166 JOURNAL OF the; WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES VOL. 11, NO. 7 



work considered under geography consisted of geodesy, topography, physical 

 oceanography, terrestrial magnetism, and meteorology. 



It was found that much work remains to be done in the Pacific in the 

 various branches of science, and one of the purposes of the Congress was to 

 present the evidence that would show that some central organization should 

 be created that could assist and be a coordinating agency in scientific explora- 

 tion in the Pacific region. It was the opinion of all those at the conference 

 that the most urgent needs are in topographic mapping, including the shore 

 line of the continents and islands, and oceanography, especially the con- 

 figuration of the bottom of the ocean and the mapping of the direction and 

 strength of the ocean currents. On this work, that is, topographic surveys 

 and ocean charts, must be based much of the work in other lines of science. 



The sessions of the conference were held at Honolulu, except that two 

 general sessions, one on volcanology and one on seismology, were held at the 

 volcano of Kilauea, which most of the delegates visited. 



The speaker expressed appreciation of the hospitality and good will shown 

 by the people of Honolulu to the members of the scientific congress. 



It was stated that a publication will be issued by the Conference giving the 

 resolutions and a brief history of the meeting. This publication will probably 

 be distributed in the very near future. Later in the winter it is expected 

 that one or more volumes will be published which will contain abstracts of 

 minutes of the general sessions and of the meetings of the various sections, 

 papers which were presented at Honolulu, and statements in regard to the 

 various branches of science which are now in process of publication by the 

 members of the conference. These later papers are expected to cover in more 

 comprehensive form the problems of the scientific exploration of the Pacific 

 region. 



Discussion: Messrs. Silsbee, Sosman, Ferner, Mauchly, and Humph- 

 reys discussed Mr. Bowie's paper. 



P. V. Wells: The iq20 meeting of the British Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science. 



The meetings were held at Cardiff in the new public buildings which are 

 grouped about a beautiful campus, leaving room at one end for the future 

 Welsh Houses of Parliament. Sectional meetings opened on Tuesday morn- 

 ing (Aug. 24) with the presidential addresses, those of Prof. Karl Pearson on 

 Anthropology and of Prof. EddingTon on the Constitution of the Stars being 

 particular features. The latter spoke of the radiative equilibrium in gaseous 

 giant stars, their change in temperature from red to blue and final contraction 

 to red dwarfs. Although the radiation within the giants is much like that 

 of soft X-rays, their interior being at a temperature of millions of degrees, 

 such stars are nearly heat tight. The radiation pressure prevents rapid 

 shrinking and in fact overcomes gravitation in stars of much more than five 

 times the mass of the sun, causing them to break up. AsTon's experiments 

 leave no room for doubt that all the elements are built up of hydrogen and 

 electrons, and the heat of the stars is accounted for by the mass radiated 

 during their combination. "If indeed the sub-atomic energy in the stars 

 is being freely used to maintain their great furnaces, it seems to bring a little 

 nearer to fulfilment our dream of controlling this latent power for the well- 

 being of the human race, or for its suicide." 



In the evening President Herdman suggested a new Challenger expedition 

 in his address on Oceanography. The next morning Aston described his 



