282 
NAT CRE 
[JANUARY 21, [904 
covers 48° of Jovian longitude, and its centre will be in 
conjunction with the centre of the Great Red Spot in June, 
1904. Differences of period have been exhibited by three | 
of the most conspicuous spots situated on the red, narrow 
belt north of the N. equatorial belt, their respective 
periods being (1) gh. 55m. 35 8s., (2) gh. 55m. 31-5s-, and 
(3) 9h. 55m. 266s. Greater differences of rate have been 
shown in the N. temperate and N.N. temperate spots, one 
group of six showing a period of gh. 55m. 57s., whilst the 
observed period of another similar group of six was 
gh. 55m. 4os. 
MERIDIAN CIRCLE OBSERVATIONS OF EROS AND Nova | 
Perset.—The results of the Harvard meridian circle observ- 
ations of Eros and the comparison stars are published in | 
No. 6, vol. xlviii., of the Harvard College Observatory 
Annals, The comparison stars are those given in Circulaire 
No. 4 of the Conférence Astrophotographique Internationale, 
and were observed over bright wires in a dark field. Tables 
showing the elements of the reduction of the observed places | 
are given, and are followed by a table showing the position 
of Eros on six evenings in November and one in December, 
1900. 
No. 7 of the same volume of the Harvard College Observ- 
atory Annals contains the results of the meridian circle 
observations of Nova Persei and comparison stars. The 
observations and reductions were similar in character to 
those made for Eros—except that Nova Persei was observed 
in a red field over dark wires—and have been made by the 
same observer, Mr. John A. Dunne. The final table gives 
the magnitude, the apparent and mean places, and the 
1900 0 positions of the Nova, as determined on fourteen dates 
between February 24, 1901, and January 24, 1902. The 
observations have all been reduced to Auwers’s system of 
star-places. 
PeriopicaL COMETS DUE THIS YEAR.—Mr. W. T. Lynn, 
in a letter to the Observatory (No. 340), gives a short 
account of the following periodical comets which are due 
to return to perihelion during this year. Winnecke’s comet 
should become visible in the early part of the year, as it 
performed its previous perihelion passage on March 20, 
1898, and has a period of about 58 years. Tempel’s comet 
(1873), having a period of about 5.28 years, was observed 
on its return in 1894 and again in 1899, and in the latter 
year it passed through perihelion on July 28. It should 
therefore return towards the end of the present year. | 
The now familiar object discovered by Méchain in 1786 
and known as Encke’s comet has been observed at every 
return since 1818-19, and should be visible again during the 
latter end of this year. The period is about 33 years, and 
the last perihelion passage took place on September 15, 
1901. ; 
RECENT CONFERENCES OF SCIENCE 
TEACHERS. 
YEAR by year the conferences arranged by the Technical 
Education Board of the London County Council have 
increased in importance. This January no less than 850 
teachers attended the meetings—which occupied three whole 
days, January 7, 8 and g—at the South-western Polytechnic. 
Moreover, a valuable and suggestive exhibition of matters 
dealing with its special subject, arranged by the Geo- 
graphical Association, was opened two days before the 
conferences began, and the collection remained on view until 
they ended. 
Mr. A. J. Shepheard, chairman of the Technical Educa- 
tion Board of the London County Council, presided over the 
first meeting on January 7, and gave a very cordial welcome 
to all present. His opening address dealt with the con- 
clusions which he, as a member of the Mosely Commission, 
had drawn from his recent visit to the United States of 
America. By way of introduction Mr. Shepheard very 
briefly indicated the steps that led up to the inquiries which 
Mr. Mosely had boldly instituted. The fact that American | 
engineers had succeeded in mining operations when English- | 
men had failed raised the question as to whether the success | 
was due to American education. The commission, upon | 
which Mr. Shepheard served, resulted, and it was intended | 
NO. 1786, VOL. 69] 
to determine whether there were any points in American 
education which are superior to our own. 
Mr. Shepheard found that in America there was a more 
largely diffused spirit of education and a greater belief in 
its necessity and value than here in England. The American 
people were taught to cherish the idea that they had a right 
to the best education possible, and at the expense of the 
State; while the State recognised clearly its duty in this 
respect, and regarded such work as the best investment that 
it could make. 
Here there is an undoubted lesson to England, and Mr-. 
Shepheard strongly urged all who believe in education, not 
to let the matter rest until every citizen feels that this 
nation will never be what it ought, until everyone is 
educated to the fullest extent to which he or she is capable. 
America, Mr. Shepheard went on to say, was fortunately 
free from ‘‘ the religious difficulty,’’ and in this country in 
future, sectarian questions must be strictly kept in the back- 
ground. Education in America is free up to the age of 
eighteen years, and the universities are more open than here. 
The manner of teaching is more practical, and without losing 
our reputation for culture we might consider this point 
more. The value placed upon nature-study in the United 
States was considered by Mr. Shepheard, who dwelt upon 
observational work, painting from nature, weather notes, 
and the consideration of all natural objects of interest. 
Finally, Mr. Shepheard discussed manual training, the trade 
high schools, and the career of a student in such institu- 
tions as the Boston Technical School and the universities. 
Mr. H. J. Mackinder, reader in geography to the Uni- 
versity of Oxford, contributed the first paper, entitled *‘ The 
Development of Geographical Teaching out of Nature- 
Study.’’ He digressed for a moment to point out that there 
was no great antithesis between culture and practical educa- 
tion. We are creatures of history, and we have chosen 
different methods of cultivating imagination from those 
adopted by the Americans. Geography, he said, was calcu- 
lated to expand the imagination, and should start with the 
home. He quoted the paragraph on the scope of nature- 
study from the judges’ report of the exhibition held in 1go2, 
and proceeded .to show that geography, as now understood, 
followed many of the same paths. Mr. Mackinder sketched 
out some excellent methods of teaching geography, 
beginning with the construction of a rough plan, and 
discussed the use of globes and maps without letter- 
ing before dealing with such as are commonly used, 
and which, as he says, tend to dwarf the imagination. He 
had something also to say about the far-reaching com- 
mercial importance of geography, and all right thinking 
people will support his plea that the idea be at once stamped 
out which implies that the British possessions can be studied 
apart from the world as a whole. 
At the afternoon meeting Sir John Cockburn in a telling 
manner summarised from the chair the various matters at 
issue. Mr. Kendall, of the Yorkshire College, Leeds, de- 
scribed some ingenious methods of filling in the steps of 
models (made up of thicknesses of cardboard cut according 
‘to contour lines) with dry material, which is set by having 
water sprayed upon it. 
Mr. J. Lomas, when treating of excursions, gave a de- 
scription of a ramble along the banks of a tiny stream in 
Cheshire. He showed with the help of some specially pre- 
pared lantern slides, the questions which it, in common with 
larger rivers, asks and—yielding to the careful observations 
of the nature student—likewise answers. Why is here a 
waterfall? Why is there a patch of sand? The fact that 
the stream is small is a great help in determining what has 
altered and is altering its course, and in making experi- 
ments to determine the direction of various currents. Mr. 
Lomas concludes that the object of teaching should be to 
see that the pupil receives correct impressions, and the only 
way, he says, to secure this is by observation. 
Dr. A. J. Herbertson showed by means of a lantern 
a number of Ordnance maps _ illustrating typical regions, 
and considered the points that go to make a good map. He 
alluded also to the issue of Ordnance Survey maps to schools 
for teaching purposes (owing to recommendations of the 
Geographical Association) at a cost of 25s. per hundred for 
| outlines and 35s. for the same number when hill-shading is 
added. 
Mr. T. Alford Smith gave an account of the use of simple 
