October 12, ign] 



NATURE 



497 



The last (our lines arc- taken from Dr. Ebell's continua- 

 tion of the ephemeris, which appears in No. 452S of the 

 Astronomische Nachrichten. 



Tut: Sydney Observatory. — In these columns on 

 March 23 (vol. lxxxvi., p. 122) we expressed regret that 

 the proposal to reorganise the New South Wales State 

 observatory was not being taken up by the Government of 

 that State. We now learn from a Sydney correspondent 

 that at last the Government has agreed to the proposal, 

 and has issued instructions for the appointment of a State 

 astronomer, who is also to be professor of astronomy in 

 the Sydney University ; at present, we understand, there 

 fs no chair of astronomy in Australia. 



In making this appointment, the Public Service Board 

 is acting with the University authorities, and they have 

 fixed the salary at Sool. per annum, with iooi. for quarters ; 

 the professorship will carry with it the usual pension 

 allowance. 



The first duty of the new State astronomer will be to 

 organise the erection and equipment of a new observatory, 

 I for, as we pointed out previously, the present site is con- 

 demned ; and since the death of Mr. H. C. Russell the 

 hwork has, despite the untiring efforts of Mr. Raymond, 

 fallen seriously into arrears. 

 The intended appointment is about to be advertised, and 

 I will, we understand, be dealt with by an influential com- 

 mittee in London. When this is done, and the Federal 

 nment has organised its proposed Solar Physics 

 vatory at the new capital, it is hoped that astronomy 

 will again flourish in Australia ; meteorology' has already 

 bpen taken over by the Federal Government. 



A New Minor Planet. — Advices from Vienna announce 

 that Prof. Palisa has discovered a new minor planet which, 

 having an increasing right ascension at opposition, may 

 prove to be another object of the Eros type. The position 

 on October 3 is given as 



R.A.=oh. 42m. 5s., dec. = +o° 15' 38", 

 and on October 4 was 



R.A. — oh. 43m. 59s., dec. = — 0° 17' 49". 

 In No. 4528 of the Astronomische Nachrichten Prof. 

 Palisa gives the daily motion as -f-2m. 8s., —32', and the 

 magnitude as 12-0. The advance in R.A. is greater than 

 that of Eros at opposition, so that it may prove that the 

 new planet, 191 iMT., approaches nearer than does Eros. 

 It would appear that the orbit has a great eccentricity, and 

 that the planet is near perihelion. 



NEW WATER SUPPLY WORKS. 

 ""THE town of Birkenhead, containing a population of 

 120,000 inhabitants, at present depends for its supply 

 of water on local sources ; the wells in the Wirral 

 Peninsula, however, are liable to salt water filtering from 

 the sea and rendering the supply brackish. The Corpora- 

 tion of Birkenhead so far back as ten years ago realised 

 that the condition of the water supply was not satisfactory, 

 and appointed a committee to inquire as to a source from 

 which a purer supply could be obtained. After a long 

 inquiry, and acting on the advice of their consulting 

 engineer, the late Mr. Deacon, a site was selected in 

 Wales, fifty miles distant, which involved the construction 

 of a large reservoir in the Denbighshire mountains on the 

 River Alwen, a tributary of the Dee. In 1907 an Act was 

 obtained conferring the necessary powers for carrying out 

 the scheme and borrowing the money required. A few 

 days ago these works were inaugurated with some cere- 

 mony by the Mayor and Corporation, a large granite block 

 being fixed in one of the masonry piers of the dam now in 

 course of construction, the contract for which has been 

 placed in the hands of Messrs. McAIpine and Co. The 

 amount of the contract for the reservoir is 186,153/. This 

 dam is 1250 feet above sea-level; its length is 458 feet, and 

 height qo feet. The reservoir will be three miles long and 

 about 350 yards wide, and will hold three thousand million 

 gallons of water. The area of the ground from which it 

 will be supplied covers 6300 acres, part of which is covered 

 by peat, which in some places is 20 feet deep. This will all 

 have to be removed. The average rainfall over the district 



NO. 2189, VOL. 87] 



is 51 inches, and the estimated average yield of water 

 eleven million gallons a day. At the present time a large 

 staff of men is employed on the works, about 400 being 

 housed in wooden huts erected for the purpose. The water 

 is to be conveyed to Birkenhead through steel and iron 

 pipes varying in diameter from 20 to 30 inches. The 

 estimated total cost is i£ million pounds. The works have 

 been designed and are being carried out under the direction 

 of Sir A. Binnie and Co., who took the matter up after the 

 death of Mr. Deacon. 



At Lincoln on October 4 was inaugurated with much 

 ceremony, including a service at the Cathedral, the open- 

 ing of the new waterworks which have been constructed 

 for supplying the city with a pure supply of water. A few 

 years ago Lincoln was afflicted with a very serious out- 

 break of typhus fever, the cause of which was traced to 

 the pollution of the water in the River Witham, from which 

 the supply was then obtained, and water for drinking pur- 

 poses had for some time to be brought by railway in tanks. 

 After much inquiry it was found that an entirely fresh 

 source must be obtained. Boring in the locality was first 

 tried, and, after sinking to a great depth and encountering 

 considerable difficulties and delay, although a plentiful sup- 

 ply was reached, the quality of the water was not 

 sufficiently good for use, and had to be abandoned. 

 Parliamentary powers had then to be obtained for 

 authorising the works now completed. The water is 

 obtained from the pebble beds in Nottinghamshire at 

 Eckersley, near the River Trent, at a depth of 500 feet 

 below Sherwood Forest, the distance from Lincoln being 

 twenty-three miles, the mains being carried across the 

 river by a bridge built for the purpose. The water is 

 raised from four boreholes 570 feet in depth, and pumped 

 into 21-inch mains by engines of 500 horse-power, capable 

 of raising 3,600,000 gallons a day. The machinery is all 

 in duplicate, so as to provide against any accident that 

 may occur. The total cost of the work is about 230,000!. 

 The whole of the scheme has been carried out under the 

 direction of Mr. McBarron, the city waterworks engineer. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 

 THE chapter on precious stones which Dr. G. F. Kunz 

 contributes to vol. xix. of The Mineral Industry, deal- 

 ing with mining operations in 19 10, contains, in addition to 

 statistics of output, prices, and sales, much of general 

 interest. Two-thirds of it is occupied with diamond. The 

 main shaft of the Kimberley Mine has reached the con- 

 siderable depth of 3527 feet. The extreme variation in the 

 quality of the stones from the different mines is evinced 

 by the average price per carat ; thus 855. is obtained for 

 the stones from the Vaal River diggings, and 45s. from the 

 De Beers group, while the Liideritz Bay stones realise 

 26s. 6d., and the products of the Premier Mine only 14s. 

 per carat. The occurrence of microscopic diamonds in 

 decomposed olivine, with enclosed chromite, at Olivine 

 Mountain, in the Tulameen River, Yale district, British 

 Columbia, is of considerable scientific interest, though of 

 no commercial importance. Students of political economy 

 will be interested in the means whereby the powerful Inter- 

 national Diamond-cutters' Union, with an income of about 

 3000/. a week, maintains a high level of wages. Appren- 

 tices are selected from sons of members of the union only, 

 and their number is restricted to 5 per cent, of the whole. 

 The great difference in price between manufactured and 

 natural rubies calls for the note of warning that the 

 qualifying term — scientific or artificial — demanded by law 

 is sometimes inconspicuously written on the invoice. A 

 specimen, weighing 9SJ- carats, of the pink beryl, morganite, 

 was discovered in Madagascar, and a magnificent 

 aquamarine in Brazil ; Madagascar is also supplying fine 

 tourmalines. Unworked deposits of peridot have been 

 found in the islands Rahamah and Kad-Ali, in the Red 

 Sea. It is curious to learn that peridots have been dug up 

 at Alexandria, where apparently they had been buried some 

 1500 years ago in the foundations of the houses in the 

 belief that they would add to their stability. The best 

 means for preserving the pearl-mussel is being studied at 

 the station recently provided by Congress at Freeport, 

 Iowa, U.S.A. 



