272 



NATURE 



[May 51, 19.17 



KoDAiKANAL OBSERVATORY REPORT. — Mr. Evershed's 

 report on the work of the Kodaikanal and Madras 

 Observatories during 1916 refers to several points of 

 interest besides observations of a routine character. 

 Solar observations were made on 342 days, and 

 spectroheliograms in K light were obtained on 329 

 days. With the grating spectroheliograph photo- 

 graphs of the sun in Ha light were obtained on 258 

 days, and it was found that the number of absorption 

 markings due to dense prominences on the disc had 

 increased largely. It is interesting to note that visual 

 spectroscopic observations were continued with refer- 

 ence to such phenomena as metallic prominences and 

 displacements of the hydrogen lines, which are not 

 readily photographed, and to furnish a check on the 

 position angles determined from photographs. The 



SOUTH GEORGIA. 



•T^HE island of South Georgia offers especially in- 

 *■ structive evidence as to the geological history of 

 the South Atlantic, Though one of the most isolated 

 of the islands there, its structure is continental, and 

 its geographical, relations led Suess to the conclusion 

 that it is a member of an island festoon which in- 

 cluded the Falklands, Shag Rocks, Sandwich Islands^ 

 South Orkneys, South Shetlands, and Grahamland, 

 and projected as a prolongation of the Andes into the 

 South Atlantic, as the West Indies project into the 

 tropical Atlantic. 



South Georgia offers the best opportunities of derid- 

 ing between Suess's theory and the alternative view 

 that South Georgia and the Falklands are parts of an 



.Fig. I. — Moraine Flat, glacier, small loch and stream, Cumberland Bay. From the Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh. 



spectrum of Venus was photographed with very high 

 dispersion, and it is expected that besides yielding a 

 fair value of the solar parallax, these plates will give 

 valuable information as to the' wave-lengths of solar 

 lines on the side of the sun which is turned 90° or 

 more from the direction of the earth. Mr. Evershed 

 remained at Srinagar, Kashmir, until November i. 

 He reports that while the results obtained during the 

 summer of 1916 confirmed his original estimates of the 

 general excellence of the climate for solar work, the 

 conditions during the months November to April inclu- 

 sive did not appear to differ matef ially from those found 

 in other localities ; that is, the definition was generally 

 good in the morning and evening, and poor near midday. 

 In the summer months good definition throughout the 

 day was the rule, and suj>erlative definition was of 

 quite frequent occurrence. 



NO. 2483, VOL. 99I 



ancient South Atlantic land. Much new information 

 as to the geology and geography of South Georgia 

 was collected by Mr. D. Ferguson during a visit 

 thfere made owing to the generosity of Mr. Theodore 

 Salvesen, of Leith. Mr. Ferguson's results have been 

 published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh (vol. 1., part 4, Nos. 23-25,' pp. 797-836, 

 plates 81-94), ^"d will be also issued in the Papers of 

 the Geological Department of Glasgow University. Mr. 

 Ferguson's account of the stratigraphical geology is 

 illustrated by numerous excellent photographs, a geo- 

 logical map, and sections. This report is followed 

 by papers based on Mr, Ferguson's collections dealing 

 with the petrology by Mr. G. W. Tyrrell, and with 

 the physical geography and palaeontology. South 

 Georgia is a long and narrow moiantainous ridge, 

 which rises to a height of more than 8000 ft. Its 



