474 
When it is desired to remove the mirror from 
the telescope the tube is turned to a vertical 
position, and a carriage running on rails is brought 
under it and raised to the required height to 
receive the cell as it is unbolted from the tube. 
As the mirror and cell weigh almost 6 tons, a steel 
strut, running in vertical guides below the floor 
and counterweighted so as to be easily raised or 
lowered, is brought up and placed under the other 
end of the declination axis to prevent it from 
sinking downwards. 
The entire mass of the moving parts is 45 tons, 
and yet it moves with the greatest ease and 
smoothness. A small pressure on the upper end 
of the tube suffices to put it in motion, while the 
power required to move the telescope at quick 
speed over that required by the motors when 
running idle is about 50 watts. The electric 
power required for the various purposes at the 
observatory is obtained from the British Columbia 
Electric Railway, which runs along the foot of the 
hill. By means of a motor-generator it is ‘trans- 
formed from three-phase alternating to direct 
current at 220 volts. 
The great mirror is not yet completed. It is 
73 in. in diameter, 12 in. thick at the edge, and 
weighs 4340 lb. The face was made spherical 
some time ago, and work on parabolising it is 
proceeding. This has been delayed through the 
lack of a sufficiently large plane mirror for test- 
ing. Such a mirror has been under construction 
for some time by the John A, Brashear Co., which 
expects to have the great mirror completed by the 
spring, in which case the regular work of the 
observatory will begin next summer. 
The mounting and adjusting of the telescope 
were under the immediate direction of Dr. Plaskett. 
Indeed, the entire project must be considered 
largely his own creation. It was he who first 
proposed it, and his enthusiastic advocacy of it 
led the authorities to approve of its construction; 
his experience as an observer and his great 
mechanical skill have had much to do with the 
perfection of the instrument; and his energy is 
shown in the rapid’ progress which has been made. 
C. A. Cran. 
NOTES. ; 
Tue New Year Honours List, the publication of 
which had been postponed, was issued on Monday, 
and contains, among others, the following names :— 
Dr. R. Armstrong-Jones, Prof. R. Lodge, Edinburgh, 
Mr. Y. L. Raven (formerly chief mechanical engineer 
of the North-Eastern Railway Co.), and Prof. P. 
Vinogradoff, Oxford (the honour of knighthood); Dr. 
A. Newsholme (K.C.B.); Sir Cecil Harcourt-Smith, 
Victoria and Albert Museum (C.V.O.); Dr. F. Watts, 
Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture for the West 
Indies (K.C.M.G.); Mr. L. Rodway, Government 
Botanist, Tasmania (C.M.G.). A later list states that 
the honour of knighthood has been conferred upon 
Prof. Jagadish Chandra Bose, of Calcutta, and Rai 
Bahadur Sundar Lal, Vice-Chancellor of the Benares 
Hindu University. 
THE committee of the Athenzum Club has elected 
the following under the provisions of the rule of the 
club which empowers the annual election by the com- 
NO. 2468, voL. 98] 
NATURE 
[FEBRUARY 15, 1917 
mittee of a certain number of persons “of distin- 
guished eminence in science, literature, the arts, or 
for public services ’? :—Sir R. Hadfield, Field-Marshal 
Sir Douglas Haig, and Prof. G. Gilbert A. Murray. 
Tue Advisory Council of the Government’s Depart. - 
ment of Scientific and Industrial Research has added 
to the list of its technical committees a Standing 
Committee on Glass and Optical Instruments. The 
membership of the committee is at present as follows : 
Prof. H. Jackson (chairman), Mr. Conrad Beck, Prof. — 
C. V. Boys, Mr. F. J. Cheshire, Mr. A. E. Conrady, 
Mr. A. S. Esslemont, Mr. J. W. French, Dr. R. T. 
Glazebrook, Sir Howard Grubb, Mr. E. B. Knobel, 
Dr. T. R. Merton, Prof. J. W. Nicholson, Capt. 
Creagh Osborne, Mr. H. J. Stobart, Mr. J. Stuart, 
Mr. M. P. Swift, Mr. W. Taylor, Mr. F. Twyman, 
Lt.-Col. A. C. Williams, and Mr. W. F. J. Wood. The 
committee, having regard to the urgency of the 
problems requiring investigation in respect of these 
essential industries, has appointed a series of sub- 
committees to which various special problems have 
been referred. Among these problems the more im- 
portant are: (a) Raw materials for glass and glass- 
making. (b) Optical properties of a large range of 
glasses. (c),General physical and chemical properties 
of glass and glassware for scientific and industrial 
purposes. (d) Testing and standardising of glassware. 
(e) Workshop technique. (f) X-ray glass apparatus. 
(g) Optical calculations and lens designing, (h) Optical 
instruments, (i) Translation of foreign works on optics. 
The Standing Committee does not propose to limit 
itself to these subjects, but is prepared to consider and 
report upon the necessity for investigation in other 
directions relevant to its terms of reference. Manu- 
facturers who have experienced difficulties requiring 
investigations for their solution in connection with the 
subjects of glass and optical instruments, or who desire 
to make suggestions for special researches on these 
subjects, are invited to communicate in the first instance 
with the secretary of the Research Department, Great 
George Street, Westminster, S.W., who will direct the 
correspondence into the appropriate channels for 
attention, 
Tue Food Controller has appointed the following . 
committee of manufacturers of sulphate of ammonia 
to advise him on questions affecting its production 
and distribution, and to give effect to an approved 
scheme for regulating the distribution of supplies to 
farmers in all parts of the United Kingdom :—Mr. 
D. Milne Watson (chairman), Mr. W. Fraser, Mr. 
E. J. George, Mr. W. R. Hann, Mr. N. N, Holden, 
Mr. A. K. McCosh, Alderman F. S. Phillips, Mr. A. 
Stanley, and Mr. F. C. O. Speyer, secretary. 
Tue Director of Army Contracts, War Office, has 
issued a circular letter to timber merchants directing 
attention to the fact that the Army Council has 
assumed control of all stocks of soft wood, planed 
and unplaned, excluding pit-props, in the United 
Kingdom, This step has been taken owing to 
the urgent necessity of safeguarding essential 
supplies of timber for military purposes, and in 
view of the growing scarcity of tonnage it is im- 
perative that existing stocks of wood shall be con- 
served to the utmost, and that no wood shall be 
consumed for any purpose not essential or where any 
substitute for wood can be utilised. Pending further 
regulations, which will be drawn up in consultation 
with the Timber Trades Federation, dealings in the 
timber referred to will be permitted, subject to the 
conditions laid down in the letter. 
Major P. A. MacManon has been elected president 
of the Royal Astronomical Society in succession to 
Dr. R. A. Sampson. 
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