408 
Dr. F. H. Hatch, Prof. O. T. Jones, Mr. W. B. R. 
King, Dr. W. D. Lang, Prof. S. H. Reynolds, Sir 
Aubrey Strahan, Sir Jethro Teall, and Mr. H. Woods. 
Ar the general meeting of the Asiatic Society 
of Bengal on February 7, the following officers 
and members of council were elected :—President : 
Dr. N. Annandale. Vice-Presidents: Sir Asutosh 
Mukhopadhyaya, Mr. Mahamahopadhyaya Hara- 
prasad Shastri, Dr. J. Coggin Brown, and Lieut.-Col. 
J. D. W. Megaw. General Secretary : Mr. Johan van 
Manen. Treasurer: Prof. C. V. Raman. Philo- 
logical Secretary: Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar. Joint 
Philological Secretary: Mr. S. Khuda Bukhsh. 
Natural History Secretaries: (Biology) Dr. i 
Bruhl and (Physical Science) Mr. P. C. Mahalanobis. 
Anthropological Secretary : Ramaprasad Chanda. 
Medical Secretary: Major R. Knowles. Honorary 
Libravian: Dr. T. O. D. Dunn. Honorary Numis- 
matist: Mr. C. J. Brown. Other Members of the 
Council: Dr. Upendra Nath Brahmachari, Mr. 
Kumar Sarat Kumar Roy, Sir R. N. Mookerjee, Mr. 
Pramatha Nath Banerjee, and Dr. W. A. K. Christie. 
Tue Australian National Research Council is 
making preparations for holding an important Pan- 
Pacific Science Congress in Australia in August next. 
The sympathy and support of the Commonwealth 
Government has been secured, and it is expected and 
sincerely hoped that scientific workers representing 
all the countries bordering, or having interests in, the 
Pacific will send representatives to this congress. 
Already the Commonwealth Government has issued 
cordial invitations to the countries concerned, inviting 
them to join in making this congress a success. It is 
well known that in international matters the Pacific 
must play an important part in the near future, and 
a fuller knowledge of its peoples, its products, and its 
natural phenomena, from a scientific point of view, is 
urgently desirable. The first Pan-Pacific Science 
Congress was held at Honolulu in August 1920, and 
it is proposed that the Australian meeting should be 
opened at Melbourne on August 13, 1923, and on 
August 23 be transferred to Sydney, and terminate 
there on September 3. Arrangements are being made 
to deal with the following subjects: (a) agriculture 
and veterinary science; (b) anthropology and ethno- 
logy; (c) biology, including botany, entomology, 
zoology ; (d) geography and oceanography ; (e) geology ; 
(f) hygiene and climatology ; and (g) physics, including 
geodesy, geophysics, radiotelegraphy, and seismology, 
Among the office-bearers are the following : Australian 
National Research Council—Sir David Orme Masson, 
The University, Melbourne (President); R. H. 
Cambage, Royal Society, Sydney (Hon. Secretary and 
Treasurer) ; Prof. A. C. D. Rivett, The University, 
Melbourne (Joint Hon. Secretary). Pan-Pacific Com- 
mittee—Sir Edgeworth David, The University, 
Sydney (Chaiyman) ; E. C. Andrews, Mines Depart- 
ment, Sydney (Hon. Secretary). 
THE projection of light in optical lanterns and 
kinema apparatus, discussed before the Illuminating 
Engineering Society on February 20, is a problem 
that evidently deserves more study. It appears 
NO. 2780, VOL. 111] 
NATURE 
from the results of recent tests that in most optical 


[Marcu 24, 1923 
lanterns only about six per cent. of the light furnished 
by the source is usefully applied on the screen. In 
the kinema projector, with its small aperture and 
shutter, the percentage is even less. Moreover, even 
the light reaching the screen is not all profitably 
used, for much of it is reflected on to walls and 
ceilings and never reaches the eyes of the audience. 
Some attempts to utilise gas-filled incandescent 
lamps in place of arcs were also described, and the 
results of investigations seem fairly promising. 
Other items of interest in the discussion included a 
demonstration by Major Adrian Klein of his new 
colour-projector, and a three-phase alternating current 
arc shown by Mr. J. Eck. From a scientific point 
of view the Klein projector is particularly interesting, 
as the colours are not produced by means of filters, 
but by the aid of a train of prisms. When these 
spectrum colours are projected on painted scenery 
very vivid changes are produced. 
Tue annual report of the Meteorological Committee 
to the Air Council for the year ended March 31, 1922, 
has recently been issued. It is the sixty-seventh year 
of the Meteorological Office and the second report 
submitted to the Air Council instead of to the Treasury 
as formerly. The meteorological service now com- 
prises many meteorological organisations which in 
past years have been carried on separately and inde- 
pendently. In all, the total staff aimed at to complete 
the organisation is 375. Retrenchments undertaken, 
however, by all Government departments have led 
to some modified programmes for the meteorological 
service, and reductions in the staff have taken place 
instead of the wished-for augmentation. The total 
whole-time staff of the Meteorological Office and its 
out-stations has changed during the year from 266 to 
261. The year has seen a great increase in the 
interest of seamen in weather information, and the 
report mentions that it is greatly to be regretted that 
this increased interest should coincide with conditions 
which have made it imperative to reduce rather than 
to extend the activities of the Marine Division. Data 
now being received are gradually getting back to 
pre-war conditions, when it was equally felt that 
excessive observations were costly. For forecasting 
work the report states that, although certain messages 
are still received by cable, almost all European 
countries have now adopted the use of wireless 
telegraphy, and it is growing evident that it will 
shortly be possible to dispense entirely with the 
exchange of messages by cable. Much information 
is given relative to aviation and the upper air, new 
developments entailing much organisation. The 
British Rainfall Organization is now controlled by 
the Meteorological Office, and among many other 
branches of work may be mentioned atmospheric 
pollution and the oversight of attached and sub- 
sidiary observatories. 
Tur Journal of the British Science Guild for 
February contains a summary of the proceedings at 
the annual dinner in May last year. In proposing 
the toast of the British Science Guild, Sir Arthur 
