223 
At the North End: 
Magnetic north. Variation 11° 11’ west in 1931 
Annual increase 4’ 
At the South End: 
Altitude above mean sea level, 115 feet 
North latitude, 40° 40’ 06” 
Longitude west of Greenwich, 73° 57’ 48” 
To the North Pole, 3416.7 miles 
To the Equator, 2798.2 miles 
This feature is proving of much public interest, and the data are 
constantly being copied by school classes and others. 
Armillary . 
central feature of the Laboratory Plaza 
is the large Compass and Armillary Sphere erected in 1933. 
ras made possible through a bequest of the late Alfred W. Jenkins, 
1. former member of the Botanic Garden Governing Committee. 
he Armil 
This 
lary Sphere consists of circular bands of bronze repre- 
senting the principal celestial circles, and has been 
designed to 
serve also as a sun dial. 
Strictly, an armullary sphere should have 
either the earth or the sun represented in its center, but here, 1 
order to make it serve as a sun dial, these are omitted, and a slender 
metal rod, extending from the south to the north pole of the 
sphere, serves as a gnomon. trom the shadow thrown by this rod 
the correct sun time is indicated on a dial on the inner surface 
of the equatorial band. 
1 
By means of the “Equation of Time” 
inside the sphere, this can be changed to Standard Time. The 
signs of the zodiac are to be seen on the outside of this broad band 
(as the band of the ecliptic where they are usually placed is too 
narrow to receive them): they were modelled by Miss Rhys 
Caparn, sculptor. The north pole points to the North Celestial 
Pole. The sphere is mounted on a pedestal of Carver black granite 
from Vinal Haven, Maine. 
—— 
A bronze band encircling the pedestal 
bears the following classic sun dial motto: 
“Serene I stand amyddst ye flowres 
To tell ye passing of ye howres.” 
The pedestal rests on an octagonal platform of Stony Creek (Con- 
necticut) pink granite, and the whole is mounted at the center of 
a large circular compass paved with marble terrazzo in four colors 
