364 



KNOWLEDGE. 



October, 1913. 



decided. Even if it only serves to take us a small 

 step forward in the comprehension of the life of the 

 cell, its continued use will be amply justified. 



The following short list of references may be 

 useful to any interested in the subject generally : — 

 Zeiss. Pamphlets on " Ultra -microscopy " and " Dark- 



ground Illumination." Parts 1 to 8. 

 Leitz. Pamphlet, " Reflecting Condensers." 

 H. Thirkill. " Ultra-microscopv." Science Progress in 



the 20th Century. 1909-10~ Vol. IV. Page 55. 

 N. Gaidukov. " Dunkelfeldbeleuchtung und Ultramikros- 

 kopie in der Biologie und in der Medezin." 1910. 

 G. Fischer, Jena. 



A full list of references is given here : — 



Ulelah. Biologischea Centralblatt. 1911. 



Price, S. K. ''Observations with Dark-ground Illumination 

 on Plant Cells." Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. Vol. XVI. 

 Part VI. Page 481. 



Price, S. R. " The Method of Dark-ground Illumination 

 in Botanical Research. Sci. Prog., Oct., 1913. 



Cotton et Mouton. " Les Ultramicroscopes, les Objets 

 Ultramicroscopiques." Masson et Cie, Paris. (Out 

 of print). 



Barnard, T. E. " Ultramicroscopic Vision." Nature. 

 Vol. LXXIX. 1909. Page 489, 



A SOLAR OBSERVATORY IN NEW ZEALAND. 



By MARY PROCTOR. 



On April 14th, 1912, I left New York for a lecture- 

 tour in Australasia, for the purpose of arousing 

 enthusiasm and raising the necessary funds for the 

 establishment of a solar physics observatory in 

 that part of the world. Exactly a year later, on 

 April 14th, 1913, I met Mr. Thomas Cawthron, a 

 millionaire, of Nelson, New Zealand, who had read 

 about my lectures in which I had pointed out the 

 necessity for such an observatory in the Dominion, 

 and he generously offered to provide sixty thousand 

 dollars to build, equip, and endow an observatory 

 to be erected somewhere in the vicinity of " the 

 sunny city of Nelson." If Nelson lives up to its 

 reputation in this respect, the institution could not 

 be more favourably situated. 



The observatory should prove very valuable for 

 supplying data which will be of great use in 

 connection with meteorology, weather forecasting, 

 and other scientific and practical purposes, such as 

 enabling us to trace the possible connection between 

 sun-spots and magnetic storms on the sun and 

 magnetic storms on the earth. 



To establish this theory it was necessary that the 

 sun should be observed continuously throughout the 

 twenty-four hours, but unfortunately a gap of one 

 hundred and fifty degrees separated the solar 

 observatory at Mount Wilson, in Southern California, 

 and the one at Kodaikanal, in Southern India. The 

 proposed observatory at Nelson will not only fill in 

 this gap, completing the chain of such observatories 

 round the world, but it will be the only station of 

 this kind south of the Equator. It will also have 

 the additional advantage of providing a good 

 observing station during the months while winter 

 prevails in the northern hemisphere. 



Regarding the climatic conditions of Nelson, they 

 compare most favourably with those of Southern 

 California. The annual average of direct sunshine 

 is two thousand five hundred hours, and of rainfall 

 in inches during the past thirty years is 37 • 88. Praise 

 of Nelson's climate comes from Professor Archibald, 

 the well-known expert meteorologist, as follows : — 

 " I passed through Nelson twenty-two years ago, and 



I was impressed by the bright character of the sky." 

 The universal opinion of that time was that Nelson 

 was the climatic paradise of New Zealand. Nelson 

 is a very suitable site for the establishment of a solar 

 observatory and the study of solar physics. Con- 

 sidering that we are now finding that there are 

 oscillations of weather distinctly connected with the 

 small as well as the larger periods of solar 

 phenomena, including the magnetism of the sun and 

 the surface spots, there is little doubt that the pro- 

 jected observatory at Nelson will materially aid 

 meteorologists and physicists to solve the remaining 

 problems which confront us. We shall learn how 

 our luminary affects the weather and other conditions 

 of the earth. It will be work, not only valuable to 

 Nelson and New Zealand, but to the wide world. 

 It will be distinctly to the honour of New Zealand 

 to take a prominent part in an investigation which 

 is daily becoming more and more of world-wide 

 interest and importance. Work such as will be done 

 at Nelson will link with similar study by Sir Norman 

 Lockyer at Cambridge, Professor G. E. Hale at 

 Mount Wilson, and Mr. John Evershed at 

 Kodaikanal in Southern India. 



The illustrations show the probable site, usually 

 referred to as the Fringe, situated two thousand five 

 hundred feet above sea level ; but at the present 

 moment of writing (May 8th) the matter is awaiting 

 the decision of an expert on such matters from 

 England, at the suggestion of Sir Robert S. Ball, of 

 Cambridge University. About eighteen months ago 

 he was invited to come to Australasia to lecture for 

 the purpose of raising funds for the erection of a 

 solar physics observatory, but owing to his advanced 

 age and duties as a professor at the University he 

 was unable to accept. He suggested that I should 

 come in his place, and the generosity of Mr. Thomas 

 Cawthron has enabled me to state that my mission 

 has been accomplished successfully. 



[Since the above was written Miss Proctor has 

 received a letter concerning the serious illness of 

 Sir Robert Ball. Consequently the matter now 

 awaits the decision of Professor Newall, to whom 

 the letter was handed.] 



