NATURE 



[September 15, 1904 



\'ariable Stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. — 

 Although the Magellanic clouds have been looked upon as 

 centres of extraordinary physical conditions, the congre- 

 gation of variable stars within their limits has hitherto 

 reniaineji unnoticed. 



In Circular No. 79 of the Harvard College Observatory, 

 however, it was announced that an examination of the 

 Harvard photographs showed that the small cloud con- 

 tained numerous variables. Consequently, an examination 

 of the photographs of the large cloud was made, and re- 

 sulted in the discovery of 152 new variable stars within its 

 boundaries. A catalogue of these, giving their positions 

 (for 19000), their magnitudes, and the magnitude-range of 

 their light-variations, is published in No. 82 of the Harvard 

 College Observatory Circulars. 



All these variables have short periods, and seem to be 

 arranged in definite groups, the most remarkable of which 

 begins near N.G.C. 1850, and extends towards a point about 

 one degfee south of N.G.C. 2070. This group contains 

 more than half the stars observed, and the included stars 

 are remarkable for their faintness and for the small range 

 of their variations. 



_ The Sun's Anti-apex.— Mr. J. E. Gore sends the follow- 

 ing remarks upon Prof. Kobold's studv of the sun's proper 

 motion, mentioned in last week's Nature (p. 459) : — " Prof. 

 Kobold gives the position A = i59°.6, D=-54°.7, or 

 R.A. loh. 38-4m., 8=-54°.7, and savs the point is near 

 o Argus. (His words are, ' Der berechnete Punkt liegt am 

 Himmel ganz in der Nahe von a Argus, der gegeniiber- 

 liegende Punkt in der Nahe von 5 Cephei,' Astronowische 

 Nachrichten, 3961.) 



" This is, however, not correct, for the position of a Argus 

 (Canopus) is R.A. 6h. 21.8m., S=-52° 39' (1900). His 

 statement that the ' opposite point ' (the apex) lies near 

 S Cephei is, however, correct. The point found by Prof. 

 Kobold for the anti-apex lies a little north of the 'famous 

 variable star t/ Argus. This point lies in the Milkv Way as 

 stated by Prof. Kobold. The fact that most of 'the deter- 

 minations of the position of the solar apex lie in or near 

 the Milky Way seems to suggest that the sun may be moving 

 in an orbit ' nearly coinciding with the plane of the Milky 

 Way.' This was pointed out by Mr. G. C. Bompas in the 

 Observatory, January, 1896." 



Observations of the Solar Surface, January-March. 

 — M. Guillaume, director of the Lyons Observatory, com- 

 municated a ri^simie of his observations of the solar surface 

 during the first three months of the present year to the 

 Paris Academy of Sciences on August i. 



The total spotted area was less than half the amount for 

 the previous trimestre, the observed values being 2572 and 

 =.no millionths respectively. This was not due, however, 

 to the absence of spots, for the phenomena have decidedly 

 entered upon a period of increasing activity ; the solar disc 

 has not been free of spots since September 21. 



In the preceding cycle the present condition of activity 

 obtained 1-6 years after the minimum of 18S9 ; in the present 

 cycle 20 years have elapsed since that of 1901. 



During the period under discussion 77 groups of faculsE 

 w'lth a total area of 86 o thousandths were recorded, instead 

 of 64 groups and 660 thousandths as recorded in the 

 previous trimestre. The facula; were also less sym- 

 metrically arranged in regard to latitude, there being 3c 

 groiips in the southern hemisphere and 42 in the northern 

 in place of 33 and 31 respectively (Comptes rendus. No. 5). 



Instructions to Variable Star Observers.— At a meet- 

 ing of the Soci^t^ astronomique de France held in 1900 it 

 was decided to form a section for the observation of visual 

 variable stars, and for the organisation of the section a 

 committee was formed. 



This committee now- publishes, in the September Bulleiin 

 of the society, the first chapter of a set of very detailed 

 instructions to variable star observers. 



This first instalment contains a list of stars which are 

 especially suitable for observations of the nature proposed, 

 minute instructions as to the methods of observing and of 

 recording and reducing the results, and many other hints 

 which will be found extremely useful by anyone engaged in 

 making visual observations of variable star's. 

 NO. 1820, VOL. 70] 



Observations of Fundamental Stars. — In the catalogue 

 of 2798 zodiacal stars published by Sir David Gill in 1899, 

 210 of the objects named were designated " fundamental 

 stars," but the places of only about two-thirds of these were 

 given in Newcomb's fundamental star catalogue for 1900. 



To facilitate the work of other observers, Mr. R. H. 

 Tucker, of Lick Observatory, has just published the observed 

 places of the remaining third in No. 3965 of the Astrono- 

 mischc Nachrichten. He gives the designation, the magni- 

 tude, the observed positions (reduced to 1900), the pre- 

 cessional values, and, in some cases, the proper motion in 

 each coordinate of all the stars which are given in the 

 zodiacal catalogue but are not mentioned in Newcomb's 

 catalogue. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 

 SECTION K. 



subsection, agriculture. 



Opening Address by William Somerville, M..\., D.Sc, 

 D.Qic, Chairman of the Subsection. 



The audience that I have to-day the honour of addressing 

 may be assumed to consist of a considerable proportion of 

 the members of the British Association, and some others, 

 who are primarily interested in, and have themselves made 

 appreciable contributions to, tiie progress of Agricultural 

 .Science. I may, therefore, take the opportunity of con- 

 gratulating you on this fresh evidence of progress in the 

 subject that you have at heart, and of offering to the British 

 Association our thanks for the encouragement and stimulus 

 which are associated with the formation of an agricultural 

 subsection. Perhaps I rightly interpret your feelings when 

 I say that for the present we are satisfied with the position 

 attained by our subject, but that we trust to see this and 

 other meetings demonstrating that Agricultural Science is 

 not unworthy of further advancement. 



In view of the large amount of work that lies before us 

 during the next few days, I do not propose to intervene for 

 long between you and the contributions to original research 

 which we have been promised. The scope of my remarks 

 will be limited no less by time than by the fact that it 

 A\'0uld be presumptuous in me to attempt to traverse the 

 whole field of Agricultural Science, including, as it may 

 be held to do, the no small compartments of Horticulture 

 and Forestry. What I propose to do, therefore, is to confine 

 myself to touching upon a few of the subjects that have 

 recently been receiving attention at the hands of scientific 

 investigators, especially abroad. I have purposely avoided 

 discussing English \vork, partly because it may be assumed 

 that we are all familiar with it, and partly because, where 

 friends are concerned, selection is difficult. 



Although Agriculture has only now been elevated to a 

 position of semi-independence in the programme of this 

 .Association, it has, in the aggregate, received much atten- 

 tion at the meetings inaugurated with that at York in 1831. 

 It is interesting to turn up the early volumes of the Reports, 

 and to ascertain what was running in the minds of our 

 predecessors, and what the problems that they thought it 

 vital to solve. In the account of the first meeting in this 

 town in 1833 we find a Report by Lindley on the Philosophy 

 of Botany, two of the items in which are of interest to 

 students of Rural Economy. .Apparently at that time much 

 attention was being given to the mode of the formation of 

 wood. Two theories appear to have divided botanists — the 

 one that wood was organised in the leaves, and sent down 

 the stem in the form of embryonic but organised fibres, to 

 be deposited on the surface of wood already formed. The 

 other theory was that wood was secreted in situ by the bark 

 and older wood. It is to the former of these theories that 

 Lindley gives his adherence. Although this problem has 

 ceased to interest, the same cannot be said of another subject 

 discussed in the same Report, namely, the so-called " faecal 

 excretions " of plants. In the words of Lindley, " A new 

 apple orchard cannot be made to succeed on the site of an 

 old apple orchard unless some years intervene between the 

 destruction of the one and the planting of the other : in 



