November 2, 191 1] 



NATURE 



15 



The Daily Graphic, " the choice of Cambridge seems to be 

 because it is cheap." 



All the great observatories of the world are moving 

 upwards. 



The Paris Observatory at Meudon has removed from 

 194 feet to 534 feet. 



Sicily (Mount Etna), 155 feet to 9735 feet. 



Berlin (Potsdam), 112 feet to 318 feet. 



Madras (Kodaikdnal), 23 feet to 7745 feet. 



Vienna, 787 feet to a neighbouring mountain. 



Washington (Mount Vernon), 200 feet to 1725 feet. 



Chicago Observatory is 1105 feet, the Lick Observatory 

 4209 feet. Mount Wilson 5712 feet. Flagstaff 7293 feet, 

 Nice 1240 feet. 



It has become imperative, in the interests of the accuracy 

 which modern astronomical observation demands, to take 

 the observations well above ground, mist, and fog ; and to 

 remove them to sites as distant as possible from the 

 smoke of towns by day and the glare of their lights by 

 night ; and their vibration at all times. Not one of these 

 advantages will be derived from the suggested site which 

 the new Solar Physics Observatory would occupv at Cam- 

 bridge, which lies in a river valley. The observatory would 

 be near a road; there is the smoke of the town,' not to 

 speak of the cement works at Cherry Hinton ; and there 

 is the glare of the town's electric lights at night. This is 

 easily perceptible five miles away at Little Shelf ord. More- 

 over, the height at which the observatory will be stationed 

 is only 70 feet above sea-level. That is perhaps better 

 than the present site at South Kensington, which is only 

 27 feet above river-level, but not much. The site which 

 was suggested by the Solar Physics Committee was Foster- 

 down, near Box Hill, in Surrey. That is 800 feet above 

 the sea, and is one of the best sites for astronomical pur- 

 poses in England. It has wide horizons, no lights near, 

 no traffic, no smoke. Nor is it very dear. The land is 

 Government land, being part of the ground lately occupied 

 by one of the obsolete forts for the defence of London. 



More serious, or at least as serious as the rejection of 

 the Fosterdown site in favour of one at Cambridge, is the 

 proposed dissolution of the integrity of the old Solar 

 Physics Observatory, which will henceforward become a 

 mere branch of Cambridge Observatory. It is a very poor 

 reward for services and work done lasting over a genera- 

 tion. The pioneer observation of the South Kensington 

 Observatory is known all over the world, and has been a 

 model for other observatories to follow. One cannot 

 bplieve that the astronomical world will hear of its dissolu- 

 tion without disappointment and indignation. — The Dailv 

 Graphic. 



NOTES. 

 Replying to Mr. Sandys in the House of Commons on 

 Monday last. Colonel Seely made an important announce- 

 ment on the subject of military aviation. He stated that 

 the War Office has a progressive policy in the matter, and 

 has hitherto only hung back because it wants to be quite 

 sure, in buying a great number of machines, that they are 

 of the most useful type. The Service now possesses sixteen 

 aeroplanes of eleven different types, of which seven are 

 biplanes and four monoplanes. It is proposed to pay 

 officers who obtain the Aero Club certificate a sum of 75Z. 

 towards their expenses, and such officers will be attached 

 to the Army Aeroplane Battalion for a course of special 

 instruction, which will include navigation and map-reading. 

 Fhey will then be expected to pass for a certificate similar 

 to the French superior military certificate. The intention 

 is, finally, to provide an efficient service of aerial scouts 

 both for the Navy and for the Army. One hundred officers 

 will be trained immediately as pilots and observers, and 

 non-commissioned officers and other ranks will also be 

 trained. In the discussion that followed, Mr. R. Gwynne 

 asked whether the War Office intends to subsidise experi- 

 ments, but no answer was given. As comment on the 

 foregoing, it may be interesting to enumerate what 

 machines the Government actually possesses. They are 



NO. 2192, VOL. 88] 



as follows : — Biplanes : one original Wright, presented by 

 the late Hon. C. S. Rolls (never flown, and now dis- 

 mantled) ; one Howard Wright, purchased from Captairt 

 Maitland (broken up) ; one Paulhan (broken up, capable of 

 repair) ; one de Havilland (worn out, must be entirely re- 

 built) ; one experimental Voisin Canard type (broken up) ; 

 one Farman (out of date) ; one Br^guet ; and several Bristols. 

 Monoplanes : four Valkyries, presented by Mr. Barber (one 

 broken and two without motors, leaving one effective) ; one 

 Nieuport; and one B16riot (formerly the property of the 

 late Lieut. Cammell). With regard to the French superior 

 military certificate, the rules for this were issued by General 

 Roques last June, and lay down that military aeroplane 

 pilots must possess the Aero Club (F.A.I.) certificate and 

 the military aviator's certificate. The latter is granted to 

 officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of the regular 

 or of the reserve and territorial army who, possessing the 

 Aero Club certificate, have passed a series of tests to be 

 determined each year in accordance with aeronautical pro- 

 gress. For the present year candidates must have accom- 

 plished three closed circuits at a height of at least 300 

 metres, each circuit comprising a cross-country flight of 

 50 metres, the landing being made at the starting place. 

 The aeroplane must be of a military type, and carry 

 an overload. Candidates have also to pass an examination 

 on aeroplane motors. 



The notices of aviation feats and fatalities which appear 

 in the daily Press do not often afford the scientific inquirer 

 much indication of any advances in our knowledge of the 

 principles of mechanical flight. The remarkable glide 

 which Mr. Orville Wright performed on October 24 reminds 

 us that there is still much to be done with gliders, and 

 that flight as a sport does not necessitate a costly motor- 

 driven aeroplane. The glide in question, which lasted 

 about ten minutes, was performed at " Kill Devil Hill " 

 in a wind blowing at about fifty miles an hour. By careful 

 manoeuvring Mr. Wright caused the wind to pick him up 

 from the top of a sand dune, and in successive gusts he 

 rose 150 feet, finally gliding to the ground. Mr. Wright 

 stated that he had proved that a man can remain in the 

 air without a motor provided there is sufficient wind. The 

 question which naturally suggests itself is how far this 

 feat was due to upward currents caused by the wind blow- 

 ing up the sides of the dunes. It is one thing to hover 

 round a hill top under such conditions, but it would be a 

 very different task to make use of Langley's " Internal 

 Work of the Wind " in a flight across a bare plain or over 

 the sea. 



In the House of Commons on Monday, October 30, the 

 Home Secretary was asked whether his attention had been 

 directed to the views expressed by Sir \\'illiam Ramsay in 

 his presidential address to the British Association concern- 

 ing the exhaustion of the coalfields of this country, and 

 whether the Government anticipated taking any steps tend- 

 ing to the conservation and lessened waste and export of 

 this source of energy supply, having regard to the extent 

 to which the nation's commercial position and the support 

 of the industrial population were dependent on it. In the 

 course of his reply, Mr. McKenna said : — The president's 

 forecast of the probable duration of the coal supplies of 

 the country does not take into consideration certain factors 

 which have an important bearing on the question. In the 

 first place, the estimate took no account of the large amount 

 of coal in fields unproved at the time of the inquiry of the 

 Royal Commission, nor of the amount of coal lying below 

 the depth of 4000 feet which the commission took to be 

 the present limit of workable coal, but which it may be 



