APRIL 23, I914| 
render female education more popular and effective, 
and on their success the future progress of India in a 
large measure depends. 
It is remarked that during the five years a very 
great change has taken place in the feeling of the 
population of India towards education, and it is now 
much more popular than it was. Indeed there was a 
proposal to make primary education compulsory in 
India generally, but this has been negatived, though 
it is being adopted in Baroda. 
Much more money is now being spent on education. 
In 1907 the cost of education was said to be 559 lakhs 
of rupees, and in 1912 it had risen to 786 lakhs, of 
which the Government contributed a very large pro- 
portion. With this liberal policy there is no doubt 
very rapid progress will be made, for the cost of 
educating individual pupils in India is still small. 
Thus the annual cost of a primary-school pupil is 
about six shillings, of a secondary-school pupil about 
1l. 12s., and of a pupil reading for a university degree 
about il. 5s., and yet with these small individual 
sums a fair training is being given in the case of 
university and secondary education, though the 
primary education is still very defective. 
THE MOUNT WILSON SOLAR 
OBSERVATORY. 
qt is always difficult to condense in a few lines the 
essence of the work accomplished during a year 
at the Mount Wilson Solar Observatory. The report 
for the past year, just issued by the director, is a 
concentrated essence by itself, and as it covers forty- 
five pages the difficulty of the task will at once be 
grasped. The director commences the report by sum- 
marising the principal results obtained during the 
year, and the brief paragraphs which compose this 
summary, each of which is practically restricted to an 
important piece of research work, number no fewer 
than seventy-two. Space does not permit one to refer 
even to the more important of these, but many have 
already received notice from time to time in our 
astronomical column, and are therefore familiar to our 
astronomical readers. Perhaps the most important 
result is that concerning the magnetism of the sun. 
Observations of the Zeeman effect at various solar 
latitudes have indicated that the sun is a magnet, and 
that the magnetic poles are at or near the poles of 
rotation. Further, the polarity of the sun corresponds 
with that of the earth, a conclusion, as the director, 
Prof. Hale, remarks, which may prove to have an 
important bearing on theories of terrestrial mag- 
netism. The first approximate value for the vertical 
intensity of the sun’s general field at the poles is 
given as 50 gausses, which is about one-hundredth 
of the intensity of the most powerful sun-spot fields, 
and about eighty times that of the earth’s field. 
One of the most interesting items usually associated 
with these reports is the work of construction in hand, 
and this report shows an astonishing amount of work 
in progress. The fact that the 1oo-in. disc has been 
proved to be serviceable for a reflecting telescope has 
given rise to a great increase of activity. The grind- 
ing of the mirror and the 60-in. plane mirror for test- 
ing it have been pressed forward, and the requirement 
for larger shop tools necessitated by the construction 
of many parts of the 1oo-in. telescope mounting and 
the auxiliary instruments to be used with it have even 
demanded an increase in the already large shop floor- 
space. The work involved in the preparation of the 
foundations for this telescope and of the building and 
the eventual transport of the instrument to the moun- 
2 Annual report of the director of the Mount Wilson Solar Observatory 
1913. Carnegie Institution of Washington. 
NOws2321, VOL..ga) 
NATURE 
201 
tain-top has necessitated the adoption of especially 
powerful motor trucks in place of the mule teams. 
Other important work in hand is the construction 
of a large ruling-machine, embodying the general 
principles of Rowland’s successful ruling-machines. 
An idea of the accuracy attained after the grinding 
and polishing of the screw will be gathered from the 
statement that no periodic errors were found greater 
than o-ooooo1 in., and no appreciable error of run 
could be detected. The maximum error in the teeth 
of the wormgear did not exceed o-oo1 in., a quantity 
too small to produce appreciable ghosts. 
To gain a more complete insight into the contents 
of the report the reader must be referred to the report 
itself. The fact that such rapid advances are being 
made in both solar and siellar physics is due to the 
happy combination of an energetic and able director, 
a keen and active staff, a good observing site, and an 
annual grant (for 1913) of 33,1261. for construction, 
investigations and maintenance. 
MARINE INVESTIGATIONS. 
dee report on the Danish Oceanographical Expedi- 
tions, 1908-10, to the Mediterranean and Adja- 
cent Seas, under the superintendence of Johs. Schmidt, 
No. 2, contains two memoirs, one by Dr. Kyle, on flat 
fishes, and one by Dr. Schmidt, on experiments with 
drift-bottles. Dr. Kyle’s paper is an important con- 
tribution, and deals with the following genera in a 
very comprehensive way :—Arnoglossus, Bothus, Solea, 
and Symphurus. The much disputed question as to 
the number of species of Arnoglossus occurring in 
European seas is very elaborately discussed, and Dr. 
Kyle’s conclusions differ in several respects from those 
of previous authors. He recognises five species, the 
specific names being used, however, in a different 
sense from that which has been adopted by recent 
writers on the subject. The species are Arnoglossus 
grohmanni, Bonap., non auctorum, A. thort, nov. 
nom., A. laterna, Will., A. imperialis, Raf., and A. 
riippelli, Cocco. Of these A. thori is the species which 
has generally been called in this country A. groh- 
mannt. Dr. Kyle discusses not only the adult char- 
acters, but also the larval and post-larval stages of this 
genus and of the other genera of which he treats. The 
paper is well illustrated with text figures and plates, 
and will be of the greatest value to future workers. 
An excellent bibliography of the subject is added. Dr. 
Schmidt’s experiments with drift-bottles show that 
there is an easterly drift of the surface water from 
the entrance of the Mediterranean, especially along 
the north coast of Africa, so that water from the 
Atlantic is being constantly carried into the Mediter- 
ranean. The velocity of this drift may reach eighteen 
to twenty miles a day. 
The Central Bureau of the International Council 
for the Study of the Sea has issued vol. xvii. A of the 
‘‘Rapports et Procés-verbaux des Réunions”’ (English 
edition), which contains the first part of Prof. 
Heincke’s long-delayed general report upon the in- 
vestigations on the plaice. This part of the report is 
confined almost exclusively to a discussion of the 
statistics obtained from commercial fishing vessels, 
and is further limited in scope by the fact that the 
English statistics are alone considered. The report 
is, in fact, little more than a renewed attempt to dis- 
cuss the conclusions to be derived from these. English 
statistics, matters which had already been dealt with 
by the officers of the Board of Agriculture and 
Fisheries. It is doubtful whether Prof. Heincke’s 
methods of dealing with the statistics are in any way 
an improvement upon those followed in this country, 
and, probably from want of adequate trained assist- 
ance, it seems clear that the work has not been car- 
