May 5, 1921] 



NATURE 



305 



stars, though I showed everyone a map of the 

 positions of possible visible objects, no one re- 



FiG 3 — The eclipse just before the mid- 

 phase of annularity. 



corded the appearance of any. At Sidmouth I 

 have been able to see Venus easily in the dav- 



time by looking along a telescope which was 

 pointing to its position in the sky, but I could 

 not pick it up without such help. During the 

 eclipse I looked specially for it, but failed to see 

 it; this may have been due to the haze referred 

 to above. While we had no thermometer to 

 record the temperature, the chilliness was so pro- 

 nounced that everyone noticed it ; further, there 

 was no wind during the first phases, but before 

 annularity was reached there was a distinct breeze 

 blowing, which died aw-ay before the later phases 

 ended. 



It may be added in conclusion that this annular 

 eclipse was not nearly so striking as that which 

 I observed from the outskirts of Paris in April, 

 1912, when the moon at the greatest phase of 

 annularity almost, but not completely, covered the 

 sun, making the bright ring appear like a circle of 

 irregularly placed pearls. 



The Royal Academy. 



SCIENCE and engineering have become closely 

 allied, and it is therefore of interest to note 

 the prominence given in this year's Academy to 

 engineering subjects ; in many cases, not merely 

 engineering features as an incident in a landscape 

 or in a pictorial setting, but the work of the 

 engineer shown for its own sake. Thus amongst 

 unexpected subjects we find the interior of a 

 garage with parts of a dissected motor-car in the 

 foreground (262), and a bridge under construction 

 (84). Of the same type is 654, showing railway 

 sidings and factory chimneys with, it is true, 

 cathedral towers in the background scarcely dis- 

 cernible through the smoke. The scientific basis 

 of engineering is not far from the surface in "The 

 .'Vges Meet " (156), where Mr. Stanhope Forbes 

 shows the welding together of tramway rails by 

 the oxy-acetylene process. The setting of the 

 picture is the Embankment at the foot of Cleo- 

 patra's Needle. It was a happy idea of the artist 

 to bring into juxtaposition the two human achieve- 

 ments — the modern welding of the steel rails in 

 the tramway track, and the great stone column 

 of antiquity. The task of raising this to a vertical 

 position with the primitive devices available in those 

 days must have been a feat in comparison with 

 which our modern building operations, with their 

 electric cranes and other labour-saving devices, 

 appear but child's-play. As industrial engineering 

 is given such prominence in this year's exhibition, 

 it will be but one further step forward, one is 

 tempted to think, for the laboratories of scientific 

 workers and their cherished apparatus to be 

 accepted as fit subjects for the work of future 

 exhibitors at Burlington House. 



This day has not yet come, and the scientific 

 critic has for the present to confine his attention 

 to the many aspects of Nature which are set forth 

 from year to year in such countless profusion. 

 The proportion of landscape scenes and Nature- 

 studies which are really true to life seems ever to 

 NO. 2688, VOL. 107] 



remain a small one, and leads to speculatioa as to 

 whether the cause lies in a lack of desire or a lack 

 of power on the part of artists to give expression 

 to the truth. There is, and probably always 

 will be, a school which frankly cares not for 

 the accurate representation of Nature ; but there 

 are other artists who seem to aim at reality with- 

 out achieving their object, and the failure is more 

 marked in some directions than in others. Thus 

 the post-impressionist dog and the post-impres- 

 sionist cloud may be equally obviously unreal ; but 

 in the other school the artist who sets out to paint 

 a dog is apparently more likely to succeed than 

 the artist who takes clouds for his theme. Such 

 is the conclusion reached from an inspection of 

 the exhibits at the Academy. Miss Hordern's 

 miniature of a terrier (Bailey, 741) is excellent; 

 so is the more ambitious painting by Edmond 

 Brock (259); but "Rolling Clouds" (616) as an 

 attempt at a cloud study is a failure, both in the 

 colouring and in the form of the clouds. J. Far- 

 quharson, who is always at home in snow scenes, 

 gives in 93 a delightful picture with snow on the 

 ground and slanting sunshine among the pines 

 which leaves open only one point for criticism. 

 The moon, though apparently full, is above the 

 horizon at the same time as the sun. The eye is 

 not very sensitive to determining the fullness of 

 the moon, and perhaps this would be the author's 

 explanation, though it seems unnecessary so care- 

 fully to direct attention to the point by means of 

 the title, "The Moon is up and vet it is not 

 Night." 



If Julius Olsson could refrain from such a free 

 use of brilliant colours in strong contrast with one 

 another his seascapes would be immensely im- 

 proved. Several examples of these glaring 

 colours are shown this year. There is one 

 exception, " Silver Glitter " (458), where the 

 artist has used more restraint with a marked 

 improvement in effect. Mr. Mark Fisher, in his 



