December 9, 1897] 



NATURE 



^11 



means an easy one, the distance being measured as 4"'I9 (1890 

 April 22). Since that date, especially during the last two years, 

 several observers have attempted to catch a glimpse of this body 

 with varying results. Dr. See, in a communication on this sub- 

 ject {^Astr. Journal, No. 418), points out that although several 

 objects have been measured which were thought at the time 

 to be the companion in question, there seems to be evidence 

 to show that in some cases these were spurious. There is, 

 however, no doubt that the companion can now be seen, and 

 several measures show that it is following with great accuracy 

 the orbit which Dr. See computed for it in his work on "Re- 

 searches on the Evolution of the Stellar Systems " (vol. i. p. 84). 

 The satisfactory agreement of the observed and computed posi- 

 tions shows that this orbit is of a high degree of accuracy, and 

 will be serviceable for many years to come. The following 

 ephemeris, taken from Dr. See's paper, gives the position angles 

 and distances for the next three years : — 



189770 

 189820 

 1899-20 



1900 "20 



Pos. angle. 



174-5 

 1690 



158-9 



1495 



Distance. 



4"59 

 4-72 



4 '97 

 5-25 



A Liberal Gift to Astronomy. — It was briefly announced 

 in last week's Nature that Miss Alice Bache Gould, daughter 

 of the late Dr. Gould, had entrusted to the U.S. National 

 Academy of Sciences a fund of 20,000 dollars ; we are now 

 able to state the precise conditions under which the gift was 

 made. The money given by Miss Gould is to be known as the 

 Benjamin Apthorp Gould Fund, and the net income of the fund 

 is to be expended under the direction of Prof. Lewis Boss of 

 Albany, Dr. Seth C. Chandler of Cambridge, and Prof. Asaph 

 Hall of Washington, who are constituted by Miss Gould a board 

 of directors for that purpose. The income is to be devoted to 

 the prosecution of researches in astronomy by assisting observers 

 and investigators in such manner and sums as may be agreed 

 upon by all three of the directors. 



In a letter to the directors. Miss Gould writes : — "My object 

 in creating the fund is two-fold ; on the one hand to advance 

 the cause of astronomy, and on the other to honour my father's 

 memory and to ensure that his power to accomplish scientific 

 work shall not end with his own life. . . . Throughout my 

 father's life his patriotic feeling and scientific ambition were 

 closely associated, and I wish therefore that a fund bearing his 

 name should be used primarily for the benefit of investigators^in 

 his own country or of his own nationality. I recognise, however, 

 that sometimes the best possible service to American science is 

 in the maintenance of close communion between the scientific 

 man of Europe and of America, and that therefore, even while 

 acting in the spirit of the above restriction, it may occasionally 

 be best to apply this money to the aid of a foreign investigator 

 working abroad." 



One idea in the creation of the fund is that it may relieve the 

 directors of the Bache fund of the Academy of some of their 

 astronomical expenses, so that they may be able to devote more 

 of their money to other departments. Miss Gould expresses a 

 strong wish that astronomy of precision shall be distinctly pre- 

 ferred to work in astrophysics, first, because of Dr. Gould's 

 personal preference, and, second, because of the existence of 

 endowments for astrophysics. The fund is distinctly intended 

 for the advancement and not for the diffusion of scientific know- 

 ledge ; actual expenses of investigation are to be considered 

 rather than the personal support of investigators, and the 

 directors are advised not to cover with their grants the field 

 provided for by existing endowments. 



CORAL BORING AT FUNAFUTI} 



'T'HE boring at Funafuti, according to the latest advices, had 

 -*■ reached a depth of 643 feet. Prof. David's report is 

 transcribed from notes made during the progress of the work, 

 and gives his first impressions of the materials brought up, 

 down to a depth of 557 feet, which had been reached when he 

 quitted the island to return to his duties at Sydney, leaving the 

 work in charge of his assistant. The latest advices informed 



1 " Summary of Prof. Edgeworth David's Preliminary Report on the 

 Results of the Boring in the Atoll of Funafuti." Communicated by Prof. 

 T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., Vice-Chairman of the Coral Reef Boring Committee. 

 Read at the Royal Society, November 25. 



him that the boring was arrested at 643 feet, but as it was 

 hoped this was only for a time, we are daily expecting to hear 

 yet more gratifying news. His last letters, received during the 

 present week, give a few particulars of the materials pierced 

 between 557 and 643 feet. The work, states Prof. David, often 

 presented most serious difficulties, which would probably have 

 frustrated their efforts, but for the experience gained on the 

 former occasion. 



The bore-hole is situated about half a mile north-east of the 

 Mission Church, and its height above sea level is about I foot 

 above high water mark at spring tides. The diameter is 

 5 inches down to 68 feet ; it is lined with 5-inch tubing down 

 to 118 feet, and 4-inch from surface to 520 feet, so that on 

 September 6 a 4-inch core was being obtained. 



The following is a general description of the materials 

 pierced : — For about a yard at the top there was a hard coral 

 breccia. This was followed down to a depth of 40 feet by 

 "coral reef rock," into the composition of which Heliopora 

 certika, with spines of echinids and nuUipores entered largely, 

 the last predominating over the coral at from 15 to 20 feet. 

 From 40 to 200 feet came more or less sandy material, but 

 with a variable quantity of corals. These were scattered through 

 the sand (calcareous and of organic origin ; foraminifera, at 

 about 40 feet, making from one-half to two-thirds of the whole) 

 sometimes as fragments (forming occasionally a kind of rubble), 

 but sometimes in the position of growth. Between 120 and 

 130 feet, and from about 190 to 200 feet, the material is described 

 as fairly compact coral rock, so that very probably reefs in situ, 

 though of no great thickness, were pierced at these depths. The 

 sand appears to be largely derived from coral, but foraminifera 

 occur, sometimes in abundance ; so too do nullipores, and here 

 and there spines of echinids. Towards 150 feet signs of change 

 begin to appear in the corals, and these become more con- 

 spicuous as the boring approaches its greatest depth. In such 

 case, if I understand rightly, some of the branching corals 

 crumble away and are represented only by casts, while others 

 remain, the surrounding matrix becoming solid, cemented 

 apparently by calcite. Below 202 feet a decided change takes 

 place in the character of the deposit. All above this seems 

 to be largely composed of material derived from corals, with 

 occasional rather brief interludes of true reef ; and this mass, 

 measuring, as said above, rather over 200 feet in thickness, may 

 be termed the first or uppermost formation. Below this, down 

 to about 373 feet, sandy material distinctly dominates, which 

 sometimes is almost a calcareous mud. Still even there coral 

 fragments and rubble ocoasionally appear, and now and then a 

 few isolated corals. Other organisms may be detected, includ- 

 ing nullipores, foraminifera, and mollusca ; but until this 

 material has been examined microscopically, it would be pre- 

 mature to attempt any precise statement. This mass, in thickness 

 about 170 feet, may be termed the second or middle formation. 

 It is not reef, though obviously produced in the vicinity of a 

 reef. Below 370 feet is the third or lowest zone ; in this beds 

 composed of broken coral become frequent, which are inter- 

 calated with masses of dead coral, though sandy bands also 

 occur. The character of the material suggests that it has been 

 formed in the immediate vicinity of a reef, which has occasionally 

 grown out laterally, though only for a time, and has built up a 

 layer of true reef, from 2 to 3 teet in thickness, upon a mass of 

 detrital coral. In one place the rock is specially noted as 

 "hard," and hereabouts even the shells of gastropods have 

 perished, only their casts remaining. From 526 to 555 feet the 

 bore passed through fairly compact and (in places) very dense 

 and hard "coral limestone" and "cavernous coral rock, ' in 

 which dendroid forms were numerous. As regards the part 

 between 557 feet and 643 feet only brief information is to hand, 

 but Prof. David states that it is reported to be chiefly coral 

 limestone, hard and dense, with occasional soft bands of coral 

 sand or coral rubble. Thus the third, or lowest zone, about 

 270 feef in thickness, corresponds apparently with the first, 

 but it seems to contain larger and more numerous masses of 

 true reef. 



Prof. David has also forwarded with his latest letters a section 

 of the boring and of the exterior form of the island, down to 

 about 730 fathoms : the one drawn from his notebook, the other 

 from Captain Field's record of soundings. From this I gather 

 the following particulars : — The bore-hole is, roughly speaking, 

 rather over 100 yards from the margin of the ocean, and about 

 165 yards from that of the lagoon ; it is about 240 yards 

 from the spot where a sounding of 10 fathoms was obtained, 



NO. 1467, VOL. 57] 



