374 
NATURE 
[ FEBRUARY 14, 1907 
and lucid exposition of Prof. Ricco’s worthy suc- 
cessor. This work was continued right up to the 
commencement of his last illness, and we find that 
the discussion of the observations for the first semester 
of 1906 was carried out, and published in the 
Memorte, by Mascari. 
Although his chief work lay in the province of 
solar physics, Mascari will also be remembered as a 
careful observer in other departments of astronomical 
physics. At the Catania and Etna observatories he 
made careful telescopic studies of various planets, 
Saturn and Venus among others. During the latter 
part of 1892 he noted several well-marked features 
on Venus, and, from their persistence in the same 
relative positions on the disc, he inferred that the 
short-period rotation of the planet was out of the 
question, thus confirming Schiaparelli’s conclusion 
that the period of rotation is equal to that of the 
planet’s revolution in its orbit. Tacchini’s observ- 
ations of about the same date also confirmed this 
fact. 
Mascari was also an authority on the subject of 
the agitation of telescopic images, more especially 
that of the sun, due to movements in the earth’s 
atmosphere. In _ collaboration with Signor A. 
‘Cavasino he published an exhaustive memoir on this 
subject in 1905, discussing the observations of the 
solar image which were carried out at Palermo and 
Catania during the twenty-three years 1881-1903. 
With Prof. Riccd, Mascari was instrumental in 
carrying on the work in connection with the Catania 
zone of the Astrographic Chart and Catalogue, the 
taking and reduction of a large number of the requi- 
site photographs being due to his personal labours. 
In 1904 he was nominated adjoint-astronomer at 
‘Catania, and tool a prominent part in the admirable 
organisation and direction of the observatory work. 
But it was in the study of solar physics that Mascari’s 
life-work lay, and it is in solar physics that his loss 
and the true value of his works will be most keenly 
recognised. This feeling is ably expressed in an 
obituary notice by Prof. Riccd, published in the 
Astronomische Nachrichten, to which we are in- 
-debted for some of the foregoing particulars. 
W. E. Rotsron. 
NOTES. 
Tue death on Tuesday of Prof. H. F. Pelham, president 
of Trinity College, Oxford, and Camden professor of 
ancient history in the University, at sixty-one years of 
age, means a 
study. Prof. 
progress, and 
at Oxford he 
search. 
great loss to national scholarship and active 
Pelham took a interest in scientific 
while a member of the Hebdomadal Council 
was always on the side of learning and re- 
Women’s education in Oxford had in him a 
powerful champion, and Somerville College in particular 
owed a great debt to him for his enthusiastic service on 
its council. He did much for the promotion and manage- 
ment of the British School at Athens and the British 
School at Rome, his zeal on behalf of these institutions 
being based on the conviction of the value of Greek and 
Roman life and literature as a subject of scientific study. 
Prof. Pelham was one of the first members of the British 
Academy. 
keen 
In the course of a letter in Wednesday's Times, Prof. 
E. B. Poulton refers to the efforts which have to be made 
in this country to induce the official representatives of the 
nation to assist the advancement of science in any par- 
ticular direction. Instead of seeking the best expert advice 
upon any subject in which science can be of service, the 
NO. 1946, VOL. 75 ] 
Government waits to be memorialised before it can be 
stimulated into action. ‘‘ The disheartening distance,”’ 
Prof. Poulton adds, ‘‘ which, in this respect, separates 
us from Germany was forcibly brought to my mind at the 
mecting of the International Zoological Congress in 1901. 
The fact that the German Empire is penetrated by a 
belief in the importance and the dignity of science was 
impressed upon us by the splendid reception in Berlin, by 
our meetings in the building of the Reichstag, and by every 
kind of Governmental and municipal recognition and hos- 
pitality. . . . In this unfortunately, the convic- 
tion that science is of national importance is almost con- 
fined to that small part of the nation which includes the 
scientific themselves. They know that the existence 
of the Empire depends upon science, and that, if disaster 
country, 
men 
should overwhelm the island centre, it will be for want of 
science. Scientific men can fairly claim that there is leve 
of their country no less than love of their subject in the 
attempts to conquer indifference and even dislike in those 
who bear the responsibility and wield the power.” 
AN aurora was observed in most parts of the United 
Kingdom last Saturday evening, February 9, and in many 
widely separated places the display is described as being 
brilliant. The time of occurrence was chiefly between 
6 p.m. and 11 p.m., and it was accompanied by a con- 
siderable magnetic disturbance, particulars of which are 
given by Dr. Chree in our correspondence columns. It 
is noteworthy that sun-spots have been unusually prominent 
recently, and that at the present time no fewer than four 
distinct groups are visible, one of which can be seen with 
the naked eye. London, and, indeed, nearly the whole of 
the south-east of England, was enveloped in a thick fog 
on Saturday evening, which effectually prevented all possi- 
bility of the aurora being seen in this part of the kingdom, 
but it was seen at Oxford. Reports are numerous from 
the north and west of England, as well as from Scotland 
and Ireland. Many observers give the colouring as yellow, 
rose-red, or purple, and allude to the flickering or 
quivering rays. Writing from Winchmore Hill, Amersham 
(Bucks), Mr. A. M. Davies says that between 10.30 p.m. 
and 11 p.m. he noticed that the sky was deep pink or crim- 
son in the N.E. and pale green in the N.W. At intervals 
beams of light were seen at various points, all radiating 
from some way below the northern horizon. Sometimes 
there was also a flickering effect, as though horizontal 
bands of light and shade rose up in quiclk succession. Dr. 
W. N. Shaw, director of the Meteorological Office, has 
kindly sent us a letter received by him from Mr. G. A. 
Clarke, the observer at the Aberdeen University Observatory. 
The following extract from this letter describes the chief 
characteristics of the display :—‘‘ The first faint streamers 
were seen by me a few minutes before 6 p.m., directed 
from N.N.W. towards the zenith. About thirty minutes 
later these had increased in brilliancy, while an extended 
diffuse greenish glow was visible in the N.E., and a faint 
white band crossed the zenith from E.N.E. to W.S.W. 
This band rapidly increased in brightness and size until 
it finally became a bright greenish-white zone girdling the 
sky from E.N.E. to W.S.W. horizons, and between 50° 
and 60° south of the zenith. It passed right through the 
‘belt’ of Orion. At 6.45 p.m. a patch of deep red 
appeared in the north, accompanied by some very bright 
greenish-yellow The streamers increased in 
quantity, and worked upwards toward the zenith, while 
the band above-mentioned remained steadily in its position 
until after 9 p.m. Two other faint bands formed near the 
zenith, but they were merely transitory. Between 7 p.m. 
green 
streamers. 
