July 21, 1923] 



NA TURE 



T07 



telescopes south of the equator. Every one has heard 

 of the Witwatersrand as the source of much of our 

 gold. This range of hills Hes in latitude 26° 11' south, 

 just north of Johannesburg, and here, at an altitude of 

 5925 feet, a thousand miles from Cape Town, and 240 

 miles from the sea, is the observatory. Antares is four 

 minutes of arc south of the zenith, and is the only 

 clock star required. The average height of the baro- 

 meter is 24-35 i"S. — one-sixth of the atmosphere is 

 below and the part remaining is here less subject to 

 vagary than in almost any other part of the habitable 

 globe. The climate is remarkably sunny, and the sky 

 is free from cloud to a very high degree. Astro- 

 nomical observations are possible on 300 or more nights 

 in each ^-ear; on 200 of these one could observe for 

 ten hours continuously. 



Think what this means ; work can be planned 

 months ahead with a certain assurance of favourable 



skies. There are no nights wasted watching for a 

 possible break in the clouds, which, coming, is gone 

 before it can be utilised, but good observing weather 

 in quantity, the incidence of which can be predicted 

 99 times out of a 100. Cloudiness on the average equals 

 30 per cent., and even in the rainy season seldom exceeds 

 44 or 46 per cent. Humidity for the year is 57 per cent., 

 January 71 per cent., July 42 per cent. Rainfall 25 to 

 30 inches, but there are only 85 wet days arid not more 

 than 190 wet hours. Of course there is a drawback : 

 high easterly winds with dust ; and such dust — clouds of 

 it, equal in density to a fog, but not more than two or 

 three days in a year are as bad as this. The seeing is 

 exceptional — not optically perfect perhaps, but so 

 nearly ideal that the fame of its quality is spreading 

 abroad, and rumours are heard of northern observers 

 intending to enlarge and complete their researches by 

 a sojourn in the Union of South Africa. 



Current Topics 



We have on several occasions expressed regret that 

 no provision seemed to have been made for the dis- 

 play of achievements of pure science and their 

 relation to industrial and Imperial development at 

 the British Empire Exhibition to be held next year. 

 We are glad, however, now to be able to announce 

 that at the request of the Exhibition authorities the 

 Council of the Royal Society has appointed a Com- 

 mittee to organise a central exhibit to illustrate the 

 fundamental principles of certain departments of pure 

 science, with special reference to the share taken in 

 developing those principles by the Empire. A small 

 sum of money has been placed at the disposal of the 

 Committee and space allotted in the Central Pavilion. 

 The Committee, which is a strong one, represents all 

 branches of science. Sir Richard Glazebrook is 

 chairman, with Sir Herbert Jackson and Mr. F. E. 

 Smith as vice-chairmen. Mr. Woolcock, the chair- 

 man of the Association of British Chemical Manu- 

 facturers, who is taking the leading part in the organ- 

 isation of the chemical exhibit, has become a member 

 of the Committee. 



. The Empire Cotton Growing Corporation has 

 recently been considering the necessity for organised 

 research at the universities and colleges of Great 

 Britain, and has decided to offer retaining grants to 

 certain universities where highly specialised research 

 is already going on. The Imperial College of Science 

 and Technology, South Kensington, has accordingly 

 been offered the sum of looo/. a year for a period of 

 five years from October i , the money to be devoted to 

 plant physiology and plant pathology in the Depart- 

 ment of Botany. The research work will be under- 

 taken in the new Botany Building, recently opened 

 by the Duke of Devonshire, to which the Rubber 

 Growers' Association of the City of London sub- 

 scribed about 30,000/. about two years ago. These 

 gifts are tangible evidence of the value which tropical 

 agriculturists attach to the important research work 

 which is being undertaken at the Imperial College, 

 especially in connexion with plant physiology and 

 pathology, vmder the direction of Profs. J. B. Farmer 

 and V. H. Blackman. 



NO. 2803, VOL I I 2] 



and Events. 



July this year has established a weather record 

 for temperature, and in many places the thermometer 

 has exceeded records for many years past, not only 

 for July but also for any part of the summer. The 

 hot spell was fairly established on July 5, when at 

 Kensington and Greenwich the sheltered thermometer 

 rose to 84° F. On July 6 the temperature at 

 Kensington was 87° F., and at many health resorts 

 it was 85° F. At Greenwich on July 7 the thermo- 

 meter in the shade registered 90° F., and the solar 

 radiation temperature was 163° F. The severe 

 thunderstorms and torrential rains so prevalent over 

 the country on July 9 and 10 had little effect in 

 reducing the temperature, and from July 11 the heat 

 became more intense. On July 12 the thermometer 

 at Andover registered 94° F., and on July 12 and 13 

 the temperature at Kensington was 92° F., while the 

 minimum night temperature registered on both 

 mornings was 68° F. At Bath on July 12 and 13 

 the thermometer registered 93° F. and 92° F. re- 

 spectively. On the night of July 12-13 the minimum 

 temperature was 71° F. at Hastings and Brighton. 

 At Kew the maximum temperature was 80° F. or 

 above for ten consecutive days, and 91° F. recorded 

 on July 13 is a record for July; while on the same 

 day 96° F. at Camden Square is the highest tempera- 

 ture reported to the Meteorological Office during the 

 warm spell. These temperatures fall somewhat 

 short of the London readings during the abnormal 

 summer of 191 1, when 100° F. was recorded at 

 Greenwich and 95° F. at Kew on August 9. A new 

 type of pressure distribution set in over the British 

 Isles on July 14, and a drop of temperature occurred 

 in most parts of the country. 



The following elections to Beit Memorial Fellowships 

 for Medical Research have been made, the general 

 subject and place of research being given after each 

 name : — Senior Fellowship : Dr. D. Keilin : the life- 

 history of parasitic Protista and the physiology of 

 parasitic Metazoa, at the Molteno Institute for 

 Research in Parasitology, University of Cambridge. 

 Fourth Year Fellowship : Dr. Katherine H. Coward : 

 the processes of metabolism, nutyitior^ and growth of 



