54 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Mar., 1905. 



British Association 

 Meeting, 1905. 



Preparations are progressing for the meeting which is to be 

 held in South Africa commencing on August 15. 



A Central Executive Committee has been constituted at 

 Cape Town, with Sir David Gill as Chairman and Dr. Gilchrist 

 as Secrfetary ; while local Committees have been formed at 

 Johannesburg and other important centres. 



Sir David Gill, Mr. Theodore Reunert, and others have taken 

 a prominent part in the initial work. The South African 

 Association for the .\dvancement of Science are cordially co- 

 operating in the local organisation, and will join with the 

 British Association in attending the meeting. 



The aim of the Council has been to secure the attendance of 

 a representative body of British men of science, including 

 specialists in various lines of investigation : and that, along with 

 the generous support of the people and authorities in South 

 .Africa, should go tar to ensure the success of the meeting and 

 to stimulate local scientific interest and research. 



The Central Executive Committee in Cape Town have 

 invited as guests 150 members, who will comprise members of 

 the Council, past and present general officers and sectional 

 presidents, the present sectional officers, and a certain propor- 

 tion of the leading members of each section. To this list has 

 yet to be added, on the nomination of the Organising Com- 

 mittee, the names of representative foreign and Colonial men 

 of science, the total number of the official party being restricted 

 to 200, including the local officials. It is hoped, however, that 

 many other members of the Association will also attend the 

 meetirg. 



Professor G. H. Darwin, F.R.S., is the President-elect; and 

 among the Vice- Presidents-elect are the following: The Right 

 Hon. Lord Milner, the Hon. Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson, Sir 

 Henry McCallum, the Hon. Sir Arthur Lawley, Sir H. J. 

 Goold-Adams. Sir David Gill, and Sir Charles Metcalfe. 



The Presidents-elect of the various sections are as follows: — 



A. Mathematical and Physical Science — Professor A. R. 

 Forsyth. M.A., Sc.D., F.R.S. 



B. Chemistry— G.T. Beilby. 



C. Geology— Professor H. A. Miers, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S. 



D. Zoology — G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S. 



E. Geography — Admiral Sir W. J. L. Wharton, K.C.B., 

 F.R.S. 



F. Kconomic Science and Statistics — Rev. W. Cunningham, 

 D.D., D.Sc. 



G. Eigineering — Colonel SirColin Scott-MoncriefT, G.C.S.I., 

 K.C.M.G.. R.E. 



H. Anthropology— A. C. Haddon, M.A., Sc.D., F.R.S. 



1. Poysiology— Colonel D. Bruce, M.B., F.R.S. 



K. Botany— Harold Wager, F.R.S. 



L. Educational Science — Sir Richard C. Jebb, Litt.D., 

 M.P. 



The Vice-Presidents, Recorder.s. and Secretaries of the 11 

 sections have also now been appointed. 



In view of the numerous towns to be visited by the Associa- 

 tion, and in which lectures or addresses will be given, the 

 number of lecturers appointed is much larger than usual. The 

 list of these, as at present arranged, is as follows :-- 



Capi Town— Professor P.julton,on Burchell's work in South 

 Africa ; and Mr. C. V. Boys, on a subject in Physics. 



Miritzburg— Professor Arnold, on Compounds of Steel. 



J oh innesburg— Professor Ayrton, on Distribution of Power; 

 Professor Porter, on Mining; and Mr. G. W. Lamplugh, on the 

 Geology of the Victoria Falls. 



Pretoria (or possibly Bulawayo)— Mr. Shipley, on a subject 

 in Zoology. 



Bloemfontein — Mr. Hinks, on a subject in Astronomy. 

 Kimberley — Sir William Crookes, on Diamonds. 



As the wish has been conveyed to the Council from .South 

 Africa that a few competent investigators should be selected 

 to deliver addresses dealing with local problems of which they 

 possess special knowledge, ageologif-t, a bacteriologist, and an 

 archwologist have been invited to undertake tliis work. involv- 

 ing in two cases special missions in advance of the m;iin party. 

 Whilst Colonel Bruce, F.R.S., will deal with some bacterio- 



logical questions of practical importance to South Africa, Mr. 

 G. W. Lamplugh (by the courtesy of the Board of Education) 

 will be enabled to investigate certain features in the geology 

 of the \'ictoria Falls, particularly as regards the origin and 

 structure of the canon; and Mr. 1). R. Maclver, who is at 

 present exploring in Nubia, will proceed in March to Rhodesia 

 in order to examine and report on the ancient ruins at Zim- 

 babwe and also Inyanga. 



Most of the officials and other members of the Association 

 will leave Southampton on July 29 by the Union-Castle mail 

 steamer Saxon, and arrive at Cape Town on August 15, the 

 opening day of the meeting ; but a considerable number will 

 start from Southampton on the previous Saturday, either by 

 the ordinary mail-boat or by the intermediate steamer sailing 

 on that date. 



The sectional meetings will bo held at Cape Town (three 

 days) and Johannesburg (three days). Between the inaugural 

 meeting at the former and tlie concluding meeting at the latter 

 town opportunities will be offered to members to visit the Natal 

 battlefields and other places of interest. Subsequently a party 

 will be made up to proceed to the Victoria Falls, Zambesi ; 

 and, should a sufficient number of members register their 

 names, a special steamer will be chartered for the voyage 

 home, via Beira, by the East Coast route, as an alternative to 

 the return through Cape Town by the West Coast route. 

 Thus all the Colonies and Rhodesia will be visited by the 

 Association. The tour will last 70 days via Cape Town, or a 

 week longer via Beira (all sea), leaving Southampton on 

 July 29, and returning thither on October 7 or October 14. 



A New View of the 

 Steers. 



liy T. E. Heath. 



The usual Star Maps represent the heavens, as we see 

 them, in perspective. The nearer stars therefore are 

 drawn of larger and the more distant ones as of smaller 

 magnitudes than they would be shown if it were custo- 

 mary to make plans and elevations of the Universe upon 

 which e\erything was true to scale. We are tlius con- 

 firmed in the tendency, to which we are naturally prone, 

 to regard ourselves, our Earth, and our Sun as the most 

 important objects in space. 



Astronomers who now know, more or less correctly, 

 the parallaxes of a considerable luiniber of stars, being 

 accustomed to think of stellar distances in seconds of 

 arc, are not thus misled, but to the general reader 

 these angular measurements do not convey much idea 

 of distance. We are told that cne second of arc 

 (i"'Oo) is the angle subtended by a halfpenny, which is 

 one inch in diameter, at a distance of y26 miles; that 

 the parallax of the nearest star is only 0-75", and that 

 stars which have only a parallax of o-oi" can just be 

 measured. Astronomers tell us these things, but we 

 cannot easily think in these terms. 



We, in this country, are accustomed to think ot small 

 spaces in inches and long distances in miles. Now it 

 fortunately happens that, if we represent the distance 

 which light travels over in one year by one mile, the Sun 

 upon the same scale will be represented by adot(.) only , ,',- 

 of an inch in diameter, the earth by a microscopic point 

 placed at a distance of exactly one inch and Neptune, at 

 the furthest known boundary of the Solar System, will 

 be only one pace (of 30 inches) from the Sun. If we 

 draw a map upon this scale, the nearest known star 

 would be 4,', miles from the Sun, and we can put down 

 all the stars of which the parallaxes are known upon 

 our Map and form a clear mental picture therefrom. 



