JANUARY 21, 1904] 
NATURE 271 
The first measurements made by me were on January 9, 
1903, when I found the faint reddish ring extending from 
between 25° and 30° to about 40° from the sun, the mean 
distance being about 33°. On January 20 several measure- 
ments made with an altazimuth instrument gave the 
mean distance of the middle of the red ring as 30° (see 
Science, N.S., vol. xvii. p. 150, January 23, 1903). On 
February 24, measured by an altazimuth instrument, the 
reddish glow extended from 26° to 31° from the sun, the 
mean being about 29°. On May 13 the average distance 
of the middle of the ring was by measurement roughly 
about 30°. On June 26 it was found to be about 26° from 
the sun. All these measurements were made at Blue Hill 
between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and the distance was measured 
from the sun vertically upward to the ring. 
On September 1 Mr. Rotch, when on the summit of 
Mont Blanc, measured the distance of the ring from the 
sun, and found it to be between 20° and 25°, which would 
give a mean distance of about 23° (Nature, vol. Ixviii. p. 
623). 
On October 14 I again measured it at Blue Hill with a 
sextant, and found it extended out to 26°, which would 
give a mean distance of about 23°. A recent measurement 
by me on December 28 with an altazimuth instrument 
showed that it extended from about 16° to 24° from the 
sun, giving a mean distance of 20°. 
Putting these measurements together, the following 
results are obtained :— 
1902 1903 
Aug. Dec. Jan. Feb. May June Sept. Oct. Dec. 
Wey eco eN oct mgm EES) cee ES can ey co BO con EY ney Dei eee 
These results show a very rapid decrease in size at first, 
followed by a diminishing rate of decrease. 
When I began my measurements | had not seen the letter 
of Mr. Backhouse, and did-not see it until about a month 
ago. I anticipated that the ring would grow larger with 
time, reasoning that if the ring was a diffraction pheno- 
menon, due to volcanic dust, the larger particles of dust 
would fall first to earth, leaving the smaller particles, and 
theoretically this ought to increase the size of the ring. I 
have been surprised to see the ring grow smaller. Perhaps 
it is because the whole of the particles causing it are getting 
nearer to the ground. Inside the very faint reddish ring 
described above, is a whitish glare which is visible to every- 
one, but I find that many people are unable to distinguish 
the reddish ring, which is very faint, and only distinguish- 
able by anyone on the clearest days, and is most distinct 
when the sun itself is hidden by a cloud. 
Henry HELM Crayton. 
Hyde Park, Mass., December 30, 1903. 
Subjective Images. 
WILL you kindly allow me to submit the following case 
for the consideration of your readers? I was reading a 
book one day in the open air, and the full light of a strong 
sun was shining on the printed page. After reading for 
about half an hour, I went over to a fountain, a few yards 
distant, in the shade of some trees. On a white marble 
slab attached to the fountain, there was an inscription, which 
I knew to be in jet black letters. To my surprise, the letters 
now appeared to my eye a rich emerald green. So brilliant 
and persistent was this green that I thought, for a time, 
that the colour had been really changed. After a few 
minutes, however, the green hue slowly faded away, and 
the letters appeared black as before. 
The explanation that occurs to me for the moment is that 
the impression made on the retina by the different colours 
present in white light, lasts longer for some colours than 
for others, and that it lasts longest for the green. Thus 
the retina having been exposed for a considerable time to 
an intense white light, retained the impression of green 
after the impressions made by the other colours had faded 
away, and accordingly those portions of the retina on which 
the image of the black letters fell would still produce the 
sensation of green, while that sensation would be practically 
effaced for the remainder of the retina by the strong white 
light of the marble slab. It would be interesting, I think, 
if any of your readers could give evidence of a similar 
experience, or offer any better explanation of the pheno- 
menon. Geratp MOoLtoy. 
86 Stephen’s Green, Dublin. 
NO. 1786, VOL. 69| 
National Science Scholarships. 
As a former student of the Royal College of Science and 
School of Mines, London, S.W., I was much struck by the 
hard working, studious demeanour of the national scholars 
I came into contact with at this excellent institution, and it 
seems to me that they are deserving of a better fate than 
being compelled to exist in London and to find many college 
necessaries out of 25s. per week, which I understand is only 
paid them during term time (p. 237). 1 am proud to 
be able to number several of these fine fellows among my 
intimate friends, whose mental calibre makes their com- 
panionship an acquisition; the miserable pittance doled out 
would seem hardly likely to attract such material, and seems 
to me only calculated, in many cases, to crush the element 
it professes to foster, and to turn out drudges for the general 
use and convenience of others possessing healthier digestions 
and a more extended knowledge of the world in general. 
In this age of educational raving, when, apparently, it 
is assumed that the expenditure of large sums of money on 
the erection of colossal buildings is the surest way of build- 
ing colossal minds, it makes one hesitate and wonder what 
education of any kind means. 
Surely the object of scholarships should be two-fold, or 
more than two-fold, to make men, as well as men of science, 
and to educate in accuracy and truthfulness, and manliness 
also, and not to make mental and physical wrecks by 
ignoring earthly needs, yet the latter must result in many 
cases from suck false economy. Either the scholarships 
should be made sound in every way or they should be 
abolished ; the country would at any rate gain by a reason- 
able number of healthy minded citizens, which no nation 
can afford to despise in the race of life as it goes on 
to-day. 
I think your suggestion of suitable halls and corporate life 
a good one; it is a need of the Royal College of Science, it 
is in fact, a need of all large colleges and-universities draw- 
ing students from the various quarters of the Empire. The 
system of halls for a college should, in my opinion, be in 
miniature representative of the colleges of Cambridge and 
Oxford, a system which has probably assisted in maintain- 
ing the pre-eminence of these universities more than one 
is at first sight prepared to admit. Each unit belonging 
to the mother institution striving to obtain good men and 
fostering them by every encouragement to work for the 
hall they represent, let each hall have its cherished list of 
names of prizemen, and thus convert what, in a simple 
college not possessing such units, becomes a system of pace- 
making into a healthy, manly, and sportsmanlike com- 
petition, in which the honour of the hall is at stake equally 
with that of the individual, where each will do his best 
| work and be free from that tendency on the part of many 
high minded individuals to condemn themselves for enter- 
ing into direct competition with less healthy, less capable 
men who nevertheless possess qualifications which make 
them respected by all to whom they are known, for the 
honour of the hall is a thing apart from self. Such a system 
would, I believe, tend to advance greatly the beloved insti- 
tution which many others and myself regard as Alma Mater. 
Bedford, January 14. W. H. Pretty. 
The Transvaal Technical Institute. 
IN view of various unauthorised statements which have 
appeared from time to time in the public Press, the council 
of the Transvaal Technical Institute will be obliged if you 
will give publicity to the following particulars regarding 
the arrangements which have been made to meet the needs 
of this community and of South Africa generally in respect 
of technical education. 
The classes for mining students which for seven years 
past have been held at Kimberley are being transferred to 
Johannesburg, and it is expected that some forty students 
will be in residence here at the beginning of next academic 
year (February). 
To provide lecture rooms and laboratories for these 
students, the council of the Institute has taken over from 
Government the lease of the Boys’ High School in Kerk 
Street, while a row of houses in Highfield Terrace will be 
furnished for boarding accommodation. 
The council, aided by a committee at home, is making 
the necessary appointments to the teaching staff. Already 
