154 



NA TURE 



[June i6, 1898 



altitude. At the same time, single observations very 

 generally give sufficient accuracy for all the purposes of 

 navigation, though they are not to be so absolutely relied 

 on as a systematic set. 



I must not conclude without another word on the lunar 

 method of finding the Greenwich time, which I dis- 

 missed rather summarily, further back, in favour of 

 chronometers. For long voyages across the ocean, 

 when a vessel is from fifty to one hundred days without 

 sighting land, lunars may still be used, as before the 

 •days of steam, not so much for finding individual longi- 

 tudes as for rating the chronometers, and for this purpose 

 it is essential that a series of distances be measured on 

 each side of the moon, and the mean of all the easterly 

 ones, meaned with the average result of those taken to 

 the westward, to eliminate as far as possible personal 

 and instrumental errors. An expert lunarian, who prac- 

 tises regularly, may find out by experience about how 

 much on each side, single distances, measured east or west, 

 would place his ship ; otherwise, the result of a single 

 lunar could not be relied on to give the longitude to 

 nearer than ^° or 30', even if taken under favourable 

 circumstances. In a steamer vibration almost pre- 

 cludes the observation, and the chronometers ought 

 seldom to be 5s., and never 30s. wrong. In ports where 

 there are not time-balls, the chronometer errors can be 

 found accurately with the artificial horizon, observing, if 

 possible, >|<s east and west, or the and ^, or even by 

 the © alone. It is generally possible to verify the errors 

 at sea by sighting land, or even to get a fair rate, by 

 observing >)<s E. and W. of meridian to the sea horizon. 

 An error in the chronometer does not alter the direction 

 of a line of position, but moves it bodily E. or W, 



As an example of the use of a single line of position, 

 suppose a steamer to be approaching Cape Finisterre 

 from the Channel, and only able to obtain one observ- 

 ation, the sun right ahead. The line of position, being at 

 right angles to her path, will be a good check on her 

 speed, but none whatever on the course she has made 

 good. On the other hand, if the sun (or star) had been 

 observed on her beam, the line of position would be no 

 check on the speed, but would indicate the course made 

 good, and whether, if it was continued, it would clear 

 the land. In soundings, a line of position may be com- 

 bined with the depth of water to fix the position. 



The tendency of modern navigation is to become too 

 stereotyped— to do everything by tables, which obscure 

 the mental vision, and to relegate to the bookshelf that 

 knowledge of theory which, combined with practical ex- 

 perience, is the surest guide to the navigator in deciding 

 on the best way of utilising his observations, and which 

 method, in any particular case, will give him the best 

 line of position. If theory is not the only thing that 

 will teach him, that while when the sun culminates near 

 the zenith, he can get good observations for time within a 

 few minutes of its passing the meridian, a Sumner line 

 derived from such observation would be almost useless, 

 owing to the smallness of the circle of equal altitude ; 

 it will certainly make him acquainted with the fact 

 in a tenth of the time that unaided experience will. 

 Some of the so-called short methods are only short be- 

 cause of preliminary calculations that are not counted 

 by the authors in the work, and which may all go for 

 nothing if some particular altitude is not obtained, that a 

 passing cloud may render it impossible to measure ; or 

 else they involve several vexatious interpolations, which 

 are quite as much trouble, and, if performed mentally, 

 much more liable to error, than taking out and adding up 

 a few lines of logarithms.^ 



1 Every aspiring young navigator should make himself acquainted with 

 spherical trigonometry, especially with " Napier's Analogies," which com- 

 t)ine the brevity of short methods and special tables with the accuracy of 

 pure mathematics. He should also accustom himself to drawing the figures 

 for his problems till he can see the triangle in his mind's eye without a 

 ^diagram. 



NO. 1494, VOL. 58] 



Finally, it is better to get several observations of 

 different bodies at (or about) the same time, than two of 

 the same, with the requisite interval for change of bear- 

 ing, because one of these observations has to be reduced 

 to what it would have been if taken at the same place as 

 the other, and the reduction may be vitiated by errors 

 of the run, as explained in the paper on " Navigation," 

 which it is one of the great objects of nautical astronomy 

 to detect and be independent of. J. F. Ruthven. 



THE LONDON UNIVERSITY BILL. 



A LL friends of scientific and educational progress will 

 -^~*- be glad that the second reading of the London 

 University Statutory Commission Bill was carried in the 

 House of Commons on Tuesday without a division, and 

 has been referred to the Standing Committee on Law. 

 We are thus brought within sight of a long-delayed and 

 much-needed reform, and all who have assisted in 

 educating public opinion upon the measure, with the 

 object of removing the unreasonable obstruction placed 

 in its way, may congratulate themselves upon the success 

 which their efforts have at last achieved. It is not to the 

 credit of Ministers that a scheme of such deep import- 

 ance to the best interests of the country should have been 

 permitted to languish for so long a period, seeing that 

 the necessity for establishing a teaching university in 

 the metropolis is admitted by practically all public 

 bodies connected with science and higher education 

 in London. Had they possessed the courage of their 

 convictions the measure would have passed into law 

 without difficulty in 1896 or 1897, audits withdrawal upon 

 each occasion must be counted as a lost opportunity. 

 The opposition which then threatened the scheme would 

 doubtless have collapsed so completely as it did on 

 Tuesday, when it received so little support that the 

 measure was agreed to even without a division. We re- 

 print from the Times some parts of the speech made by 

 Sir John Gorst in moving the second reading, and of the 

 speeches which followed. 



Sir John Gorst commenced by giving a general history of the 

 scheme for a teaching University, and pointed out that the pre- 

 sent Bill is based on the report of the Cowper Commission, 

 which unanimously recommended that there should be no 

 second University in London, and that the necessary modifi- 

 cation of the constitution of the London University should be 

 effected by means of a statutory Commission. He continued : 

 " I should like to inform the House of the various bodies by 

 which this scheme has been considered and accepted. It has, 

 first of all, been accepted by the Senate of the University 01 

 London by a majority of 22 to 2 — practically a unanimous ac- 

 ceptance by the Senate of the University of London. It has 

 been accepted by the Royal College of Physicians, by the 

 Royal College of Surgeons, by the Society of Apothecaries, by 

 University College, by King's College, by the Bedford College 

 for Women, by the twelve medical schools which exist in 

 London, by six theological colleges, by the Society for the Ex- 

 tension of University Teaching, by the Technical Education 

 Committee of the London County Council, by the Corporation 

 of the City of London, by the City and Guilds Institute, by 

 the Polytechnic Council, by the Royal Society, and all the 

 other learned societies in London ; and, finally, it has been 

 accepted by the Convocation of the University. I say it has 

 been accepted by the Convocation of the University of London 

 because, by the charter of the University, a particular mode is 

 specified in which the Convocation of the University of London 

 shall express its opinion on the subject. The Convocation 

 expresses its opinion by a meeting at which discussion takes 

 place, and at which a vote is given by the persons there present. 

 Such a meeting of Convocation has been held, and this present 

 scheme has been approved in that legal and formal manner in 

 which the charter of the University requires the opinion of 

 Convocation to be expressed — by a majority of 460 to 239." 



Referring to the views of graduates as shown by voting 

 papers, Sir John Gorst said, " Even assuming that the existing 

 graduates of the University of London were unanimous in their 



