472 



NATURE 



[June 9, 192 1 



The Edinburgh Meeting of the British Association. 



THE preliminary programme and invitation circular 

 for the eighty-ninth annual meeting of the 

 British Association, to be held in Edinburgh on 

 September 7-14, is now ready for distribution. 

 Members of the Association will receive it shortly if 

 it has not already reached them ; others who propose 

 to attend the meeting may obtain a copy on applica- 

 tion to the Assistant Secretary of the Association, 

 Burlington House, London, W. i. The circular, which 

 is more comprehensive than has been customary, 

 contains more than a merely preliminary programme, 

 for many of the definitive arrangements for the meet- 

 ing are set forth and a time-table of the principal 

 engagements is appended. The circular is a pamphlet 

 of sixteen pages with a three-leaf cover. One leaf, 

 detachable at a perforation, provides two reply forms 

 — one for intimation of attendance and the other for 

 intimation of the member's local address — and, in 

 order to assist the organisation of the meeting, 

 members who propose to be present are requested to 

 complete and return these forms at their earliest con- 

 venience. On another cover is a useful map of cen- 

 tral Edinburgh, on which are indicated the principal 

 buildings, especially those to be used for the meetings, 

 the railway stations, the 'bus and tPam routes, and 

 the principal hotels. 



A prefatory note on Edinburgh is followed by the 

 announcements regarding conditions of membership 

 and railway communications. In the latter we note 

 that the general officers of the Association have made, 

 and will continue to make, every endeavour to secure 

 a reduction of return fares for members attending the 

 meeting, but uo to the present they have been unable 

 to obtain this concession from the railway authorities, 

 and. failing the issue of a further intimation, it must 

 be assumed that the concession formerly customary 

 cannot be given this year. Enclosed in the circular is 

 a printed slip directing attention to a proposal to run 

 motor coaches from London (following routes via 

 Oxford and Cambridge) and from Bristol, Liverpool, 

 and other towns north of these, to convev members to 

 Edinburgh, and back again if so desired. The fares 

 would be approximated two-thirds of those charged 

 by the railways in each case. T>e motor coaches would 

 leave London and points south of Liverpool on Sep- 

 tember 5, completing the journev to Edinburgh in two 

 davs, and arrangements would be made for hotel 

 accommodation en route. From Liverpool, Man- 

 chester, Leeds, and points north thereof the journey 

 to Edinburgh would be made in one dav — Septem- 

 ber 6. Passengers' luggage would be collected and 

 delivered, each passenger being allowed 56 lb. free of 

 charge. This enterprising project can be realised only 



if the transport company has a guarantee as to the- 

 number of members who would be prepared to avail, 

 themselves of it, and members are therefore requested 

 to state on their intimation forms if they would make- 

 use of the motor service. 



The programme gives the titles of the addresses, 

 discourses, and principal discussions. The presidential 

 address by Sir Edward Thorpe will deal with some 

 aspects and problems of post-war science pure and 

 applied. The evening discourses are on subjects- 

 especially appropriate to a meeting in Edinburgh. 

 Prof. C. E. Inglis will make a comparison of the 

 Forth and Quebec bridges, showing the evolution of" 

 cantilever-bridge construction during the past thirty 

 years ; and Prof. W. A. Herdman will give an account 

 of the important part played by Edinburgh in the pro- 

 gress and development of the science of oceanography. 



The sectional presidents' addresses will cover a wide 

 range of subjects ; for example, the laboratory of the 

 living organism, the boundaries of physiology, experi- 

 mental geology, evolution, the theory of descent in 

 relation to the early history of plants, the study of 

 native races, consciousness and the unconscious, the 

 place of music in a liberal education, water-power, the 

 principles by which wages are determined, and agri- 

 cultural economics. Several of these addresses are 

 to be introductory to discussions. The president of 

 the Conference of Delegates of Corresponding Socie- 

 ties is to give an address, followed by a discussion, on 

 "Science and Citizenship." Arrangements have been 

 made for a number of joint sectional discussions, and 

 the following are announced as the respective sub- 

 jects : The structure of nlolecules, the age of the 

 earth, biochemistry, the proposed mid-Scotland canal, 

 the origin of the Scottish people, and vocational 

 training and tests. The times of the sectional presi- 

 dential addresses and of the principal discussions have 

 been arranged so that those on cognate subjects are 

 not held at the same hour ; for instance, the addresses 

 are distributed over the Thursday, Friday, and 

 Monday mornings, and not more than two are at the 

 same hour. 



From this summary it will be evident that the 

 arrangements for the meeting are in an advanced 

 stage, and we understand that this is also the case in 

 regard to the programme of papers to be presented to 

 the various sections. 



The forthcoming meeting in Edinburgh— restored 

 to its pre-war length of a full week— promises to be 

 one of great scientific interest and value, and all well- 

 wishers of the Association are looking forward to a 

 full resumption of the activity and influence of the 

 Association. 



The Royal Observatory, Greenwich. 



T 



HE visitation of the Royal Observatory took place 

 on June 4, when the report of the Astronomer 

 Royal, which covers the year ended on May 10, was 

 presented. The report states that strenuous efforts 

 are being made with the transit circle to complete 

 the present catalogue, which embraces some two 

 thousand stars of the list prepared by Dr. Backlund 

 and Mr. Hough ; the aim of that list was to obtain 

 a convenient number of reference stars uniformly dis- 

 tributed over the sky. These observations will be con- 

 cluded at the end of this year, after which observa- 

 tions will be commenced of all stars down to magni- 

 tude 80 between N. declination 32° and 64°. It will 

 be remembered that stars down to magnitude 90 

 NO. 2693, VOL. 107] 



between declination 64° and 90°, and also between 

 24° and 32°, have recently been observed at Green- 

 wich. The catalogue of the dast-named region was 

 distributed during 1920; it includes the determination 

 of the proper motions of 12,000 star3. 



The mean error of the longitude of the sun, as given 

 In the Nautical Almanac, is -li"; that of the moon 

 is -13", which Is deduced from observations on 

 114 nights. Eight occultatlons .of stars by the moon 

 were observed, and also both phases of the solar 

 eclipse of April 8. 



The 28-in. equatorial has undergone extensive 

 repairs by Messrs. Cooke; observations of double 

 stars have now been resumed. The working catalogue 



