.C., 

 will assume the duties of Editor-in-chief of the American Mineralogist with the 

 following associate editors : George F. Kunz, President, New York Mineralogical 

 Club ; Herbert P. Whitlock, American Museum of Natural History ; Alexander 

 H. Phillips, Princeton University; Waldemar T. Schaller, U.S. Geological 

 Survey; Edward H. Kraus, University of Michigan; Austin F. Rogers, Leland 

 Stanford Junior University ; Thomas L. Walker, University of Toronto, Canada; 

 and Samuel G. Gordon, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 



The Aero Club of America announces that an aeroplane expedition is to start 

 next June to explore the Arctic regions and fly, if possible, over the North Pole- 

 The expedition will be known as the Roosevelt expedition, and any new land that 

 may be discovered will be known as Roosevelt Land. It was through Colonel 

 Roosevelt's intervention that Admiral Peary received the leave of absence which 

 enabled him to discover the North Pole. 



Two expeditions are being organised in this country for taking observations of 

 the solar eclipse on May 29th. One party (in charge of Messrs. Commelin and 

 Davidson) will be stationed at Sobral in Ceara, Brazil, and the other (in charge of 

 Prof. Eddington and Mr. Cottingham) on the island of Principe, no miles 

 from the West Coast of Africa. This eclipse is noteworthy for the long duration 

 of totality (5 m. 13 s. at each of the observing stations) and the richness of the field 

 of stars round the sun. The observers will concentrate their whole attention on 

 the photography of this star field in the hope that data may be obtained for testing 

 Einstein's relativity theory. 



The Smithsonian Institute has sent out an expedition to Calama, a town near 

 the nitrate desert in Chile, for the purpose of obtaining determinations of the solar 

 constant under the best possible conditions over a period of some years. The 

 locality was chosen as being the most cloudless region of the earth readily ac- 

 cessible, though, since its arrival, the expedition has found that there is a 

 considerable haze which will form a serious obstacle to the investigation of solar 

 variations, these requiring an accuracy of at least 1 per cent. The two observers 

 (Messrs. A. F. Moore and L. H. Abbot) sent out have been equipped with very 

 complete outfits for spectro-bolometric, pyrheliometric, and meteorological work. 

 The linear bolometer is enclosed in a vacuum, and its indications, as measured 

 by a sensitive galvanometer, are recorded photographically on a moving plate 

 which travels proportionately to the movement of the spectrum over the bolometer, 

 the time required for a complete curve being eight minutes. The average value 

 of the constant so far obtained is T95I calories per sq. cm. per minute. 



The Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies has commenced the publication of 

 a Bulletin containing a diary of forthcoming meetings of scientific and technical 

 societies. The issue dated January 27 was divided into three sections : (1) Council 

 meetings during the period January 27— April 16 ; (2) Society meetings from 



