no 



NA TURE 



[December i, 1892 



during a month or two of rainy season, and how many weeks or 

 months must pass before it gets to the sea, and where it has been 

 in the intsrval, and what has become of the air from which it 

 fell, we need not wonder that the distance of the earth's axis of 

 equilibrium of centrifugal force from the instantaneous axis of 

 rotation should often vary^ by five or ten metres in the course of 

 a few weeks or months. We can scarcely expect, indeed, that 

 the variation found by the International Geodetic Union during 

 the year beginning June, 1891, should recur periodically for even 

 as much as one or two or three times of the seeming period of 

 385 days. 



One of the most important scientific events of the past year 

 has been Barnard's discovery, on September 9, of a new satel- 

 lite to Jupiter. On account of the extreme faintness of the 

 object, it has not been observed anywhere except at the Lick 

 Observatory in California. There, at an elevation of 4500 ft., 

 with an atmosphere of great purity, and with a superb refractor 

 of 36" aperature, they have advantages not obtainable else- 

 where. The new satellite is about 112,000 miles distant from 

 Jupiter, and its periodic time is about ilh. 50m. Mr. 

 Barnard concludes a short statement of his discovery with the 

 following sentences : — " It will thus be seen that this new satel- 

 lite makes two revolutions in one day, and that its periodic 

 time about the planet is less than two hours longer than the 

 axial rotation of Jupiter. Excepting the inner satellite of Mars, 

 it is the most rapidly revolving satellite known. When suffi- 

 cient observations have been obtained, it will afford a new and 

 independent determination of the mass of Jupiter. Of course, 

 from what I have said in reference to the difficulty of seeing the 

 new satellite, it will be apparent that the most powerful tele- 

 scopes of the world only will show it " (dated Mount Hamilton, 

 September 21, 1892). 



Sir Robert Ball, in calling my attention to it, remarks that 

 "it is by far the most striking addition to the solar system since 

 the discovery of the satellites to Mars in 1877." To all of us 

 it is most interesting that during this year, when we are all 

 sympathizing with the University of Padua in its celebraiion of 

 the third centenary of its acquisition of Galileo as a professor, 

 we have first gained the knowledge of a fifth satellite in 

 addition to the four discovered by Galileo. 



Rudolph Virchow (Copley Medal), 



Professor Virchow's eminent services to science are known 

 throughout the world, and they are far too varied and numerous 

 for enumeration. 



He survives Schwann, Henle, and the other pioneers in 

 several branches of natural history who came from the school of 

 Johannes Miiller, and at the present time occupies a position of 

 influence and honour equal to that of his great contemporaries 

 Helmholtz, Ludwig, and Du Bois-Reymond. 



His contributions to the study of morbid anatomy have thrown 

 light upon the diseases of every part of the body,* but the broad 

 and philosophical view he has taken of the processes of patho- 

 logy has done more than his most brilliant observations to make 

 the science of disease. 



In histology he has the chief merit of the classification into 

 epithelial organs, connective tissues, and the higher and more 

 specialized muscle and nerve. He also demonstrated the pre- 

 sence of neuroglia in the brain and spinal cord, and discovered 

 crystalline hsematoidine, and the true structure of the umbilical 

 cord. 



In pathology, strictly so called, his two great achievements — 

 the detection of the cellular activity which lies at the bottom of 

 all morbid as well as normal physiological processes, and the 

 classification of the important group of new growths on a 

 natural histological basis — have each of them not only made an 

 epoch in medicine, but have been the occasion of fresh exten- 

 sion of science by other labourers. 



In ethnological and archaeological science Professor Virchow 

 has made observations which only the greatness of his other 

 work has thrown into the shade ; and, so far from confinmg 

 himself to technical labours, he has been known since he 

 migrated to Wiirzburg and returned to Berlin as a public- 

 spirited, far-seeing, and enlightened politician.^ 



I See Brit. Assoc. Reports, 1876, Address to Section A, pp. lo-ii. 



- Among these may be mentioned his discovery of lucasmia, of lardaceous 

 degeneration, and glioma ; his reconstruction of the kind of tumour known 

 as sarcoma, and his establishment of the important group of granulomata. 



3 A sh irt pamphlet, '' Ueber die Nationelle Bedeutung der Naturwissen- 

 schaften," may be mentioned as characteristic of the patriotism, the fairness 

 and the broad judgment of the author. 



NO, 1205, VOL. 47] 



Universally honoured and peisonaily esteemed by most of the- 

 leading pathologists in this country, as well as on the Continent 

 and in America, who had the good fortune to be his pupils, 

 Prof. Virchow is a worthy successor of the many illustrious 

 men of science to whom the Copley medal has been awar.led. 



Nils C.Dunir, Director of the Observatory of Lund (Ru.mkord 

 Medal). 



Dr. Duner has been continuously at work, since 1871, at 

 astronomical observations (see "K.S. Catalogue"). 



He began to turn his attention to spectroscopic subjects in- 

 1878, and commenced the publication of his systematic work on 

 Stellar Spectra in 1882. 



In 1884 he broughi to a conclusion his wonderful observations 

 of stars of Vogel's III Class, His memoir contains a detailed 

 study of the spectra of nearly 400 stars, all which are the 

 most difficult objects to observe. This volume is one of the 

 foundations on which any future work in this direction must be 

 based. 



In 1891 he published another series of researches on the r.>ta- 

 tion of the sun, comparing true solar with telluric lines for 

 regions up to 75° of solar latitude. The result showed a dimi- 

 nution of angular velocity with increasing latitude, thus spectro- 

 scopically confirming Carrington's results. 



Professor Charles Pritchard, D.D., F.R.S., Director 0/ the 



Oxford University Observatory {RoYAi. Medal), 

 Professor Pritchard began his publications on astronomical 

 subjects in 1852. His first paper and several others which have 

 followed, have dwelt with the construction of object glasses and 

 telescope adjustments. 



He was president of the Royal Astronomical Society in the 

 years 1867 and 1868. 



He was appointed first Director of the newly-founded obser- 

 vatory at Oxford in 1874. It is now the most active University 

 observatory in the kingdom, as many as fifteen students 

 receiving instruction in observatory work at times. The ser- 

 vices he has rendered to astronomy in devising, and keeping at 

 a high standard, the work of the observatory in many directions,, 

 including its use as a school, are very noteworthy. 



Immediately on the establishment of the observatory lie saw 

 the beneficial effects of photographic investigation, and first 

 applied the method, with the old wet- plate photography, to the 

 problem of the physical libration of the moon. He saw that 

 this problem was encumbered in heliometric work by the fact 

 that a set of the observations must take a considerable time, 

 and therefore they were made on a constantly changing disc, 

 necessitating great labour in reduction. By the observations 

 being made in two or three seconds, the picture of the moon did 

 not alter in the time. The result was to show important 

 variations from Bouvard's work, which variations in their 

 important particulars were confirmed by Dr. Hartwig. 



Next (1885) the relative motions of the Pleiades were taken 

 up with a view of tracing gravitational effects in the various 

 members of the group. This question is not ripe for solving, 

 but it induced heliometer observers to take up the question, and 

 important progress is now being made. 



The photometric work detailed in the " Uranometria Nova 

 Oxoniensis," also published in 1885, consisted in measuring the 

 light received from all stars visible to the naked eye, to 10° south 

 declination, by means of a wedge photometer devised by Prof. 

 Pritchard — a form of photi meter now in the hands of many 

 astronomers. In the course of this work Prof. Pritchard, at his 

 own expense, took an assistant to Egypt to determine the efifects 

 of atmospheric absorption in a more constant climate than that 

 of Oxford. This photometric work has been recognized by the 

 award of the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 



Having fully determined the capacity of photography for 

 accurate measurement. Prof. Pritchard next applied it to parallax 

 determinations of stars of the second magnitude. Some thirty 

 stars altogether have been investigated, and this work has just 

 been published. Thirty is a greater number than any other 

 astronomer has attempted. 



Prof. Pritchard is now working on the International Chart of 

 the Heavens, and taking part in researches to ensure an accurate 

 photometric scale. 



fohn Nezvport Langley, F.R.S. (RoYAL Medal). 

 Some of the most important of Mr. Langley's researches have 

 been upon the Physiology and Histology of Secreting Glands.. 



