240 



NATURE 



[October 29, 1914 



This question is the subject of a short communication 

 to the Astrophysical Journal, September, vol. xl., 

 No. 2, by Dr. C. E. Kenneth Mees, of the Kodak 

 Research Laboratory, who, thinking that the cause 

 was due to a change in humidity, made experiments 

 to determine the effect of varied humidity on the sensi- 

 tiveness and development factor of Seed 23 and Seed 30 

 plates. Experimenting within a range of 0-5 to 85 ner 

 cent, of humidity, and giving the emulsion film time 

 to come into equilibrium with the air, he found that 

 both sensitiveness and development factor decreased 

 about 25 per cent, when the humidity was increased 

 from 0-5 to 85 per cent. This result seems very con- 

 clusive, and shows the restraining action of a change 

 of moisture on the sensitiveness of photographic film. 

 Dr. Mees suggests that all photographic materials 

 used for photometric work should be brought pre- 

 viously into equilibrium with the atmosphere in which 

 they are to be used. 



Tests of a 24-iN. Objective. — At the end of the 

 vear 191 1 the erection of a 24-in. refractor was com- 

 pleted for the Sproul Observatory, U.S.A. The objec- 

 tive was made by Brashear, the crown disc being 

 furnished by the Parra-Mantois firm of Paris, and the 

 flint disc by Schott and Genossen, of Jena. In 1912 the 

 objective underwent a series of tests at the hands of 

 Profs. John A. Miller and Ross W. Marriott, who used 

 the method of extra-focal images devised by Hartmann. 

 In 1913 a final series of tests was made, and this, with 

 the foregoing, are described by the authors in the 

 October number (vol. clxxviii.. No. 4, p. 465) of the 

 Journal of the Franklin Institute. It seems that in the 

 first tests measures of photographs of star images 

 taken through a screen containing circular holes 

 showed certain discrepancies among the focal dis- 

 tances of different parts and zones of the lens, which, 

 while not excessive, were absent before the mounting 

 of the lens. The cause of these discrepancies was 

 traced to a side pressure spring to prevent the objective 

 from sliding in its cell. After a reduction of the pres- 

 sure further tests were completed with screens con- 

 taining different numbers of holes. The result was to 

 show that " from every standpoint the lens is an 

 excellent one." 



THE RECTORSHIP OF THE UNIVERSITY 

 OF GLASGOW. 



THE matriculated students of the University of Glas- 

 gow, divided into four " nations" under the ancient 

 constitution derived from Bologna and Paris, have 

 unanimously elected M. Raymond Poincar^, President 

 of the French Republic, and member of the academy, 

 to be their rector for a term of three years. For a 

 long time past the recurring elections to the rector- 

 ship have been conducted on purely political lines, and 

 the result was always hailed as a party triumph for 

 one side or the other. Mr. Disraeli (1871) was suc- 

 ceeded by Mr. Gladstone (1877), and Mr. Bright 

 (1880); Mr. A. J. Balfour (1890), Mr. J. Chamberlain 

 (1896), Lord Rosebery (1899), Mr. Asquith (1905), and 

 Lord Curzon (1908), w^ere followed by Mr. Birrell 

 (1911). 



Before the present national crisis arose, Lord Strath- 

 clyde, Mr. Bonar Law, and Mr. R. B. Cunninghame 

 Graham had been selected as their champions by the 

 several political groups. But the students speedily 

 recognised that in the actual situation of the country 

 a party contest was out of place, and the candidates 

 first chosen were withdrawn. The political leaders 

 thereupon, in token of " the close bond of union be- 

 tween France and Great Britain," addressed a joint 

 invitation to M. Poincar^, which the President was 

 pleased to accept. The proposal was received with 



enthusiasm, and unanimously endorsed bv the 

 students. In the absence of any other nomination, 

 the Principal, Sir Donald MacAlister, K.C.B., on be- 

 half of the Senate, at noon on Saturday, October 24, 

 declared M. Poincar^ duly elected by the votes of all 

 the "nations." 



The rector is the official President of the University 

 Court. He appoints an assessor, who is ex officio a 

 member of the governing body. He is "installed," 

 and delivers a rectorial address, at a solemn assembly 

 of the University during the period of his tenure. 

 Otherwise his position is honorary. In the present 

 case the "installation "will have to await the termina- 

 tion of the war. 



The names of two relatives of the new rector, Dr. 

 Henri Poincar^ and Dr. Boutroux, already appear on 

 the University's roll of honorary graduates. From 

 the beginning of the sixteenth century onwards a 

 Glasgow graduate has from time to time been chosen 

 as rector of the University of Paris. This is the first 

 occasion on which a French scholar has held the rector- 

 ship of Glasgow. 



THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL 

 INSTITUTE. 



pROF. ARTHUR KEITH publishes in the Journal 

 J- of the Royal Anthropological Institute for 

 January-June, 19 14, his presidential address on the 

 reconstruction of fossil human skulls. This is, to a 

 large extent, the outcome of the controversy which 

 arose on the reconstruction of the Piltdown skull, in 

 which his scheme differed from that suggested by Dr. 

 Smith Woodward. As a practical test of his methods 

 Prof. Keith invited Dr. Douglas Derry to furnish him 

 with fragments of a specimen skull, which he engaged 

 to reconstruct and to publish the results of his experi- 

 ' ment, whatever might be the result. The reconstruc- 

 tion of this skull by Prof. Keith so closely, in his 

 opinion, resembles the cast of the original skull from 

 which the fragments were taken as to confirm the 

 validity of his methods. He is thus led to deny that 

 the architecture of the human skull lies outside the 

 limits of true science. He asserts that it is framed 

 according to definite principles, that all its parts are 

 correlated, and that it is possible from a part — if our 

 knowledge is accurate and full — to reconstruct the 

 whole. The address marks a decided advance in our 

 knowledge of the science of craniometry. 



Mr. Henry Balfour contributes to the journal an 

 interesting paper on the art of fire-making with a 

 flexible sawing-thong. This method of fire-production 

 has been traced in three distinct localities : an eastern 

 area extending from Assam to New Guinea ; by Miss 

 Mary Kingsley among the Ba-Kele of the Ogowe 

 River in West Africa ; and in Sweden, Germany, and 

 Russia, where it is used as a means of procuring need- 

 fire. This strange distribution of the art raises many 

 interesting questions, particularly in relation to the 

 theories of Graebner and his school, who postulate 

 the derivation of these and similar ideas from a 

 single well-defined area, whence they are generally 

 transmitted. In the eastern area it seems to be asso- 

 ciated with the Negrito culture, and is possibly a 

 variant of the better known rigid, blade-like fire-saw. 

 In Africa, again, an independent origin is strongly 

 suggested, although the possibility of transmission 

 from the east cannot be quite ignored. In Europe 

 the theory of transmission from the Negritic, 

 Indonesian, pre-Malayan, or Bantu culture can 

 be accepted only with much reservation, and 

 here, too, the inference is that it was independ- 

 ently discovered. Much still remains to be done by 

 examining museum specimens and by the collection 



