NOTES 



ASTRONOMY. 



"GREENWICH OBSERVATIONS.-— The change in the 

 Astronomers Royal brought about by the efflux of time affords 

 an excellent opportunity for the remodelling of the annual 

 publication, Greciiu-icli Observations. 



In offering our hearty good wishes and a long reign to the 

 Astronomer Royal. Mr. F. W. Dyson, who is returning to his 

 former home, we express our appreciation of the good work 

 achieved by Sir William Christie since 1SS2. and of the 

 enormous amount of labour that has been accomplished in the 

 reorganization — practically rebuilding — of the Observatory : 

 this work has been accomplished only by the hearty coopera- 

 tion of the assistants and computers — and upon the latter falls 

 the brunt of the work — and by the support of the Visitors, the 

 Admiralty, and the Public Funds. 



The annual volume, published fairly up to date for such a 

 huge tome, bears testimony to the large amount of work which 

 is entailed in the constant preparation of the manuscript and 

 reading the proof sheets. From a personal acquaintance with 

 these volumes we venture to suggest to the new Astronomer 

 Ro\-al that, now the Observatory has been remodelled, he 

 should remodel this annual publication, which has been 

 continued now for seventy years without apparent change 

 (save the incorporation of new subjects! in the profuseness and 

 redundancy of details. 



In volumes taken at random we find the following : — " Intro- 

 duction," in 1843, 86 pages; 1851, 89 pages; 1855, 113 pages; 

 1865, 102 pages and 57 pages (meteorological) ; 1874, 131 + 67 

 pa.ges; 1883, 112 + 52 pages; 1891, 153 + 60 pages; 1898, 

 128 + 64 pages; and in 1907, 140 + 59 pages. A ver\- large 

 percentage of the information contained in these introductions 

 is constant from year to year, and the incessant annual repe" 

 tition is absolutely needless; a waste of time to prepare and 

 read the proofs, a waste of library space, and, what is worse, a 

 sheer waste of public money in printing. If full det.ails were 

 printed in every tenth volume, such as for those years ending 

 with a nought, and the essential changes were only printed 

 annually, fully one hundred of those pages might be spared and 

 reference made to the tenth-year volumes : the volumes would 

 be about half-an-inch thinner annually. Then as to the printing 

 of the separate observations in R.A. and N.P.D. in extcnso. 

 This started in the volumes seventy years ago and has been 

 perpetuated to the last published volume, or to 1907. What- 

 ever may have been the reasons in 1840 for considering it 

 necessary to print the details of each wire and microscope 

 observed, the separate corrections for clock-rates, collimation, 

 runs of screw, refraction details, and so on, in order that 

 anyone mi.ght examine each step of the reductions, they are 

 certainly not now creditable nor the details requisite if the 

 printed results are to be taken as accurate reductions. If not, 

 and we fear that by the periodical appearance of from six to 

 twelve pages of errata there is some doubt on that point, then 

 why not save the time of the staff and the public expense of 

 printing such details and apply the former to additional examina- 

 tion of the reductions, and then print the results only after full 

 assimilation and digestion ; one to two hundred pages might be 

 advantageously sa\ ed in this portion of the volume annuall>' ; 

 exceptions might be made for observations of the sun and 

 moon. Much economy might be achieved in other sections 

 of the annual volume, either by the rearrangement or by a 

 digest of the observations and materials. We find the various 

 forms of pagination inconvenient in reference, though these 

 forms undoubtedly facilitate the speed of printing. Besides all 

 this, the volumes are much too ponderous and inconvenient to 

 use comfortably ; we have known them used as weights, props, 

 chair cushions, hassocks, and even weapons of defence ; the 

 last use we have known to be quite effective on some occasions. 

 May we offer these remarks with the best intentions and venture 

 to express a hope that Mr. Dyson will take this matter seriously 

 and rigorously in hand and make the annual volumes of our 



National Observatory conform more to the needs and require- 

 ments of workers, and to the more up-to-date publications of 

 other observatories, at some of which compactness is, however, 

 carried too far, B, 



\'ARI.\BLE ST.ARS. — .\ most concise and handy booklet, 

 entitled "Catalogue des Etoiles Variables pour lOOO'O," 

 has just been distributed. It forms a portion of the 

 '■ Annuaire." published bv the Bureau des Longitudes 

 for 1909. 



It is only 6-in. X 3i-in., and has 62 pages, but in those few 

 and small pages a great deal of information about 1,342 

 variable st9.rs has been arranged in a clear manner, and 

 four explanatory pages of letterpress precede the tabular 

 arrangement. We may with advantage reprint the important 

 preface : " Le catalogue renferme dans les pages 580-633 de 

 r.\nnuaire pour 1909, ne sera pas reimprime pendant 

 plusieurs annees. Pour faciliter I'emploi de nos Tableaux des 

 variables pendant ce temps, oil nous ne donnerons que des 

 catalogues supplementaires, nous joignons a I'Annuaire de 

 1910 un extrait de ce Catalogue que nous prions de lecteur de 

 conserver jusqu'a I'apparition d'un nouveau catalogue 

 general." 



The Chandler and Pickering numbers are given, also the 

 R.A. and Dec. for 1900'0 — at last we seem to have got away 

 from the 1855 epoch, which variable stars observers so love — 

 the precessions, the maximum and minimum magnitudes, the 

 type of star, and the constellation name : to the last we object. 

 Of all nations in the world, at least European, we believe that 

 the French alone persist in calling the constellations by the 

 French word rather than by the universally used eciuivalent in 

 Latin ; it is an outrage to one's human nature to have said to 

 one, " beta virgin," " eta whale," or " eta bull." 



The booklet weighs about an ounce, and can be put in the 

 proverbial waistcoat pocket. B. 



PHOTOGRAPHISCHE STERNKARTEN. — The Star- 

 Charts published and edited by Herr J. Palisa (of the \'ienua 

 Observatory) and Dr. Max Wolf (of Heidelberg Observatoryl 

 have reached the fourth series. They are very convenient in 

 size — much more so than the International Survey Charts, 

 which are needlessly enlarged from the original plates — though 

 each contains several degrees of the sky and has the 

 coordinates indicated in the direct and inverted positions and 

 includes stars to about the fourteenth magnitude. They can be 

 obtained direct from Herr J. Palisa. at cost price, within four 

 months of publication, and should be found in the working 

 library of all star searchers. B. 



BOTAXV. 



By Professor F. Cavers, D.Sc, F.L.S. 



BOTANY AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.— In how 

 far is the present provision for the study of the British Flora 

 sufficient and satisfactory ? This question, which was raised 

 and discussed by Professor Trail in his Presidential Address 

 to Section K (Botany)- at the Sheffield meeting of the British 

 .\ssociation, is of great importance to all earnest students of 

 plant-life, whatever be the special branch of the subject they 

 may have specialised in. as well as to those — and their number 

 is constantly on the increase — who take a general interest m 

 Nature Study and outdoor Botany. Professor Trail pointed 

 out a danger which has probably been recognised for some 

 time back by botanists generally, and more especially by those 

 whose work lies largely in the teaching of this subject. While 

 everyone will agree that the ability to name plants can hardly 

 be regarded as the .Alpha and Omega of Botany, there is a real 

 danger that the reaction from the older limitations may lead to 

 an almost equally narrow \ lew of the scope of botanical work. 

 The enormous strides that have been taken in modern times in 

 the elaboration of research methods has given rise to a race of 

 botanists whose waking hours are chiefly spent in the 



409 



