May 6, 1897] 



NATURE 



13 



that does nothing to register and protect her ancient 



monuments." 



It may be urged that we have the Ancient ISIonuments 

 Protection Act, which Sir John Lubbock, after great 

 labour, succeeded in passing through Parliament. This 

 Act is valuable so far as it goes, but only 69 monuments 

 in the British Islands (29 in England, 21 in Scotland, 

 and 19 in Ireland) were specified in the schedule. Under 

 Section 10 of the Act of 1882, Her Majesty may, by Order 

 in Council, make additions to the list of monuments 

 protected by the Act. This power has, however, been 

 taken advantage of only to a very limited extent. It has 

 been exercised on six occasions between 1887 and 1892, 

 and 31 monuments (7 in England, 17 in Scotland, and 7 

 in Ireland) have been brought under the Act. Dr. Murray 

 definitely states that " the Government have, in fact, 

 rendered the Act inoperative, as regards the future, by 

 steadily declining to accept further monuments even 

 when oflfered to them." Ireland has been more fortunate ; 

 there are thus between 170 and 180 monuments in Ireland 

 under public protection, as against 38 in Scotland and 36 

 in England. 



Dr. Murray is not alone in his desire to see all our 

 archaeological remains preserved and described ; but he 

 has stated the case with enthusiasm and full knowledge 

 in this little brochure. 



Specialisation m scientific studies is necessary, but 

 there is a great danger of weakness through sub-division. 

 For example, archaeological remains are relegated to 

 archaeologists and antiquarians, who are tacitly held 

 responsible for them. Why should not professed historians 

 and all who desire to intelligently understand the culture 

 history of their native land, as well as of mankind in 

 general, feel that they too are responsible for the record 

 and preservation of these historical data ? Few branches 

 of unapplied science are of more national importance, 

 and it would be well if the wave of patriotism that is now 

 astir could be partially diverted towards this truly 

 patriotic object. 



THE INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC 

 CATALOGUE AND CHART. 



T N the month of May last year the permanent Comite 

 -•- International, for the execution of the Photographic 

 Chart of the heavens, met at Paris to discuss various 

 questions which had been left undecided at previous 

 Conferences, and to inquire into the state of progress 

 of the work of the various observatories participating in 

 this international scheme. At these meetings, in addition 

 to the members of the Committee, several guests were 

 invited to be present and take part in the discussions. 



The report of the proceedings, which has just been 

 published, commences with a brief reference to the work 

 ■of each of the observatories that is partaking in this 

 scheme, the President (the late M. Tisserand) stating that 

 the undertaking, as a whole, was in a satisfactory state of 

 -advancement. The report then refers somewhat in de- 

 tail to the numerous questions that had been prepared 

 for discussion at these May Conferences, from which we 

 make tlie following brief abstracts. 



\Vith regard to the catalogue, the first resolution 

 adopted, as the result of a special Committee of inquiry, 

 composed of MM. Donner, Duner, Jacoby, Paul Henry 

 and Scheiner, was that the probable error of the values 

 of the rectilinear coordinates measured on the plates 

 ought to be as small as possible, and that the measures 

 should be made such that this error should not exceed 

 o""2o. 



It was further resolved to publish, as soon as possible, 

 the rectilinear coordinates of the stars photographed, 

 and that this publication should also contain the data 

 necessary for converting these results into equatorial 



NO. 1436, VOL. 56] 



coordinates. The Committee expressed the desire that 

 a provisional catalogue of right ascensions and declina- 

 tions might be published by those observatories whose 

 resources were sufficiently large. Each observatory is 

 allowed to choose the positions of those stars of reference 

 in the catalogues which appear the most convenient to 

 theni. For the calculation of the constants of the cliches^ 

 a minimum, if possible, of ten stars of reference must 

 be allowed, and the adopted positions of these stars 

 should be published. It was decided to postpone to a 

 later date the discussion relative to the question of 

 using a uniform system of constants for all the observ- 

 atories for the reduction of the stars to the epoch 1900. 

 All agreed, however, that an identical form of publication 

 for all the observatories should be adopted, that of the 

 catalogue of the Paris Observatory serving as the type. 

 Each observatory can determine the photographic mag- 

 nitudes, either by means of measurement or by estima- 

 tion. The only stipulation the Committee imposes is 

 that the methods employed must be such that the 

 magnitudes in different observatories can be reduced to 

 a common system. 



With reference to the so-called photographic chart, 

 five resolutions were adopted, namely : — 



(i) That each observatory will be provided with a 

 scale (furnished by Captain Abney) of densities, which 

 will be impressed on the plates simultaneously with the 

 r^scau, by which the sensibility of each plate for the 

 luminous objects of different intensities will be controlled. 



(2) For the construction of the chart, the second series 

 of clichds — that is, those whose centres are of unequal 

 declination — will be exposed three times for a period of 

 thirty minutes each. The time of exposure may be 

 diminished if a decided increase in the sensibility of the 

 photographed plate be noticed. 



(3) The Committee selects, as the best method of re- 

 producing the chart, the photogravure on copper from 

 the dichesy with three exposures on them, the original 

 scale being doubled. 



(4) Each observatory will make two contact glass 

 positives of each negative, one of which will be preserved 

 in the building at Breteuil, part of the Bureau Inter- 

 national des Poids et Mesures. 



The next meeting of the Committee will probably 

 occur on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition, in the 

 year 1900. 



NOTES. 

 The announcement of the resignation of M. J. de Morgan, 

 Director General of the Administration of Antiquities of Egypt, 

 recently made by a contemporary, will be received with regret 

 by many. It will be remembered that the duties of this gentle- 

 man were two-fold ; he was supposed to excavate sites which 

 promised good antiquarian results throughout Upper and Lower 

 Egypt, and also to direct and manage the (ihizeh Museum near 

 Cairo. It is not clear whether M. de Morgan has resigned both 

 duties, but a well-founded rumour asserts that he is going to 

 leave Egypt and to excavate in Persia on behalf of the French 

 Government, who are said to have obtained a concession to dig 

 for antiquities throughout the country, and to have leave to carry 

 away whatever they may find. Whether AL de Morgan has 

 severed his connection with Egypt wholly'or partially matters 

 very little relatively, but his resignation brings to the front the 

 important question of what is to be done in the future about the 

 conservation of the monuments which remain in situ, and those 

 which are preserved in the National Museum. No one can 

 deny that ^L de Morgan has worked well in Egypt, and although 

 much fault has been found with his "Catalogue " by those who 

 have carefully read the work, none can deny that his excava- 

 tions have been both thorough and successful, and that he has 



