SOLAR PHYSICS COMMITTEE 45 



The following bodies compose the Union : — 



1. Koninklijke Akademie van Wet- 11. Academie des Sciences (Paris) 



enschappen (Amsterdam) 



2. Real Academia de Ciencias y 12. Societe Astronomique de France 



Artes (Barcelona) (Paris) 



3. Deutsche Physikalische Gesell- 13. Societe francaise de Physique 



schaft (Berlin) (Paris) 



4. Societe helvetique des Sciences 14. American Physical Society 



Naturelles (Berne) (Philadelphia) 



5. Societa degli Spettroscopisti Ita- 15. Academie Imperiale des Sciences 



liani (Catania) (St. Petersburg) 



0. The Royal Society (London) 1(3. Kongl. Svenska Vetenskaps Aka- 



7. The Royal Astronomical Society demien (Stockholm) 



(London) 17. Kaiserliche Akademie der Wis- 



8. The Solar Physics Committee senschaften (Vienna) 



(London) 18. National Academy of Sciences 



9. The Astronomical and Astrophy- (Washington) 



sical Society of America (Madi- 19. Solar Sub-Committee of the In- 



son, Wisconsin) ternational Meteorological 



10. Sociedad Espanola de Fisica y Committee 

 Quimica (Madrid) 



At the meeting in Paris. May, 1907, the following resolution was proposed 

 by Sir Norman Lockyer, and carried unanimously: — " That this International 

 Congress hears with great satisfaction of the proposal to establish a Solar 

 Physics Observatory in Australia, and expresses its decided opinion that an 

 observing station in that part of the world would fill a gap which now exists 

 m the system of observatories distributed over the earth, and yield con- 

 tributions of great value to the study of solar phenomena." 



The Royal Society. — " The Royal Society are strongly of opinion that 

 the foundation and equipment of a Solar Observatory in Australia are desirable, 

 or else, as an alternative, that provision for systematic solar observations, 

 including an adequate staff, should be made at one of the existing obser- 

 vatories. They are of opinion that a very valuable contribution could thus 

 be made by Australia to the International Scheme of Solar Research now in 

 operation, especially as the subject includes the connection between Solar 

 changes and Meteorological and Magnetic phenomena, in the systematic 

 international observation of which .Australia already takes a share." 

 February 10, 1908. 



The British Association for the Advancement of Science, September, 1909, 

 formed a committee to co-operate with Australian .\stronomers " To aid in 

 the establishment of a Solar Observatory in Australia," consisting of: — 

 Sir David Gill, F.R.S. (Chairman), Professor Arthur Schuster, F.R.S., Dr. 

 W. J. S. Lockyer, Professor H. H. Turner, F.R.S. , Mr. F. K. McClean, Dr. 

 W. G. Duffield (Hon. Secretary, Dundrennan, Glenelg, South .\ustralia). A 

 grant-in-aid of £50 was voted. 



Smithsonian Institution. — The Secretary writes : — " Mr. Abbott, the 

 Director of the Astrophysical Observatory here, with whom I have conferred 

 in the matter, is of the opinion that Australia furnishes excellent sites for a 

 Solar Observatory, because of cloudlessness. It is now known that there are 

 rapid changes occurring on the sun, which for their proper understanding 

 require early continuous observations to be made. Few existing observa- 

 tories are situated in regions where good solar observing conditions are com- 

 mon, and there is abundant opportunity for valuable work on the part of the 

 proposed Australian Observatory. Its situation is exceptionally favourable 

 both in latitude and longitude, and therefore the more desirable, so that it 

 may be unhesitatingly said that an Australian Solar Observatory is likely 

 to promote knowledge in many branches of science. While of course the 

 advantage to science is a sufficient argument among scientific men for the 

 usefulness of such an establishment, it may be fairly claimed that such an 



