August 14, 1884J 



NA TURE 



375 



Another of the more interesting variables, x Cygni, may be 

 expected at a maximum about November 15, and R Leporis, 

 " the crimson star," at a minimum on January 5. 



The Double-Star 99 Herculis. — Mr. S. W. Burnham, in 

 his last Catalogue of double-star measures, refers to a statement 

 by M. Flammarion to the effect that the change in the position 

 of the companion of 99 Herculis (one of Alvan Clark's dis- 

 coveries) very nearly corresponds to the proper motion of the 

 large star. But although the alteration in position between 

 Dawes' measures in 1S59 and Mr. Bumham's in 1880, may be 

 fairly represented by rectilinear motion, it will hardly appear, 

 when the best value we can assign at present for the proper 

 motion of 99 Herculis is introduced, that it accounts for the ob- 

 served change in the position of the companion. If we com- 

 pare Bradley for 1755 with the Greenwich Catalogue for 1S64, 

 employing the accurate formulae, we find : — 



Secular proper motion in right ascension ... - u"'34 

 ,, ,, ,, declination ... + 6"'90 



Midler assigned for the respective proper motions - 10" '4, and 

 + 7"'o. 



Taking for comparison the following measures of 99 Herculis, 

 Position Distance 



l859"63 .. 347'2 ... 1705 ... Dawes 

 iSSo'iS ... 29'9 ... o'9l ... Burnham 

 we find on bringing up Dawes' measures to Burnham's epoch, 

 with the proper motions of the principal star given above, the 

 angle of position becomes Si°'5, and the distance i"'65, showing 

 a great difference from the result of the American astronomer. 

 It seems at least probable, as he remarks, that it will prove to 

 be a physical pair. 



THE WATER SUPPLY CONFERENCE 

 'THE Water Supply Conference of the Society of Arts, held 

 ■^ at the National Health Exhibition, in the unavoidable 

 absence of the President, H.R. H. the Prince of Wales, was 

 opened by Sir Frederick Abel, C.B., F. R.S., chairman of the 

 Council, who alluded in his introductory address, to these Con- 

 gresses having been originated by His Royal Highness, who 

 hoped a comprehensive scheme might be elaborated that would 

 provide not only for the urban populations, but for the rural com- 

 munities. He alluded to the good and useful work done by the 

 Congress held in 1878, and in 1879, anc ' reviewed the present 

 position of the water-question in this country. 



The papers read at the Conference were placed under three 

 heads, viz. : — " sources of supply," " quality of water, with methods 

 of filtration and softening," and "methods of distribution, with 

 modes of giving pressure, house fittings, discovery and prevention 

 of waste." Under all heads valuable papers were contributed, 

 and the Society may again be congratulated on bringing together 

 a jury of experts capable not only of showing us the weak 

 points in our existing water-supply, but the methods by which 

 these defects may be remedied. This was done to a large 

 extent by the previous Conference, but the dangers then pointed 

 out have been hardly appreciated, owing to the years of the Con- 

 ference being followed by a remarkable succession of wet seasons. 

 Now that a hot summer is succeeding a dry winter, the gravity of 

 the situation is forcing itself upon public attention, and the im- 

 portance of husbanding our water resources is found to be a 

 matter of vital necessity, the neglecting of which has already 

 facilitated the spread of English cholera, in certain districts, and 

 will be a constant element of danger, should Asiatic cholera 

 appear on this side of the English Channel. 



Rainfall being the source of all water supply, it may be well 

 to first notice the paper contributed by Mr. G. T. Symons, 

 F.R.S., who, just a quarter of a century ago, instituted the first 

 general series of rainfall observations ever made in this country, 

 and who since that time has been gradually increasing their 

 number, until there are now nearly 3000 observers, no less than 

 2433 stations having furnished perfect records of rainfall last 

 year. Worthy of all praise as is this remarkable voluntary staff 

 ..I observers, not only giving their services, but actually con- 

 tributing 99 per cent, of the cost of publishing the observations 

 made, it is obvious, looking to the direct bearing such observa- 

 tions have on engineering, agricultural, and sanitary questions, 

 bearing on the health and welfare of our population, that the 

 scope of the inquiry should be enlarged so as to increase its 

 sphere of usefulness, and that it should be placed under a 



Government department with a grant from Parliament, and the 

 inquiry be no longer crippled for want of funds as regards possible 

 and necessary extensions, though ten years ago the British Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, feeling it their duty to 

 initiate, rather than support, investigations of national import- 

 ance, withdrew the vote with which they had aided the work for 

 many years, it is due to Mr. Symons to point out that he 

 has not merely maintained the standard of excellence found in 

 his annual volumes of that period, but has increased their size 

 and usefulness. In his paper Mr. Symons urges as a question of 

 general policy the necessity of the formation of an hydraulic 

 office, the early duty of a Government being "to see that all 

 parts are completely supplied with the chief necessary of life. 

 Englishmen," he says, "have a dread of centralisation, but in 

 many ways they pay a long price for their dread. At present, 

 it is not often that any town can even state before Parliament 

 its views as to the effect upon it of what its next neighbour may 

 be obtaining powers to do," and which, when passed by Parlia- 

 mentary Committees become law, and "law for all time to 

 come ; " he truly adds that " no one can foresee what will be the 

 total population of the country a century hence. No one can 

 tell where the bulk of the people will reside, nor what will be 

 the need for water in various parts of the country," and he justly 

 urges that special water rights, "now asked to be created, 

 should be subject to revision, without compensation, after the 

 lapse of 100 years." 



Mr. E. Bailey-Denton, inhis'paper on " The Water Supply of 

 Villages and Rural Districts," points out that though a state de- 

 partment exists charged with sanitary matters, the condition of 

 our rural districts as regards water supply "is a positive dis- 

 grace," and he considers the department should have their efforts 

 specially directed to the protection of small communities, and 

 states that those who form the " Local Boards " and " Boards of 

 Guardians," having jurisdiction over such districts are elected 

 under pledges to oppose all sanitary works that will increase the 

 rates, and that even when men of knowledge and position are 

 elected to such posts — outvoted by the majority they fall back to 

 quietly agreeing with the laissez faire policy of their colleagues, 

 and allow their constituents to continue to inhale and imbibe 

 those germs of disease which float in the foul air that surrounds 

 them, and are present in the only water provided for their use. 

 Mr. Denton is evidently of the opinion that the writer has already 

 advocated in these columns, that the Local Government Board 

 should not only have the power to sanction local authorities pro- 

 viding pure water and efficient sanitary arrangements, but should 

 themselves survey the country and seek out the districts where 

 advantage is not taken of the law, as it even now exists, and to 

 compel the authorities to remedy the abuses and shortcomings 

 discovered. 



In the present position of our knowledge it would be difficult, 

 and often impossible, for an engineer to advise such a rural 

 authority, suddenly called on to provide itself with an efficient 

 water supply, even were the legal difficulties, and cost of parlia- 

 mentary struggles obliterated. Thanks to Mr. Symons, we know 

 something of the rainfall, but as Mr. Conder and others have 

 pointed out, our knowledge of the discharge of our rivers is 

 lamentably small. Daily gaugings have been taken of the Thames, 

 but no systematic examination of the quantities run off by streams 

 draining equal areas of rocks of varying degrees of permeability 

 have been carried out, and the necessity of such observations 

 being taken in all our streams cannot be too highly insisted on. 

 and should be made a matter of State care. The few observations 

 we have were chiefly made in the last century by Kennie, if we 

 except the comparison of chalk and clay basii.s, made by Mr. C. 

 Homersham, who showed the large quantity of water absorbed 

 by the chalk, which never appears as streams. As regards un- 

 derground waters, our knowledge is also not yet sufficiently- 

 definite to safely predicate the quantity of wateragiven unknown 

 district will yield. A large body of information has been published 

 by the Underground Water Committee of the British Association, 

 during the past ten years, from which the direct relation of yield 

 to rainfall, modified by degree of permeability is clearly made out, 

 and details given of actual supplies obtained in enormous 

 quantities, in certain districts, but what is still required, is a 

 systematic examination of the height of water in wells and bor- 

 ings throughout the kingdom, and until the seasonal variation is 

 clearly established, the minimum yield to be obtained in a given 

 district, during a dry year, and still more after a succession of dry 

 years cannot be ascertained, or calculati ins made be depended on 

 with any safety. Information of this class is being steadily 



