December 8, 1898] 



NA TURE 



131 



las been fruitful in result. In the course of experimental 

 work occupying eight years, the percentage of sugar in 

 ield crops of sorghum was raised from 9 to 14. The 

 nvestigations concerned with beet cultivation have been 

 ,10 successful that the establishment of an indigenous 

 ugar industry is now certain, and the benefit to .'Vmerican 

 Agriculture in the near future will be measured by 

 lundreds of millions of dollars. 



' It would be instructive to refer to the work of the 

 ►Veather Bureau, and of the divisions of entomology, 

 'agrostology and forestry ; but it must suffice to con- 

 clude with a few observations on the bureau of animal 

 ndustry. 



Those who have been engaged in recent years in the 

 administration of the Diseases of Animals Acts in Great 

 Britain will best appreciate the comprehensiveness and 

 Jthe excellence of the work of the Washington Bureau. 

 It is a bold statement to make, perhaps, that the whole 

 of the United States territory — from the .Atlantic to the 

 Pacific, and from the great lakes to the Gulf of Mexico — 

 has been swept free from pleuro-pneumonia ; and those 

 ,who are familiar with the history of this most troublesome 

 disease in Great Britain will only hope that the assertion 

 may prove to be true. 



The microscopic inspection of pork intended for export 

 is worthy of all praise, and we reproduce an illustration 

 showing this work in progress. Last year 1,881,309 

 specimens were thus examined for trichinae, and only 

 '3i3-5 were found infested ; the cost of this inspection 

 was 111,670 dollars. 



EDWIN DUN KIN, F.R.S. 



A T the ripe age of seventy-seven, with the conscious- 

 -'"^ ness of having fulfilled a useful career, and amid 

 the respect and sympathy of his associates, Mr. Edwin 

 Dunkin has passed away, again diminishing the small 

 band of zealous assistants, that Sir George Airy collected 

 around himself, when some sixty years ago he undertook 

 the reorganisation of the Royal Observatory, and in- 

 augurated that system of uniform and continual observ- 

 ation which has ever since remained the chief characteristic 

 of that institution. To trace the career of Mr. Edwm 

 Dunkin is to recall the history of the Observatory under its 

 late director, for during nearly half a century Mr. Dunkin 

 took a prominent part in its activity, filling many re- 

 sponsible positions, till finally he became the chief and 

 confidential assistant. In whatever capacity he was 

 placed he was admirably adapted to it by reason of his 

 pahistaking and accurate observation, his loyalty to his 

 chief, and his keen interest in the science. It was his 

 fortune to see and to assist in the creation and develop- 

 ment of a magnetical and meteorological department, to 

 witness the establishment of a system of extra meridional 

 observations of the moon, to see the observations of 

 Right Ascension and Zenith Distance effected by a single 

 mstrument, and to mark the substitution of chroriographic 

 registrations for the older method of recording transits. 

 He remained at his post long enough to note the intro- 

 duction of the spectroscope and of photographic processes : 

 m a wortl, to form a hnk between the methods of the old 

 astronomy of position and the purposes of the newer 

 physical science. He lived to see the staff of the Ob- 

 servatory trebled and quadrupled, as fresh objects of 

 inquiry were brought within its scope ; and that he could 

 adapt himself to every change, and lend his experience to 

 ensure the smooth working of the ever-growing machinery, 

 is to say that he was an able and useful official, rendering 

 good work in his day and generation. 



Naturally, from his official position, Mr. Dunkin took 

 part m many of the scientific expeditions organised at the 

 Royal Observatory under Government auspices. Among 

 NO, I 5 19, VOL. 59] 



the earliest of these was a visit to Christiania to observe the- 

 total eclipse of the sun in 1852. The instrumental equip- 

 ment provided, consisted of a telescope of 3j inches 

 aperture, mounted on a firm tripod, and provided with 

 steadying rods. If this optical assistance appears to us 

 now antiquated and inadequate, the observations made 

 with it read even more strangely. We may quote one 

 sentence from the official report, which illustrates the 

 progress of physical inquiry accomplished within a single 

 scientific life. Mr. Dunkin is describing his first im- 

 pressions of a solar prominence : 



" My eye was intently fixed upon it for about a 

 minute of time, and during that interval not the slightest 

 change took place in its form. Its colour was pink, or 

 rose colour, but the shade was not very deep. It seemed 

 to me at the time, from the excessive steadiness of 

 this prominence, and from the fact that I had zealously' 

 watched it for so long an interval without its under- 

 I going any change, that this object had some connection 

 with the moon. However ... it is possible I may be 

 deceived." 



Another classical experiment in which he was engaged, 

 and to whose minute care the measure of success obtained 

 was mainly due, had reference to the determination of 

 gravity at different distances below the earth's surface, by 

 means of pendulum experiments. Some thirty years 

 previously, the late Astronomer Royal had carried out an 

 investigation of the same nature, which had not led to a 

 satisfactory termination ; but in the case of the Harton 

 Colliery, where experiments could be effectively made at 

 a depili of 1260 feet. Sir George Airy expressed himself 

 as quite satisfied with the result achieved, and considered, 

 that it established a favourable precedent for similar 

 inquiries in the future. The result was to show an in- 

 crease in the force of gravity of 1/19000 at the depth 

 reached. Longitude determinations may be said to come 

 almost within the daily routine of the Royal Observatory, 

 and it would not be necessary to refer to the share Mr. 

 Dunkin took in these, but for the fact that the system of 

 telegraphic signals was a new and practically an untried- 

 method when Mr. Dunkin and M. Faye were engaged 

 in the longitude determination of Paris. Doubtless there 

 were difficulties in those days, which have been so 

 effectually overcome that they have been forgotten ; but 

 as a pioneer, Mr. Dunkin, and those who were associated 

 with him, must have exhibited a manipulative skill which 

 we may now fail to appreciate. 



We should do less than justice to Mr. Dunkin's 

 memory if we did not recall his long and eminent ser- 

 vices to the Royal Astronomical Society, which he served 

 in various capacities. He was Secretary at the time of 

 the removal of the Society's property from Somerset 

 House to its present quarters, and the reorganisation 

 of the library, and the restoration of order into the 

 Society's affairs, which had fallen a little out of gear, 

 devolved mainly upon him, but his methodical habits 

 and unstinted devotion to the interests of the Society 

 ensured complete success in the regularity and manage- 

 ment. Among other services to the Society, one may 

 mention the many obituary notices which it was his 

 misfortune to have to write, but which were always re- 

 cognised as just and appreciative, and not without 

 literary merit. His scientific communications had 

 generally some reference to points of importance in 

 practical astronomy, such as the treatment of personal 

 equation in observations, or the determination of proper 

 motions of stars. He was eminently a practical as- 

 tronomer, rendering useful, if less brilliant work than 

 the mathematician ; but the many solitary hours he 

 passed at the eye-piece of the transit circle, or the 

 altazimuth, will not be without their due effect in 

 advancing the interests of astronomical science. 



W. E. P. 



