1 82 



NATURE 



[December 7, 191 1 



ininistrative and other purposes, that are required to 

 meet the rapid extension ot the work of the National 

 I'hysical Laboratory, and for alterations needed to 

 t-nable the testing work now carried on at Kew to be 

 I cniovcd to Bushy, the Treasury has signified " that 

 in addition to the sum of 5000/. inserted in the Esti- 

 mates for the current year, My Lords will be prepared 

 10 ask Parliament to vote two lurther inslahnents of 

 the same amount in 1912-13 and 1913-14, on the 

 imderstanding that the whole scheme will be com- 

 |)leted with this assistance." Plans for the buildings 

 have accordingly been prepared, and their erection will 

 1)6 proceeded with at an early date. 



At the request of the council, the Admiralty placed 

 the services of H.M.S. Encounter at the disposal of 

 the observers sent out by the Joint PermantMU Eclipse 

 Committee to observe the solar eclipse of April 28, 

 ion, and Captain Colomb and his ofiicers and men 

 rendered very etTicient assistance to the work. The 

 weather conditions were not very favourable, and 

 two minutes of the 217 seconds of totality were lost. 

 Under these adverse conditions one fairly good photo- 

 i^^raph was secured by the 3-foot coronograph with the 

 Abney 4-inch lens of 33 inches focal length. With the 

 vliort focus prismatic camera the whole hydrogen 

 series from Ha to Hj was secured at the beginning 

 tif the second "flash," and, although not adding much 

 to previous knowledge, this is the first time H. has 

 been photographed at an eclipse. 



Satisfaction was expressed by the council at the 

 consent of Sir Joseph Larmor to be nominated for the 

 office of senior secretary of the society for another 

 \ ear in view of the detailed preparations for the cele- 

 i>ration of the society's 250th anniversary next year. 

 A minute of the council states that " it is desirable 

 tiiat the secretaries be not so re-elected as to hold 

 office for a period exceeding ten successive years," 

 rind under this rule Sir Joseph Larmor w-ould in the 

 ordinary course have retired on November 30. The 

 council expressed the opinion, however, that on 

 nccount of the celebration next year it would be detri- 

 mental to lose the advantage of the senior secretary's 

 long experience and intimate knowledge of the work 

 of the society, while at the same time the task of his 

 successor would be made unduly onerous. This 

 opinion was confirmed by the re-election of Sir Joseph 

 Larmor as secretary at the anniversary meeting on 

 November 30. 



After referring to the losses by death which the 

 society had suffered during the past year, the presi- 

 dent directed attention to some points in the council's 

 report not mentioned above and to the scientific work 

 of the medallists. Subjoined are some extracts from 

 the address : — 



Presidential Address. 



In my address last year I adverted to the history of 

 seismological observation in this country and to the part 

 taken in the development of this branch of observational 

 science by our associate, Dr. Milne. I expressed the hope 

 that means might be found to place his important service 

 on a more permanent footing, with an enlarged staff and 

 more generous financial aid. Though no important 

 advance has yet been made towards the realisation of this 

 hope, the subject has not been lost sight of, and at least 

 one useful step has been taken in the more complete equip- 

 ment of Eskdalemuii Observatory as a seismological 

 station. There are now installed there the complete 

 Galitzin apparatus and the twin Milne apparatus, which 

 record photographically, and also the Wiechert and the 

 Omori instruments, the observations of which are recorded 

 on smoked paper. To Prof. Schuster we are indebted for 

 his generosity in presenting the Galitzin apparatus. The 

 various instruments, when completely put into working 

 order, will supply valuable material for a comparison of 

 results, and will provide an important addition to the not- 

 work of seismological stations in this country. Tho addi- 



XO. 219;, VOL. 88] 



tion of this seismological work to the other duties of th*" 

 superintendent of the Eskdalemuir Observatory has shown 

 that an increase of the 6ia(T under his supervision h 

 imperatively required. The Gassiot Committee, after a full 

 consideration of the subject, has recommended that a grant 

 in aid for a limited period should be made by the Royal 

 Society, and the council, approving of the proposal, Iki 

 granted a sum of 450/. for the purpose of supplying ■>: 

 additional observer for two years, after which some olii',. 

 more permanent arrangement must be provided. In the 

 meantime, the council has been gratified by the gift of 

 200/. from Mr. Matthew Gray for the purpose of assisting 

 the progress of seismology at Eskdalemuir. 



Fellows are aware that for many years past the so<)' t. 

 has been conducting researches into the cause and propl;. 



lactic treatment of tropical diseases, and that t*- 



searches are still in progress. Much information 

 collected; and it is satisfactory to know that, si' ; 



have been taken to remove the native population from th»* 

 fly-belts, the areas affected by one of the most terrible of 

 these maladies, sleeping sickness, have been considerably 

 restricted. But much remains to be accomplished before 

 the knowledge of the subject can be made as complete as 

 it should be. As will be seen from the report of the 

 council, the investigation is now about to be extended far 

 beyond the bounds originally contemplated. It has been 

 plausibly suggested that sleeping sickness may be trans- 

 mitted from other sources than infected human beings, and 

 the question arises whether the wild animals of tropical 

 Africa may possibly supply the trypanosomes of that 

 disease. Accordingly, at the request of the Colonial 

 Office, the Royal Society has organised and despatched a 

 new commission, under the directorship of Sir David 

 Bruce, for the purpose of studying on the spot what may 

 be the relation of the native fauna of Nyasaland and other 

 parts of .Africa to the spread of human trypanosomiasis, 

 and what trypanosome diseases may affect the domestic 

 animals of that region. The composition of the staff has 

 been carefully considered with a view to secure adequate 

 attention to each of the various branches of investigation 

 that are embraced in the wide inquiry which is projected. 

 It is interesting to know that Lady Bruce, who has all 

 along been one of the most efficient observers in Africa, 

 again accompanies her husband on this fresh expedition. 

 I may add that she is not the only lady engaged under 

 our auspices in Africa ; Miss Robertson, who has had 

 considerable experience in the study of trypanosomes, has 

 volunteered her services in Uganda, and is now at the 

 Mpumu laboratory tracking the development and trans- 

 mission of the organisms to which trypanosomiasis is due. 



The " Catalogue of Scientific Literature for the Nine- 

 teenth Century," on which the committee of the Royal 

 Society has now been engaged for more than fifty years, 

 is speedily approaching completion. The material for the 

 final part (1883-1900) of the general catalogue, which is 

 classified under authors' names, has been collected and 

 sorted, and is nearly ready to pass through the press. Of 

 the subject-indexes of scientific papers for the nineteenth 

 century, two volumes, pure mathematics and mechanics, 

 have been published ; and the index for physics, in two 

 volumes, is well under way. While the committee does 

 not claim perfection in detail for the classification of the 

 subject-matter of those sciences, and while it is aware 

 that the arrangement of so great a mass of material which 

 must be condensed into small space will always be liable; 

 to technical criticism in details, it nevertheless believes that! 

 no person who in future shall set about a general investi- 

 gation or an historical survey in any department of one 

 of these sciences can afford to neglect consultation of this 

 index. It was felt to be worth while by so great a man 

 as Thomas Young, a hundred years ago. to devote a large 

 amount of time to the compilation of a classified index «>f| 

 the literature of natural philosophy up to that date, when^ 

 the achievement was just within the range of private j 

 enterprise. The immense volume of the scientific litera- 

 ture of the last century could have been diijested only by? 

 some corporate organisation ; and the whole scientific 

 world has signified in advance its obligation to the com- 

 mittee of the society ard to the generous benefactors 

 who have assisted the society- in the work when its own | 

 funds had been depleted by undertaking the continuation . 



