53^ 



NA TURE 



September 26, 1901 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 Astronomical Occurrences in October. 

 Oct. I. ilh. I4ni. to iih. 53m. Moon occults B.A.C. 1240 

 (mag. 57). 

 3. l/h. lom. to iSh. 9m. Moon occults 71 Orionis 

 (mag. 5-1). 

 II. iih. 2m. Minimum of Algol (3 Persei). 

 13. Ceres 7' S. of 7 Ceti (nmg. 3). 



13. 7h. Venus in conjunction with 5 Scorpii. Venus 



10' N. 



14. 7h. 51m. Minimum of Algol (S Persei). 



15. Venus. Illuminated portion of disc = 0705. 

 15. Mars. Illuminated portion of disc = o'95 1. 



17. 5h. 2m. to 5h. 38m. Moon occults | Ophiuchi 



(mag. 4-5). ■ ,. 



19-21. Epoch of the Orionid meteors (radiant 91 + 15 ). 



22. 9h.5m.t09h. 7m. Moon occults i.-'Capricorni(mag. 5-2). 



23. 4h. 44m. to 7h. 3Sm. Transit of Jupiter's Sat. IV. 



23. 8h. 53m. to loh. 6m. Moon occults k Aquarii 



(mag. 5-5). . 



24. I4h. 35m. to I5h. 30m. Moon occults A Piscium 



(mag. 47). . , ,. c ^ 



27. 2h. 25™. to 4h. 6m. Partial eclipse 01 the moon. 



Our satellite will rise at 4h. 35m., 29m. after the 

 earth's shadow has passed oft her disc, but the 

 penumbra will remain until 5h. 26m., though it will 

 be observed with difficulty. 



28. Ceres in opposition to the sun (Ceres, mag. 7 '4). 

 31. I2h. 44m. Minimum of Algol (fl Persei). 



Fireball OF Sei>te.\iber 14, 1901.— Mr. W. F. Denning 

 writes : — 



" One of those brilliant fireballs which often appear suddenly 

 .n the early part of the night, and for a few seconds illumine 

 the .sky and landscape, was seen by many persons in various 

 parts of the country on September 14 at about 8h. 44m. It was 

 especially bright over the western part of England, and people 

 in South Wales and Noith Devon obtained a fine view of the 

 phenomenon. As seen fiom these parts, the fireball was many 

 times brighter than Venus, and it moved with moderate slow- 

 ness, leaving a strong trail or train of sparks, which, however, 

 quickly died out. The head was bluish-white, and it seemed 

 to plough its way through the atmosphere with an irregular 

 motion and fluctuating light, as though strongly resisted. 



"The fireball was well observed at Manchester, Wallingford 

 (Berks), Chiddingfold (Surrey), Bristol and many other stations. 

 The direction of its flight from the best descriptions was from 

 between the constellations Aquarius and Pegasus, the radiant 

 being at 345° -I- 1° near the star J3 Piscium. The height of the 

 meteor when first seen was 66 miles vertically over a point 6 

 miles N.E. of Ilfracombe, North Devon, and when last seen 

 the height was about 26 miles over a point in the sea 3 miles 

 N.W. of St. David's Head, Pembrokeshire. The length of 

 path was S3 miles and velocity about 20 miles per second. 

 Possibly the path may have been longer and the object may 

 have approached lo within about 23 miles of the earth's surface, 

 but the observations are not quiie accordant. It is to be hoped 

 that further descrijitions of this splendid object will be forth- 

 coming, so that the real paih may be very accurately ascertained. 



"On September 14, 1S75, at 8h. 27im., a large fireball 

 passed over the eastein counties of England, falling from a 

 height of 63 to 14 miles and directed from a radiant at 34S° + o°. 

 Lieut. -Colonel Tupman computed the real path from twelve 

 accordant observations, and there is no doubt that this brilliant 

 object, which appeared exactly twenty-six years ago, belonged 

 to the same .system as that which furnished the recent fireball. 

 Apart from the large meteors which are often directed from it, 

 ihe radiant is well defined every year from ordinary shooting 

 stars, and it appears that its chief activity is displayed during 

 the months of August and September." 



New Variable Star 77, 1901, Herculis. — Dr. T. D. 

 Anderson announces that he has detected variability in the 

 star B D. -)- 7°'3I99, the position of \yhich is 



R.A. = i6h. 25m. 497s. 

 Decl. = H- 7° 8' 9. 



Some years ago it was estimated to be about the ninth magni- 

 tude, while on August 19 and 21 it was invisible in a 3-inch 

 finder with which tenth magnitude stars were easily visible. 



NO. 1665, VOL. 64] 



THE GLASGOW MEETING OF THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 



SECTION E. 



geography. 



Opening Address by Hugh Robert Mill, D.Sc, LL D,, 



F.R S.E., F.R.G.S., President of the Section. 



On Research in Geographical Science. 



Introductory. 



The annual reassembling of friends and fellow-workers in the 

 old re-visited towns, and the annual accession of new lovers of 

 science, furnish a unique opportunity for a survey of the advances 

 made in each department, a fitting occasion also for remembering 

 those who have finished their work and can aid our deliberations 

 only by the memory of their example. 



Apart from our more intimate losses in the death of many 

 distinguished geographers and devoted workers, the period since 

 our last meeting has been for all a year of mourning. The 

 passing of the nineteenth century was almost like the death of a 

 friend, and it is still difficult to realise that the century which we 

 had been so long in the habit of associating with everything new 

 and great and progressive has itself become part of the past. 

 Few coincidences have been more striking than the almost' 

 simultaneous close of that unparalleled reign which gave a name 

 to the Era including all that was best and most characteristic of 

 the century. The death of (^lueen Victoria carried so keen a 

 sense of personal loss into every heart that few attempts have 

 been made to show how vast a portion of the stream of time — 

 measured by progress — intervened between the terminal dates 

 of her life. Think for a moment of the splendid advances in 

 the one small department of geographical exploration during the 

 late Queen's reign, the multitude of landmarks which have been 

 crowned by the great name of Victoria — of the Earth's most 

 southerly land and its most northerly sea, of the largest lake 

 and most majestic waterfall of Africa, the loftiest lake of Asia, 

 the highest peak in New Guinea, the widest desert and most 

 populous colony in Australia, and of the two thriving seaports 

 on either side of the North Pacific which couple together the 

 British Dominions of western America and eastern Asia. 



What could be more appropriate in this first meeting after 

 the close of such a century and of such a reign than to pass in brief 

 but appreciative review the advances of geography during those 

 hundred or those sixty-five years .' One thing in my opinion is 

 more appropriate than to dwell on past triumphs or to regret 

 past greatness, and that is to survey our present position and 

 look ahead. In the first year of a new century and of a new 

 reign we are reminded that we have a future to face and that 

 the world is before us, and I propose to seize this opportunity 

 in order to speak of the science of geography as it is now under- 

 stood and especially to urge the importance of the more system- 

 atic pursuit of geographical research henceforward. 



Geography in the Universities. 

 The prospect of immediate expansion in many British univer- 

 sities seems at last likely to afford more than one opportunity of 

 wiping out the old disgrace of the neglect of geographical science 

 in the accredited seats of learning. Already Oxford has a well- 

 manned School of Geography, and Cambridge has a Reader in 

 Geography. The reconstituted University of London occupies 

 the best position in the world for creating a chair of geographical 

 research, situated as it is in the very centre of the comings and 

 goings of all mankind, and in touch with the most complete 

 geographical library and map-collection in existence. The new 

 University of Birmingham may, it is hoped, prove better than 

 its promises, and may perhaps after all provide some more 

 adequate treatment of geography than its proposed partition 

 amongst the professors of half a dozen special subjects, all of 

 them concerned in geography, it is true, but none of them in- 

 dividually, nor all of them collectively, capable of embodying 

 that coordination of parts into a harmonious unity which gives 

 to geography its power as a mental discipline and its value for 

 practical application. But England in all that pertains to higher 

 education is still a poor country, and the will to do well is 

 hampered by the grinning demon of poverty. Here, on the 

 other side of the Border, we are in a different atmosphere. The 

 wave of the magician's wand in the hands of Andrew Carnegie 

 has brought wealth that last year would have been deemed 

 fabulous to the ancient universities in Scotland, and it will be a 



