September i, 1904J 



NATURE 



447 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 Astronomical Occurrences in September : — 

 Sept. 2. iih. 55m. to I2h. 34m. Moon occults ct- Tauti 

 (mag. 4-8). 

 6. Saturn. Major axis of outer ring = 42 -96. Minor 



axis of outer ring = ll"'67. 

 ,, 9h. 53m. Minimum of Algol (/3 Persei). 

 9. Total eclipse of the Sun, invisible at Greenwich. 

 15. Venus. Illuminated portion of disc = 0-947, of 



Mars = 0'972. 

 23. Sun enters Libra : autumn commences. 

 „ I2h. :8m. Neptune's satellite at eastern elongation. 

 26. loh. Jupiter in conjunction with Moon. Jupiter 



1° 52' N. 

 ,, lOh. 42m. Neptune's satellite at western elongation. 

 ,, lih. 36m. Minimum of Algol (/3 Persei). 



29. 8h. 25m. Minimum of Algol (S Persei). 



„ gh. 17m. to lOh. 2m. Moon occults 7 Tauri (mag. 



„ I2h. 33m. to I3h. Sm. Moon occults 71 Tauri 



(mag. 4'6). 



,, I3h. 40m. to I4h. 57m. Moon occults 6' Tauri 



(mag. 3-9). ^ . 



„ I3h. 50m. to I5h. cm. Moon occults 8- Tauri 



(mag. 3-6). 



,, iSh. 42in. to igh. lom. Moon occults o Tauri 



(mag. I'l). 



30. iih. 15m. Inferior conjunction of Sat. IV. with 



Jupiter. 



Cahlogle of Stars ne.\r the South Pole. — No. i, 

 vol. liii., of the Harvard College Observatory Annals con- 

 tains the results obtained during a photographic investi- 

 gation of the positions of about 200 stars, all of which are 

 situated within half a degree of the South Pole. The 

 positions were measured on negatives enlarged six times 

 from the originals, and nine stars from Gilliss's " Catalogue 

 of 16,478 Southern Stars " were taken as standards. 



During the discussion of the results it was found that the 

 values of the residuals exhibited marked gradation, depend- 

 ing on the magnitudes of the stars; the differences were 

 seen to be serious in the final results, and were not elimin- 

 ated by reversing the plate during the measurements. 



A table of magnitude corrections was therefore prepared 

 bv graphical methods, and, when applied, reduced the 

 average deviation of the value of the .v coordinate from the 

 normal, from +o"68 to ±o"-36. 



This result w-as so important that the corrections were 

 also applied to the results given in a similar catalogue for 

 stars near the North Pole, which was published in No. i, 

 vol. xlviii., of the Annals. The resulting corrections are 

 now published in No. 2 of vol. liii. 



Annual Report of the Paris Observatory (1903). — The 

 annual report of the Paris Observatory for 1903 was pre- 

 sented to the council by M. Loewy, the director, on March 22. 



.■\mong other matters it gives a detailed account of the 

 work accomplished last year in connection with the Inter- 

 national Chart and the Eros observations for the re-determin- 

 ation of the solar parallax. 



In connection with the former work, thirty-five charts, 

 showing the triple images of some 47,300 stars, have been 

 distributed, and it is hoped that the second volume of the 

 photographic catalogue will be published during the present 

 year. 



For the Eros campaign, 10,858 photographic observations 

 of comparison stars and iioiles de repere, 284 photographic 

 determinations of the equatorial positions of the planet, and 

 281 visual micrometric measures, were made during last 

 year. 



The seventh part of the " Atlas de la Lune " was pub- 

 lished, and the plates show very plainly the marked 

 inferiority of eye observations, as compared with photo- 

 graphs, of our satellite. Several interesting points in seleno- 

 graphy, such as the absence of water and the presence of 

 .-m atmosphere at a remote period, were deducible from the 

 photographs. 



The report also gives the details of the large amount of 

 routine work done in the different departments during the 

 past year, and concludes with a bibliography of the published 

 results. 



NO 18 1 8, VOL. 70] 



Three important pieces of work, based on novel methods, 

 are to be undertaken in the near future. The first will deal 

 with the determination of latitude and its variations, the 

 second with precise measures of the constant of aberration, 

 and the third with the application of M. Lippman's photo- 

 graphic telescope to meridian observations. 



Photographic .Magnitudes and Places of 350 Plehdes 

 Stars. — Mr. Dugan publishes the magnitudes and places of 

 350 stars situated in the Pleiades, which he has obtained 

 from measurements of several plates of the region, in No. 

 3964 of the Astronomischc Nachrichten. The star-places 

 are given for igoo, and a chart showing the catalogue 

 number placed against each star image accompanies the 

 paper. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Mr. F. C. Willcocks, demonstrator in entomology and 

 botany at the South-Eastern Agricultural College, Wye, has 

 been appointed entomologist to the Khedivial Agricultural 

 Society at Cairo. 



Mr. a. Lauder, assistant lecturer and demonstrator in 

 chemistry at the University College of North Wales, 

 Bangor, has been appointed lecturer in agricultural 

 chemistry at the Edinburgh and East of Scotland College 

 of Agriculture ; and Mr. F. E. Rees, assistant lecturer and 

 demonstrator in physics, has been appointed inspector of 

 secondary and technical schools under the fjlamorganshire 

 County Council. 



It has been resolved by the Senate of the University of 

 London that the Preliminary Scientific Examination be in 

 future designated the " Preliminary .Scientific Examination, 

 Part i.," and the examination in organic chemistry for 

 medical students be designated the '.' Preliminary Scientific 

 Examination, Part ii." Students are to be permitted to 

 present themselves for Part ii. after an interval of not less 

 than six months from the date of passing Part i. Internal 

 and external students in the Faculty of Medicine who have 

 passed in physics, or chemistry, or botany and zoology, at 

 the final B.Sc. e.xamination will be exempted from examin- 

 ation in the subjects in which they have already passed. 

 Such students, if they have passed in chemistry at the B.Sc. 

 examination, will be excused inorganic chemistry in Part i. 

 and also Part ii. of the Preliminary Scientific Examination. 

 No exemption in biology at the preliminary examination will 

 be granted to students who have not passed in botany and 

 in zoology either at an intermediate examination in science 

 or agriculture, or at the final B.Sc. examination. In future 

 internal and external candidates for Part i. will be required 

 to present themselves for examination either in inorganic 

 chemistry and physics taken together, or in biology, or in 

 all three subjects ; but if they fail in any one subject they 

 will be permitted to present themselves for re-examination 

 in that subject taken alone. 



Mr. Frederick Soddy has concluded a series of university 

 extension lectures in Western .Australia. The last lecture 

 was delivered on July 23, and on this occasion the Premier 

 of the colony, Mr. Walter James, in proposing a vote of 

 thanks to Mr. Soddy, referred to the desirability of establish- 

 ing a university in Western Australia. During the course 

 of the last twelve months one distinct step has been taken 

 in advancing the movement by the passage of the University 

 Endowment .Act. Endowment trustees have been appointed, 

 and in these trustees some 700 or 800 acres of land have 

 been vested, which promise to give the future university 

 the richest endowment enjoyed by any university in -Australia. 

 They were very apt to think, Mr. James continued, that no 

 university could be established unless they first expended a 

 large sum of money in an elaborate building. He wished 

 onh" thev could convince the residents of Western Australia 

 that so long as they had efficient workshops for their pro- 

 fessors, the sooner they commenced to get their professors 

 the sooner could they begin the work of the university, 

 without money overburdening it in the first instance. Mr. 

 Soddy's visit has done good in bringing home more 

 thoroughly than before how necessary it is that the establish- 

 ment of this university should be commenced without undue 

 delav. 



