144 THE SEARCH FOR AX IDEAL ASTRONOMICAL SITE. 



at an altitude of 8,000 feet. This station has now been in opera- 

 tion for nearly twenty years and has given admirable results. In 

 view, however, of the possible extension of the work and the ex- 

 penditure of large sums for greater instruments by this Observa- 

 tory, or others, it seemed desirable to learn whether South Africa 

 offered greater attractions for astronomical work than South 

 America. The high plateau of South Africa had been recommended 

 by Sir David Gill, Sir William Morris and other eminent scientific 

 men. Accordingly, the director of the Harvard Observatory 

 requested the writer, who had made the investigations which 

 led to the selection of Arequipa, to make a simikr study of the 

 climate of South Africa. The investigation has now been going 

 on for nearly a year. Special studie . have been made at Bloem- 

 fontein, Hanover, C.C, and atWorcester, and various other localities 

 have been examined. Whilst there is no doubt that South Africa 

 offers many sites where the conditions are extremely good, it is 

 too early to draw more definite conclusions. A detailed report 

 will be published later. Special thanks are due to H.E. Sir Walter 

 Hely-Hutchinson, Governor of the Cape Colony, for active interest 

 and assistance, as well as to H.E. Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams. 

 Governor of the Orange River Colony, to the officials of the British 

 South Africa Company and to other distmguished gentlemen. 

 For active assistance in the scientific observations involved, 

 thanks are due to James Lyle, Esq., of Bloemfontein, R. T. A. 

 Innes, Esq., of Johannesburg, Father E. Goetz, S.J., of Bulawayo^ 

 I. Meiring, Esq., of Worcester, and others. 



PERSONALIA.— A paper by Dr. T. Muu". F.R.S.. Super- 

 intendent-General of Education, Cape Colony, on the theory of 

 orthogonants in the historical order of development up to i860, 

 was communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh at its 

 November meeting. 



Prof. R. Broom, M.D.. D.Sc, has resigned the chair of Zoology 

 and Geologv at Victoria College, Stellenbosch. It is understood 

 that he intends resuming medical practice. 



" A class of integral functions " was the subject of a paper 

 recently communicated by Mr. J. E. Littlewood at the Cambridge 

 Philosophical Society. Mr. Littlewood will be remembered 

 by many in South Africa as the son of Mr. E. T. Littlewood, M.A., 

 B.Sc, Principal of the Wynberg Boys' High School : after matri- 

 culating in the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1899, 

 he proceeded to Cambridge, where he subsequently became Senior 

 \\'rangler. 



At the November meeting of the Chemical, ^Metallurgical and 

 Mining Society of South Africa, Johannesburg, the" Consolidated 

 Gold Fields of South Africa " Gold Medal, awarded by the In- 

 stitution of Mining and Metallurgy, was presented to Mr. W. 

 A. Caldecott, B.A., F.C.S., M.I.M.M.. m recognition of his work 

 in the investigation of methods of reduction and treatment of 

 gold, and in appreciation of his contributions to the literature 

 on the subject. 



