78 



NATURE 



[June 6, 191 8 



was agreed that a resolution on the policy of the 

 society should be circularised among the members for 

 consideration before the next meeting, which is to 

 be held in Sheffield on June 19. Before the meeting 

 the members enjoyed a visit to Messrs. Ediswan, Ltd., 

 at Ponders End. 



THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, 

 GREENWICH. 



THE report of the .Astronomer Royal to the Board 

 of Visitors of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 

 was read at the annual visitation of the Observatory 

 on Saturday, June i. The subjoined extracts are from 

 the report. 



Greenwich Catalogue. 

 .\dvantage is being taken of the delay in the printing 

 of the Greenwich catalogue 'of 12,000 stars for 1910 

 to insert the type of spectrum as well as the magni- 

 tude of the star on the Harvard scale. This has been 

 made possible by the kindness of Prof. Pickering, 

 who is supplying, partly in manuscript and partly in 

 early proofs, the results of Miss Cannon's survey at 

 Harvard College. Discussions of some points con- 

 nected with the proper motions of the stars in this 

 catalogue have been communicated to the Royal 

 Astronomical Society, and others are in progress. 



Heliographic Observations. 



In the year ended May 10, 1918, photographs of the 

 sun were obtained on 209 days. The transmission to 

 England of the solar photographs taken at the Royal 

 Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, has been suspended 

 for the present, the last originals received being those 

 for February, 19 17, and the last duplicates those for 

 the month previous. Similarly, no application has 

 been yet made for photographs taken at the Indian 

 observatories of Kodaikanal and Dehra Dun to fill 

 up gaps in the combined Greenwich-Cape record. The 

 daj's in 1917 left without representation in the com- 

 bined record are only nine in number, and for eight 

 of these days photographs taken at Kodaikanal are 

 available; the only date in 1917 still without a photo- 

 graph being March 12. 



H.M. Astronomer at the Cajpe has reported that the 

 sun was successfully photographed there on 333 davs 

 in the 3'ear 19 17, and on every day in January, 19 18. 

 The director of the Kodaikanal Observatory has re- 

 ported that the regular series of photographs of the 

 sun was recommenced there on April i, 1917, and 

 that plates were taken on 248 days out of the 275 of 

 the nine remaining months of the year. 



During the whole of the period covered by this 

 report the spot-activity has been corsiderable, but it 

 reached a remarkable development during August, 

 1917, the mean daily spotted area during the second 

 week of that month being the highest as yet regis- 

 tered in the Greenwich photographic record. No dis- 

 turbance comparable with this has occurred since, but 

 considerable secondary maxima, with total spotted 

 areas of more than 1000 millionths of the sun's visible 

 hemisphere, were observed in September and Decem- 

 ber, 1917, and in February and March, 1918. 



Magnetic Observations. 

 The mean values of the magnetic elements for 1917 

 and three previous years are as follows :■ — 



Pec. W. Hor. force Vert, force Dip 



1914 ... 15 6-3 018518 



1915 ... 14 56-5 0-18508 



1916 ... 469 018494 



1917 ... 370 0-18477 

 NO. 2536, VOL. lOl] 



0-43317 66 51-2 



043315 51-8 



0'433f3 527 



0'4330S 53-6 



The annual diminution of declination increased con- 

 siderably about 1910-, its average value from 1900 to 

 19 10 being 4-9'. The horizontal force, which had been 

 increasing since measurements were begun at Green- 

 wich in 1846, reached a maximum about 1910, and is 

 now diminishing. The dip, which has been diminish- 

 ing since measurements were begun in 1843, reached 

 a minimum about 1913, and is now increasing. 



There were no days of great magnetic disturbance 

 in 1917, but four were classified as of lesser disturb- 

 ance. Traces of the photographic curves for these days 

 will be published in the annual volume. 



Meteorological Observations. 



The following details of the weather refer to the 



year ended April 30, 19 18. The mean temperature was 



50-0°, or 04° above the average of the seventy-five years, 



1841-1915. The highest temperature in the shade was 



I 93-2° on June 17, and the temperature exceeded So'' 



j on fifteen days. The lowest temperature was 17-2° 



' on December 19, and on fifty-thre; days fell as low 



I as 32-0°. 



The mean daily horizontal movement of the air 

 : was 298 miles, which is fourteen miles abqve the 

 average of the previous fifty years. The greatest daily 

 i movement, 767 miles, was recorded on November 24, 

 ' and the least, forty-seven miles, on December 20. 

 i The greatest recorded pressure on the square foot was 

 18-8 lb., on October 25; the greatest velocity in one 

 hour, forty-six miles, was registered on the same day. 

 The duration of bright sunshine registered by the 

 Campbell-Stokes instrument was 1668 hours out of a 

 possible 4456 hours, or 36-1 per cent. January pro- 

 vided more and April less than any corresponding 

 month since the present instrument was set up in 1897. 

 The rainfall was 28-06 in., or 382 in. above the 

 average for the period 1841-1915. The number of 

 rainy days (0005 in. or over) was 156. March, with 

 0-97 in., was the driest, and August, with 4-56 in., the 

 : wettest month. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 



INTELLIGENCE. 



By the will of Dr. E. .A. Letts, professor of 



chemistry in Queen's University, Belfast, who died in 



February last, his collection of minerals is bequeathed 



to Queen's University, and, on the death of his wife, 



2100L for the endowment of a scholarship in the 



1 University. 



j Mr. John Owens, of Chester, has been authorised 

 by certain friends to offer the University of Wales on 

 their behalf io,oooI. war stock towards the establish- 

 ment of a music directorship on the lines indicated in 

 the report of the Royal Commission on University 

 Education in Wales. 



The Education Bill and eugenics is the subject of 

 an article by Mr. Wm. C. Marshall in the Eugenics 

 Review for April (vol. 'x., No. i). Mr. Marshall be- 

 ' lieves that the Bill bids fair, if loyally carried out, to 

 I satisfy the requirements of the intelligent artisan, and 

 I to assure him that he can in the future count on 

 obtaining for any of his children, inheriting his quali- 

 ties and reared under his care and supervision, an 

 ! education which will assure their position in the 

 ' industrial world. On these grounds the conclusion is 

 , that the Bill should be "cordially welcomed by 

 eugenists. 



Interesting and instructive statistics concerning the 

 growth of secondary education in England and Wales 

 are contained in the Report of the Board of Education 

 for the year 191&-17 (Cd. 9045). The total number 

 of secondarv schools in England regarded by the 



